There’s a great article over at Bible History Daily by Lawrence Mykytiuk on Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible. A depressing read if you’re a Jesus Mythicist. The only better thing to read is: Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000). HT: George Athas Also, Bart Ehrman has a blog post up on Did Nazareth Exist? Read more

Over at The Daily Beast, journalist Ana Marie Cox has a piece on Coming Out as a Christian, where she wrestles with how to tell people she’s a Christian while worrying how the anti-Obama constituency will receive the news. She writes: My hesitancy to flaunt my faith has nothing to do with fear of judgment by non-believers. My mother was an angry, agnostic ex-Baptist; my father is a casual atheist. (I asked him once why he didn’t believe in God,... Read more

In my theology courses, I often get students to watch several videos on what is the gospel? I’ll be adding this video to the list where D.A. Carson talks about the gospel, its entailments, and ministry.   Read more

Mark L. Strauss Mark ZECNT; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Available at Amazon.com Mark Strauss’ commentary on Mark in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary series is a delight to read. The Gospel of Mark is my favourite commentary and I’m tad picky about which commentaries on Mark I read and use. But Strauss delivers the goods as he has constructed a useful, thoughtful, and well-written commentary on Mark. Strauss’ approach is very eclectic with a mixture of insights from historical-criticism, social-scientific, and... Read more

In the latest issue of JBL is an article by Paula Fredriksen on “Paul’s Letter to the Romans, the Ten Commandments, and Pagan ‘Justification by faith,'” JBL 133.4 (2014): 801-7. Fredriksen attempts to understand “justification by faith” beyond its usual theological discourse and identify the meaning of the phrase in its original social context. Her starting point is Josephus, Ant. 18.116-19 with John the Baptist’s preaching of “piety” and “righteousness” which correspond to the two tables of the Ten Commandments: commands 1-5 (piety... Read more

Over at Faith Forward, Paul Holloway responds to my earlier post about his denunciation of Sewanee University for awarding N.T. Wright an honorary doctorate. Thankfully Holloway’s response attempts some actual reasoning and tries to provide some kind of substance to his criticism of Wright rather than resorting to hyperbolic and vitriolic protest as he did previously. Let me say that there is nothing wrong with robust criticism of Wright, for case in point, see John Barclay’s critique of Paul and the Faithfulness of God. The problem... Read more

Steve Walton has a nice review of the book Jesus is Lord, Caesar is Not, read it here. Read more

I just read a most intriguing article by Matthew W. Bates on “A Christology of Incarnation and Enthronement: Romans 1:3-4 as unified, Nonadoptionist, and Nonconciliatory,” CBQ 77.1 (2015): 107-27 (FYI, follow the link and read it on Academia.edu). 3a  περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ // concerning his Son 3b τοῦ γενομένου // who was descended 3c  ἐκ σπέρματος Δαυὶδ // from David 3d  κατὰ σάρκα // according to the flesh 4a τοῦ ὁρισθέντος υἱοῦ θεοῦ // was declared the Son of God 4b  ἐν δυνάμει //... Read more

I’ve been reflecting on Rom 12:2, “Love must be sincere,” and I came across this quote from Kierkegaard: The best defense against hypocrisy is love; indeed, it is not only a defense but a chasmic abyss; in all eternity it has nothing to do with hypocrisy. This is also a fruit by which love is known – it secures the loving one against falling into the snare of the hypocrite … [T]he last, most blessed, the unconditionally convincing mark of... Read more

Recently I’ve come across two notable books about Christianity and other Religions. Bob Robinson Jesus and the Religions: Retrieving a Neglected Example for a Multi-Cultural World Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2012. Robinson looks at how Jesus in the Gospels related to “others” like Samaritans and Romans and how that should inform our own response to other religions in a pluralistic world. Daniel Strange Their Rock is Not Like Our Rock: A Theology of Religions Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Strange’s book is... Read more