Michael J. Langford The Tradition of Liberal Theology Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014. Available at Amazon.com In this book, Michael Langford aims to give a presentation of liberal theology. What he means by “liberal theology” is a form of Christian theology that accepts the statements of the Apostles’ Creed but with a certain degree of latitude so that there is a balance between religious faith and human rationality. Interesting is that Langford rejects religious feeling as a basis for theology (i.e.,... Read more

Here is my friend John Dickson giving a plug for his new book A Doubter’s Guide to the Bible. A great book to give to friends or people who are asking questions about Christianity. Read more

Scottish theologian, Donald Macleod, gives a forthright and even funny assessment of the “new Calvinists.” For instance, he says: The New Calvinists are all Calvinists, but only in the limited sense that they believe in the so-called Five Points, summarised in the mnemonic TULIP (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Invincible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints).  I love all tulips, except this one, to which I am profoundly allergic.  John Calvin’s unique contribution to human thought cannot be reduced to... Read more

Here is a video by Con Campbell (TEDS) about his new book on Advances in the Study of Greek. Read more

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Shane Blackshear over at his blog Seminary Dropout about Bart Ehrman, Jesus, and christology. You can listen to the podcast here. I should add that I’ll be debating Bart Ehrman in New Orleans in February 2016. Read more

In the most recent issues of JETS is a review by Jeffrey A. Stivason of my Evangelical Theology. Its quite a fair review, with a bit of push back, and some nice points of affirmation as well.  Stivason claims that because I am reluctant – unlike B.B. Warfield – to find an explicit Trinitarian affirmation in the NT, that I thereby “weaken rather than strengthen this fundamental doctrine among evangelicals” and contribute to a belief that the Trinity is “the most abstract and... Read more

I had a couple of my books come up for review at RBL. Susan Wendel reviews my Jesus is the Christ, and while she thinks that my methodological approach was a bit inconsistent, she affirms the basic thesis of the volume that Jesus’ messiahship is central to the Gospels and Acts. Bob Becking reviews my 1 Esdras volume and has very nice things to say about it. I have to confess that I always get nervous about seeing reviews of this book since I was venturing into the study of the... Read more

My favourite piece among the Apostolic Fathers is the Epistle to Diognetus. Over at the City of God blog, “the Brooks” gives two reasons why you should read it: its account of incarnation and penal substitution. Read more

Stanley E. Porter has a book coming out on Constantine Tischendorf and T&T Clark has a podcast talking to Porter about it. Listen to it here. Read more

On 29-30 May 2015 in Melbourne will be the first Ridley/Gordon-Conwell conference on the theme of “Known by God.” The conference explores the theme of knowing God and being known by God in the Bible and in Christian thought. Speakers include Eckhard Schnabel, Sean McDonough, Jeffrey Arthurs, Brian Rosner, Lindsay Wilson, Scott Harrower, and Rhys Bezzant. In a world obsessed with being true to yourself and knowing who you are, being known by God offers a healthy corrective that supplies... Read more