Glad to see that my former boss, Dr. John Blaxland, is now a senior fellow at ANU’s Strategic and Defence Studies Center. He provides a great response as a defence analyst to the recent CIA report on interrogation and torture (see here as well). Listen to it here, goes for 6 mins. His opening quote from Winston Churchill is worth the click itself! Read more

I’m glad to report that I’ll be teaching a course on “Grace & Eschatology” at Houston Baptist University in the first two weeks of January. After that, I’ll be speaking at a one day conference at 2nd Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky on 17 January on Reading the New Testament in the 21st Century. The day also features David deSilva (Asbury), Jonathan Pennington (SBTS), and Susan Garrett (Louisville Seminary). Read more

A somewhat intriguing and slightly disturbing discussion at Lancaster University about what the COE can offer the next generation. I have to say that the only real thing that the Church of England, or any Church for that matter, has to offer is Jesus. Not its clergy, its bishops, its synod, its buildings, its press releases, its programs, or its political views. If you want some vague pomo spirituality, some leftish economic theory, and some individualistic morality, then watch the Oprah network!... Read more

Over at The Jesus Blog, Helen Bond has a great and somewhat confronting piece about sexism in NT studies. The line that struck me was: Over the years, I’ve sometimes found unexpected allies. Older male colleagues with adult daughters develop great insights into what it’s like for women in the profession. Blindly oblivious in the past to the needs of their wives (who mostly gave up their own career aspirations to look after the home) their daughters often have first class degrees and PhDs,... Read more

The big and messy debate in Pauline studies at the moment in “salvation-history” vs. “apocalyptic” interpretations of Paul. Scot McKnight has an excellent write up on this debate that you can view here. This debate goes back to Krister Stendahl and Ernst Kasemann back in the late 70s.  It comes down to how much continuity there is between Israel’s religion and Paul’s gospel. The NPP traditionally accents the continuity, whilst apocalyptic interpreters tend to emphasize the sudden invasive rupture that the gospel... Read more

The current Australian Govt. is proposing to deregulate the university sector, reduce funding for the major universities, and provide funds to private colleges including theological colleges. The prospect of the Australian Govt. funding theological education, including the training of priests, has prompted quite an uproar evidenced by Matthew Knott’s alarmist piece in The Age/SMH (with video) on Abbott Government Cuts University Support; Funds Priest’s Training. It is a highly prejudicial and inaccurate piece in my estimation. In response, I have... Read more

Just came across this interesting quote from Stanley Hauerwas: To be among those who praise God as the ruler of this world, however, has often tempted Christians to think they are or must be in control if this is in fact God’s world. Caesar’s throne can be or must be usurped to insure that justice is done. The difficulty of being a creature wounded by sin is forgotten. Indeed, we forget or deny that we are creatures subject to the... Read more

Ridley College’s celebration of the centenary of Leon Morris’ birth comes to a close with a final blog post by Rhys Bezzant which you can read here. It includes a link to a talk by Leon Morris delivered at the C.S. Lewis institute in Washington DC in 1979 on the theme of love.     Read more

The creators of “The Bible” have a new TV mini-series coming out with NBC premiering on Easter Sunday in 2015 called A.D. which is about the first ten chapters of Acts. Read more

In the latest issue of Themelios are a couple of good articles including: Andrew David Naselli, Three Reflections on Evangelical Academic Publishing. A review of John D’Elia’s biography of G.E. Ladd and S.E. Porter’s book Inking the Deal. I’m a big fan of Stan Porter, but Naselli pushes back on his publishing philosophy. This is a piece that all Christian academics, old and young, should read and reflect on! Robert Yarbrough, Bye-Bye Bible? Progress Report on the Death of Scripture. A good overview... Read more