One thing that perplexes outsiders about American evangelicalism is why they seem so keen on impaling each other on secondary matters. I think I may have had an epiphany and I’m finally beginning to get a grip on this. I remember once watching a GOP presidential debate where Ron Paul boasted that he was “the most conservative candidate” on the platform. It was true, which in my mind also made him the least electable candidate. But why would being the most conservative be... Read more

Here is the peculiarity of the Jew and the meaning of circumcision. God is known as the Unknown God, who justifieth the ungodly (4:5), who quickenteth the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were (4:17), on whom men can only in hope believe against hope (4:18). When the ‘Jew’ realizes this peculiar possibility, when he recognizes that he has been set at the barrier between two worlds, he is able to rejoice in his peculiarity (comment on Rom... Read more

Interesting article in the Financial Review about a group of Aussies in NY city, spearheading the global poverty initiative. When actor Hugh Jackman, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and rapper Jay Z appear before 50,000 festival-goers in New York this weekend to help fight global poverty, lurking behind the scenes will be a contingent of Australians central to the event. Most Aussies visiting New York are there to enjoy themselves, to soak up the live shows, the food and city life that... Read more

In 2012 St. Andrews University hosted their fourth Scripture and Theology Conference. The focus was Galatians. I had the privilege of participating and offering a paper “Davidic Messiahship in Galatians”, which was eventually published in the JSPL 2.2. (79-96). The conference volume has just been released by Baker Academic: Galatians and Christian Theology: Justification, the Gospel, and Ethics in Paul’s Letter. The volume headlines some of the most preeminent scholars Paul in the world  (N.T. Wright, Scott J. Hafemann, Bruce McCormack, Beverly... Read more

Tim Foster The Suburban Captivity of the Church: Contextualizing the Gospel for Post-Christian Australia Melbourne: Acorn, 2014. Available here or on kindle. Amidst all the talk of planting churches in highly secular cities of the west, my colleague Tim Foster has written a commendable volume on the strategies needed to engage a post-Christian culture. Although speaking primarily from and into the Aussie context, the volume will have immediate relevance for North America, the UK, and Europe too.  Foster shows that the Christian... Read more

Here at Ridley College we have an awesome on-line theology program for lay people called The Ridley Certificate. This multi-media program is a great way for you, your family, or your home group to do a six week course on topics like 1 Corinthians, Gospel and Life, Understanding Your Bible, Ministry Skills, Psalms and now, my own module on Knowing God. Fun stuff on theological method, the Trinity, revelation, creation, and the nature of God. You can learn more about the module and watch... Read more

Very interesting article by Czech religious professor Tomas Halik at ABC Religion and Ethics on Europe after Secularization: What Future Has Christianity on the Continent. Halik writes: When religion made a global comeback on the political stage over the last three decades, many were shocked. Religion appeared to them like Samson, once blinded and chained, a laughing stock, shorn of all its strength, and yet here it stood, revived, a frenzied titan threatening the pillars of our houses and the survival... Read more

In responding to a critic of his first edition of The Epistle to the Romans, Karl Barth offers a reflection on the relative importance of simplicity in his preface to the second edition (1921). One critic dismissed Barth’s first edition of the commentary with the line “Simplicity is the mark of divinity”. Barth’s reply is an important counter-point in our current climate in which there is a pressure simplicity in our talk of the Bible and God from lecturns and pulipts.... Read more

Melanie C. Ross Evangelical versus Liturgical: Defying a Dichotomy Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014. Available at Amazon.com Review by Dr. Rhys Bezzant (Ridley College) This book defies more than a dichotomy. It also defies the odds, as it ably brings together competencies in systematic theology, liturgical studies, oral history, with an evangelical heart. Ross has written a relatively brief book of around 140 pages, based on her doctoral dissertation, in which she argues that it will not do to persist... Read more

Andrew T. Lincoln Born of a Virgin: Reconceiving Jesus in the Bible, Tradition, and Theology London: SPCK, 2013. Available at Amazon.com This book is an attempt to show that one can still maintain a high christology of the incarnation without believing in a literal virgin conception of Jesus. Lincoln argues that the oldest tradition in the NT about Jesus’ birth is that he was born from the “seed of David” with Joseph as his real father (Rom 1.3; Acts 2.30,... Read more