Over at Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight gives a summary and evaluation of my contribution to the book Biblical Inerrancy: Five Views. I think Scot mostly gets where I’m coming from. My own “veracity” view can be correlated with a nuanced and generous view of inerrancy. Scot thinks I may have over played my card about inerrancy being an “American thing” citing the examples of James Barr vs. J.I. Packer. Let me say that the idea of the Bible as inerrant/infallible, conceptually... Read more

Congrats to my friend Armin Baum (Freie Theologische Hochschule, Geissen) who has had a couple of decent articles come out in JETS and BBR which are worth checking out. “Is New Testament Inerrancy a New Testament Concept? A Traditional and Therefore Open-Minded Answer,” JETS 57.2 (2014): 265-80. A good piece on whether the NT teaches anything like “inerrancy.”  Baum thinks inerrancy is rooted in an inerrant God, an inerrant Jesus, and in the apostles who taught the truth. Though he carefully nuances it in a way... Read more

What did Jesus do in Melbourne in the 60s? A review of The Songs of Jesse Adams, Peter McKinnon (Melbourne: Acorn, 2014) by Kara Martin I am cautious about reviewing Christian fiction titles. Partly this is because I think our standards are lower than secular audiences when it comes to Christian fiction, while our standards for Christian non-fiction are higher! Another reason is that I have an unpublished manuscript in my desk drawer that no-one else has read, and I know... Read more

Historian Philip Jenkins has a great piece over at ABC Religion and Ethics on The Last Days of Christianity in Mosul. Its got a short summary of the history of Christianity in the area and plus the current ordeal in a wider historical context. The fall of Christian Mosul loomed in the beginning of the twentieth century. Kurdish raids and bandit attacks repeatedly hit the monasteries and devastated their libraries. During World War I, the Ottoman Turks inflicted on local... Read more

The Christian university does not simply deposit ideas into mind-receptacles, thereby providing just enough education to enable credentialing for a job. No, the Christian university offers an education that is formative—a holistic education that not only provides knowledge but also shapes our fundamental orientation to the world. A Christian education cannot be contnet to produce thinkers; it should aim to produce agents. Such formation not only offers content for the minds; it also impinges on the nexus of habits [dispositions]... Read more

Over at The Saint is news that N.T. Wright has been awarded the Burkitt medal for biblical studies. The Burkitt Medal was first awarded in 1923 to recognise special service to biblical studies. The medal is one of over 15 awards given annually by the British Academy for excellence in academic disciplines, such as political science, psychology and Celtic studies. Only 19 scholars are given such a distinction each year.  Award winners for 2014 include renowned political commentator and linguist Professor Noam... Read more

There’s only about a week more of the summer. Beginning August 18th faculty at NPU are back at it, getting ready for the beginning of a new academic year. I’ve been on sabbatical so I’ve felt pretty disconnected from things at NPU. But we are opening a new science and student life building in the fall and there is a buzz around campus. I was really excited to see these two lists of rankings for NPU done by the Christian... Read more

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom 12:1-2 NIV). First, Paul summarizes the story of salvation running across Romans 1-11 not as justification or even reconciliation,... Read more

The husband and wife team of Katherine Firth (Trinity College Melbourne) and Andreas Loewe (Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne) have put together a lovely commentary on J.S. Bach’s The Passion of St. John with a preface written by N.T. Wright. Here’s the blurb: This Theological Commentary is the first full-length work in English to consider Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion in its entirety, both the words and the music. Bach’s oratorio is a globally popular musical work, and a significant... Read more

I’m currently working carefully through James A. K. Smith’s Cultural Liturgies series (2 volumes – Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Cultural Liturgies)and Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works (Cultural Liturgies)as part of a small project I’m doing on Lament. The paper is a reflection on the importance of practicing Lament in discipleship. While I’m still finding the thesis, my concern in the paper is the story of our bodies. The way in which our bodies have a story... Read more