The Lumineers are right about the “Dead Sea”! Read more

We know the Torah, in this case I mean the book of Moses, was a central element of “Common Judaism” of the late Second Temple Period, the historical period of the New Testament. Jesus’ lifestyle was shaped by it as were the lives of the Apostles and earliest Jewish believers in Jesus. But something that is regularly overlooked or at least underappreciated is that there was no Torah apart from a particular interpretation of Torah. It is impossible to speak... Read more

Rhyne Putman (NOBTS) has a volume coming out on the development of doctrine from a distinctly evangelical perspective. It is called In Defense of Doctrine: Postdoctrinal Doctrinal Developments and Hermeneutical Phenomenon (Minneapolis: Fortress, forthcoming). This book is great with an important contribution and let me tell you why. On some accounts, the Bible contains “doctrine” and it is the task of the interpreter to extract “doctrine” from the messy morass of narratives, poetry, metaphors, similies, prophecy, and epistles contained in... Read more

My friend Dr. George Athas (Moore Theological College) has a great presentation on “The Bible’s Attitude to Rape.” The subject of rape is monstrous and disturbing. A lot of what the Bible says about rape in Pentateuchal case law and in narrative seems culturally strange and in some cases morally revolting. Thankfully, however, George gives a sensitive and informative presentation about the biblical materials that deal with the subject. He covers the laws pertaining to rape in Deuteronomy 22, as well... Read more

When Paul said “Inheriting the world” (Rom 4:13) did he universalize the Abrahamic blessing? Yes and no. I have read and heard commentators (e.g. Tom Wright – but many more) who think that Paul’s statement in Romans 4:13 means that the Land promise to Israel has been universalized to the exclusion of the concrete promise to biblical Israel: It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world,... Read more

After nine years of theological education on two different continents and in three different colleges, I am finally on my first ever sabbatical. No doubt the angels in heaven are weeping with joy and my students are moved with joy to the pit of the bowels knowing that they’ll be free from my antics for a whole semester. Every time I’ve departed an institution it has been precisely when I was due for a sabbatical which meant going to the... Read more

Over at Trinity House, my favourite Southern Baptist, Timothy George presented the John Williamson Nevin Lectures. The topics are: 1. Recovering the Baptismal Theology the Early Church 2. Being Baptized More and More: Luther on Baptism and the Christian Life 3. How Calvin was wrong about Baptism and Right about the Lord’s Supper 4. John Williamson Nevin and Philip Schaff: An Appreciation View them here on you.tube. The lecture are ably introduced by Peter Leithart. So far I’ve watched the... Read more

David Lincicum announced that Markus Bockmuehl has just been appointed as Dean Ireland’s Professor of Holy Scripture at Keble College in Oxford replacing Christopher Rowland. Congrats to Markus. He’s a great scholar. I still treasure his book This Jesus as a useful and highly informed volume. Plus his stuff on Jewish Law in Gentile Churches and more recently two volumes in the Apostle Peter. We should earnestly await his next book on non-canonical Gospels too. Markus was also Joel Willitts’ Ph.D... Read more

American Mega-Pastor Andy Stanley has courted controversy with a tweet he put out: “Why we must teach the next generation the FOUNDATION of our faith is a an EVENT not a BOOK” Strictly speaking, Stanley is right. According to Scripture the foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ. As Paul says, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3:11 NIV). So Scripture is definitely not the center/foundation of... Read more

In a recent article, J. Todd Billings (“Catholic and Reformed: Rediscovering a Tradition,” Pro Ecclesia 23.2 [2014]: 132-46) argues that the church can escape its cultural captivity by pursuing a biblical, Christ-centered renewal along the line of retrieval of its Catholic-Reformed tradition. According to Billings, the mainstream church is culturally enthralled to what some sociologists call a “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” (MTD). This “god” is what I would call a kind of Jerry Maguire God who wants to “Help me help you.” He... Read more