Alister McGrath Lord and Saviour: Jesus of Nazareth London: SPCK, 2014. Available at Amazon.com Alister McGrath’s next book in his Christian Belief for Everyone series is about Jesus. McGrath exposits the person and work of Jesus through a wonderful mixture of biographical anecdotes, scriptural reflection, and quotations from church history. Expectantly there is a lot of C.S. Lewis quotations, many illustrations drawn from literature and science, as well as several stories about McGrath’s own life journey. In a nutshell, McGrath briefly covers... Read more

Over at the Ridley website, Graham Cole (Prof. of Theology at Beeson Divinity School and former Principal of Ridley) reflects on the life and work of Leon Morris. He writes: Leon knew how to preach the cross too. I recall meeting folk in Melbourne who had been brought to Christ through a sermon on the cross preached by Leon. One personal experience of his ministry stands out for me. I refer to it at least once a semester in my... Read more

Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) has announced the “retirement” of Douglas Green from the seminary. His “retirement” is occasioned by the findings of the board of trustees that his hermeneutical approach to the NT use of the OT is no longer acceptable to the board’s interpretation of the Westminster Standards. Apparently Douglas Green’s article on a christological reading of Psalm 23 is formally declared to be unacceptable to the board, which is really funny, because it is by far the best... Read more

Ridley College is hosting a two-day conference on Paul as Pastor to be held in Melbourne on 1-2 August. The conference will feature keynote speakers, Robert Yarbrough (Covenant Theological Seminary), Trevor Burke (UK), Sarah Harris (Carey College) and Brian Rosner (Ridley Principal). Along with Ridley Melbourne faculty there will also be speakers from five states of Australia, including the Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies. I’ll be speaking on “Paul as Pastor in Galatians” for those interested. Learn more about it here.   Read more

I was in Israel a few weeks ago and shot a number of videos. In this video I introduce the Dead Sea Scrolls and describe their significance for Christian faith. For an accessible introduction check out my book The Kregel Pictorial Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls: How They Were Discovered and What They Mean (The Kregel Pictorial Guide Series). Read more

Question: Why does God the Father always have to use his left hand? Answer: Jesus because is sitting on his right hand! That’s a corny joke I know, but a good opener to talk about Jesus’ ascension, the moment which marks Jesus’ departure from the earth and the beginning of his heavenly session. Sadly, the ascension is something of a poor cousin in terms of both the theological import attached to it and the relative neglect of Ascension Day even... Read more

Nijay has some good final reflections on the HJBG and HGBJ books. See here. On the positive side for Ehrman, he writes: Confession: I am using Bart’s book as a textbook for my NT Christology course, and I genuinely hope students will take his arguments seriously and engage his evidence as rigorously (and openly) as his logic and evidence merits. But after reading the book, I am not optimistic regarding what will come of it. But here is where Bart shines... Read more

My friend John Dickson’s book Hearing Her Voice (HHV) caused a stir in Sydney Anglican circles with his book arguing for women preaching in church resulting in a response volume called Women, Sermons, and the Bible edited by Peter Bolt and Tony Payne (WSB). Bishop Tim Harris, an Anglican Bishop in Adelaide. is currently reviewing WSB and their response to HHV. His reviews are posted over at his blog New Anglicanism where so far there are parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.... Read more

Over at ThinkTheology, Luke Geraty describes how he changed his mind on women in ministry. He describes his journey and how it was shaped by reading scripture afresh, books that forced him to think things over, and experiencing the wonderful ministry of women around him. And glad to see that I had something to do with it!   Read more

We all know that Jesus died on the cross to procure our forgiveness through his atoning death, but why did he rise from the dead? Apocalyptic party trick? Proof of life after death? Something to use to mess up anti-supernaturalistic theologians? Well, Brian Rosner has a good little piece on why Jesus rose from the dead, read it here. Here’s a tidbit from the end: More soberingly, as we know the power of Jesus’ resurrection in our lives here-and-now, we... Read more