In a recent issue of JETS 56.4 (2013), Jackson Wu has a good little article on, “Paul Writes to the Greek First and Also to the Jew: The Missiological Significance of Understanding Paul’s Purpose in Romans,” (pp. 765-79). For me this article is proof that in some circles the both-and of the “old” and “new” perspectives on Paul is prevailing. Interestingly Wu draws on his own experience as an ethnic Chinese in the course of his article and how that shapes ideas... Read more

I just saw on Alban Books (UK) that the United Bible Societies 5th edition of the Greek New Testament will be out 30 June 2014. Read more

Heads up folks, largely inspired by Larry Hurtado, and my own forays into second century texts, esp. Epistle of Diognetus, I’ve teamed up with Chris Hays and Jeremiah Bailey to set up a consultation at SBL on Texts and Traditions in the Second Century. We’ve got a great board with Ben White, Dieter Roth, and Candida Moss too. Our first session will feature scholars no less than Stephen Carlson and Bart Ehrman. More news to follow soon! Follow us on twitter @SBL2ndcentury. Read more

I just came across a website called Alabastar Jar: Stories of Female Leaders from Church History, about the important role played by women in the history of the Christian church. Alabaster Jar is a website set up to remember and celebrate other women who have done something beautiful for Jesus, particularly women who have led the church and preached. You can read their stories here. HT: Stephen Holmes on FB. Read more

I came across a great story about Karl Barth. During one of Barth’s seminars in the 1950’s a debate arose among students in the class about his method in Church Dogmatics. This debate, as it was recounted, was heated and lasted for over an hour. During the debate Barth remained silent; he puffed on his pipe, sipped his wine and listened [I wish I could smoke my pipe and sip Pinot  in my classroom!] As the debate was moving into... Read more

Eric Metaxas and April Hernandez are hosting a new talk show called 100 Huntley Street, based on the long running Canadian version, read about it here. Here is the you.tube clip. Looks cool! Read more

Recently World Magazine had a piece on Unreal Sales for Mark Driscoll’s Real Marriage to the effect that the Mars Hill Church bought Driscoll’s book a place on the NYT best seller list through a marketing company with a deliberate intent to by-pass the NYT’s own safe guards against authors or publishers artificially inflating the sales figures for their book. This might even violate IRS rules and regulations about non-for-profits committing inurement. CT also has a piece on this where... Read more

Andrew Streett The Vine and the Son of Man: Eschatological Interpretation of Psalm 80 in Early Judaism Minneapolis: Fortress, 2013. Available at Amazon.com This is a good book on the use of Psalm 80 in early Judaism and in the NT, esp. the Gospel of John. Streett shows how Psalm 80 was given an explicitly eschatological and often messianic interpretation by many readers. According to Street, the allusion to Psalm 80 in John 15:1-8 shows that John “interpreted it as... Read more

Here’s a couple of good interviews by Bruce Longenecker and Todd Still about their forthcoming volume Thinking Through Paul: A Survey of His Life, Letters, and Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014). Looks like a good overview of Paul by two great Pauline scholars! Read more

In the latest IVP Academic Alert, David Congdon talks to  Ronald Osborn about his book Death Before the Fall: Biblical Literalism and the Problem of Animal Suffering, which includes this audacious claim by Osborn: In both its fundamentalist and atheistic varieties, foundationalism rules out the possibility of an authentic dialogue between faith and science. Now that would make a great essay question for a science and religion or intro to philosophy course! Read more