Simon Smart from the Center for Public Christianity interviews N.T. Wright about “Beauty, Justice, and the Faith that Enhances Life.” Here is the first video: Two other videos are located at the CPX website! Read more

Recently the “Festival of Dangerous Ideas” was held in Sydney featuring, among others, Peter Hitchens (brother of the late atheist journal Christopher Hitchens). Here is what Peter Hitchens is his dangerous idea: The most dangerous idea and philosophy in human history remains the belief that Jesus Christ was the son of God and rose from the dead, and that is the most dangerous idea you will ever encounter. Why is it dangerous? Because it alters the whole of human behaviour... Read more

Kevin De Young has a piece over at TGC on Is John Piper Really Reformed? I think De Young’s argument is basically correct and he gives helpful nuance to the diversity of Calvinistic and Reformed churches in North America But there are two issues here: First, the definition of “Reformed” is slippery. For some it basically means “Not Catholic.” For others it means Calvin and only Calvin. Then again, some see being Reformed as tied to covenant theology. For others... Read more

I’m still mulling over my post about my unease with the category of “reconfiguration” and the like so oft used today.  I’m currently writing on Galatians for my  commentary in the Zondervan Story of God Commentary Series which has been lunched this month with Scot McKnight’s Sermon on the Mount and Lynn Cohick’s Philippians. So these are things at the forefront of my mind. On my reading of it, based on Galatians 1:13-14, Paul did leave something behind as a... Read more

Rev. Dr. Michael Jensen, former lecture in theology at Moore Theological College, and current Rector at St. Mark’s Darling Point, was kind enough to write a blurb for EvTh: This is the one-volume theology text we’ve been waiting for. Bird’s Evangelical Theology is a model of a gospel-centred, genuinely biblical approach to systematic theology – proving that the task of evangelical theology is not simply to provide a compendium of proof texts. Nor should it ignore the work of the... Read more

I’m quite pleased that a few early reviews, mentions, and interactions of Evangelical Theology (EvTh) – or known to me as my baby girl “Evangeline” – have appeared. Here are a few. Over at TGC, Trevin Wax highlights a few of my more humorous moments in the book. Nate Clairborne, Brian LePort, and Marc Cortez have already begun their reviews. A full length review is given by Josh Skinner too and is embarrassingly nice. Read more

Over at TGC, Douglas Moo (Wheaton College) provides a lengthy and interesting review of N.T. Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of God: Critically: I won’t list other instances, but Paul and the Faithfulness of Godcontains too many of these kinds of rhetorically effective but exaggerated or overly generalized claims. A related problem is Wright’s tendency to set himself against the world—and then wonder why the world is so blind as to fail to see what he sees. A key thread, for instance,... Read more

John Macarthur’s Strange Fire conference with its militant critique of the charismatic movement has raised no little bit of controversy. Some audio and video is available here, see Mark Driscoll’s open letter to Macarthur, and note Trevin Wax’s cautious words over at TGC. Now me, personally, I’m not charismatic. I don’t dance on pews, I don’t raise my hands in church crying out “whoo-hoo,” nor do I ever pray to God with the words, “untie-my-bow-tie-who-stole-my-honda.”  I also loathe the charlatans of... Read more

Michael Kruger, New Testament scholar and President of RTS-Charlotte (see his forthcoming book on The Question of Canon), takes exception to N.T. Wright’s critique of evangelical opposition to the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare.” This is what Wright said in an interview: In your country, for example, there seem to be Christian political voices saying that you shouldn’t have a national healthcare system. To us, in Britain, this is virtually unthinkable. Every other developed country from Norway to New Zealand... Read more

For those in Melbourne, on 12 November there will be a book launch for two books by Ridley faculty: Michael Bird’s Evangelical Theology with response by Dr. John MacClean of the Presbyterian Theological Centre Sydney. Rhys Bezzant’s Jonathan Edwards and the Church with response by Dr. Stuart Piggin of Macquarie University. “It’s sad but true: among the hundreds of books on Edwards, nary a one has been published on his view of the Christian church, a doctrine Edwards preached and wrote... Read more