Abraham: The Father of Everyone Who Has Faith! So what should we conclude from all this? Did we find that Abraham is our forefather on the basis of genealogical descent or on the basis of faith? Because if Abraham was declared righteous on the basis of his works he would have had a genuine right to brag, though not before God! So what does scripture say: “Abraham believed God and his faith was credited to him as righteousness.” This illustrates... Read more

John Dickson’s e-book, Hearing her Voice, is now available in a revised and expanded edition in paperback. It has caused quite a stir in Sydney Anglican circles and has received a lot of push back. It is available for order from Australian Christian book chain Koorong, see here. There are some good endorsements from guys like J.I. Packer and Craig Blomberg. Here is an excerpt from the book: My preliminary conclusion is simple. Only one of the numerous types of public... Read more

Cool video where Candida Moss takes it up to Political Conservative Commentator Bill O’Reily on his book Killing Jesus. I’ve only seen excerpts of the book, so I can’t comment too much just yet, but it looks to me like this book is not “really” about Jesus. It is the adaptation of the Jesus story to fit the narrative of US Republicans that Jesus was killed by big government and for opposing taxes. Also, can someone explain to me why Americans... Read more

T. Michael Law When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible Oxford: OUP, 2013. Available at Amazon.com Okay, I’m probably a bit behind the game on this one, but I’ve only recently finished reading T. Michael Law’s excellent introduction to the Septuagint. I have to confess that I read the chapters while I was bathing my two boys over the last two weeks. It’s a cracking good read, easy to take in, technical stuff is... Read more

Over at RBL, N. Clayton Croy has a candid review of Candida Moss’ book The Myth of Persecution which is quite critical with some justification (see also Ephraim Radner’s review at First Things). Moss is right in many regards. Yes, there was a Christian hagiography about martyrs. The Martyrdom of Polycarp and the Acts of Paul and Thecla are not Discovery Channel documentaries. Yes, many conservative have a martyr complex and beat their breasts in rage when their social privileges come under... Read more

N.T. Wright visited Melbourne earlier this year for two conferences and those conferences are now available for viewing with purchase on vimeo. The conferences were: Jesus, Paul, and the Mission of God’s People with N.T. Wright and responses by Brian Rosner and Michael Bird. Sponsored by Ridley Melbourne. Paul and the Faithfulness of God with N.T. Wright and responses by Sean Winter, David Starling, and Michael Bird. Covering Paul and Israel, Paul and Empire, and Paul and Justification. Sponsored by Ridley... Read more

I am very fortunate to be part of the NT editorial team for the Story of God Bible Commentary series. In fact, in recent months I’ve been busy working away on my Romans commentary for the series, which has been an epic challenge to work through such a magnificent letter. Its a great series designed to create a set of commentaries that tackle the text in light of the Bible’s big story line and also shows how we can live... Read more

Over at the John Ankerberg Show is part one of a review by Gary Habermas (Liberty University) and Darrell Bock (DTS) of Bill O’Reily’s book Killing Jesus. Read more

In all of PFG, this is my favourite quote from Wright: Put all this together, and what do we have, as the central, shaping marker of the new worldview, taking the place and bearing the weight that the Jewish symbols had borne within the worldview of Saul of Tarsus? We have precisely the gospel, the euangelion, the ‘good news’, rooted in the ‘good news’ spoken of in the Great Prophet, confronting the ‘good news’ carved in stone around Caesar’s empire. We... Read more

For those interested, I’ve joined Academia.edu where several of my previously published articles and essays are now available for viewing. This includes pieces on Jesus, the Gospels, Paul, and New Testament Theology. Read more