Excuse the silly title, but I am intrigued by an recent article doing the rounds about the influx of young evangelicals into liturgical churches. The article is Young Evangelicals Are Getting High at The Christian Pundit. Young Christians are going over to Catholicism and high Anglicanism/Lutheranism in droves, despite growing up in low Protestant churches that told them about Jesus. It’s a trend that is growing, and it looks like it might go that way for a while: people who... Read more

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a professing Christian, apparently owns all three volumes of N.T. Wright’s COQG series. Rudd was interviewed for a book about the faith of Australian PMs by author Roy Williams: Rudd told Williams that he had all three volumes of Anglican bishop N.T. Wright’s magnum opus: The New Testament and the People of God; Jesus and the Victory of God; and The Resurrection of the Son of God. “The Resurrection tome is a very good tome”,... Read more

Sophie Timothy from The Bible Society (Australia) gives a good summary of N.T. Wright’s various lectures that were given in Melbourne this week. She opens with: Theologian  N.T. Wright, who manages to be both respected and controversial at the same time, has unveiled the contents of his new book, the massive tome Paul and the Faithfulness of God, in events run by Ridley Melbourne and the Uniting Centre for Theology and Ministry in Melbourne this week. In between talks on Jesus, Israel, Paul, Paul and... Read more

Finally getting back into some serious primary source reading! Now working through Virgil’s The Aeneid. This was the propaganda narrative for Roman power. Consider this quote: Here then for thrice a hundred years unbroken shall the kingdom endure under Hector’s race, until Ilia, a royal priestess, shall bear to Mars her twin offspring. Then Romulus, proud in the tawny hide of the she-wolf, his nurse, shall take up the line, and found the walls of Mars and call the people Romans... Read more

In the latest issue of Modern Reformation, Lee Gatiss has a nice article on “The Book of Common Prayer” (see here for an on-line view if you have a subscription). Gatiss writes: The BCP is a prayer book, a service book, a book to aid us in our worship of the one true and living God. It’s a book to live, love, and die by – for baptisms, weddings, and funerals. It’s a book designed to fill us with awe... Read more

Paul, an envoy, sent not by any party faction, but by Jesus the Messiah and by God the Father, who brought Jesus back to life from the dead – and from all the brothers and sisters here with me. To the churches in the Galactic regions, may grace and peace flow to you from the abundance of God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Messiah. This same Jesus who surrendered himself for our sins so that he could rescue... Read more

I’ve been reading Libanius’ autobiography recently and stumbled across an interesting remark he makes about his education. Note: Libanius was a pagan teacher of rhetoric living in the newly Christianized Roman Empire. In his autobiography, he says this: I restrained my mind from composing, my tongue from speaking, and my hand from writing, and I concentrated upon one thing only – the memorization of the works of classical authors – and studied under a man of prodigious memory who was... Read more

I agree with Stanley Hauerwas, “I believe sermons should be arguments” (Hannah’s Child). I’ve never thought of it this way, but I can’t agree more. Upon reflection sermons with the most impact, those that caused me to think and to live differently are those that contained a robust argument; one’s that argued a theological idea and its implication for life. Preachers, make compelling arguments from pulpits (and music stands) this weekend!   Read more

I’m glad to announce the launch of a new pro-life initiative called Protecting Infants which is dedicated to opposing the introduction of infanticide into clinical practices. Protecting Infants is run by a number of people and includes a mixture of theologians, ethicists, medical professionals, and pastors. Protecting Infants will post information, debates, and resources on their webpage, Remember Ashkelon, and you can see my initial post about the organization and its aims here. Do check out the site from time... Read more

I’ve said this many times, but I’ll keep repeating it: if I could do my education all over again, I would have gotten an MA in archaeology. Here is an excellent quote from a now very dated, but excellent introduction to archaeology and the study of the New Testament; it captures the importance of approaching the study of the NT using both the literary and non-literary evidence: For it is only when we pit real people up against their real... Read more