Paul Foster’s BNTC address on the authenticity of 2 Thessalonians is published in JSNT and I think it will prove to be a turning point (or major discussion point) in Thessalonian studies. Importantly, it has the results of a survey on which Pauline letters the members of the BNTC regard as authentic. The abstract reads: In light of the New Perspective on Paul, recognition of apocalyptic as a central category in Pauline theology, and the crumbling consensus concerning seven authentic epistles... Read more

This Sunday gone I preached a sermon on Paul’s letter to Philemon (though much better second time around in the night service). During the sermon I focused on reconciliation from theology to practice, a tidbit on Paul and slavery, and even threw in some virtue ethics for good measure.  But it was during the sermon that I noticed that Paul’s letter to Philemon is perhaps the best illustration of justification by faith that I can imagine, something applied concretely to human relationships.... Read more

Over at Theological Musings, Clifford Kvidahl starts reviewing the Martin Hengel memorial volume Earliest Christian History. Read more

Some cool stuff around the biblioblogosphere this week! A new non-canonical gospel fragment has been found, P. Oxy 5072, see post by Peter Head on it. This week I got give a NA28 as a farewell present and Chris Keith points to one of the changes made where, in Jude 5, it is “Jesus” rather than the “Lord” who saved the people from Egypt. James “Lady Gaga” McGrath finally gets around to reviewing the Doctor Who audio book The Council of... Read more

This week is the second week of Advent. We’ve been thinking all this first week as a family about the theme of Promise in our Advent devotion. We’ve been praying with our kids each night “Dear God, help me to keep all my promises just as you kept yours”. This week we focus on the theme of Light. Coincidentally, last night we went to church and heard an excellent sermon by one of our teaching pastors, Jameson Ross, on Jesus... Read more

In the latest issue of Themelios (37.3 [2012]) is out and it includes some cool articles including: D.A. Carson, More Examples of Intolerant Tolerance Andreas J. Koestenberger, The Present and Future of Biblical Theology Rob Smith, Music, Singing, and Emotions: Exploring the Connections My favourite thing in Themelios is the book reviews! There are reviews of books by Chris Tilling, Daniel Kirk, Jim Hamilton, and Andy Naselli among others. The doozey was Mark Seifrid’s review of N.T. Wright’s How Did God Become King?  where Seifrid... Read more

Carey Baptist College in New Zealand is hosting a conference on Theology, Disability, and the People of God, to be held on 1-3 July 2103. Read more

The rejection of “other” Gospels by the proto-orthodox and orthodox church was neither arbitrary nor merely political. The reasons for rejecting them were cogent and compelling. Among the main criticisms lifted against the “other” Gospels and their authors is that: (1) The “Jesus” they set forth is not recognizable as the Jesus known in other sacred writings or congruent with apostolic tradition; (2) The “other” Gospels are often esoteric, elitist, and erroneous in what they affirm about God, creation, sin,... Read more

Excellent clip about Christians in Syria and the work of the Bible Society. Read more

I’ve been reading an old article by F.F. Bruce, “When Is a Gospel Not a Gospel?” BJRL 4 (1963): 319-39. Bruce concludes with this: To sum up, then, we may say that, according to the general consensus of the New Testament teaching, a gospel is not a gospel when: 1. It is detached from the Jesus of history; 2. It gives little or no place to the passion; 3. It exalts human achievement in the place of the grace of God; 4.... Read more