Thanks to Jason Hood, I just came across a cool article by Michael Williams of Covenant Theological Seminary on biblical and systematic theology. Michael Williams, “Systematic Theology as a Biblical Discipline,” in All for Jesus: A Celebration of the 50th Annivesary of Covenant Theological Seminary, eds. R.A. Paterson and S.M. Lucas (Fearn, Ross Shire: Christian Focus, 2005), 167-96. Really appreciate the Vosian approach to the subject! For my students who roll their eyes whenever I speak down on the theological method of... Read more

Over at Unsettled Christianity, Joel Watts has a post about Justin Martyr and his references to the Gospels as “memoirs of the apostles,” in relation to Xenophon’s Memorabilia. I’ve been working on this topic in my own research of late, and here’ what I’ve surmized. Justin was acquainted with the Socratic tradition. He explicitly cites Plato and Xenophon,[1] and he could well have known Xenophon’s Memoirs of Socrates[2] and Plato’s “Socratic Dialogues” as they were highly esteemed among the philosophers that... Read more

Over at Gaudete Theology, Victoria Gaile Laidler has a nice review of The Apostle Paul: Four Views, from an ecumenical perspective. Read more

Over at Quadrant, James Franklin has a great piece on “The Lethal Philosophy of Peter Singer,” critiquing the well known Philosopher. He concludes: The essence of his [the editor of Journal of Medical Ethics] defence is that Peter Singer’s views on the permissibility of infanticide of healthy babies are now widely accepted in ethical discussion. He is able to take it for granted that the values of our liberal society include respect for free speech but not for the lives... Read more

Con Campbell (Moore Theological College, soon TEDS) gives a short summary of his forthcoming book on union with Christ. Read more

Rev. Dr. Michael Jensen appeared on ABC’s The Drum and was interviewed about his recent book, Sydney Anglicanism: An Apology. See it here, chime in at about 26:45 mins. Good interview, Michael tries to persuade ABC journalists that he’s not a woman-hating-right-wing-crazy-misogynist-wife-beater. I think he nearly persuaded them! Here’s the book blurb: Sydney’s evangelical Anglicans have been the focus of a great deal of controversy and criticism in the Anglican world. Their blend of conservatism towards doctrine and radicalism towards the institutional... Read more

One of the most common songs played at funerals is Frank Sinatra’s “I Did it My Way”. In many ways, that aptly summarizes the nature of sin. Sin represents the displacement of God and the deification of self. Humans defy their Creator, shake their puny little fists at the heavens, usurp the prerogatives of deity, act with impunity, and demand immunity from consequences. Their musical motif is, “I Did it My Way,” meaning that their moral reasoning and tier of values demands... Read more

Here are three clips on the Apostles’ Creed: The funny: The musical: The youthful: Read more

Interesting story in The Australian on Christians Emptied from the Middle East, featuring the testimony of a Syrian Greek Melkite Nun. Read more

I just learned that IVP-USA will be the American distributor for my book, Jesus is the Christ: The Messianic Testimony of the Gospels.  And they have a really nice cover for it. Available in Yankie Doodle land in February.   Read more