Over at CT, there is a great article by J. Todd Billings on “The Problem with ‘Incarnational Ministry’.” I like this quote: It’s important to offer a ministry of presence to those in need. But when the gospel is reduced to identifying with others, the uniqueness of Christ’s incarnation becomes an afterthought. Read more

Michael Jensen, lecturer in Theology at Moore Theological College, has a short book How To Write a Theology Essay, available through both the Latimer Trust in the UK and at Moore Books in Australia. I would like to beg, plead, beseech, exhort, urge, recommend, and flat out demand that my students read this before writing their first essay for me in theology class. Read more

My good friend Jonathan Pennington has a new book coming out this year on the Gospels: Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction. This looks like it will be a great resource as an introduction to the Gospels. I look forward to its arrival later in the year. I was all the more excited when I watched the book’s promo video. The video answers the question “What is the Gospel?” Jonathan you said it so well. Way to... Read more

The latest issue of Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters 2.1 (2012) includes: N.T. Wright “Rom 2:17-3:7: A Hidden Clue to the Meaning of Romans?” William O. Walker Jr. “Romans 8:29-30 as a Non-Pauline Interpolation.” Michael Kibbe “‘The Obedience of Christ’: A Reassessment of ten hypakoen tou Christou in 2 Corinthians 10:5.” Nijay K. Gupta “Reviews on Pauline Commentaries from 2011 to 2012.” Read more

The other day, in Church History class, we looked at the Great Awakenings in New England with a special focus on Jonathan Edwards. After this class a few things about Jonathan Edwards stood out to me: 1. Yes, Jonathan Edwards was America’s first and greatest theologian. But he was not in fact American as he considered himself a life-long Englishman. America was just his postcode. Edwards was in fact England’s greatest Puritan theologian. 2. He was harshly critical of New... Read more

The documentary by Robert Olando, A Polite Bribe, about Paul’s collection for the Jerusalem church, featuring John Dominic Crossan, Richard Horsley, Douglas Campbell, N.T. Wright, Ben Witherington, and others. Here’s some previews: I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t comment on its historical value, or the arguments put forward. Read more

Young New Testament padawan, Daniel Zacharias (tutor and IT guy at Arcadia Divinity College), has has released a new Greek learning App called FlashGreek. From his blog he writes: The evolution of the flashcard has just landed on the iTunes app store! This app has been in the making for many years and I’m really excited to release it to the world. FlαshGrεεk puts multimedia Greek flashcards on your iOS device. What do I mean by multimedia? an image mnemonic... Read more

I’m slowly (oh so slowly) getting through the Howard Marshall festschrift New Testament Theology in Light of the Church’s Mission, and next chapter up is Brian Rosner on “The Missionary Character of 1 Corinthians.” Rosner comments on many illuminating things like Mission-Commitment in Corinth and the link between Church and the Mission of God. This quote about mission and God’s glory stood out: In large measure 1 Corinthians is Paul’s response to a congregation plagued by the residual Gentile vices of... Read more

Dr. Michael Licona, Christian apologist extraordinaire and persona non grata in some Baptist circles, is the feature of a round table discussion in STR with Danny Akin, Craig Blomberg, Paul Copan, Michael Kruger, Michael Licona, and Charles Quarles about his book The Resurrection of Jesus, including its controversial claim about Matt 27.51-53 being symbolic (I blogged on this earlier here). The discuss is a very public vindication of Licona, in the context of a criticism and testing of his view on Matt. 27.51-53. I think... Read more

Here is my interview with Dr. Colin Kruse of Melbourne School of Theology on Romans and his Romans commentary: 1. What did you learn most about Paul, God, and the Christian life in writing a Romans commentary? Paul stands out as a dedicated pastor committed to promote the Christian understanding and faithfulness to God of those for whom he was responsible. He felt deeply for his own people who had not yet embraced their Messiah. In dealing with both these... Read more