Brice C. Jones Matthean and Lukan Special Material: A Brief Introduction with Texts in Greek and English Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011. Available at Amazon.com This is a small but useful volume that provides an introduction to the Synoptic Problem and also introductions to the Matthean and Lukan special materials. It then sets out the Synoptic units normally assigned to “M” and “L” respectively in both English and Greek. A good little resource on a neglected topic in Gospel... Read more

I had always hoped that one day, somewhere, I would find a proverb in Jewish literature which states that a mother-in-law is a “thorn” in a man’s side. That would be proof that Paul’s complaint in 2 Cor 12:7 (“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me”) was really him whining about his own mother-in-law. Well, looks like a better... Read more

The sessions from the 2012 Gospelizers conference held at Crossway College included: Alan Stanley (Crossway College): “There is more to the gospel than life after death…so much more”. Click here to download the audio file (45MB) Steve Beaumont (Bible Society): “Guns and roses: Using outdoor adventure to evangelise at-risk Aussie youth”. Click here to download the audio file (43MB) Glenn Hohnberg (City Bible Talks): “Rethinking public evangelism”. Click here to download the audio file (58MB) David Starling (Morling College): “Gospel and household: Home... Read more

Nijay Gupta at Crux Sola has a summary of the contents of the latest issue of Tyndale Bulletin. I was impressed by how international the authorship was. Authors hail from Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Malaysia, Greece, UK, USA, and California (culturally California is not like the rest of the USA and should probably be annexed by Canada or pushed into the Pacific … lest UCLA rises to rule the world!). Read more

There’s an exciting new IMAX 3D movie coming out in 2013 on Israel and Jerusalem. Here’s a sample.   HT: Ben Witherington. Read more

Ben Witherington chimes in on the Anthony Le Donne affair with some reflections on confessional theology and academic freedom as a prelude to a link to Larry Hurtado’s post. Ben writes: The life of the believing scholar’s mind can be fragile, and more to the point a scholar needs to be able to pursue the evidence wherever it leads. If it leads somewhere that leaves him in a quandry, then things should be discussed. If it leads somewhere where the... Read more

Here’s a question for everybody. Can someone please tell me why we get the highest number of page views whenever I post on something related to “N.T. Wright,” “homophobia,” or “paganism”? I mean, what do these three topics have in common ??? I’m thinking that if N.T. Wright ever wrote a book on the history of homophobic pagans it would be an instant bestseller. Read more

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Messiah to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Messiah your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Scripture Readings: Psalm 31:1-5; 15-6; Acts 7:55-60; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John... Read more

In light of the Anthony Le Donne saga , I thought I’d repost, “The Historical Jesus: Four Theses.” 1. The Historical Jesus is not … a. The untheological Jesus. Our only access to Jesus is through the faith and theology of the early church. The Gospels contains a mixture of fact and faith, history and hermeneutic, authenticity and artistry. Jesus himself was theologically grounded and his message was about God (i.e., his message about God addressed the socio-political circumstances of Palestine... Read more

What was truly innovative about the beliefs of the early Jewish believers in Jesus? Daniel Boyarin’s provocative thesis in the second chapter of his new book The Jewish Gospels suggests only that they claimed “this Jesus”  to be the Messiah (Acts 2:36; 17:3). Jews at the time of Jesus had been waiting for a Messiah who was both human and divine and who was the Son of Man, an idea they derived from the passage from Daniel 7. Almost the... Read more