Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep me both outwardly in my body and inwardly in my soul, that I may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Read more

Over at RBL is my review of Murray J. Harris’ Colossians and Philemon commentary. Quite positive, though a few criticisms abound, but glad that Broadman and Holman is picking up this series. Read more

I’ve not blogged on this topic in quite some time, but the topic of gospel and social justice continue to be a preoccupation of mine, and particularly the definition of the gospel and its larger context of the Kingdom of God. I was reading recently and came across some useful ideas from John Stott. Here’s the way Stott begins his book Decisive Issues Facing Christians Today (1990). It is exceedingly strange that any followers of Jesus Christ should ever have... Read more

Orthodox Christians employ several elements in their Lenten worship. One of them is the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete. This prayer was written in the seventh century. In the hymn, St. Andrew contemplates the great history of salvation and applies its various images to the state of his sinful soul. This Canon is sung and read twice during Lent. Of it Alexander Schmemann says, “It is a real introduction to Lent, it sets its tone and spirit,... Read more

Why am I only now just learning about the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts podcast series? Read more

Wish I could go to this! Read more

The second Sunday of Lent’s Gospel reading was John 3:1-17. It of course is the familiar story of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. In the account Jesus implicitly required Nicodemus to deny his own notions of what it means to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus says, “Unless someone is born from water and spirit, they can’t enter God’s kingdom”. Nicodemus responds, “How can this be so?” Jesus required Nicodemus to come to him on Jesus’ terms. Jesus required Nicodemus to... Read more

This just in from Bruce Longenecker: “I’m very glad to say (although this isn’t an announcement) that Dr. Kelly Iverson will be joining the Faculty of the Department of Religion at Baylor University in August 2012. Kelly was one of my colleagues in St. Andrews before I came to Baylor, and he will be sorely missed there, where he has proved himself to be an asset in every way. Kelly is a rising star in the field of early Christian... Read more

John Wesley has a moving reflection of where he was with God, at least in a sliver of a moment in time, caught in a letter written to his brother Charles. The selection is profound in its honesty and sense of feeling of God.  Can you relate to Wesley’s double-mindedness as a pastor? In one of my last I was saying that I do not feel the wrath of God abiding on me; nor can I believe it does. And... Read more

When it comes studying the Gospels with a full assortment of scholarly tools like textual criticism, source criticism, genre criticism, literary criticism, narrative criticism, and redaction criticism, I find that many young evangelical students in their first few courses get rather edgy or even irritated when exposed to them. They seem very uneasy with things such as the Synoptic problem, textual suspicion about the story of the woman caught in adultery, Matthew’s re-judaizing of Mark, debates about the authenticity of... Read more