I just noticed that over at Amazon.com Robert Gundry’s Mark Commentary is available free as an eBook for kindle. Note, this is not his Mark: A Commentary on His Apology for the Cross (1993) , but is a chapter from his one volume Commentary on the New Testament (2011). It is a good little read. I think Gundry cracked Mark as an apology for the cross. The more I read the Gospel of Mark, the more I think Gundry is right.... Read more

Dr. Peter Williams the Warden of Tyndale House (and the most handsome NT scholar I know), gives a cracking good lecture on evidence that the Gospels were based on eyewitnesses accounts. Long, but worth watching. Is it me, or does Peter sound like the weatherman from the TV show Horrible Histories? Read more

Over at Jesus Creed Scot McKnight gave his list of the best books of 2011. If your looking for books to read in 2012, Scot provides a good starting point. He categorized them under 10 headings and lists two or three under each. Scot’s best book of 2011 . . . Christian Smith’s The Bible Made Impossible (Brazos). I would have to agree with Scot. My second was Eugene Peterson’s The Pastor (Harper One)       Read more

Christianity Today has released its book awards for 2012. The winner of the biblical studies category (a big surprise if you ask me) was Kenneth Bailey’s Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes with an award of merit for C. John Collins’ Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? Winner of the theology/ethics category (no surprise if you ask me) was Michael Horton’s The Christian Faith with an award of merit for Todd Billings’ Union with Christ. A good list of books to look... Read more

Over the last couple of days, my kids have said some funny things. First, as I was putting Zion down for a nap yesterday he says to me “Daddy, I have something to tell you.”. I said to him, “Ok, what is it?”. He says, Sometimes big people say things that little people don’t understand! Next, we have been watching Star Wars over the Christmas holiday. We got the box set for a Christmas present, as predicted! We’ve watched episodes... Read more

What does the hit  TV show Terra Nova (filmed in Australia) and NT Greek have in common? My youngest daughter and I love watching Terra Nova. It’s become our Sunday night ritual to watch it. And it’s been bugging me for a week that Lucas Taylor (Commander Taylor’s Son) played by Ashley Zukerman reminds me of someone I know. It finally dawned on me last night who he reminds me of. Lucas Taylor looks a lot like my NT Greek... Read more

Over at Denny Burk’s blog, he posts on Lee Iron’s schedule for reading the Greek New Testament in a Year! I will probably try this myself (and hopefully finish it too!). Read more

Excellence in Preaching: Studying the Craft of Leading Preachers (IVP, 2011) presents the composite of a good preacher. Simon Vibert of Wycliffe Hall in Oxford has written this book profiling some of the most gifted preachers in the Western Hemisphere. The preachers profiled in the book illustrate 12 things good preachers do well.   Tim Keller – Awareness of cultural and philosophical challenges to the gospel John Piper – Inspiring a passion for the glory of God Vaughan Roberts –... Read more

The fourth practice of the church in John Howard Yoder’s book Body Politics: Five Practices of the Christian Community Before a Watching World he calls the “Fullness of Christ”. Based on Ephesians 4:11-13 and 1 Corinthians 12, Yoder defines the fullness of Christ as A new mode of group relationships, in which every member of the body has a distinctly identifiable, divinely validated and empowered role (47). Ephesians 4 teaches that an element of Jesus’ victory won on the cross... Read more

  Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born this day of a pure virgin: Grant that I, who have been born again and made your child by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through my Lord Jesus Messiah, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. Merry Christmas from the Willitts’ family. Read more