I’ve just wrapped up our church’s sermon series on the Epistle of James. As I was preparing, it left me wondering  how best to sum up the letter. I thought the slogan “Believing is not enough” (see Jas 2.19) was a good summary. But to put it more positively, I think one needs to emphasize the active and loving nature of faith itself. So a better pithy slogan to sum up the letter would have to be “Faith works”. Or,... Read more

If you’ve not already heard, there’s an exciting conference at the University of St. Andrews this summer, July 10-13 2012. Here’s the link to the School of Divinity’s website. Not only is St. Andrews one of the most beautiful places in the UK, but the line of scholars participating is impressive. I have plans to attend and, Lord willing, will present a paper on Messiahship in Galatians. Here’s the abstract of the paper’s argument. Since at least the time of... Read more

Over at Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, there are a couple of interesting articles on attitudes and approaches towards Muslims for Christians. The first, Christ’s View of the “Other” by Dr. Issa Diab looks at how Jesus’ treatment of outsiders like the Roman centurion and the Samaritans provides a paradigm for Christians to relate to Muslims. The second, Christian-Muslim Relations: Balance Needed More Today than Ever by Dr. Martin Accad addresses the issue of how Christians can positively influence Muslim-dominated societies.... Read more

On why I am not a member of the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church, watch this clip about a recent dispute between a priest and his congregation. See, you reject the Chalcedonic formula and this is the kind of thing that happens! Read more

On Friday of this past week, I spent the day with our Student Ministry team on a one-day retreat. In Student Ministry style we met for the day at Game Works, a Video Game Restaurant. We used a conference room there for the day. The SM team at our church are great guys: Eric Ferris, Pete Sutton, Jameson Ross, Bobby Jackson, Andy Klenke, and Eric Chesney. Eric Ferris is the Student Ministry director; Pete is the Middle School pastor; Jameson... Read more

Our family just finished week two of Advent and begin week three today. It is surprising how fast the Season goes by when you are marking the weeks by candles. These first two weeks are something of a blur. After celebrating a second week of Advent with my young family I offer these reflections. First, my two four-year olds, Zion and Mary, have fully bought into the daily devotion around the Advent wreath. There’s been a few nights when I... Read more

Eisenbrauns has a special end of year subscription offer for the Journal for the Study of Paul and his Letters. If you take out a subscription for JSPL in 2012 for $30, which includes two forthcoming issues, for only $15 you can get the two 2011 issues as well! That is the 2011 and 2012 issues of JSPL for just $45!!!* We’ve had a great year in JSPL this year (2011) with articles by Michael Gorman, Douglas Campbell, Chris Tilling, Richard Bell, Susan... Read more

Scot McKnight has launched his first ebook through Patheos called Junia is Not Alone. It is only $2.99! The volume is obviously about Junia in Rom 16:7 and whether Junia was a woman and was an apostle. (I tend to think she was an apostle in the same sense that Epaphroditus was an apostle of the Philippian church, but that’s for another day). Anyway, the blurb reads: In this fierce essay, leading Bible scholar Scot McKnight tells the story of... Read more

John Howard Yoder in his little book Body Politics: Five Practices of the Christian Community Before a Watching World addresses the Eucharist as another practice of the church. His contention is that the central element and meaning of the Eucharist has been buried under a mound of ritualistic and superstitious religious notions “borrowed from other religions and philosophical assumptions of the ancient world” far removed from the Upper Room where Jesus gave his “Do this in remembrance of me”. Yoder... Read more

There is a new blog out called Faces & Voices: Identity, Culture and Artefacts from Roman to Contemporary Egypt operated by Dr. Roberta Mazza (Rylands Library, University of Manchester) which focuses on the papyri kept in the John Rylands library and the stories behind their collection. HT: Larry Hurtado. Read more