I’m reading through Roland Allen’s famous book Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? which celebrates the centenary anniversary of its first edition next year I believe. In reading through the book, I noticed this cute quote on how some missionaries tend to attribute their deliberately spontaneous and unplanned missionary strategies to Paul himself, but without ever studying Paul’s actual missionary methods: It is due to the fact that every unworthy, idle and slip-shod method of missionary work has been fathered upon the... Read more

I’ve noticed that when I post on Paul there are usually lots of comments. There are usually a few comments when I post on something to do with Gospels. But posts on the Catholic letters seem to generate very few comments. Any way, on the plane ride home I read David Trobisch’s The First Editionof the New Testament, and I came across this quote about the canonical function of 2 Peter. When 2 Peter is read as an integrated part... Read more

Although I only ever get cited for my Paul stuff, I’m actually a Gospels specialist, and I think my best book to date is my little volume Are You the One Who is to Come? The Historical Jesus and the Messianic Question. Any way, Lawrence Garcia reviews the book over at The Pangea Blog. Read more

Here is what I picked up, mostly for free, at SBL this year in San Francisco. Read more

Advent begins this Sunday, Nov 27th. I’ve never celebrated Advent, so this is a first for me. A few weeks back I asked for help in finding family devotions for the Advent season. I had a good number of helpful suggestions; thanks to all who chimed in. I have just completed reading Robert Webber’s chapter on Advent in his book Ancient-Future Time and here’s what I learned about the month long celebration. Advent is a time to prepare for the... Read more

A couple weeks ago, Michael wrote a brief post noting the new book by Bruce Longenecker called Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty and the Greco-Roman World. I picked a copy up at SBL and began reading it with great interest. This topic is important to me and very timely given the discussions being had on the mission of the church in response to Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert. One of the primary observations they and others of their ilk make... Read more

The post is the full review of  What Is the Mission of the Church?: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert. (more…) Read more

This post brings my review of Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert’s book to a close. I want to thank them for contributing such a well written and thought provoking argument. Although I can’t claim to have read widely on the subject of mission, I can concur with the sentiments of D. A. Carson in his blurb: Among the many books that have recently appeared on mission, this is the best one if you are looking for sensible definitions, clear thinking,... Read more

On Sunday night I have the privilege of preaching a sermon at North Park’s weekly gathering College Life. Here’s the link if your interested in listening to my sermon “In Messiah Alone”.   Read more

In this post on Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert’s book I want to reflect on chapter 8, “Seeking Shalom: Understanding the New Heavens and the New Earth”. While I don’t think I’d come out much different from them in conclusion—they advocate a “faithful presence” a la James Davidson Hunter, I think there are at least two weaknesses in the discussion. DeYoung and Gilbert’s major assertion in the chapter is the responsibility of bringing into existence the new creation is God’s... Read more