The story of the anointing of Jesus’ head by an unnamed woman at Bethany in Mark 14 is something of a parallel to John’s account of Mary’s, the sister of Lazarus, anointing of Jesus’ feet in John 12. Mark 14:9 records Jesus saying “Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her”. Some commentators as far back as Origen (see a parallel in John’s account... Read more

Tim Gombis over at his blog Faith Improvised is also writing a series of posts critically engaging Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert’s book What Is the Mission of the Church?. In his third post, Tim reflects on the DeYoung and Gilbert’s dichotomy between worship (which they think is the mission of the church) and the creation mandate to steward God’s creation. Tim notes that Gen 1-2 speaks of the Garden of Eden in Temple terms and therefore all the work... Read more

In this third post on Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert’s new book What Is the Mission of the Church?: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission I want to reflect on the fourth chapter “Understanding the Good News”. It is a chapter on the question “What is the Gospel?” They begin the chapter by referencing the recent contentious discussion among evangelicals today about what the gospel is. They contend that most of the disagreement boils down to... Read more

N.T. Wright’s forthcoming book from HarperOne is called How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels, which deals with the relationship between the Kingdom of God and the Cross. That is the subject that Wright spoke about at both Fuller and IBR last year. Due out March 2012. Here is the blurb: Since ancient times, the church has sought to distance itself from its Jewish roots and has developed teachings on the Bible and about Jesus that actually... Read more

Here’s my first effort at an introduction to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews is a strange and difficult book. First, it seems to ramble on about things that are not exactly burning topics of discussion over breakfast or bitterly debated on Christian blog sites. It begins with a complex discussion of angels and what God did not say to them; continues with a brief treatment of Psalm 95 and what ‘rest’ really means; moves on to discuss some bizarre chap... Read more

Zondervan’s Textbook Plus website is now open to students! It has some cool resources there that go with each book. My systematics class use Michael Horton’s The Christian Faith and I can access power-point slides for lecturing and students can access videos, summaries, flash cards, and quizzes! Excellent work by Zondervan, very class room savvy. Read more

Over at ABC Religion and Ethics is my article on School Chaplains: The Real Issue Isn’t the Separation of Church and State, where I argue that the major objection to school chaplains is not the safe division of religious institutions and government authorities, but rather, religious prejudice. Read more

Over at Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight responds to Michael Horton’s review of his King Jesus Gospel (with a mention in despatches for yours truly). Read more

I hate to be the one to tell you, but Scot McKnight’s King Jesus Gospel is a blatant rip off of the magisterial Reformer Martin Luther. Just read this: The gospel is a story about Christ, God’s and David’s Son, who died and was raised and is established as Lord. This is the gospel in a nutshell. (Martin Luther, “A brief instruction on what to look for and expect in the Gospels,” in Luther’s Works[ed. E. Theodore Bachmann; 55 vols.; Fortress:... Read more

Over at the White Horse Inn, Mike Horton offers a review and engagement with Scot McKnight’s The King Jesus Gospel under the heading, Are You a Soterian? Typical of Horton, it is a learned and even generous review, though clearly concerned and critical and certain points. I’m partly sympathetic to Horton because in the Reformed tradition many have tried to tie in the story of Israel and the story Jesus to the gospel  more than others have (Hendrickus Berkhof being... Read more