James McGrath has a post on Religious Does Not Always Correlate with Ethics. McGrath’s point is valid insofar as religious and non-religious people are both capable of good and evil deeds. No sane person denies this! We all know that religion can bring out the best and the worst of people. However, it seems that, generally speaking, religious people are nicer. No, that’s no good ‘ol evangelical propaganda, it’s not even intuition, its fact. In a SMH article Simon Smart... Read more

Today I sprung a surprise on my students.  When the students in my “Church, Ministry, and Sacraments” class arrived, they found the chairs and tables stacked up, the floor filled with pillows and bean bags, and a modest agape feast prepared for them.  We then had the Lord’s Supper, sang “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”, I spoke from Ezekiel 16.59-63 about the new covenant, and we finished with a prayer. After some serious snacking, we then had a debate between two... Read more

French Reformed Theologian, Henri Blocher, has an interesting take on “original sin”.  Blocher contends that we undergo the fact of death in solidarity with Adam like children who share in the sin of their father. Yet we do not undergo the penalty of Adam as if it were ours. Rather, by sharing in his consequences – in the spread of his corruption and death – our sinning certainly happens and our guilt can be reckoned as originating with Adam. Hence... Read more

I’m proof reading my systematic theology volume Evangelical Theology before I ship it off to my editor. One of my young padawan’s, the talented Miss Kirsten Mackerras, has done some drawings for me presenting Nestorianism, Monophysitism, Apollinarianism, and Hypostatic Union in picture form. Such a pictorializing enterprise I know is fraught with dangers, but I think they look pretty good and help explain the various christological heresies to students. Vertical lines indicate divinity, horizontal lines humanity. Let me know in... Read more

As I read more of Greco-Romans sources, I’m increasingly convinced that the gospel would have been perceived as counter-imperial. Paul’s colleagues in Thessalonica were mobbed because: “They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus” (Acts 17:7).  This story reminds of an an episode from Caligula’s life described by Suetonius (Caligula 22): “Upon hearing some kings, who came to the city to pay him court, conversing together at supper, about their illustrious descent, he... Read more

In the third chapter of his new book The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited, Scot McKnight makes the bold claim that evangelicals (he doesn’t exclude Catholics and Orthodox) have gotten the understanding of the gospel upside down, an understanding that has created unwanted effects. To make the point, Scot presents a hierarchy of evangelism categories (1) Story of Israel, (2) Story of Jesus, (3) Plan of Salvation, and (4) Method of Persuasion (35). He believes that (1)... Read more

Global clarity and coherence is the subject of the 11th lesson in the book classic book on style by Williams and Colomb, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Here’s an excellent tip on revising one’s writing: Budget your time for both drafting and revision so that you spend most of it on beginnings: the introduction to the whole, then the introductions to major sections, then introductions to subsections, and long paragraphs, then the beginnings of sentences. Get beginnings straight and... Read more

Scot McKnight in his new book The King Jesus Gospel contends that evangelicals today are really “soterians” (“salvationists”) instead of truly evangelicals. He means by this that most have equated the word “gospel” with “salvation”. But the two words, says Scot, are different. His argument is that biblically the concept of “gospel” is a much wider than simply the issue of personal salvation, although it surely includes it. This confusion, according to Scot, has led to what he calls a... Read more

Michael Jensen has a good post on the Marcan parables (good exegetical observations for a Systematics guy!). He writes: The parables are important to Jesus’ teaching in Mark because they goad the reader to listen and understand. They proclaim a division in Jesus’ listeners between those inside and those outside. In them the judgement of national Israel foretold in Isaiah is completed. Mark does not leave his readers as perplexed as the disciples however, or as critics such as Kermode... Read more

I can’t believe I actually found a picture of the infamous “Board of Correction”. I admit my recollection may be off. I must have been 7 or 8 years old and my family went on a summer vacation to Maine to visit my Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol and my cousins. Somewhere along the way they found this old school paddle. My parents were experts in Corporal Punishment, I think they had degrees. Not because they were abusive or anything,... Read more