A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of touring the wonderful city of Prague. I visited the Jewish Quarter of the Old City which Rick Steves, the guru of European travel, says is “the most interesting collection of Jewish sights in Europe”. While strolling the neighborhood I happened upon a couple of Jewish Rabbis who were promoting a local kosher restaurant.They also handed me a card that promulgated  “The Seven Noahide Laws”. The rabbis were members of the... Read more

I was saddened to hear the news of the death of the brilliant British NT scholars C.K. Barrett, who wrote some superb NT commentaries and books on early Christianity. Jimmy Dunn writes: “You will be saddened to hear that Kingsley Barrett, my predecessor, died last night (6.30 pm, 26.08.11) – aged 94. He was the greatest UK commentator on NT texts since J. B. Lightfoot, and much loved by a wide range of Methodist chapels to which he ministered for... Read more

Tim Gombis, a good friend of mine, has a fairly new blog called Faith Improvised. It’s currently my favorite blog to follow. A couple of times now he’s reflected theologically on a U2 song, which is awesome! Recently he wrote a post on one my my favs “Grace” titled “Grace and the Dynamics of Resurrection”. If you’re a U2 fan like myself, you’ll enjoy Tim’s reflections. His earlier one was on the song “The Wanderer” called “The Wanderer and Grace... Read more

Papua New Guinea is a pacific nation north of Australia with a strong Christian population. August 26 has been declared to be a national public holiday called “Repentance Day”. Read more here. Would “repentance day” be better than a “national prayer day”? Read more

Over at Rachel Evan’s blog, Justin Taylor features as the “Ask a Calvinist” in her survey of different religious perspectives. Justin is a wonderful chap, he publishes a few good books, and I look forward to what he has to say in the dialogue. I feel sorry for Justin Taylor, because the initials JT stands for the greatest rugby league player at the moment, Johnathan Thurston! In a forthcoming volume on Evangelical Theology, I describe Calvinism like this: As a... Read more

You should  check out the very interesting posts by Jeff Cook on Erasing Hell if you haven’t already over at Jesus Creed. The last one is here with currently 128 comments. In this post, Jeff critiques the hermeneutic which lies behind the main question of the book: Are we willing to submit our reason and understanding to God Word if we don’t like what it says? Jeff asserts that it is both unnecessary and impossible to do so because the... Read more

I’m doing a series on hell in my college ministry called “Hell No, Hell Yes?” and will be giving a short lecture on hell to our 30 plus ministry staff at church. So hell is something I continue to reflect on a fresh. I’ve begun to read a fascinating book on hell (Scot McKnight recommended it to me) from the standpoint of philosophical theology. Jerry Walls has tackled this contemporary critique of hell in his book Hell: The Logic Of... Read more

This fall is the second since I began working in church ministry again as the College Pastor at Christ Community Church. In some ways I’m still getting used to the rhythm of a bio-vocational career of academy and church. I can say with a good bit of certainty that the late summer/early fall is the busiest season of the year for me. What a crazy few weeks this has been. Fall is the start up of both the ministry year... Read more

Sometime ago, John Piper preached a sermon, “Did Jesus preach Paul’s Gospel?” In contrast, Scot McKnight has a sermon called “Did Jesus preach the Gospel?” I tried to embed it but couldn’t, but do watch it, it only goes for 18 minutes! As to how Jesus’ messiahship in the Gospels figures in the “gospel,” see my forthcoming Jesus is the Christ: The Messianic Testimony of the Gospel. Read more

Over TGC, Jason Hood has a good review of Darrell Bock’s Recovering the Real Lost Gospel. Hood concludes: Recovering the Lost Gospel gets readers thinking freshly about the New Testament’s gospel by addressing many different aspect of gospel renewal, from restored relationship to new power. Bock’s presentation of oft-neglected gospel themes (including covenant promises, new covenant, personal renewal, and Holy Spirit) is the book’s greatest strength. Among other gems, he shows readers that Luke 3:16 is “a verse as relevant to... Read more