In light of my friendly disagreement with Brant Pitre’s rather wave of the hand dismissal of a non-eucharistic interpretation of John 6 in his recent book Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper, I want to quote  J. Ramsey Michael’s (2010) new commentary on John’s Gospel: While the eucharistic interpretation makes some sense for even the earliest readers of the Gospel ( who may have known and practiced the Lord’s Supper), it... Read more

Eerdmans publishers has four books about Judaism that have come out in the last year or so. Anathea E. Portier-Young, Apocalypse Against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011). This volume looks at how sections of 1 Enoch and the Book of Daniel represent responses – political, religious, cosmological, and epistemological – to foreign empires by Jewish groups. “In an age of foreign domination, war, and terror, early Jewish apocalypses prompted their readers to look... Read more

Awhile back, before the end of the academic semester and a trip to Greece and Turkey,  I began a series of posts working my way through Brant Pitre’s really good and accessible book on the Jewish background of the Lord’s Supper called Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper (you can find these at our old blogspot site). This posts picks up where we left off with chapter four “The Manna of... Read more

Just been reading a bit of Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo (Why Did God become Man?) and found this gem of a quote from the Canterburian bishop. For, as death came upon the human race by the disobedience of one man, it was fitting that by another man’s obedience life should be restored. And, as sin, the cause of our condemnation, had its origin from a woman, so ought the author of our righteousness and salvation to be born of a... Read more

My forthcoming book with Paternoster, Jesus is the Christ: The Messianic Testimony of the Gospels, examines the theme of “messiah” and “messianism” in the christological fabric of the four Gospels. Basically I’ve reworked over a couple of articles I wrote for Reformed Theological Review on Mark and Luke, added some material Matthew and John, and included an introduction about when faith in Jesus as Messiah first arose in the church. It is a sequel to my earlier volume, Are You the One... Read more

Nachfolge is the German word “discipleship”. This summer I started a theology reading group with CRAVE, the college ministry that I lead as pastor at Christ Community Church. I decided to offer a theology reading group this summer because I’m committed to the idea that the church should encourage and engage in theological inquiry. As one of the students said, when asked at our first meeting why did he want to participate, “I want to love God with my mind!”... Read more

Two publishers you may not have heard of are: 1. David C. Cook. This is a non-profit publishing company that specializes in Sunday School resource materials and popular level books. They publish Francis Chan’s stuff. You can get Anglican, KJV, or Reformation themed Sunday school materials! 2. Cruciform. This is a new publisher that was jointly founded by Pastor and Blogger Tim Challies. They specialize in books around 100 pp. long in hard copy, e-book, and audio form. Read more

Here are some cool quotes on evangelism. Guess who said them? “If we are engaging in the work of new creation, in seeking to bring advance signs of God’s new world into being in the present, in justice and beauty and a million other ways … then at the centre of the picture stands the personal call of the gospel of Jesus to every child, woman, and man.” “The proper model is not (1) to see mercy as the means... Read more

Good old James McGrath, who is something like the Lady Gaga of the biblioblogosphere if  blog rankings are anything to go by, has been preaching against some sacred evangelical relics. First, James has a post comparing the defence of the inerrancy of the Bible with the tactics used to defend Sarah Palin’s recent blunder on Paul Revere (though I think Stephen Colbert has proved beyond all reasonable doubt that her case is faultless!). My default setting is to adhere to... Read more