Unity and Diversity in NT Christology

Last updated on: January 2, 2019 at 9:03 pm By Michael F. Bird

A great quote from Bob Gundry on NT Christology: ‘New Testament interpretations of Jesus’ person and work exhibit diversity, then, a diversity prompted by varying circumstances – political, social, economic, ethnic, education, religious. To be sure, NT Christologies were not wholly determined by such circumstances, as though the figure of Jesus were made of Silly Putty which the NT authors molded into whatever shape they thought was required by their varying circumstances. Certain brute facts and accepted traditions about him... Read more

Introduction to Athanasius the Great

Last updated on: January 2, 2019 at 8:33 pm By Michael F. Bird

John R. Tyson The Great Athanasius: An Introduction to His Life and Work Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2017. Available at W&S. I love me some Athanasius. Gosh, I’d love to write a musical about his life one day (if Andrew Lloyd Weber or Lin Manuel could find the time to collaborate with me). Reading books about Athanasius is now among my favourite holiday time past times. And so far, this one by John Tyson is my favourite. It tells... Read more

Christian Faith and Clinical Supervision

Last updated on: December 31, 2018 at 6:34 pm By Michael F. Bird

Terri S. Watson Developing Clinicians of Character – A Christian Integrative Approach to Clinical Supervision IVP Academic, Downer’s Grove, Illinois, 2018. Available at Amazon.com. By Stuart Adamson There is an implicit entreaty on just about every page of the book Developing Clinicians of Character. This entreaty becomes explicit as Watson draws her argument to a close in the final pages. She yearns for clinical supervisors who identify as followers of Jesus to be people “of character known by their faithfulness,... Read more

The Case for Breaking the Seal of the Confessional

Last updated on: April 10, 2019 at 12:57 am By Michael F. Bird

Over at The Spectator (Oz), I have an article entitled: It’s time to end the seal of the confessional: the religious case I argue that Catholic clergy should be required to lift the seal of the confessional and to engage in mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse: It is after much reflection that I wish to declare my support for the mandatory reporting of child sex abuse even if it requires Catholic clergy to break the seal of the confessional. Even... Read more

What it is Like Being Autistic at Church

Last updated on: April 9, 2019 at 5:57 pm By Michael F. Bird

Great article by Daniel Bowman, a Professor of English at Taylor University: CRINGING AT CHURCH: WHAT IT’S LIKE AS AN AUTISTIC PERSON IN YOUR CONGREGATION While we share a constellation of symptoms to various degrees, people on the spectrum are unique individuals who land in many denominations and churches. We will be in your congregation, and I pray your mind and heart are open to us. For we, too, are fearfully and wonderfully—if a little differently—made. Creating a church environment that is friendly... Read more

Who does the Ministry in Ephesians 4:12?

Last updated on: December 18, 2018 at 6:11 pm By Michael F. Bird

Ephesians 4:11-12 is an important text for a theology of ministry and the church. The issue in v. 11 is whether there are four or five offices, since pastors and teachers are both governed by the one article, so are they two distinct offices (pastors and teachers) or one combined office (maybe pastors-who-teach)? Then, in v. 12, are the three prepositional phrases in v. 12 co-ordinate (see Lincoln in WBC) or else is the second phrase subordinate to the first... Read more

New Book on Divine Sonship in the Ancient World

Last updated on: January 7, 2019 at 6:37 pm By Michael F. Bird

Son of God: Divine Sonship in Jewish and Christian Antiquity Edited by Garrick V. Allen, Kai Akagi, Paul Sloan and Madhavi Nevader Eisenbrauns, April 2019. Available on Amazon.com I think this is the proceedings from the St. Andrews conference from a few years back. Here’s the blurb: In antiquity, “son of god”—meaning a ruler designated by the gods to carry out their will—was a title used by the Roman emperor Augustus and his successors as a way to reinforce their divinely appointed status. But this... Read more

Jesus, Skepticism, and the Problem of History

Last updated on: March 18, 2019 at 5:49 pm By Michael F. Bird

Keep an eye out for this forthcoming book: Jesus, Skepticism, and the Problem of History: Criteria and Context in the Study of Christian Origins (forthcoming with Zondervan, October 2019). I have a contribution with Dr. Ben Sutton about history, memory, and the speeches in Acts. In recent years, a number of New Testament scholars engaged in academic historical Jesus studies have concluded that such scholarship cannot yield secure and illuminating conclusions about its subject, arguing that the search for a historically “authentic”... Read more

Phoebe: A Story

Last updated on: December 12, 2018 at 6:37 pm By Michael F. Bird

Paula Gooder Phoebe: A Story. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2018. Available at IVP or Hodder & Stoughton By Kate Tyler Biblical students will be familiar with the importance of context (and if they’re not, they obviously need to do further study!) Good exegesis requires being aware of various technical details such as authorship, dating and structure, and then of the internal details of a passage. Who are the characters mentioned? What is the historic setting in which they live?... Read more

John Barclay’s Very Brief History of Paul

Last updated on: March 28, 2019 at 4:44 pm By Michael F. Bird

John M. G. Barclay Paul: A Very Brief History London: SPCK, 2017. Available at SPCK. This is a terrific little book, you can read it in 1-2 hours, where Barclay gives a brief overview of Paul and his influence. Barclay describes Paul as “one of the most interesting and unusual characters from the ancient world” and refers to Paul’s “anomalous” attitude to Jewish practices – FYI, inspired by Barclay on this point, I wrote an entire book on Paul as An... Read more