Where Should Theology Begin?

Last updated on: September 24, 2018 at 6:36 pm By Michael F. Bird

Whereas patristic, medieval theologians, and early Reformed confession began with God as the starting point for theology (e.g. Apostles’s Creed; Origen, First Principles; John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith; Anselm, Prologion; Peter Lombard, Sentences; Aquinas, Summa Theologica; Augsburg Confession; Calvin, Institutes; Scot’s Confession; Tetrapolitan Confession), it was the Second Helvetic Confession, followed by the Irish Articles and Westminster Confession, that broke the mold by putting the doctrine of Scripture first in the order of topics covered in theology. This Protestant move is... Read more

Jesus the Stonemason?

Last updated on: September 23, 2018 at 7:10 am By Michael F. Bird

As a tekton, what was Jesus’ vocation? In most translations of Mk. 6.3 (cf. Mt. 13.55; Gos. Jas. 9.3; Justin, Dial. Tryph. 88) it is usually assumed that he was a carpenter, making ploughs and yokes according to Justin. However, the word has a fairly broad meaning and it can denote a general “craftsman” a “builder” or most often I find a “stonemason”. Unfortunately due to a history of translation, not to mention the near-canonical status of Josh McDowell’s book More than... Read more

Karl Barth on Galatians 2:20

Last updated on: September 23, 2018 at 7:04 am By Michael F. Bird

For the Barthophiles out there, here’s Karl Barth on Galatians 2:19b-20. “The fact that I live in the faith of the Son of God, in my faith in him, has its basis in the fact that He Himself, the Son of God, first believed for me … the great work of faith has already been done by the One whom I follow in my faith, even before I believe, even if I no longer believe, in such a way that... Read more

Rachel Held Evans on Jesus’s “Racial Bias”

Last updated on: November 24, 2018 at 4:38 pm By Michael F. Bird

Author and blogger Rachel Held Evans recently posted this on twitter about Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician/Canaanite woman: This line that Jesus changed his ethnic prejudice about Syro-Phoenicians based on this woman’s faith is a standard line in some quarters of scholarship, and one that has even filtered into some Jesus films. It just so happens that I wrote my PhD thesis about Jesus and Gentiles, so I’ve studied a thing or two about this, and developed my own opinion. Here is... Read more

50 Maxims for Men in an Age of Toxic Masculinity and Identitarian Craziness

Last updated on: November 23, 2018 at 9:34 pm By Michael F. Bird

I have two boys, I hope they grow up to be men who are godly, good, courageous, compassionate, successful, holy, and noble. I have started making a list of aphorisms to pass on them, giving them the fatherly advice that I – quite frankly – never received. Not all of these sayings are mine, but I find them quite useful. # 1: Marriage is a lot like a US airport, by law it must always be under construction and improvement.... Read more

Ed Stetzer one-on-one with Brian Rosner

Last updated on: November 22, 2018 at 12:56 pm By Michael F. Bird

Over at CT, Ed Stetzer talks to Brian Rosner about his book Known by God and they go into all sorts of topics related to personal identity and theology. Ed: What would you say to the issues of our day where people ‘self-identify’ in ways that Christians might find problematic to the Scriptures? Brian: I don’t deal directly with this issue in the book. But, to be honest, I think the Bible is against all ‘self-identification’. Personal identity is not a ‘do-it-yourself’... Read more

The N.T. Wright Festschrift

Last updated on: November 20, 2018 at 1:07 pm By Michael F. Bird

One God, One People, One Future: Essays in Honour of N. T. Wright Edited by John Anthony Dunne & Eric Lewellen London: SPCK, 2018. Available on Amazon.com.uk I was honoured to have been able to contribute to the N.T. Wright festschrift to celebrate his scholarship and his influence upon a whole generation of scholars. My essay was on “N.T. Wright and the Promise of New Testament Theology” which is a deliberate echo of Norman Perrin’s short book The Promise of Bultmann.... Read more

Hope in Palestine

Last updated on: September 17, 2018 at 2:19 am By Michael F. Bird

I’ve just now finished reading Mitri Raheb and Suzanne Watts Henderson on The Cross in Contexts: Suffering and Redemption in Palestine (New York: Orbis, 2017). The book ended on a nice note: The situation under occupation is very depressing, not only for Palestinians but for many who care for both Palestine and Israel and the people who inhabit them. Visitors to Bethlehem find themselves dismayed as they see the wall on three sides of the little town and experience the entrenched system... Read more

Interview with Craig Blomberg about NT Theology

Last updated on: September 25, 2018 at 6:40 pm By Michael F. Bird

Craig Blomberg of Denver Seminary has a new volume just out, A New Testament Theology (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2018). Here is an interview I did with Craig about the volume: You’ve written many books, mostly on Jesus and the Gospels, but occasional forays into Paul’s letters as well. How does this NT Theology represent a summation of a lifetime of research? I hope the question doesn’t assume either that I am about to die or that this is the last... Read more

Interview with Jōrg Frey about the Theology of Jude and 2 Peter

Last updated on: November 8, 2018 at 1:44 am By Michael F. Bird

Professor Jōrg Frey is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Zurich and is the author The Letter of Jude and the Second Letter of Peter: A Theological Commentary (trans Kathleen Ess; Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2018). Jude and 2 Peter are much neglected letters, and you’ve written a distinctly theological commentary on them, so what would you say is the theological mileage or theological benefits from reading Jude and 2 Peter? Well, my commentary is a... Read more