I’m about to return to the subject of parting of the ways between Jews and Christians for an IBR paper and in my notes I found some interesting quotes on the subject: E.P. Sanders on the historical Jesus: “I am inclined to look for basic disagreement, beginning even with Jesus, as the source of the Jewish-Christian split …” John Barclay on Paul: “Thus, mostly unwittingly, Paul fostered the fateful division between Christianity and Judaism.” Ernst Haenchen on Luke: “we are... Read more
As I read my twitter feed, I have to say that the USA seems to be divided like never before in my lifetime, the rhetoric is venomous, the denunciations are extreme, and each side talks about the other as the worst instance of evil they could imagine, often imputing motives to them. Added to that is cable news which creates a 24/7 frenzy, social media which amplifies the worst of people’s minds, and politics becomes a reality TV show on tribal political... Read more
I’m proud to report that Zondervan has just released a series of video lectures by myself on the Apostles’ Creed based on the book What Christians Ought To Believe. You can access the course via Zondervan, Biblemesh, or Amazon. The course covers the following: Christian Creeds for Beginners Why You Need the Creed I Believe Believing in the Father Believing in the Son—Divine and Human Believing in the Son—Messiah and Lord Believing in the Virgin Birth MIDTERM Believing in the Cross—The... Read more
Dr. Robert Yarbrough is Professor of New Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary and is known for his work on the Johannine Letters and Gospel of John. Now, however, he has just released a commentary on the Pastoral Epistles of 1-2 Timothy and Titus as part of the Pillar New Testament Commentary Series. Here is my interview with Yarbrough about his book: I guess many will want to know what you make of the authorship question of the Pastoral Letters. Did... Read more
At Ridley College I’ve been preaching a series of sermons on “The Bible and Disability,” reflecting on the theme as the parent of a child with autism, and going into various biblical perspectives. You can listen to the first sermon here on disability and the imago dei. In sum, I show why various theories of the imago dei come up short when it comes to a theology of disability. Thereafter, I make two main points: #Disabled Lives Matter #Disabled Lives are... Read more
I’m steadily reading some books on identity and theology and two recent one’s are worth noting. First, Brian S. Rosner, Known by God: A Biblical Theology of Personal Identity (Biblical Theology for Life; ed. Jonathan Lunde; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017). I’m probably a tad biased towards this book since Brian is, well, my boss. However, this is a great biblical and theological account of Christian identity. Brian takes inspiration from 1 Cor 8:3, “But whoever loves God is known by God”... Read more
In Australia at the moment we are having big discussions about religious freedom and whether our religious freedom laws need to be updated. Some folks are dismissing or attacking the idea on the grounds that we already have religious freedom and religious freedom is nothing more than a right to discriminate anyway, so the less of it the better. I’ve already written an article on this over at Public Discourse and now have another one over at ABC Religion and... Read more
Now temporarily available for download is Grant Macaskill’s article “Autism Spectrum Disorders and the New Testament: Preliminary Reflections,” Journal of Disability & Religion 22:1 (2018): 15-41. He writes: This article is intended as a preliminary set of reflections on how the New Testament might shape the values of Christian communities in relation to ASD, and is offered as a contribution from the discipline of biblical studies to the disciplines of pastoral theology and theological ethics. It is an article intended to move us toward a... Read more
Here is an interview I did with Jonathan Petersen of Biblegateway. Bible Gateway asked him for the five books he would recommend to help people understand the Bible better. Here’s his reply. Michael Bird: This is a hard task; so many good books out there; one’s I’ve learned from and benefited from. But, if I had to pick, I’d probably go with this fabulous five: Jesus and the Victory of God by N.T. Wright For me, reading this book was like leaving The... Read more
I’m reading a bunch of books on science, religion, creation, the fall, the soul, and neurobiology. First, Thomas M. Crisp, Steve L. Porter, and Gregg A. Ten Elshof (eds.), Neuroscience and the Soul: The Human Person in Philosophy, Science, and Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016). An up-to-date discussion on mind/body dualism, Christian monism, the soul as real or metaphor, and a mixture of philosophy and neurobiology. I really liked the essay by William Hasker on “Do My Quarks Enjoy Beethoven?” And a... Read more
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