Did you know that you can study, very cheaply, a lay-level course on the Reformation filmed on site in Wittenberg, Geneva, Cambridge, and London. Discover the origins and meaning of Protestantism with Ridley College’s own Rhys Bezzant. Great for individuals or groups, adult Sunday school classes, or even anyone wanting a bird’s eye-view of the Reformation. Read more

With the recent publication of N.T. Wright’s biography of Paul (which is better to give lay people than his massive Paul and the Faithfulness of God), there’s been some good publicity on this with Tom interviewed by two people: First, the Paulcast Second, the Eric Metaxas Show. Read more

Patrick Gray, Paul as Problem in History and Culture: The Apostle Paul and His Critics through the Centuries (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2016), x + 262 pp, $21.05, ISBN 9780801048838. Available at Bakerpublishinggroup.com This is easily the best book I’ve read this year! Patrick Gray’s volume is a documentation of the history of anti-Paulinism. Paul has been much maligned in theology, literature, cinema, and by political leaders. Gray is neither Paul’s advocate, nor his defender, but aims “to report on... Read more

Todd Wilson Mere Sexuality: Rediscovering the Christian Vision of Sexuality Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017. Available from Zondervan.com. Review by Andrew Judd Competing visions of sexuality are now simply taken for granted in mainstream western culture, and so Todd Wilson addresses timely questions. What is the core living tradition about human sexuality which Christians of all sorts, through all ages, have embraced? And why is that tradition precious, plausible, and worth preserving? Just as in Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis... Read more

The 92-year-old Old Testament scholar Francis I. Andersen, known for his Anchor Bible commentaries, has made a submission to Australia’s Ruddock Panel on religious freedom and it is worth a read as it includes reflections on almost a century of life! ___ I am an Australian citizen by birth. I am 92 years old. My wife and I between us have 11 children, with spouses, 28 grand-children, 27 great-grandchildren (and counting). We are nearly all Christians, living and thinking in... Read more

Bart Ehrman argues in his most recent book, The Triumph of Christianity, that: Nowhere in his letters does Paul indicate that he spent time in Jerusalem trying to convert anyone; on the contrary he makes it quite clear that he understood himself to be the missionary to the gentiles. Maybe an evangelistic ministry in Jerusalem might not have been part of his ministry, however, I argue in An Anomalous Jew that Paul’s initial ministry was towards Jews (i.e., his time in Arabia... Read more

Here is a video of Mike Bird (Ridley College) and Walter Strickland (SEBTS VP of Kingdom Diversity) on the From the Lectern program talking about gender, immigration, refugees, and vegemite.   Read more

Brian Wright, my former PhD student, gives some practical insight from his PhD thesis about ancient reading communities and what we can learn from them, esp. in terms of reading the Bible together. See his piece at TGC on Don’t Just Read Alone and over at Baptist21 he puts an ice-cube in the soup of those who have erroneous views about the so-called uneducated and illiterate apostles of the early church. Question, is Baptist 21 anything like Forever21?   Read more

If you haven’t subscribed to OnScript yet, you are seriously missing out. The team have lifted the podcast to a whole new level of quality, esp. on the technical side, they even have an intro by a woman with an English accent, so very posh! Interviews you need to listen to are: Lynn Cohick & Amy Brown Hughes – Christian Women in the Patristic World Joshua W. Jipp – Saved by Faith and Hospitality   Read more