I had great fun with Matthew Bates from the OnScript podcast discussing my book Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology, where we get into everything from christology, Ebionites, apotheosis, Cannabis flavoured Tofu, Ted Nugent crossed with Hugh Jackman, and me singing a segment from Hamilton. You can listen to the whole thing here. Episode: It is sometimes claimed that Jesus became God for the earliest Christians on the basis of Roman models of human divinization or apotheosis. Did the earliest Christians really promote Jesus... Read more

Below is a great video by Ridley College’s Rhys Bezzant about Luther’s 95 Theses. Read more

To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, can I recommend the following book by Volker Leppin and translated into English by Ridley College’s Rhys Bezzant and Karen Roe: This brief, insightful biography of Martin Luther strips away the myths surrounding the Reformer to offer a more nuanced account of his life and ministry. Coinciding with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, this accessible yet robustly historical and theological work highlights the medieval background of Luther’s life in contrast to... Read more

A great video from a couple of years ago where Richard Bauckham and Ben Witherington, two fine scholars, discuss the Book of Revelation. Read more

Great quote from David deSilva about the significance of John’s critique of Roman power in the Book of Revelation: John raises his voice alongside those of other protestors like the authors of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch. John was not a solitary, raving lunatic. The asylum was full of people who just couldn’t ‘see things’ in line with the official picture. The multiplicity of voices calling out against Rome’s injustices at the close of the first century, of which John’s... Read more

Thompson, Curt. The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves.  Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2015. Review by Graham Stanton In June 2010, Brené Brown delivered a now famous talk at a TEDx gathering in Houston called, “The Power of Vulnerability.” Brown spoke of her research that had identified vulnerability as the common feature of people who lived wholehearted lives, with a strong sense of worthiness, love, and belonging. In a follow up talk in March 2012, Brown... Read more

Here is the TOC of JSHJ 15.1 (2017): Andrew Nicolotti The Scourge of Jesus and the Roman Scourge: Historical and Archaeological Evidence Jordan J. Ryan The Historian’s Craft and the Future of Historical Jesus Research: Engaging Brant Pitre’s Jesus and the Last Supper as a Work of History Alan Kirk Ehrman, Bauckham and Bird on Memory and the Jesus Tradition Jeffrey B. Gibson John the Baptist and the Origin of the Lord’s Prayer Klyne Snodgrass Are the Parables Still the Bedrock of... Read more

I really enjoy the History of Byzantium podcast by Robin Pierson. Just came across a couple of episodes about the life of John Chrysostom (part 1 and parts 2, 3, 4), documents John’s career, including some great info on Antioch and Constantinople. Read more

I’m reading (for the umpteenth time) Richard Bauckham’s The Theology of the Book of Revelation (Cambridge: CUP, 1993) and continue to be amazed at how excellent this book is! Love this quote from the book: Revelation offers not an esoteric and encoded forecast of historical events but rather a theocentric vision of the coming of God’s universal kingdom, contextualised in the late first-century world dominated by Roman power and ideology. It calls on Christians to confront the political idolatries of the time... Read more

TRINITY THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE, PERTH LECTURER/SENIOR LECTURER IN THEOLOGY Trinity Theological College, Perth, invites applications and expressions of interest for the position of full-time Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Theology and related areas (to begin July 2018 [negotiable]). Trinity aims to equip people so that their ministries and lives will be shaped by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In order to teach and model such a ministry, applicants for this position will evidence a mature Christian faith and Christ-like character, along with a... Read more