Over at the Word Matters podcast (episode 41), there is a great interview with Tom Schreiner on how he changed his view on Rom 2.14-15: CEB: Gentiles don’t have the Law. But when they instinctively do what the Law requires they are a Law in themselves, though they don’t have the Law. They show the proof of the Law written on their hearts, and their consciences affirm it. Their conflicting thoughts will accuse them, or even make a defense for them. CSB: So,... Read more

Christopher J. H. Wright To the Cross: Proclaiming the Gospel from the Upper Room to Calvary Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2017. Available at Amazon.com Reviewed by Felicity Clift The Cross of Christ stands at the heart of the gospel. It is no surprise, then, that the gospel narratives surrounding the crucifixion are familiar in the minds of most believers. But the risk with familiarity is that we fail to feel the impact of these narratives – we have heard it... Read more

The Greek New Testament produced at Tyndale House is a new edition of the Greek New Testament text created under the oversight of editors Dr. Dirk Jongkind (St. Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge) and Dr. Peter Williams (Tyndale House, Cambridge). Together with their team of scholars, they have taken a rigorously philological approach to reevaluating the manuscripts—reexamining spelling and paragraph decisions as well as allowing more recent discoveries related to scribal habits in the earliest manuscripts to inform editorial decisions. Simultaneous... Read more

“Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits?1 How can you want to be enslaved to them again?” (Gal 4:9 NRSV) I’m sure many of you have read J.I. Packer’s classic volume Knowing God, well now, Brian Rosner has written his own book on Christian identity entitled Known by God: A Biblical Theology of Personal Identity (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017). Known... Read more

Today Scot McKnight’s Commentary on Philemon is now available! I’ve read the manuscript, it is good, it rivals Joseph Fitzmyer’s epic commentary. And it is only $17.00! It is definitely one to have on your bookshelf and to use for a preaching series. Here’s the blurb: Paul’s letter to Philemon carries a strong message of breaking down social barriers and establishing new realities of conduct and fellowship. It is also a disturbing text that has been used to justify slavery. Though... Read more

N.T. Wright’s Paper delivered at the 2017 Theological Educator’s Consultation was on “Learning from Paul Together: How New Insights into Paul’s Teaching can Help Move us Forward in Mission,” available to read here. One would not know, from many Pauline interpreters, that the unity of the church was one of Paul’s overriding passions. The famous doctrine of justification, used in the sixteenth century and later as a means of dividing the church, was itself actually designed to affirm the unity of all... Read more

Prof. Markus Bockmuehl (Oxford Uni) has posted a great review of Paul books by Rowan Williams and N.T. Wright. The Paul Debate answers the critics of Wright’s Paul in considerable part by paraphrasing Wright on Paul. As a handy guide to Paul and the Faithfulness of God, it is magnificent. As a “debate”, it features appreciably more give than take. Williams’s slender volume offers a deeply perceptive, theologically fertile and eirenic portrait that pays attention to critical and historical questions... Read more

From the CSCO blog is a great little video by Prof. Helen Bond on the Gospel of Mark as biography. Read more

The OUP Academic blog has an interview with Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler on biblical studies, editing processes, and Jewish-Christian relations. The occasion for the interview is the second edition of the Jewish Annotated New Testament. Here’s a preview: In what areas, in your opinion, have Jewish-Christian relations improved, and where is there still more work to be done?  The greatest benefit is our recognition of our common histories: Jews are becoming increasingly familiar with the New Testament as... Read more