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Look what is hot off the presses! Mark Roberts on Ephesians and Con Campbell on 1-3 John in the Story of God Bible Commentary Series. Read more

One of the things that N.T. Wright has argued is that for most Jews living in the second temple period, their worldview, when one sums it up, is that they lived in a protracted state of punitive exile despite the return of the Jews to Judea in the sixth century. Wright has argued: Most Jews of this period, it seems, would have answered the question of ‘where are we?’ in language which, reduced to its simplest form, meant: we are... Read more

Jon Coutts A Shared Mercy: Karl Barth on Forgiveness and the Church Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016. Available at Amazon.com Reviewed by Felicity Clift   ‘This is a book about forgiveness, and as such it is a book about the church.’ In this opening line of his introduction to A Shared Mercy: Karl Barth on Forgiveness and the Church, Jon Coutts captures the point of his efforts. The church is the church because of forgiveness – both received and... Read more

In recent times, the account of the Gerasene demoniac has proved to be fertile soil for liberation and post-colonial interpretations.[1] Generally speaking, in post-colonial interpretation, a text is studied with a view to challenging hegemonic western perspectives, exposing its sponsorship of totalizing agendas and imperialist regimes, identifying hidden protests embedded within a text, and hearing the voices of those marginalized either in and/or by a text. The horde of demons possessing the Gentile man are called “legion,” which is the... Read more

The Gospel of Matthew was the church’s favourite book. It was the most quoted, most copied, most read, and the most preached Christian book of the early centuries. The immense popularity of Matthew can easily be accounted for. First, Matthew was a great instruction manual on the person of Jesus and the nature of discipleship. Matthew presents Jesus as a new Moses and the long-awaited David deliverer who ushered in the kingdom of heaven. The five major discourses in Matthew’s... Read more

John Barclay Paul and the Gift Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 2015 Available at Amazon.com Reviewed by Tim Foster, Ridley College John Barclay’s Paul and the Gift is the most significant contribution in Pauline theology since E. P. Sanders’s Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977). That’s a big call given the proliferation of books in the past 40 years amidst the ferocious debate on Pauline theology; not the least being N. T. Wright’s monumental Paul and the Faithfulness of God. What sets Barclay’s... Read more

Hey, I have five Faithlife Study Bibles to give away, which are great by the way, gorgeously pictorial and are very helpful. If you want to win one, post your answer to this question in the comments section: Describe a time when you were surprised to see something new in a passage of Scripture that you had read many times before. What can we do to try to see familiar passages with fresh eyes so we can have more experiences... Read more

Great lecture below by Larry Hurtado, based on his book Destroyer of the Gods, about early Christian distinctiveness in the Roman world. Read more

The recent call to boycott Coopers Beer because of its association with the Australian Bible Society marks a shift in the marriage equality debate towards ensuring that no debate is even allowed. 2017 is the 200th anniversary of the Australian Bible Society, the oldest society in Australia. To celebrate the anniversary, Coopers Brewery generously planned to produce 10, 000 commemorative cans of beer with Bible verses printed on them. So far no problem. Then, Liberal MPs Tim Wilson and Andrew... Read more