I’m reading Rudolf Bultmann’s 1952 essay “On the Problem of Demythologizing,” where I noticed this backhand jibe by him at the criticisms of E. Stauffer: I think I could amicably part with Stauffer if only we could each make a confession: I, that I understand nothing about “Realtheologie,” and he, that he understand nothing about demythologizing. That’s what smack talk looks like in German academia. Read more

From The Gospel Project, is a great little video, only three minutes, which provides a short but able summary of the Old Testament. I like resources like this for two reasons: First, for most lay Christians, the stuff before Jesus is a bit of a blur of names, places, and dates, with no conceivable narrative unity. Second, some lay Christians like to jump from Genesis 3 to Romans 5 and ignore the story of Israel and even minimize the Gospels as... Read more

Here is my interview with Rachel Blomberger from Eerdmans about my book An Anomalous Jew. I’m a bit slow out of the blocks, but I hit full stride eventually. Gives you a good overview of what the book is about! Read more

Kenneth E. Bailey The Good Shepherd: A Thousand Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament  Downer’s Grove: IVP Academic, 2014. Available from Amazon.com. By Jill Firth The late Kenneth Bailey needs no introduction to most readers because of his expertise in Middle Eastern culture after spending 40 years in Egypt and the Middle East. Bailey draws on his own experiences of shepherding, and on Arabic translations of the Bible, mediaeval and modern Arabic and Armenian commentaries, and the... Read more

I wrote an article for ABC News about what American College students think, fear, and hope for in relation to Donald Trump’s presidency. What the students had to say might surprise you! How American College Students Feel About a Trump Presidency Are all millennials hiding in their safe spaces and hugging a therapy bear, or are others more sanguine — perhaps even upbeat — about Mr Trump’s prospects? If I had to summarise how these students viewed Mr Trump, it would be this: partial... Read more

Over at Books at a Glance is a very, very positive review of God and the Faithfulness of Paul which is a series of responses to N.T. Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of God. The review is by Mark Baker who’s conclusion is probably the best sales pitch for the book one could make: It seems fitting to outline how this book might be used for various people in the church and academy. First, it goes without saying that God and the... Read more

Michelle Lee-Barnewall Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian: A Kingdom Corrective to the Evangelical Debate Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016. Available on Amazon.com Reviewed by Felicity Clift When people enter the complementarian/egalitarian debate most people are looking for an answer. Most want a definitive answer: ‘Yes, women may hold positions of authority in the church’, or ‘Yes, the man is the head of the household’. For those seeking an either/or outcome Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian (2016) may be a disappointing read.... Read more

Scot McKnight has a great post on Why Be Anglican? referring primarily to the beauty and wonder of the liturgical year. It’s a great post and Scot talks about his own journey into Anglicanism as well. In addition, for my own amusement, and perhaps even yours, I have included a further list of ten reasons for being Anglican! Why be Anglican? Reason # 10 – Seasonal colours, Trinity Sunday, we have wine, and you get to say “Eucharist.” Why be Anglican?... Read more

Steven C. Hallam  Basics of Classical Syriac: Complete Grammar, Workbook, and Lexicon Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016. Available at Amazon.com By Jill Firth Steven C. Hallam has taught Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and Syriac at a graduate level. He has written a clear and practical text welcoming new students into the Syriac language. Syriac is a dialect of ancient Aramaic, and is similar in basic structure to Aramaic as well as having many similarities to Hebrew. The book is written for those who... Read more

Sidney Greidanus  Preaching Christ from Psalms: Foundations for Expository Sermons in the Christian Year  Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016. Available from Amazon.com. Preaching Christ from Psalms builds on Greidanus’ foundational book, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament (1999) and further volumes on preaching narrative (Genesis), wisdom (Ecclesiastes) and prophecy/apocalyptic (Daniel). Greidanus settled on a lectionary approach, after deciding not to develop a book on imprecatory psalms (‘what pastor would want to preach a series of sermons on the imprecatory psalms?’), the... Read more