I’m currently reading through Helmut Koester’s  History and Literature of Early Christianity, where I came across a new proposal on the provenance of 2 Timothy which I had never heard before. According to Koester, Paul’s second letter to Timothy – which he regards as pseudonymous – implies a Philippian provenance: The pastoral Epistles cannot be placed in any situation of the ministry of Paul as it is known from his genuine letters or even as it is portrayed in the... Read more

My close friend Joel Willitts (North Park University) has launched a new blog called Openhearted: Following the Man of Sorrows on the Ancient Path of Lament. This is the place where Joel: writes stories that express the concreteness of a deep wound. The writing is a way to grieve what Evil has done in a community of compassionate lamenters. This openheartedness is the surprising the path to receiving another’s delight and of being truly delighted in. What you’ll find here is... Read more

Former Archbishop of Canterbury writes in NewStatesman on Mass Democracy Has Failed – It’s Time to Seek a Human Alternative. Williams laments that “Trump’s campaign succeeded in spite of the cast-iron demonstrations of his total indifference to truth (not to mention decency). It has offered not a connected strategy for national reconstruction, but an incoherent series of crowd-pleasing postures; as if Trump’s real aim was not to do anything as president but simply to be president, to be the most important man... Read more

At the Evangelical Theological Society annual meeting in San Antonio, I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Scott Rae (Talbot School of Theology, California) speak at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary dinner about how to negotiate the future of the church in a post-Obergefell context. I like the four suggestions/exhortations he made:   1. Engage the LGBT community with respect and kindness to build relationships and correct misperceptions. 2. Be prepared to go to court to protect the right to religious... Read more

The latest issue of JSPL 6.1 (2016) includes some great articles: John K. Goodrich Until the Fullness of the Gentiles Comes In: A Critical Review of Recent Scholarship on the Salvation of “All Israel” (Romans 11:26). Charles Lee Irons The Object of the Law is Realized in Christ: Romans 10:4 and Paul’s Justification Teaching Jeffrey W. Aernie Tablets of Fleshly Hearts: Paul and Ezekiel in Concert Timothy A. Brookins Paul and the Ancient Body Metaphor: Reassessing Parallels Benjamin L. White and Alexander... Read more

Many highlights from ETS/IBR/SBL this year. I had a great time on a review panel engaging Tom McCall’s book An Invitation to Analytic Christian Theology. I was pleased to hear that Wayne Grudem and Bruce Ware have decided to embrace the eternal generation of the Son, which is a giant leap forward in finding common ground in the intra-complementarian civil war about the Trinity and Gender. The SEBTS dinner gave out some worthy awards to people like Robert Stewart, Ray Van... Read more

Australian MP Tim Wilson offers a great lecture on the topic of religious freedom at the Center for Independent Studies. Read more

Just after the US election, I wrote a piece for a prominent Australian News Outlet called The Drum on Who are the Evangelicals Who Supported Trump? Basically trying to explain the different “types” of American evangelicals. For what it’s worth, I think Trump has played the evangelicals. Donald Trump has no record of professing faith. Although he identifies as a religious person when it suits his audience, other times he has bragged about serial adultery, and says he’s never asked God for forgiveness.... Read more

Over at Eerdword, I have a post introducing and explaining the rationale for my new book An Anomalous Jew: Paul among Jews, Greeks, and Romans (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016). In sum, Paul was a socio-religious anomaly. He appeared on the scene of the Greco-Roman world like a sudden yet small ripple moving upon the waters of a still river. He goes mostly unnoticed in his own time, and yet by the time the ripple reaches the shores of the modern... Read more

Over at CPX is a great podcast on Christianity and the Untold Story of Slavery featuring interviews with Rowan Williams, David Bentley Hart, Iain Provan, and Baroness Caroline Cox. Truly amazing stuff, make sure you listen to it! It is from CPX’s forthcoming documentary For the Love of God: How the church is better and worse than you ever imagined, which you absolutely must watch when it comes out, I mean it is awesome, awesome, awesome. Read more