There is a great essay by Lewis Ayres on “Irenaeus, the Rule of Faith, and the Task of the Christian Intellecutal” from his Academia.edu page. Well worth reading! Ireaneus does not envisage a Christian intellectual working other than at the service of the community and for the purpose of instructing others. He is concerned that the work of the Christian intellectual serve the overall visible coherence of the “body of truth.” The appropriate institutional context for intellectual work seems to be conceived... Read more

I just discovered a brilliant one stop website for all things about Syriac and Syrian Christianity with Syriaca.org which provides references on places, persons, saints, authors, and hagiography in ancient Syrian Christianity. If you want to get started, try Steven C. Hallam’s Basics of Classical Syriac. Read more

If you don’t know who Jacob Neusner is, then you probably haven’t read a book on Judaism or Christianity in the last 50 years. The dude is epic and he has written over a 1000 books, essays, articles, and entries. Aaron W. Hughes has written a book about him Jacob Neusner: An American Jewish Iconoclast (New York: New York Uni Press, 2016), detailing his place in American Jewish history and in the study of religion. Here’s the blurb: Jacob Neusner (born 1932)... Read more

Will be out at SBL just in time for Christmas. Tom Wright Advent for Everyone: A Journey through Matthew London: SPCK, 2016. Tom Wright takes you into the heart of the Gospel of Matthew, exploring the key themes of watching, repenting, healing and loving.Sparkling reflections by our most popular Christian author, from Advent to Christmas. Packed with vivid anecdotes and stimulating insights into the Matthew’s portrait of JesusA welcome devotional resource, both for fans of the For Everyone commentaries and... Read more

Good news from Jason Maston. On March 2-4, 2017 the Department of Theology at HBU, in conjunction with Lanier Theological Library, is hosting the conference How the Bible Came into Being. The conference will consider the formation of the biblical canon, the literature included and excluded, and its theological significance. Our keynote speakers are James Charlesworth (Princeton Theological Seminary) and Lee McDonald (formerly of Acadia Divinity College). The plenary talks are free and open to the public. We also invite... Read more

Stanley E. Porter Linguistic Analysis of the Greek New Testament: Studies in Tools, Methods, and Practice Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2015. Available from Amazon.com This is a volume of collected essays and presentations by biblical Greek guru Stanley Porter. It covers a variety of topics like lexicography, linguistics, discourse analysis, verbal aspect, with some specific examples of how a thick understanding of linguistics can illuminate a study of the Greek New Testament. The theme of the book is perhaps best... Read more

Over at the Zondervan Academic Blog, Jeremy Bouma interacts with the section in WCOB where I talk about the virgin birth. He uses the provocative title: “Should Christians Defend the Virgin Birth?” You only have to watch the famous episode of Not the Nine O’Clock News where they mock the virgin birth (“No, don’t laugh, they can do it in a test tube these days”) and Jane the Virgin to realize that the idea of virgins having babies is a little... Read more

I’ve just finished reading through Richard Longenecker’s epic NIGTC Romans commentary and I loved what he had to say about Phoebe in Rom 16:1-2. Phoebe had been Paul’s patron during his ministry at Corinth, had most likely heard from his own lips the contents of the letter as it was being formulated, and must have had some part in discussing with Paul and other Christians of that area at least a few portions of the letter – and therefore would... Read more

Bargain bonanza, my Romans commentary in the SGBC series is now only $6.09 on kindle! It is normally $36.99, so get it while you can.   Read more

Okay, this might be a tad late for friends in Ireland, UK, NZ, and the USA, but in Australia we are yet to legalize same sex marriage. So the good folks at the Australian Christian Lobby have published a short article of mine where I try to set out a reasonable and non-homophobic case against same-sex marriage. I like to think the article is empathetic, winsome, and robust, but others will have to render a verdict upon it, esp. if it achieves... Read more