One thing that concerns me about social progressives in both Australia and the USA is that they are not really interested in constitutional rights or even the rule of law. They appear, at least to me, so assured of their own ideological self-righteousness that they feel entitled to destroy any dissenters to their progressive ideology. This is never more evident than on the subject of freedom of religion. Some are already campaigning to redefine freedom of religion as freedom of worship. That is to... Read more

I’ve just finished reading Francis Watson’s new book The Fourfold Gospel: A Theological Reading of the New Testament Portraits of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2016), and the book closes with these wonderful words: The Jesus of the gospel is “the one Word of God which we are to hear and which we are to trust and obey in life and in death” [Barmen declaration]. The gospels tell the story of a particular human life and its outcome, yet that life may... Read more

Over at N.T. Wright Online, you will soon be able to take a course on the atonement based on Wright’s forthcoming book. Moreover, if you preorder your copy of The Day the Revolution Began before October 11th then you’ll receive a 50% discount on Wright’s online course centered on the book. Read more

I’m sitting at home, watching football, eating some bread, drinking some wine, and reading another chapter of Gisela Kreglinger’s wonderful book The Spirituality of Wine. I love this  quote from her book about why we use wine at the Lord’s Supper: The drinking of wine in the Lord’s Supper draws us into the world of sacrifice. It is here that the spiritual meaning of wine takes on multiple facets that offer rich reflections for Christian life and practice. Just as grapes... Read more

I’m really stoked with how What Christians Ought To Believe has done in a short time. It’s done fairly well in sales already and there’s been some great reviews. Here’s a few examples: Over at TGC, J.T. English reviews it: I’m thankful that What Christians Ought to Believe provides insightful and deep plunges into the history of the Christian faith. It’s my hope that books like this will be widely adopted by evangelicals as we seek to continue in the faith we’ve received … Without... Read more

N.T. Wright’s forthcoming book is about the atonement and it is called The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’ Crucifixion (New York: HarperOne, October 2016). I’ve read some parts of this and it is a terrific read. Interestingly Wright has changed his mind on a few things like hilasterion and this book documents why and how. Here is the publisher’s blurb: In The Day the Revolution Began, N. T. Wright once again challenges commonly held Christian beliefs as he did... Read more

John Christopher Thomas & Frank Macchia Revelation THNTC; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016. Available at Amazon.com This is a lengthy (670 pages) but thoroughly enjoyable commentary on the Book of Revelation in the Two Horizons series by two Pentecostal scholars in Chris Thomas (NT) and Frank Macchia (Systematics). I was hooked on the first line when Thomas described Revelation as “the most sensual document in the NT, filled with references to thinks seen, heard, smelled, touched, and even tasted.” Thomas... Read more

I’ve just finished reading Robert Jenson, A Theology in Outline: Can These Bones Live? (Oxford: OUP, 2016). I really liked his comments about why he believes in the Devil or Satan: The existence of a tempter (i.e., Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, the Old Serpent, etc.) is an ongoing conviction not just of Christianity but also of Judaism. And this reflects more than anything else a common experience: there does seem to be somebody out there laughing at us. I was very... Read more

Wesley Hill is Anglican, a New Testament scholar, gay, and celibate. At the invitation of Ridley College, he is visiting Melbourne in July/August to speak at a series of seminars on pastoral responses to people with same-sex attraction. See details here. What is more, Hill has has just published a great article on this subject (Wesley Hill, “Washed and Still Waiting: An Evangelical Approach to Homosexuality,” JETS 59.2 [2016]: 323-338). It is a wonderful article, honest, filled with great testimony, compassion, and... Read more

An interesting quote from the venerable James Dunn about how John’s Logos christology relates to his Son christology: That is, various aspects of the Son Christology should not be read independently of the Logos Christology, but rather as intended to serve the Logos Christology. I am thinking not simply of the accusation that Jesus was making himself equal with God (5.18) and Jesus’ striking claim to be one with the Father (10.30); for such claims are an obvious expression of... Read more