May the fourth be with you!   Read more

Richard Bauckham The Bible in the Contemporary World: Hermeneutical Ventures Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015. Available on Amazon.com This is a great collection of essays by Richard Bauckham on matters related to postmodernism, biblical criticism, biblical prophecy, creation, ecology, freedom, and wisdom. I thought the first chapter of the book on “Reading Scripture as a Coherent Story” was a tour de force. Bauckham makes some good points about how reading the Bible as story should not lead to the marginalization... Read more

In this clip from the Now and the Not Yet show, we give 5 tips of mentoring and 5 reasons why John the Baptist would be a bad mentor. Read more

American author and speaker Eric Metaxas has been in Australia talking on the topic of “courage,” and his speaking events have been protested by pro- LGBT activists. I know, I was at one event last night, which didn’t get out of hand thankfully, but it is kind of intimidating walking into a church with 50+ angry people with placards chanting at you. Concurrently, Australia’s top political and cultural talk show called Q&A had a special episode about Christianity in Australia. During... Read more

If you don’t know who Michael Gorman is, then you clearly haven’t kept abreast of NT studies. Gorman is a Pauline scholar, who makes the odd forays in Johannine literature, and he is always worth reading. His Apostle of the Crucified Lord is an excellent intro to Paul’s letters which I still use (and a second edition is forthcoming). Thankfully Wipf & Stock has a great video where you get to meet and learn about Michael Gorman. Read more

I confess that I blushed when I read Jim Gordon’s generous review of my Romans commentary forthe SGBC series in the Regent’s Park College Review (a Baptist College in Oxford). Here’s my favourite paragraphs (forgive the shameless self-promotion): The exegesis is readable. This is not a banal or fatuous comment. A major strength of Bird’s writing is its readability. Without sacrificing depth or complexity in his exegesis, Bird genuinely wrestles with the next stage of bringing this text into our... Read more

Talk about heresy. This picture not only exhibits binitarian Arianism but is combined with the deification of moral reprobate of a man, who some hope will create a theocracy on earth, by fixing every problem with bombs or walls. Picture from Rhyne Putman on FB. Read more

Glad to announce that my volume, The Gospel of the Lord: How the Early Church Wrote the Story of Jesus is now available via Logos. Read more

John Walton & Tremper Longman How to Read Job Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2015. Available at Amazon.com By Lauren Weatherake John H. Walton and Tremper Longman III’s book, ‘How to Read Job’ provides refreshing new insights for its readers as these prolific Old Testament scholars go against the grain and reject the idea that the book of Job should simply be read as a manual for how to deal with suffering as they open with the statement that those who... Read more

The latest issue of Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters 5.2 (2015) is out and is a bumper issue including presentations from the HBU conference on Paul and Judaism: Ben C. Blackwell Paul and Judaism Nathan Eubank Justice Endures Forever: Paul’s Grammar of Generosity Daniel R. Streett Cursed by God? Galatians 3:13, Social Status, and Atonement Theory in the Context of Early Jewish Readings of Deuteronomy 21:23 David A. Burnett “‘So Shall Your Seed Be’: Paul’s Use of Genesis... Read more