In Michael Gorman’s wonderful new collection of his studies about participation in Christ (Participating in Christ: Explorations in Paul’s Theology and Spirituality (#ad)), he proposes a translation of Philippians 2:5 that starts off that famous song about Jesus in 2:6-11, and I will provide here the NIV’s translation: 2:5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6    Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used... Read more

I am not a city person – I find the great outdoors far more interesting. Sometimes we are lucky and the great outdoor comes to us! Saturday morning we were treated to a window seat as ‘nature’ took its course. An eight point buck was bedded down and patiently waiting in the back yard. We often see does and fawns in the yard (they devoured two of our young cherry trees last year! – we will have to protect the... Read more

When it comes to the gifting of women many erect an 8-foot can’t-see-through-it fence that says “No Women Permitted” on the basis of 1 Timothy 2:8-15. Men are behind the door determining who gets in (men) and who doesn’t (women). What was once settled opinion and established social practice has been rattled by changing social conditions and reexamination of settled opinion. Andrew Bartlett, in his new book Men and Women in Christ, probes this most difficult of texts. (#ad) Here are... Read more

Here are the winners for the Five free copies of The State of New Testament Studies.  I have emailed each of you and put you in contact with Baker: Andrew Terry Cheryl Loo Karl Koeppen Maria Hearing Kevin Clemens For those who did not win, we have another offer: Please go here: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/the-state-of-new-testament-studies-a-survey-of-recent-research-9780801098796 Enter the discount code SNTS19 at checkout to get 40% off. Read more

OK, I’m tired of the term “evangelical” but let’s get over it and just (for the moment) drop the discussion and ask What would an evangelical theology look like? Many would say “biblical” and that, like forgiveness said C.S. Lewis of forgiveness, is a lovely idea until someone has to choose which “biblical” body of literature would take as the set of categories. Try as one might one has to choose when it comes to “biblical.” The most influential evangelical... Read more

By Dennis Venema. Dennis and I are co-authors of Adam and the Genome, and in this post he responds to recent news about an original couple. I’m not sure what gets your inbox pinging, but one of the things that lights up mine is folks claiming that humans can descend from just two people. Just this week saw another example of this, and it seems to be getting some press over at the Gospel Coalition: (E)vangelicals have been told for... Read more

It’s All Saints Sunday but for our Church of the Redeemer it is a kind of Opening Day. We will worship God for the first time today in our new church building. Here’s our prayer for today. Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you... Read more

There is probably no more prestigious lectures series than the Gifford Lectures and the subject of N.T. Wright’s lectures was history and eschatology and history and God and history and Christ, with an epistemology of love running right through the whole set of lectures. The lectures are now available as History and Eschatology: Jesus and the Promise of Natural Theology. Buy it and be educated. This is the time of the year when we professors enter a season of “book shock.”... Read more

Good morning from cold and snow covered Chicagoland. Cancel Culture, President Obama speaks (well): Which brings me to what Obama said at an Obama Foundation event Tuesday about young people, social media and the demand for absolute purity of belief in all things. Here’s the key bit: “This idea of purity and you’re never compromised and you’re always politically ‘woke’ and all that stuff. You should get over that quickly. The world is messy, there are ambiguities. People who do really good... Read more

By Mike Glenn When I was a little boy, I thought alligators lived under my bed. Yes, I looked under my bed. I looked at night (when I could work up the courage), and I looked under my bed during the day (when I was much braver). I could never see any alligators, but anybody who knows anything about alligators knows they are masters of camouflage. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there. For that reason,... Read more