In this month’s issue of Review of Biblical Literature, Donald D. Binder reviews Jordan J. Ryan’s book, The Role of the Synagogue in the Aims of Jesus (Fortress Press, 2017). Binder relates that in the 1990s and early 2000s there was a renaissance of writings on the historicity of the synagogue during the especially the time of Jesus. But he adds that there has always been a dearth of such writing on the relationship between Jesus’ teachings as recorded in the... Read more
Tiger Woods had a three-stroke lead over Japan’s best golfer and PGA Tour player Hideki Matsuyama when play in the fourth and final round of the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan, was stopped for the remainder of today due to rain storms. The two players started today early in order to complete their third round and then stopped play at the 11th hole of the fourth round. Gary Woodland is in third place four strokes back. After opening this... Read more
Dr. Larry Hurtado–a leading New Testament scholar, professor at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a friend of mine–has just reviewed Dr. Cambry G. Pardee’s book, Scribal Harmonization in the Synoptic Gospels (Brill, 2019) in the Society of Biblical Literature’s Review of Biblical Literature. Hurtado gives it very high marks. Even though I’m not a biblical scholar with a PhD, I’ve been interested in New Testament gospel harmonization for over thirty years. It’s because my first book was a single-narrative harmony... Read more
Tiger Woods has a two-stroke lead at the Zozo Championship on the PGA Tour in Chiba, Japan. After two rounds, he has carded two 64s, each of which is six under par on the water-logged Narashino Country Club. Friday’s round was canceled due to an astounding twelve inches of rain. Current U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland is alone at second. Japan’s hope, Hideki Matsuyama, is tied at third. Tiger Woods got off to a terrible start in this limited field event... Read more
When I was young, I used to love to go to my local Christian bookstore, browse the many books, and buy some. Reading those books was one of my main ways to develop as a Christian. It broadened my perspective rather than only being taught at my church. One particular independent Christian bookstore I frequented was owned by a guy who had some sons, and we all used to discuss theology together. Twenty years ago, there were 7,000 Christian bookstores... Read more
I use the word Trumpgate, reminiscent of Watergate, for the apparent scandal of President Trump’s tenure in office. He is now under investigation for impeachment by the congressional House of Representatives. It increasingly appears that some of his closest presidential advisors, some of whom are professing Christians, could be implicated and thereby face legal jeopardy. First, there is the staunchly evangelical Vice-President Mike Pence. He is very vocal about his Christian commitment. His possible legal liability appears to be less... Read more
President Trump told the media today at a Cabinet meeting in the Oval Office, “You people with this phony emoluments clause,” referring to one or both of the two emolument clauses in the U.S. Constitution. I was watching that on TV when he said that, and I thought, “did he just say ‘phony emoluments clause’? Surely not.” I thought I must have misheard him. Not so! What a disrespectful statement about our Constitution. What was the context? President Trump was... Read more
Late news now but yesterday, Justin Thomas shot 67 to win The CJ Cup@Nine Bridges at Jeju Island, South Korea by two strokes over Danny Lee. He had won it two years ago. Thomas and Lee were well ahead of the field as they played the last nine holes sort of like match play. Thomas took the lead on the 14th hole, and Lee knocked himself out of it with bogies on the 15th and 16th holes. It was Thomas’... Read more
House impeachment proceedings are moving fast. They are just the opposite of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year investigation that resulted in a 450-page report that few Americas read even though it contained many accusations in which Donald Trump and/or his election campaign team in 2016 may have committed possible “crimes and misdemeanors” that the U.S. Constitution requires for impeaching a president. Each of the three weeks of the impeachment proceedings have proved increasingly devastating to Donald Trump’s future in remaining... Read more
I like the television program “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations.” Rubenstein has a wit that is so common to a lot of Jewish people. In David’s case, it is quite a dry wit. Have you ever pondered how many great American comedians have been Jewish? It’s astonishing. I don’t know what they’re drinking, but I’d like to have some of it. Today, Rubenstein was interviewing one of the richest men on the planet–Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft... Read more
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