I somehow can’t get away from singing the praises of Larry Hurtado’s newest book, Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World.  It really is a phenomenal book. Hurtado has also been writing about some of the subject material on his own blog. His most recent post, “When Christians Were Atheists,” is great and talks about the fact that the early Christians were viewed as “atheists” by the pagan culture that surrounded them. Of course they weren’t atheists... Read more

Ben Witherington has been posting sermon selections from his doctoral supervisor, the late, great C. K. Barrett, over on his blog, The Bible and Culture, for the last couple of weeks. Barrett was not only one of the greatest New Testament scholars of the twentieth century (James D. G. Dunn described Barrett as “the greatest UK commentator on New Testament writings since J. B. Lightfoot”), he was also a very gifted preacher. It has been a blessing to read this material... Read more

Jason Micheli (a fellow David Bentley Hart fan) has a thought-provoking post over at Tamed Cynic on the Incarnation. Micheli discusses the reality of the Incarnation as eternally necessary. That is to say, the Incarnation of Christ was not merely accidental in relation to the Fall. It was not conditioned by the Fall. Micheli quotes Duns Scotus, one of the preeminent theologians of the High Middle Ages, on the matter: “The Incarnation of the Son of God is the very reason for... Read more

Well it’s that time of year…the time when people list their “Top” lists of 2016. Top movies. Top songs. Top memes. Top terrible moments (that’d be a long list for 2016). Top controversies in the evangelical blogosphere. You get the idea. For those of who live in the academic world of seminaries, biblical studies, and theology the bread and butter of “Top” lists is, of course, books! What else?! Of all the books I have read this past year the... Read more

(Author’s Note – I wrote this post a couple of years back, in my second year of seminary. Having had some time to think on theology a bit more since initially writing it, I’ve tweaked a few elements and wanted to re-post it hear in revised form. It is an incredibly important topic and one I think deserves a place here. -TSB) Is Belief in the Trinity Important for the Christian Faith and Life? I had a friend of mine... Read more

Hello readers! I recently preached at my church, Offerings UMC, for the first Sunday of Advent. Following the Revised Common Lectionary I preached on Matthew 24:36-44 (I conducted my exegesis from the Greek text, but our pew Bibles are NIV so that is the translation you’ll see in the sermon text). I really enjoyed both writing and preaching the sermon and I thought I’d share it here as well! I hope you find it worthwhile reading in this Advent season!... Read more

Hello readers! Welcome to my brand new blog, The Christian Revolution! At this point, I am sure that most of you reading this will understand what a blog is and what it is intended to do. That being said, my hope in writing on The Christian Revolution blog is that I (and any future guest contributors) will be able to provide some insightful commentary on all things related to Christianity, the Bible, theology, culture, politics, philosophy…all of the above really.... Read more