Yeah, that last part was click bait—or maybe not. How many times have you heard someone say, “When is Jesus coming back?” Depends on where your thinking is on a topic that vexes a lot of Christians, including me: What the heck is keeping Jesus from doing what he said he’d do: come back soon? […]
New Testament
Why we should make a really, really big deal about Jesus’s humanity: short interview with J. R. Daniel Kirk on his new book
Today’s post a short interview is with J. R. Daniel Kirk, author of the recently published A Man Attested by God (Eerdmans, 2016). Now, despite what you might conclude from the book’s cover, AMABG is NOT Kirk’s autobiography (haha, read the title slowly and chuckle along with me for a moment). The book, rather, is a study of […]
“But while he was still far off . . . “ (a.k.a., what God’s love looks like)
But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. Luke 15:20 A lot of people have heard of “the parable of the prodigal (i.e., wasteful) son.” Some translations call it “the parable of the lost son,” which is better but not quite there. I prefer “the parable of […]
my top 10 New Testament passages (and the 4th one will shock you!)
A couple of days ago I posted my top 10 list of Old Testament passages, and here are my top 10 New Testament passages. And let me repeat from my last post my distain for the shameless clickbait which is “top 10” lists and especially for dragging God into them. But if we know anything […]
Maybe it’s a good idea to “compromise doctrine” once in a while (Wheaton vs. Hawkins, round 8)
The Wheaton College vs. Larycia Hawkins case is getting more complicated with each passing day, it seems—and gaining greater exposure, which in the court of public opinion will reinforce reason #17 for why Christianity is a bunch of nonsense. I know the principle players may feel differently, but I do not think the main issue here […]
Wheaton College suspends a professor over Islam—but what would Paul have done?
Photo credit: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast If you’re an evangelical with an internet connection, you’ve probably heard about the Wheaton College professor suspended recently for saying that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. First, let me acknowledge the following. The response by the Wheaton leadership—I would bet my bottom dollar—does not represent the views of all […]
did Jesus know everything?
Last week I read a little book by New Testament scholar Raymond E. Brown Jesus: God and Man. It’s a short little book, 2 chapters in fact, each of which first appeared in journals in the mid-1960s, about the time I was going to first grade with my Monkees lunch box. In the first chapter, […]
Jesus’s crucifixion: not exactly a selling point in the ancient world
If you’re living in the Mediterranean world of the 1st century and you want to promote your religion, a “crucified god” is not your headline. Yet that is exactly what we find in the New Testament. I’m reading a little book my Martin Hengel, Crucifixion, written about 40 years ago. Hengel (d. 2009) was a scholar […]
did Jesus even live? a brief thought about scholarship, skepticism, and apologetics
Time and again the study of Jesus has been swamped by waves of radical scepticism–to the point of denial of this historicity of Jesus. Three names may be mentioned as examples. Bruno Bauer (1809-1882), who once lectured in theology at Bonn, regarded the earliest Gospel as a literary work of art: history is produced in it, not described. Albert Kalthoff (1850-1906) understood […]
Reading John: An Interview with Christopher Skinner
Today’s post is an interview with Christopher Skinner, whose book Reading John came out last month. 1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey. I am currently Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Mount Olive and Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at East Carolina […]