This past Friday (July 11), the sports world received something far greater than free Slurpees (7/11 day) with the much anticipated announcement from LeBron James. Instead of returning to Miami in an attempt to continue the Heat’s near monopoly on the Eastern Conference, LeBron decided to return to Cleveland. I’d guess that most of you…
A little over a year ago I wrote a post about the Top Galatians Commentaries. For that list I chose the 5 best in terms of teaching the text the closest to how I think it should be understood. I still stand by those 5—although with the recent addition of Doug Moo’s commentary I think…
I am very excited because I recently had the opportunity to contribute to two edited volumes that have finally appeared in print. The first volume is entitled, Sensitivity to Outsiders: Exploring the Dynamic Relationship between Mission and Ethics in the New Testament and Early Christianity (WUNT II/364; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), and the second volume is entitled,…

If you plan on attending the annual AAR/SBL conference this November in San Diego, CA and enjoy craft beer like we do, then you won’t want to miss out on our reception: the Society for Beer Lovers & Assorted Academic Research (SBLAAR). Save the Date: Saturday, November 22nd from 7:00pm—10:00pm at Saint Joseph Cathedral (1535…
The trailer for a new film put out by Answers in Genesis has recently appeared. The film is called A Matter of Faith. As one can tell from the trailer, it looks and feels a lot like the recent Christian film, God’s Not Dead. When the latter film originally came out I had my reservations…

On my trip to India over spring break—which you can read a little bit about here—I brought along a delightful little introduction to Old Testament Criticism by Mark S. Gignilliat, called, A Brief History of Old Testament Criticism: From Benedict Spinoza to Brevard Childs (check it out on Amazon). Gignilliat, who is Associate Professor of…
During my spring break I was able to go on a trip to India with my officemate Chris Brewer and his dad Gary. We began our trip in Imphal, which is the capital of the state of Manipur in the northeast (we weren’t far from the border of Burma). When we arrived it happened to…
I just had the privilege of reading Aaron Koller’s new book on Esther which came out just a few weeks before mine (Esther and Her Elusive God). I would have liked to engage him in my book, but this brief review will have to suffice (for now). Aaron Koller, who is Associate Professor of Near Eastern and…

I am pleased to say that my book, Esther and Her Elusive God: How A Secular Story Functions As Scripture, is finally available for purchase. The book was endorsed by N. T. Wright (St Andrews) and Chris Miller (Cedarville), and Dr. Ronald W. Pierce (Biola) wrote the Foreword. The book can be purchased from the publisher’s website,…
Nearly two years ago I wrote a post entitled, “Amillennialism: Rethinking and Critiquing my Eschatology After Five Years.” In that post I analyzed an earlier blog post I wrote back in 2007 called, “How I Became An Amillennialist.” Two years ago I concluded that I was still an Amillennialist, but I realized that many of…