Category: Biblical Studies
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Advent: The Good News of Barrenness
Read more: Advent: The Good News of BarrennessHow preposterous a thought it is that in the often barren, frigid, and life-drained months of winter that we celebrate the birth of new life of Jesus, the God-Man. The church’s celebration of the resurrection seems to get it right- the rising from death to the glory of new life remembered on Resurrection Sunday seems…
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The Writing Process
Read more: The Writing ProcessThe writing process for working on a PhD Thesis is pretty frustrating. I have spent the greater part of my first year here in Aberdeen just trying to nail down a system that works for me. I thought I would share this insane/frustrating/possibly helpful system in my blog this week. I originally wrote this post…
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Responding to “Covert Messiah”
Read more: Responding to “Covert Messiah”“Covert Messiah” is the latest theory delving into alternatives to the New Testament understanding of the origins of Christianity. Joseph Atwill explains that Christianity was originally an elaborate hoax created by the Roman government as a means of pacifying the usually tumultuous land of 1st century Judea. He writes, “Jesus Christ is a fabricated cover story…
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Dining with the Divine
Read more: Dining with the DivineA knock at the door. A pitiful figure stands, wrapped in a tired cloth and trembling in the cold. At your welcoming hand the figure reclines at your table, where you both dine and subsequently share stories of times past. As the newly-befriended guest prepares to leave, the beggar’s cloth is cast aside and the…
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The Bullying Consensus
Read more: The Bullying ConsensusIn a democratic society there is no greater or more powerful argument for a position than that it is the majority view. Majority positions are not just descriptive of a particular group, but go even further by implementing that position in a concrete way. In this way, we might say that the majority has the…
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My JSNT Article on Gal. 3.4 is Out
Read more: My JSNT Article on Gal. 3.4 is OutThe September 2013 issue of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament is now available online and will be in print shortly. My article on the meaning of the Greek word ΠΑΣΧΩ in Galatians 3.4 is included in the volume (“Suffering In Vain: A Study on the Interpretation of ΠΑΣΧΩ in Galatians 3.4,” JSNT 36.1…
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The Great Banquet
Read more: The Great BanquetMy local church set aside this past week for a time of focused ministry in our own community here in Durham. A wide variety of service projects were engaged, from activities for children of all ages, serving coffee at the train station for the many commuters, cleaning up and doing repairs around the city, and…
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What is Forgiveness?
Read more: What is Forgiveness?In a couple of weeks I will be giving a short sermon on the subject of forgiveness. I knew from the outset that this was not a “safe” topic for me. Forgiveness does not come easy for me, especially in the places that it really matters, that is, in the places where the perceived wrongs…
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Tradition, Scripture, History
Read more: Tradition, Scripture, HistoryAs a good Protestant I was always taught to be grateful for, but suspicious of the first, fiercely devoted to the second, and un-threatened by the third. When Tradition is found wanting it can be remolded; it is malleable where the other two are not. Scripture is cast in stone. It does not change and…
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Top Galatians Commentaries
Read more: Top Galatians CommentariesI’m nearly halfway through the first college course I’ve ever taught at Lincoln Christian University (the Las Vegas extension). Since the course is on Galatians, which is what my PhD research at the University of St Andrews under Prof. N. T. Wright focuses on, I thought it might be a good idea to provide a…