Category: Biblical Studies
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Pushing Past Literalism
Read more: Pushing Past LiteralismEver since I started down the path of academic theology I have been plagued by a single word: “literal”. No other word has caused me near the same amount of frustration and headaches than this word. Not only is it often, ironically, ill defined and vague, it becomes, also ironically, a license to interpret or…
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Bearing Fruit
Read more: Bearing FruitIn John 15:1-17, Jesus talks about “bearing fruit” and “friendship.” This is a reflection on the meaning of “bearing fruit” in Scripture, the ways in which John innovates a relationship between fruit, friendship, and death in this passage, and an argument about the counter-intuitive places I think we should look for friendship in Scripture. Bearing…
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The Image of God
Read more: The Image of GodWhat is the image of God? As I thought and read about this I came through very interesting concepts that are worth sharing. Let’s start with Paul’s statement of the image of God. Colossians 1:15 states that Jesus is the image of God. Now, Jesus was not simply human, he was fully God and fully…
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Is Your Body the Temple of the Holy Spirit?
Read more: Is Your Body the Temple of the Holy Spirit?I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking about Paul’s language in 1 Corinthians concerning the body, the temple, and the Holy Spirit. The primary texts are fairly well-known for Bible readers. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy…
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The Apocalyptic Perspective
Read more: The Apocalyptic PerspectiveAs I study and research I came across the Apocalyptic Perspective. This “new trend” in Biblical theology is quite appealing. It provides a new way of thinking about salvation, redemption, creation, and most importantly good and evil. It seems that it all started with Bultmann who thought that myth should be interpreted not cosmologically but…
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Review of Andrew K. Boakye, Death and Life: Resurrection, Restoration, and Rectification in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
Read more: Review of Andrew K. Boakye, Death and Life: Resurrection, Restoration, and Rectification in Paul’s Letter to the GalatiansDeath and Life is the published PhD Thesis of Andrew K. Boakye (PhD, University of Manchester), who is currently Lecturer in Religions and Theology at the University of Manchester. I was first introduced to Dr. Boakye’s research at the 2012 Galatians & Theology Conference held at my alma mater (University of St Andrews), where he gave a…
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The Participatory Anthropology of 1 Corinthians: Reflections on Susan Eastman’s Paul and the Person
Read more: The Participatory Anthropology of 1 Corinthians: Reflections on Susan Eastman’s Paul and the PersonReading through Susan Eastman’s wonderful little study Paul and the Person over Christmas break has afforded me a chance to re-examine the kind of anthropology Paul takes for granted in his first letter to the Corinthians. The task of reevaluating traditional concepts of anthropology as a whole is enjoying something of a moment in biblical…
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Advice To Those Considering Biblical Academia
Read more: Advice To Those Considering Biblical AcademiaIf you’re considering the path of Biblical and/or Theological academics, there are some things to consider. For now, I’m only going to consider the academic climate in context of an evangelical church climate. There will be conflict that will be difficult to navigate. It is important to understand the role of biblical academics in the…
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Help Volodya from Ukraine study in Australia
Read more: Help Volodya from Ukraine study in AustraliaI recently taught a week-long intensive on Galatians at Zaporozhye Bible Seminary in Ukraine. The entire class was conducted in Russian, so I had a translator for all of my lectures (as well as for preaching and doing devotionals). My main translator was a Ukrainian named Volodya Lavrushko who is a Greek instructor at the…
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The Greek New Testament (Cambridge/Crossway edition): I Like Big “Buts” & I Can’t Elide
Read more: The Greek New Testament (Cambridge/Crossway edition): I Like Big “Buts” & I Can’t ElideMy first exposure to The Greek New Testament published jointly by Cambridge University Press and Crossway was at the recent SBL conference in Boston (if you’re interested in all of its unique features, methodology, rationale, etc, you can check out a little explanation here; similarly, here is a detailed blog that addresses several issues surrounding the…