Kavin Rowe reviews a number of texts in New Testament Theology (NTT) in JBL (125:6), and finds that “recent work in NTT has reached the point of consensus on the importance of the OT for NTT: readings of the NT that downplay or even erase the fundamental historical and theological . . . . Continue Reading »
Augustine’s City of God created the Christian West because it enabled believers to think about a future of Christianity that did not depend on the persistence of Rome. Augustine relativized the story of Rome to the story of the City of God. How did he do that? Jesus taught him. Jesus taught . . . . Continue Reading »
In a couple of books, David deSilva interprets the letter to the Hebrews in terms of Greco-Roman clientage and patronage systems. I have my suspicions about social-science interpretations of the NT, but deSilva’s work is illuminating. In a brief study of honor and shame in Hebrews, he writes . . . . Continue Reading »
1) Verse 4 moves from the affliction of the apostles (“our”) to the comfort of “those who are in any affliction.” This movement does not depend on any similarity or identity between the affliction of the apostles and the affliction of other sufferers (though cf. v. 6b). . . . . Continue Reading »
Much of the following was inspired by a lecture by Dr. David Powlison of the counseling center at Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia. INTRODUCTION As disciples of Jesus, we are all called to take our cross to suffer with Him. He suffered because He provoked murderous hatred from his enemies. Our . . . . Continue Reading »
Bultmann says that we moderns who can flick on electric lights cannot believe in the dichotomous anthropology of the New Testament, which distinguishes absolutely between the spiritual core of the self and the physical body. Problem is, that’s not the New Testament anthropology. In fact, . . . . Continue Reading »
Roland Worth provides a valuable treatment of the Sermon on the Mount by discussing the OT background to Jesus’ teaching. His overall argument is that the antitheses of Jesus’ sermon do not offer anything especially new but are “firmly rooted in Old Testament teaching.” . . . . Continue Reading »
?That Easter day with joy was bright; the sun show out with fairer light, when to their wondering eyes restored, the glad apostles saw their Lord.?E So wrote a Latin poet of the fourth century. Joy, however, is not the only emotional note in the gospel accounts of Easter. Alongside joy, there is . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus came to fulfill the law. Jesus consistently flouted the ceremonial laws of cleanliness. How can we put these two statements together? Perhaps the “uncleanness” laws are misnamed. The intention of the laws is not to invent new ways to be estranged and exiled from God. The heart of . . . . Continue Reading »
Speaking of Wright, there is a remarkably prophetic passage early in Jesus and the Victory of God where Wright seems to predict the response of some conservatives to his work. Enlightenment thought deployed history as a weapon to critique and dissolve theology (genealogically). Playing off the . . . . Continue Reading »