​Grace’s Perfections

Paul and the Giftby john m. g. barclayeerdmans, 672 pages, $70With the publication of E. P. Sanders’s Paul and Palestinian Judaism in 1977, scholarly readings of Paul’s theology dramatically shifted. No longer was Paul’s gospel of “grace alone” to be held up against a legalistic Judaism . . . . Continue Reading »

Passion Play

At his ascension, Jesus told the eleven disciples that they would receive the Spirit to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. But for some time after Jesus’s ascension, and even after Pentecost, they stayed in Jerusalem.They were finally forced . . . . Continue Reading »

God, the Devil, and The King's Speech

Just after my wife and I watched the new hit movie, “The King’s Speech,” a friend asked me if I enjoyed it. “No, I suffered through it. But it was a great movie.” I have been a stutterer since the age of six. Every time King George VI puffed his cheeks helplessly as he tried to get out a word, I felt the frustration and pain. … Continue Reading »