We are announcing a new book that is scheduled to be published this summer (18 Aug 2021), James Barr Assessed: Evaluating His Legacy over the Last Sixty Years (ed. Stanley E. Porter; BINS 192; Leiden, Brill). The blurb states: James Barr is a widely recognized name in biblical studies, even if he is still best […]
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About one month ago (June 7), the world of biblical studies mourned the loss of New Testament scholar, Richard N. Longenecker, known especially for his work in Pauline studies. One of his best-known books of many is a revision of his PhD thesis, Paul, Apostle of Liberty (2nd ed.; Eerdmans, 2015; 1st ed.; 1964), which […]
On March 16, Israeli archaeologists announced some recent discoveries of Dead Sea Scroll fragments that appear to be part of the Minor Prophets scroll that was discovered in the 1950s, probably from the same cave. The recently discovered scroll is in Greek, with the divine name in Hebrew, apparently resembling an older Hebrew script (possibly […]
If you are a member of SBL (Society of Biblical Literature), you received the 2020 Annual Report, some 35 pages. The report begins with an introductory letter by Executive Director, John Kutsko, who writes on the idea of community. This is apt given the state of the pandemic that we have been experiencing for almost […]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Stan and I took an unofficial break from blogging last year, as we have been busy navigating the pandemic in our respective primary roles, Stan as seminary president and I as lead pastor. However, with a new year, we have decided to turn our attention back to the blog and […]
It has been over two months since the known world has shutdown, in order to level the number of cases of Covid-19. This has affected almost every aspect of life, churches included. But there have been a number of churches in various parts of the world that consider this governmental restriction from gathering publicly to […]
If you have $311 (USD) lying around and want to invest it in one of the most complete resources on historical Jesus studies, you will want to pick this up: Tom Holmén and Stanley E. Porter (eds.), The Handbook of the Study of the Historical Jesus. 4 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2011. xxii, 3652 pp. The […]
I realize that speakers of a language are free to use that language in any way that they wish in order to communicate with others, and that anything I happen to think or say about such usage will probably do very little to influence trends within usage. Nevertheless, there are a number of uses of […]
Is it just me who sees the steep decline in the quality of New Testament scholarship? I don’t think so. I look at the numerous textbooks that are being published—I know, these do not, let me repeat, do not count as scholarship—and they are full of all sorts of useless nonsense designed to keep the […]
I recently came across a quotation which stated something along the lines of: “It doesn’t matter how much theological knowledge you have if it doesn’t change the way you live.” Something like that. Something involving the pitting of the mind against the heart, like head knowledge vs. heart knowledge, or knowledge against lifestyle, or information […]
