Hermeneutics

How do we discern ethics in the writings of Paul?

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Tim Murray offers this review of Ruben Zimmermann’s The Logic of Love: Discovering Paul’s ‘implicit ethics’ through 1 Corinthians (Lexington/Fortress, 2018). Why care about this book? It seems to me that any of us who care for the state of the church and academic theology (including biblical studies) are likely regularly to find ourselves confronting important … Continue Reading

What was ordinary life like in the first century?

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Bruce Longenecker is Professor of Christian Origins and W. W. Melton Chair of Religion at Baylor University, Waco, Texas. He has a long-standing interest in the cultural context of the early Christian movement, and has just published In Stone and Story, an exploration of the Roman world of the first century, and how Christian faith engaged with, … Continue Reading

What is the biblical case for equality between men and women?

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I publish here a review by Prof Dorothy Lee of a recent book by Kevin Giles, What the Bible Actually Teaches on Women. It is reproduced with permission from The Melbourne Anglican, February 2020.  This book by Kevin Giles is a biblically based and systematically argued exposure of the theological inadequacies of the so-called “complementarian” position on … Continue Reading

Fourth Festival of Theology Tuesday 9th June 2020

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As part of building a community of reflection related to the blog, I have previously hosted three one-day Festivals of Theology during 2018 and 2019. On each occasion we had a great time of listening, learning, reflection and discussion, with around 100 people attending on each occasion. As a result I am planning a fourth Festival on Tuesday … Continue Reading

How to choose your own personal Jesus

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Over the new year, I had an interesting, though at times bizarre, interaction with a well-known church leader in Australia (such are the wonders of the internet). This person had posted a graphic/meme similar to the one here as a light-hearted New Year’s resolution, and I added the comment: —Tell people they are sinners who … Continue Reading

The ‘transfiguration’ of Jesus in Matthew 17

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The lectionary gospel reading on Sunday, the last Sunday before Lent in Year A, is Matt 17.1–9, Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration. There some important things to note in relation to this passage as we think about preaching on it or hearing it preached. All three Synoptic accounts place this immediately after Peter’s confession of … Continue Reading

What have the Pastoral Epistles ever done for us?

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Gerald Bray is Research Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama. He has recently published the International Theological Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles with T and T Clark. I asked him about the contribution of the Pastorals to our understanding of Paul, theology and ministry. IP: The so-called Pastoral Letters of Paul are often marginalised, … Continue Reading

Preaching Christmas—without a Stable

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Reading the nativity account in Luke 2 carefully highlights the way that the tradition of the stable is nowhere present. That’s all very well for scholars, people say, but how does that work in the practice of preaching? The answer is: rather well! This is what I said last time I preached on what Luke … Continue Reading