Teaching the Synoptic Problem after the Synoptic Gospels

Relationship_between_synoptic_gospels

I had the opportunity to teach a five-week course of “Introduction to New Testament Literature” at UNC-Chapel Hill this summer, and I took the opportunity to reexamine and revamp a few aspects of how I’ve taught that course (or have seen others teach it) in the past. In addition to a lot of fine-tuning and [...] Read more »

The New Perspective on Paul, Ethnocentrism, and Judaism

horse bright light

I know I’m a bit late to the party here (teaching a summer course and doing home renovations have had me busy), but Timothy Gombis’ “The Paul We Think We Know” in Christianity Today is worth the read. Gombis does an excellent job highlighting the differences between the popular Evangelical/Protestant images of Paul and the [...] Read more »

My JBL Article on “All Israel will be saved” in Rom 11:25-27 is Now Available

Journal_of_Biblical_Literature

I am pleased to report that my article, “What Do the Gentiles Have to Do with ‘All Israel’? A Fresh Look at Rom 11:25–27″ has (finally!) been published in the summer edition of the Journal of Biblical Literature. This article is a piece of a project that began in the spring of 2003 and is [...] Read more »

Getting Grace Backwards

I have always hated this bumper sticker...

I stumbled across a post on TheGospelCoalition site the other day that left me shaking my head at how modern theological perspectives are capable of completely inverting the New Testament message they’re ostensibly based upon. The post is “The Pitfall of Perfectionism,” by Tullan Tchividjian, in which he begins with several poignant anecdotes borrowed from [...] Read more »

Pauline Studies Pet Peeve: Paul Never Says “by Faith Alone”

That's right, country music fans, Paul did not teach "faith alone."

During my reading for preliminary exams (generally a frustrating exercise, given that I was forced to read lots of infuriating scholarship without the ability to respond to it anytime soon), one mistake came up surprisingly often in the literature: Pauline scholars—who of all people should know better—referencing the “Pauline” doctrine of “salvation/justification by faith alone.” [...] Read more »

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