A Masterpiece

I read James Sanders’ Torah and Canon during my first year of PhD work, but I don’t think I really appreciated it in the manner which it deserves. Recently, I reread it in my research on canon, and I’m very glad I did. Sanders demonstrates various ways in which Israel’s scriptures functioned in the lives…

The New Testament as Canon

I’ve been reading in the field of canonical criticism lately. When one begins to research in this area, Brevard Childs and James Sanders are at the top of the reading list. There are a number of other fine scholars who have done work in this field, however. One fine book that I recommend is by…

Upcoming lectures at UTS

We have some very nice lectures coming up at United in spring 2011. On March 27-28 we will have the first of what is planned to be an ongoing church renewal conference called “Light the Fire!” and the keynote speaker will be Leonard Sweet. We’ll also have Walter Brueggemann later that spring–May 11, to be…

Wesley, Wesleyans, and Reading Bible as Scripture

by Joel B. Green  (Author, Editor), David F. Watson (Author, Editor) The theology of John Wesley has proven exceedingly influential in the religious and spiritual lives of Wesley’s followers and his critics. However, Wesley did not leave behind a written doctrine on scripture. This collection presents an array of diverse approaches to understanding John Wesley’s…

The Messianic Secret

In 1901, William Wrede publish a book that we call in English The Messianic Secret. He called attention to passages, particularly in Mark, in which Jesus tried to conceal his deeds and identity, or in other ways tried to escape the public eye. Wrede’s book was very controversial in its own time, and the passages…

Theology and Down Syndrome

I really benefitted from reading Amos Yong’s Theology and Down Syndrome: Reimagining Disability in Late Modernity (Baylor University Press, 2007, 425 pp.). Amos Yong is a very fine scholar who draws upon a wide range of theological traditions in this text. Much of the book is about disability theory and disability theology in a broad…

A Wesleyan Perspective on the Bible?

Ever since the WTS meeting, the theme of which was “The Future of Scripture,” I’ve been ruminating…. Is there a particularly Wesleyan take on the Bible? Wesley was, for the most part, what we would consider today a “biblical literalist.” He called himself a “man of one book.” Of course, there’s nothing especially unique about…

Sometimes it’s just too easy….

Glenn Beck has recently advised Christians that, if their churches preach “social justice,” they should simply leave them, since “social justice” is a code word for Communism or Nazism. (scratching my head….) Apart from the obvious problems with his reading of the gospels, how can the same word refer to both Communism and Nazism? I…

Wesleyan Theological Society

Last weekend Jason Vickers and I traveled to the annual meeting of the Wesleyan Theological Society at Azusa Pacific University. The theme was “The Future of Scripture,” and the keynote speakers were William J. Abraham and Richard Hays. Abraham and Hays had a very fine dialogue about the nature and function of scripture. The conference…