p.ost: biblical theology for the age to come

Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity: the question about the violence of God McLaren asks, thirdly, ‘Is God Violent?’ We can eliminate the effects of the Greco-Roman distortion of the biblical narrative, we can read the Bible as a library rather than as a constitution, we can bring into the focus the stories of God as good creator, passionate liberator, and... (10 Mar. 2010)

Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity: the second question McLaren’s second question is ‘How Should the Bible Be Understood?’ He lists three broad reasons why we need a ‘new approach to the Bible’. First, fundamentalism in its various varieties has, to our repeated embarrassment, made the Bible an enemy of science; secondly,... (8 Mar. 2010)

Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity: the first question Brian McLaren’s new book A New Kind of Christianity addresses ten critical questions that he believes are transforming the faith. Christianity is in crisis – perhaps on the scale of the Reformation or the Great Schism between East and West (cf. Phyllis Tickle), perhaps at the end of a... (7 Mar. 2010)

Mk. 13:24-27 - In those days, after that tribulation... Following the lengthy debate with Gustavo about Mark 13, I want to try to summarize what seem to me to be the main reasons for doubting that there is a fundamental shift in timeframe between Jesus’ prediction of events leading up to the desolation of the temple and the flight of the disciples... (9 Feb. 2010)

The punishment of Jesus I wonder if we’re right to be quite so leery of the punishment aspect of the cross. I guess a lot of it has to do with not wanting to attribute vindictiveness, cruelty to God. Jesus’ death was an anticipation of the punishment of Israel – I suggest in my book on Romans that in Romans 8:... (28 Jan. 2010)

Mk. 13:24-27 - Re-registering the coming of the Son of man Gustavo Martin’s excellent (though rather technical) Biblica essay on ‘Procedural Register in the Olivet Discourse’ has prompted me to look again at the place of the ‘Son of man’ section in Jesus’ prediction of future events in Mark 13. Martin’s main... (19 Dec. 2009)

The unfamiliar face of Jesus There is a classic image of Jesus that has predominated in Christian artistic traditions – a tall figure with long wavy, almost effeminate hair (because he’s worth it!) and beard, sorrowful eyes, white robe, and the original Jesus sandals. We do not imagine that this representation amounts to... (27 Nov. 2009)

Review of the (proxy?) review of the response to the critique of the argument: Wright and the righteousness of God The rambling Anglican Ordinand Jon Swales has drawn attention to a Themelios review of N.T. Wright’s Justification: Paul’s Vision and God’s Plan, which was Wright’s response to John Piper’s critique of his attack on the Reformed understanding of justification. It gets more convoluted.... (26 Nov. 2009)

The death of James and the coming of the Son of man The story of the martyrdom of James, the brother of Jesus, casts an interesting light on how the early church in Jerusalem understood its future. There are two accounts of his death which are difficult to reconcile, but it is in any case the narrative content that is of concern to us here rather... (23 Nov. 2009)

Lk. 13:1-5 - The killing of the Galileans and the collapse of the tower in Siloam I mentioned this passage in the comment on Luke 13:22-24, but it is worth considering in its own right. First, as modern liberal interpreters we usually understand Jesus to be saying that the Galileans who died were not greater sinners than all other Galileans or that those who were crushed by... (17 Nov. 2009)

Lk. 13:22-24 - Are those being saved few? Jesus is asked by a man in the street whether it is true that only a few will be saved. The question highlights the centrality of the theme of judgment on Israel in Jesus’ teaching, as it is found in statements such as: ‘I came to cast fire upon the land’ and ‘Do not think... (16 Nov. 2009)

Jew first, then Greek in Campbell's The Deliverance of God Douglas Campbell’s The Deliverance of God is an extraordinary – and I think extraordinarily flawed – attempt to erase Justification Theory from Paul’s theology. It is a mammoth book to read, let alone attempt to review, in toto; and if it is a large enough wood to survey, it is also extremely... (10 Nov. 2009)

Orthodoxy, creation and the judgment of God My wife and I attended the Liturgy at the Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist in the depths of rural Essex yesterday. It was our second visit with our friend Olivera. I would describe it less as a service of worship in the way that most Catholics and Protestants would... (2 Nov. 2009)

Review: Davina Lopez, Apostle to the Conquered Apostle to the Conquered: Reimagining Paul’s Mission, by Davina Lopez, is a good example of what has probably been the most significant turn that Pauline studies have taken following the New Perspective. As an overtly gender-critical analysis the book takes a step beyond the empire-critical... (2 Nov. 2009)

Jesus and the Hell Houses An article by Lucy Broadbent in today’s Times Magazine describes the current Hell House phenomenon and its impact on teenagers. Churches such as Trinity Church in Dallas present shocking tableaux of classroom massacres, date rape, abortions (with real theatrical blood and pieces of real meat... (31 Oct. 2009)

The future of the New Testament and the Sibylline Oracles My argument in both The Coming of the Son of Man and Re: Mission is that New Testament eschatology – that is, the interest that the New Testament has in critical future events – can for the most part be mapped against a historical narrative that interprets, first, the destruction of Jerusalem and... (11 Sep. 2009)

The continuing war between Emergents and Reformed over the cross The war in America between Emergents and Reformed is a depressing business. A recent piece by Greg Gilbert on the 9Marks blog (Not Just Important, Not Even Just VERY Important. “Of FIRST Importance.”) expresses satisfaction that defensive measures taken against the insurgents have... (29 Aug. 2009)

John Piper and the imputation of a real moral righteousness Reading through John Piper’s response to N.T. Wright, The Future of Justification (see also Piper’s objections to Wright’s ‘good news’), and not having much of a background in Reformed theology, I found myself repeatedly asking where the idea that the real moral righteousness of... (2 Aug. 2009)

Martin Robinson on shifts in the European church Martin Robinson (National Director of Together in Mission) is sounding upbeat about the church in the UK and Europe. In a short video clip that can be found on the Roxburgh Missional Network site, he suggests that although churches still face considerable difficulties and challenges, there has... (29 Jul. 2009)

Piper's objections to Wright's 'good news' One of the more peculiar objections that John Piper raises against Wright’s understanding of Paul’s ‘gospel’ is that the announcement that Jesus is Lord ‘is an absolutely terrifying message to a sinner who has spent all his life ignoring or blaspheming the God and... (22 Jul. 2009)

Sweet and Viola: A Jesus Manifesto Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola have recently issued A Magna Carta of Restoring the Supremacy of Jesus Christ, a.k.a. A Jesus Manifesto for the 21st Century Church. They argue in the preamble that Christianity is nothing more, nothing less than Christ, but that in the church today there is a serious... (24 Jun. 2009)

The particularity of the people of God Mike Morrell prompted me initially to respond to Kevin Beck’s This Book Will Change Your World, and has now posted some thought-provoking comments. Since they mainly have to do with the thesis of Re: Mission, a new post seems in order. His basic argument, if I have understood him correctly,... (5 Jun. 2009)

Katongole: How postmodernism hurts Africa In ‘Postmodern illusions and performances’, the fourth essay in A Future for Africa, Emmanuel Katongole argues that postmodernism is unlikely to prove the blessing for Africa that many had hoped. He accepts that it continues to have some usefulness as an intellectual style that casts... (3 Jun. 2009)

The limited ambitions of the people of God William Cheriegate asked me to expand on the following remark in my post on Transmillennialism – not least for the benefit of those who ‘grew up in the midst of a conquering American “christian” empire’: To my mind, the Bible has lower expectations about the... (27 May. 2009)

On Transmillennialism and Kevin Beck's This Book Will Change Your World I read Kevin Beck’s This Book Will Change Your World in response to some gentle and persistent prompting from Mike Morrell. As Mike observes, there are some interesting similarities and some distinct differences between Kevin’s exposition of Transmillenialism and the thesis of The... (26 May. 2009)

Katongole: Communities of memory In the first essay, ‘Remembering Idi Amin’, Katongole explores his own childhood memories of Idi Amin in an attempt to understand how the present condition of Africa has been shaped by memories of colonial and post-colonial brutality. He notices that his ‘happy’ memories of... (21 May. 2009)

Emmanuel Katongole and A Future for Africa I have started reading Emmanuel Katongole’s A Future for Africa: Critical Essays in Christian Social Imagination as preparation for the Amahoro conference in Johannesburg in a couple of weeks. Katongole is a Catholic priest from Uganda who is now associate professor of theology at Duke... (21 May. 2009)

Is that third horizon just a mirage? Mike Morrell has articulated a good question about the thesis of The Coming of the Son of Man and Re: Mission. It comes down to this: Given the metaphorical potential of biblical language, what keeps us from deflating all apparently final language to historical proportions? Or more crudely: Why not... (12 May. 2009)

Should we still be making disciples? I have argued a couple of times recently that Jesus’ post-resurrection instruction to his followers to make disciples of all nations, which we call the Great Commission, is actually more restricted in its scope than we have traditionally understood it to be. There was some discussion of this... (8 May. 2009)

Does the future lie with the global church or with the emerging church? There was an interesting article in the UK Times yesterday about the global success of ‘US-style muscular Christianity’ - that is, evangelicalism. The article is by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge and is based on their book God is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith is... (3 May. 2009)

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