How to tell the biblical story in a way that makes a difference

P.OSTOST

3 Oct 2023

I will be teaching an undergraduate class on Romans this semester at London School of Theology, so my plan is to outline my reading of the text here as we go along. I start with some general introductory remarks about my approach and a commentary on Romans 1:1-18. I am putting forward conclusions rather than arguments for the most part, so you may feel that there is some question-begging going on. I’m happy to go into more detail in the comments, or get a copy of my book on Romans The Future of the People of God: Reading Romans Before and After Western Christendom.

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I take several chapters in my book In the Form of a God: The Pre-existence of the Exalted Christ in Paul to argue that in the first part of the Christ encomium in Philippians 2:6-11 the direction of travel is ontologically flat: not from heaven to earth but from celebrity to… (21 Aug 2023 | 1 comment)
Christians who think that it is right and good to maintain a form a patriarchy, at least in church and home, will often argue that by naming the woman Adam exercises or asserts an innate, creational authority over her that is not abrogated by salvation. In search of a suitable helper… (23 Jul 2023 | 2 comments)
John says that Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus (Jn. 12:41). Is this a reference back to the “glory” of God that Isaiah saw in the temple? Or is it something else? Well, I’m going to say that it was something else, not because I’m anti-trinitarian but because I don’t think that’s what John means at… (17 Jul 2023 | 0 comments)
I have been working through Craig Keener’s Spirit Hermeneutics: Reading Scripture in Light of Pentecost (2016) to prepare some teaching materials on Pentecostal hermeneutics. It’s a fairly casual read, so far at least. I could really do with something a bit more technical. But it’s a good… (11 Jul 2023 | 0 comments)
In an article on the Gospel Coalition website, adapted from a book about evangelism, Matt Smethurst attempts to explain the gospel. He suggests, to begin with, that we can view the gospel from two perspectives: a high level or aerial view, which reveals to us the overall shape of the biblical… (3 Jul 2023 | 9 comments)
Stephen Fowl thinks that it’s impossible to get from history to theology—to start with historical-criticism and arrive at an account of the being and intentions of the Triune God and of the various beliefs and practices that derive from that core Christian doctrine. So we have to start at the… (29 Jun 2023 | 0 comments)
This is a brief re-examination of Thomas’ famous declaration “My Lord and my God” in John 20:28. I looked at this some years ago, noting the common argument that the wording of the confession reflects the “custom,” recorded in Suetonius and Dio Cassius, of addressing the emperor Domitian (AD 81-96… (21 Jun 2023 | 7 comments)