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The Apocalyptic Symbolism of Mark 8:38 and (not) the Final Reign of God

Fri, 11/26/2021 - 13:16

I got to hear several good online presentations at the SBL Annual Meeting last week, including a provocative panel discussion on “Doing History and Doing Theology in the Study of Paul,” which demonstrated that the more serious fault line now is between an old guard that thinks that the debate about theology and history is still worth having (John Barclay, Troels Engberg-Pedersen) and progressives who are bent on deconstructing it (Candida Moss, Cavan Concannon). I have some catching up to do.

Societal collapse, deep adaptation, and an agenda for mission
Helge Seekamp recently drew attention to a paper by Jem Bendell, Professor of Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cumbria, entitled “Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy.” He suggests that Bendell gives us a “secular agenda for an apocalyptic time.” I think that the idea… (10 Nov 2021 | 8 comments)
Multifaith Matters podcast: my conversation with missiologist Michael Cooper about the narrative-historical method
Earlier this week I had a stimulating online conversation with my friend Michael Cooper. Michael is a missiologist, and back in the day, when he used to hang out with Communitas, we spent long hours talking about scripture, narrative, history, and mission in the post-Christian western context. So… (22 Oct 2021 | 1 comment)
What is the essence of Christianity?
I read Roger Olson’s blog from time to time. He has recently written a couple of posts asking, “What is the Essence of Christianity?” We need to address these simple but fundamental questions from time to time. I know, it’s been a while, what with Covid and a major writing project to … (12 Oct 2021 | 9 comments)
How does the New Testament predict the future?
I did this video podcast interview with Cliff Sekowe a few months back. Cliff is an amiable South African pastor and theologian who is keen to get scholars talking sensibly about some the intellectual challenges facing contemporary Christian faith. He had heard the podcast I did with Pete Enns and… (18 Sep 2021 | 0 comments)
Who will be taken? Who will be left behind? Darn it, we’re all too late anyway!
This really is a bit of a puzzle. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus says concerning the hour and day of God’s judgment of Israel and the concomitant vindication of the Son of Man that it will be as in the days of Noah. In the midst of life catastrophe will come (Matt. 24:36-39). At the parousia of… (2 Sep 2021 | 2 comments)
Resurrection in the Old Testament: literal or metaphorical?
The early apostolic testimony was that Jesus was “raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3). So the standard belief has been that the resurrection of the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament—somewhere, it’s never quite clear where, probably in the prophets… (28 Aug 2021 | 0 comments)
Thom Stark on the coming of the Son of Man: the Bible gets it right, Jesus gets it wrong?
Thom Stark’s book The Human Faces of God: What Scripture Reveals When it Gets God Wrong is an attack on the doctrine of inerrancy—or perhaps better, an attempt to reframe the problem of biblical errancy. In chapter 8, which is the only chapter I’ve read so far, he argues that Jesus… (16 Aug 2021 | 9 comments)