Recent posts

The Christ-encomium of Philippians 2:6-11 and “Christian” formation
It was put to me by Crispin Fletcher-Louis on Facebook that my argument about being—or rather not being—transformed into the image of Christ is at odds with the general scholarly view these days that the so-called “Christ-hymn” of Philippians 2:6–11 is “determinative of Christian identity at every… ( | 2 comments)
A dead guy going to heaven is not metaphysics?
Perhaps a bit more clarification is needed. I argued in the last piece on Hebrews that there is no deep metaphysical magic involved in what is said about atonement in the letter.It is the resurrection that changes everything. This was a continuation of a couple of other posts setting out a “… ( | 4 comments)
Jesus the great high priest: no deep magic involved
I started looking at Hebrews 10 in order to reply to a comment from Chris Wooldridge, who cited the chapter as an example of how Jesus’ death is treated not only as a historical event but also as a theological or metaphysical event.But you quickly discover that Hebrews 10 is part of a long… ( | 4 comments)
Moses, the apostles, and transformation into the image of Christ (are we there yet?)
In his excellent essay on mystical transformation in Philo and Paul, Volker Rabens says of 2 Corinthians 3:18: “Many who have tried to grasp the nuances of Paul’s argument in this passage have at times felt that they themselves have a veil over their minds” (297-98). A.T. Hanson called it “the… ( | 10 comments)
2 Corinthians 3:18: back to where I started
What does Paul mean when he says: “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18)? Over the last couple of posts I have been tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of exegesis.… ( | 10 comments)
We all are being transformed into the same image—a correction (of sorts)
In the previous piece on being transformed into the image of Christ, I included 2 Corinthians 3:18 in a wider pattern in Paul whereby conformity to the image of Christ means specifically sharing in his suffering and resurrection: And we all, with unveiled face, beholding (or reflecting) the… ( | 12 comments)
Who is being transformed into the image of Christ? Not me
I’ve just got back from a missions conference at which the idea that believers in general and “missionaries” in particular are being—or should be—transformed into the “image of Christ” got a lot of airtime.I can see what people are getting at. The assumption is that Jesus represents either an ideal… ( | 3 comments)
A pragmatic non-theory of the atonement
The title of the previous piece (“The death of Jesus: not as difficult to understand as you might think”) was perhaps a mistake. I suspect that many people found my narrative-historical reinterpretation as baffling as the classical theories of the atonement, if not more so. In my defence I would… ( | 10 comments)
The death of Jesus: not as difficult to understand as you might think
Peter Enns has written in his characteristically provocative style about two issues in the Bible that are really important but not at all clear.The first has to do with Israelite origins. We can be reasonably confident about the broad outline of Israelite history back to the reign of David, but… ( | 46 comments)
Theology and history: is the dam about to break?
Here’s one way of framing my “thesis” at the hermeneutical level—that is, at the level of how we interpret the Bible and make use of it as church.For various complex reasons the church is coming under pressure to switch from a theological way of thinking to what I think is most… ( | 10 comments)
A new Dead Sea Scrolls Cave and the narrative-historical method
It appears that a new Scrolls Cave has been discovered at Qumran—the first new cave in sixty years. All that was found in the cave, sadly, were the remains of six broken jars, some fragments of parchment and papyrus, and a piece of linen. Any scrolls that might have been preserved in the jars were… ( | 3 comments)
Calling on the name of the Lord Jesus
I said I would look at the idea of calling on the name of the Lord Jesus in order to round off a little flurry of posts on the relation between Jesus and God in the context, particularly, of Luke’s narrative in Acts. The aim is neither to undermine nor defend Trinitarian orthodoxy. It is to try to… ( | 16 comments)
Why talking to the exalted Jesus was not prayer
After the death of Judas the disciples decide that a replacement must be chosen to bear witness to Jesus’ resurrection. Two men are nominated, Barsabbas and Matthias. Luke then writes:And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen (… ( | 21 comments)
The virgin conception of Jesus and the christology of Acts
In Acts Luke tells a story about the mission of the early church first to Israel, then to the nations. The risen Lord Jesus features prominently in this story both as the content of the church’s preaching and as one who is dynamically involved in the direction and oversight of that mission.Nothing… ( | 10 comments)
Does Luke present Jesus as God in Acts?
Marc Taylor has taken issue with my argument that there is little scope for a “high christology” in Acts because the proclamation that Jesus is Lord is “accounted for almost entirely by reference to narratives found in the Psalms, in which Israel’s king is delivered by God and given authority to… ( | 32 comments)
Modern Israel in narrative-historical perspective
The question is put to me from time to time: How does the modern state of Israel fit into your narrative-historical schema? Does Israel still have a covenantal right to the land? It’s come up in passing, but I don’t think I’ve addressed the matter directly. Donald Trump’s apparent support for… ( | 9 comments)
Is Jesus called “God” in Titus 2:13?
There is a small number of texts in the New Testament that have been taken as evidence that in the earliest period Jesus was directly called “God”. John Tancock lists John 1:1; 20:28; Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1. I’ve discussed the two John passages and Romans 9:5 in other posts, though… ( | 34 comments)
16 reasons for thinking that the conversion of the empire was at the heart of New Testament eschatology
I suppose that one of the main oddities of my thorough-going narrative-historical reading of the New Testament, at least from a more or less orthodox evangelical perspective, is my contention that a significant part of its “eschatological” vision has in view the conversion of the nations of the… ( | 18 comments)
Was the garden of Eden an “archetypal sanctuary”?
I have to be a bit careful in critiquing John Walton’s thesis in his book The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate, because, as has been pointed out to me, it’s only a summary of his much more substantial argument in his Genesis 1 As Ancient Cosmology… ( | 22 comments)
Larry Hurtado’s (non-apocalyptic) Destroyer of the gods
If we are going to read the New Testament as historical narrative, we have to have some sense of historical context. The church, on the whole, is not interested in historical context. The Bible is mostly treated as a self-contained, self-sufficient sacred text. In a recent comment Travis Finley… ( | 7 comments)