How we respond to different circumstances shows what we really think of God. A friend recently found out that, contrary to previous reports, she does not have cancer. Our response was Praise the Lord! But other friends just lost their son to cancer. He had a wife and three young children. Was our response Praise […]
The New Commandment, the Old Testament, and Andy Stanley
My previous post on the new commandment left me with one regret—that I didn’t explore the relationship of this new love command to the love commands of the Old Testament. The current debate over Andy Stanley’s view of the Old Testament in general and of the new commandment in particular, expressed in his recent […]
Love one another: A one-hit wonder and Jesus’ greatest hit.
The “new commandment” (John 13:34-35) is one of Jesus’ most well-known sayings. Of course, the sentiment that people should love one another has been a constant theme in pop culture since the hippie movement of the 1960’s. The opportunity to speak at a recent Grand Rapids Theological Seminary chapel service gave me a chance to […]
John the Spiritual Gospel: Soaring Eagles, Wading Lambs, and Swimming Elephants
I’ve been thinking through the Gospel of John recently. Here are some of my thoughts and some information about a set of 22 video lectures on John that I just did for biblicalelearning.org. Also news about an opportunity I have to teach John this fall.
Reading Mark in Context is a great idea!
After working mainly with Matthew through the years, it was great to participate with 30 scholars in a project on Mark. Ben Blackwell, John Goodrich, and Jason Maston edited this book, which concisely explains Mark by comparing and contrasting it with relevant passages from Jewish literature of the Second Temple period. That’s what reading Mark […]
Reflections on Alaska
After thinking about it off and on for decades, Beverly and I finally decided to travel to Alaska. We cruised from Vancouver through the inside passage and visited Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway in Alaska’s panhandle. We also saw some of the interior north from from Whittier including Talkeetna, Denali National Park, and Fairbanks. It’s hard […]