looking back, looking forward

Five things I learned from blogging in 2005:

1. There is no consensus on consensus.
2. Santa doesn't read my blog. At least, not my wishlist of manuscript finds.
3. I'm taller than I thought. And I'm lanky. And I've got panache.
4. Evangelicals are like Canadians: We know who we're not, but we're not sure who we are.
5. There are many bloggers out there who are much better at it than I am. More prolific. More consistent. More interesting. More informative. They use fewer periods. Like Mark. And Jim. And the other Jim. And the other Michael. And Tyler. And Ben. And Loren. And Jeffery. And David. And Scot. And Chris. And Phil. And Stephen. And many others, including many I will only discover in 2006...

Five things I hope to learn from blogging in 2006:

1. How blogging can help me finish my dissertation.
2. How blogging can increase productivity in doctoral research.
3. How blogging can keep one focused on one's thesis.
4. How blogging can speed up the dissertation writing process.
5. How blogging can lead to world peace and cure cancer--just to show I can see beyond my own circumstances... ;-)

Wishing everyone much joy and peace for 2006!

the perfect christmas present

Itzhak Perlman playing Bach's unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas...

ivy league evangelicals

Here's an interesting twist on the evangelicalism and higher education discussion, a sometime topic on this blog (via Christian Post): Ivy League Schools See Rise in Evangelical Students.

tsunami anniversary

One year ago today a tsunami devastated southeast Asia, causing unimaginable horror. More than 200,000 people lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands more lost everything else. We do not forget...

merry christmas!

This year is a different Christmas for us, being "exiled in England." It means a fairly traditional English Christmas dinner of turkey and gravy, roast potatoes and vegetables (including brussel sprouts--apparently there must be brussel sprouts!), topped off with Christmas pudding and a Christmas cracker. It means being surrounded by green grass and English holly instead of the threat of snow and ice and frost. Yet in spite of the changes for us, the angelic good news continues to ring true: "A Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Wishing everyone a very merry English Christmas!

first blogiversary: one year of stuff

One year ago today I entered the blogosphere with fear and trembling. After 365 days, about 700 posts, 18,000 visits, and 34,000 page views, I've settled into a blogging rhythm that I find enjoyable and that at least a few others find interesting. There have been several highlights of this venture for me, but by far the best has been the chance to meet many like-minded people from around the world--meeting them virtually through the internet, and meeting several in person throughout the year.

Thanks to everyone who has read, commented on, or linked to my blog throughout this past year, and I'm looking forward to another year of stuff...

email discussion: jesus and the gospel

This has been noted by several bloggers already, but it's certainly worth mentioning here. There's an interesting "public email" exchange going on over at Slate between some top-notch scholars, Larry Hurtado, John Kloppenborg, and Alan Segal: Jesus and the Gospel—What Really Happened?

tolle lege 2006

One month from now, Prairie Bible College is hosting its fourth annual Tolle Lege ("Take Up and Read") series of free public lectures, focusing on matters of biblical interpretation in the areas of Old Testament, New Testament, Christian Theology, and Christian Ministry. All who wish to come are welcome. Here's the lineup this year:

TOLLE LEGE 2006

Monday, January 23, 2006, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

• Dr. Kevin Peacock, Professor of Old Testament & Hebrew, Canadian Southern Baptist Theological Seminary: "A Man After God's Heart: Re-examining a Popular Yet Problematic Interpretation"
• Dr. Sydney Page, Professor of New Testament, Taylor Seminary: "Does Ephesians 4:12 teach that every Christian has a ministry?"

Monday, January 30, 2006, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

• Dr. Oz Lorentzen, Professor of Bible & Theology, Prairie Bible College: "Word of God or word of man: Preaching as the Word of God in the thought of Karl Barth"
• John Nicholson, Senior Pastor, Mt. Olive Evangelical Free Church: "Making Peace in a World of Conflict"

For more information, please see the Prairie Events posting here.

latest expository times online

The latest issue of the Expository Times is now online: Volume 117, No. 4. It includes a much-anticipated "Reply to Stephen Carlson" by Scott Brown. There are also articles by Helmut Koester on the Apostolic Fathers and I. Howard Marshall on Pastoral Epistles commentaries, among other items.

how many scholars to change a christmas bulb?

My question at the end of my summary of "a critical Christmas" ("How does a historical-critical scholar say 'Merry Christmas'?") prompted another crucial question for me. Here it is, along with my attempt at an answer...


How many biblical scholars does it take to change a Christmas light bulb?

A historical critic to deny the historicity of the canonical birth narratives, thus believing he or she has answered the question.

A source critic to demonstrate from comparison with parallel questions that "Christmas" is not part of the original saying, which belonged to a Q(uestion) source that included other such queries as "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

A redaction critic to assert that the "Christmas" redaction indicates a distinctive emphasis within the later "Christmas community," a community which de-emphasised Jesus' death in favour of his birth.

A form critic to state that the question was likely the climactic saying of a pronouncement story, probably reflecting the "Christmas wars" of the early 21st century.

A rhetorical critic to note that the question is part of a diatribe in which the speaker interacts with a hypothetical interlocutor in order to support his or her contention that the light bulb needs to be changed.

A narrative critic to describe the apparent defeat of the light by darkness as part of a larger narrative in which the light ultimately triumphs over the darkness once the bulb is changed.

A fundamentalist to insist that the light bulb doesn't need to be changed; after all, we've always used this bulb, and nowhere does the Bible say it should be changed.

An evangelical to change the light bulb for one which Jesus used, based on Jesus' (verbatim authentic) saying, "I am the light of the world."

in the harvard theological review

In the most recent issue of the HTR to be published online, there is one article of note related to New Testament studies: "The Mystery of Israel's Salvation: Romans 11:25–26 in Patristic and Medieval Exegesis" by Jeremy Cohen (abstract here).

a critical christmas

There have been some interesting discussions going on in the e-world looking at critical issues surrounding the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke. These discussions have been generated by Gerd Lüdemann's press release entitled "The Christmas stories are pious fairy-tales." Mark Goodacre initially responded on his blog (Lüdemann on Christmas), Lüdemann then responded (Response to Mark Goodacre and Stephen Carlson), and finally Goodacre has responded again with a final "truce" agreed by Lüdemann (Response to Lüdemann). But behind this discussion primarily between these two scholars there has been an ongoing conversation surrounding Lüdemann's initial statement and ideas over at XTalk, with lots more interesting thoughts and exchanges.

How does a historical-critical scholar say "Merry Christmas"? :-)

UPDATE (01/07): Prof. Lüdemann has included Prof. Goodacre's reply on his homepage here.

evangelicals and catholics (not quite?) together

Recent years have seen significant bridge-building discussions between evangelical Protestants and Catholics regarding key issues in theology and praxis. Christianity Today has a review of a recent evaluation of the current state of these discussions: Sticking Points. The article reviews the book, Is the Reformation Over? An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism, by Mark Noll and Carolyn Nystrom.

old testament opening at prairie bible college

The Department of Bible and Theology at Prairie Bible College (the evangelical College at which I teach) is seeking qualified candidates for a permanent, full-time position in Old Testament studies, to commence July 1, 2006. The position involves teaching across the spectrum of Old Testament history, literature, and theology at the undergraduate level, ranging from Introduction to the Old Testament to Current Issues in Old Testament Studies. Candidates should possess a Ph.D. in an appropriate field, and be able to affirm the mission, doctrinal statement, and lifestyle expectations of the College. In accordance with the standards of the Canadian government, preference will be given to qualified applicants who hold Canadian citizenship/permanent residence.

Please send expression of interest and curriculum vitae before March 31, 2006, to:

Dr. Dennis Punter
Dean of the College
Prairie Bible College
Box 4000
Three Hills, Alberta, Canada
T0M 2N0

For more information, please contact Dr. Punter at dennis.punter@prairie.edu, or go to www.prairie.edu/jobbank.

online video on herod the great

The latest online video available at The Archaeology Channel website is one of interest for New Testament students: Herod: The Builder King. (HT: RC)

bach on!

Ahhh... a cup of freshly brewed coffee and Bach's St. John Passion on BBC Radio 3... A Bach Christmas is well under way!

bader on intro to biblical studies courses

On the latest SBL Forum Mary Bader has an article on "Strategies for Moving Students from Faith-based to Academic Biblical Studies." The title is certainly problematic. Is "faith-based" biblical studies necessarily non-"academic"? The introductory section seems to connect her own experiences at theological graduate schools and a Catholic university with the "faith-based" education--were these not also "academic"? And the rest of the article sees liberal arts education as the "academic" education. What about "faith-based" liberal arts institutions--where do these fit? And is liberal arts education the only form of "academic" education? However, given the sorts of students she describes, does "faith-based" biblical study mean something like "devotionally oriented," or perhaps "church-" or "synagogue-based" biblical study?

In any case, in spite of the difficult categories (which could possibly be cleared up with some different terminology) there are several helpful ideas throughout the essay on teaching introductory biblical studies courses--helpful even for me in expanding both the intellectual and faith horizons of my students in my faith-based academic instruction...

galbraith on "original" theses and higher degrees

As a student within the peculiar world of New Testament studies, with the study of history and theology mixed up in a unique way, I always try to do some reading on the side in the "pure" fields of history and theology, along with ancillary areas such as epistemology and hermeneutics. My casual side reading recently has been from the collections of essays edited by John Tosh called Historians on History. One of the essays is by the Oxford Medievalist V. H. Galbraith (1889-1976), excerpted from An Introduction to the Study of History published in 1964. He had these thoughts on "original" theses and advanced degrees:

These 'original' theses are compiled in a very short time - one, two, or at most three years: they are done by young people who have scarcely attained the equipment of a scholar by the time the thesis is completed: the choice of a subject is a perennial and notorious difficulty; and the result, at its best, is apt to be the publication of an immature monograph, much less readable than it would have been if more slowly evolved; while a very serious situation may arise for the student if, by an unlucky choice of subject, he fails to attain the degree. More generally, the student works in an atmosphere of anxiety and haste, at the very time in his career when leisure and time to think are most essential. He passes from the superficial study of wide periods (in which undergraduate work largely consists) to a specialisation that is too narrow, too intense and too hurried.

figured out: conference on biblical interpretation

An announcement for this conference just came across my inbox. It is a conference at Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto on biblical interpretation, occurring right before the annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies in Toronto next May.

Figured Out
Figuration in Biblical Interpretation
May 25-26, 2006

The conference features Dr. Christopher Seitz, Professor of Old Testament and Theological Studies at the University of St. Andrews, and Dr. Ephraim Radner, Rector of the Church of the Ascension (Episcopal) in Pueblo, Colorado.

Brochure available here

the evolution of our alphabet

In the category of "cool stuff," here's a nifty animated gif showing the evolution of our alphabet: Evolving Alphabet. (HT: RC)

lecturing in the uk

Today was my last day of lectures on the Gospel of John at Birmingham Christian College. Even if it has cut into my research time by the equivalent of about one day a week, this has been a rewarding and memorable experience which I would gladly do over.

In many ways this was very similar to my teaching experience back in Canada. The Gospel of John course has a good level of academic rigour appropriate to undergraduate education, as it is a Level 3 class for a BA in Theology validated by the University of Wales. I thus taught the course at the same level as I have taught a similar third-year course at Prairie back in Canada, and I found the general academic level of the students to be roughly on par with my third- or fourth-year students back home. Also, with both this College and my College in Canada being evangelical Christian colleges, the general outlook of the students is very similar with the same sorts of questions being raised and issues being discussed.

There were, however, some notable differences. Having ten weeks of two-hour lectures here compared with thirteen weeks of two 75-minute lectures back in Canada necessitated a different approach to the scope and sequence of the material. This meant we could not do as much in-depth exegetical focus on specific passages in the Gospel, as it only left time to introduce and engage the standard critical issues and theological themes of the Gospel. To a certain extent this was alleviated by the fact that the class here was small--only five students--which allowed us to move more quickly through some material and dig more deeply into other material.

I'm still trying to make sense of the term system here, with three terms--two teaching terms and a third for "revision and assessment"--as compared with two semesters back home. Also, some courses are assessed by a term essay, some by an examination, and some by both, whereas in Canada one might find any combination of these plus possibly any number of smaller assignments and tests throughout each course. I'm also still trying to navigate my way through the marking system here--each course essay above Level 1 is marked at least twice, by two different people (at BCC there is also an external reader from the University of Wales)--whereas in Canada essays for regular courses are only marked by the instructor (or assistant) and multiple readers are normally only used for larger projects such as an honours thesis.

To others involved in academic instruction I heartily recommend taking a similar opportunity to teach in another country. To everyone at Birmingham Christian College, thank you for the opportunity. And to my students in the course--the raison d'être of teaching--thank you for your attentive listening, your thoughtful discussions, and eating all our chili dogs and reading all our children's books when you came over for lunch.

the christmas wars

Along with the usual annual battles over the use of the term "Christmas" in describing the upcoming public holiday in the West, a new civil war has emerged within American Christianity over the closure of several mega-churches on Christmas day. For those interested in the Christmas Wars, the latest Christianity Today blog has loads of links for you: Weblog: Megachurches on the Defensive.

latest nts online

The latest issue of New Testament Studies is out and online: Volume 52 - Issue 01 - January 2006. It looks like it's got something for everyone--there's everything from the Gospel of Peter to baptism for the dead in 1 Corinthians 15 to Paul's allegory in Galatians 4, and much more.

latest rbl new testament reviews

The latest Review of Biblical Literature NT-related reviews have been posted by Mark Goodacre: Review of Biblical Literature latest.

blogging lowdown

My blogging has been limited over the past week for reasons I can't speak about, probably the least I've blogged in a week since the week we moved to England. Nevertheless, I have been keeping up with some news and blogs, and here are some of the items I've found interesting.

Over the past few weeks I've enjoyed listening to the BBC 4's In the Footsteps of Jesus, featuring Mark Goodacre as historical consultant. There's much of interest in the series, and I can imagine it providing good fodder for classroom discussion in an introductory course on Jesus or Christianity.

The Hebrew Bible blogs have returned to kindergarten and Sunday School over the past several weeks, discussing the ABC's along with David and Goliath. Underlying much of this is an interesting (and sometimes heated!) debate on "maximalism" and "minimalism" regarding the history of Israel and concomitant debates on the historical intention and reliability of the Hebrew Bible. All of this makes me wish I had gone into Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies... Not really, sorry! :-) New Testament scholarship has its own versions of these sorts of debates which are more than enough to keep me going.

Also of interest: R. Bauckham articles online - N. T. Wright turned librettist - Barth's Church Dogmatics in a week - Middle Earth prevails over Narnia - The folly of online plagiarism.

UPDATED 12/15

latest lark news

All you academic-types slaving in front of your computers, be sure to take a short break today to check out the latest in Christian satire in the Lark News, December 2005. See which Pastor Jim was named Most Relevant Pastor in America (it's not Jim West, for which he's probably glad), read the latest on the disturbing phenomenon of "Kinkade envy," and check out this 404 page which I may have to borrow for my blog URL when I quit blogging to travel around the world with my wife and kids in a beat-up VW van...

a bach christmas

I already know that one of the highlights of my Christmas season will be this feature on BBC Radio 3, available for all on whom broadband's favour rests:

A Bach Christmas
Every Note, Night and Day

BBC Radio 3 will be celebrating Christmas 2005 by broadcasting continuously over ten days the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Heaven is touching earth again this Christmas!

aslan is jesus

Anyone who thinks Narnia's Aslan is not Jesus either has not read the whole of the Chronicles of Narnia or is ignorant of the narrative shape of mid-twentieth century Protestant theology--even if that person happens to be C. S. Lewis' stepson. Now a previously unpublished letter by Lewis confirms this beyond any doubt: Narnia's lion really is Jesus. Lewis' Narnia is not a full allegory--if it is, the allegory breaks down in many of the details--yet it certainly has an allegorical framework and an analogical orientation. As Lewis himself puts it, the Chronicles answer this question: "Supposing there really was a world like Narnia . . . and supposing Christ wanted to go into that world and save it (as He did ours) what might have happened?"

online religion journals

Chris Tilling notes this good gateway to online journals, including several in the area of religious (theological, biblical) studies: Directory of Open Access Journals.

nt gateway weblog featured

And speaking of Mark Goodacre, his New Testament Gateway Weblog is Blog of the Month over at Biblioblogs.com. It's a great interview with a top New Testament scholar, with insightful comments on blogging and scholarship and coming to America.

tyndale house

Speaking of Cambridge and Tyndale House, Mark Goodacre has a couple of notes of interest on his blog. It appears that Bruce Winter is stepping down as Warden at Tyndale House, as they are looking for a new Warden. And Mark has posted the details of this summer's Tyndale House Summer School, which I noted last year sounded like a little bit of heaven. It still does...

the constraints of cambridge

My brother has been visiting from Canada the past few days, and our main excursion on the weekend was to Cambridge. We stayed with a friend at St Edmund's College (thanks again, James!) and toured the colleges on Saturday. Here's the standard shot of King's College Chapel, where we went to a beautiful choral evensong service on the Friday night when we arrived.

I had hoped to connect with Peter Head (blogger at ETC) at Tyndale House but after a series of events with trains and connections which proved Murphy's Law beyond any doubt, that did not work out.

Regular readers of this blog may recall my purchase of E. P. Sanders' copy of Harvey's Jesus and the Constraints of History, discovering Sanders' notations in the margins which made their way into his own Jesus and Judaism, and noting Sanders' signature and "Cambridge, 1982" at the front of the book. Well, as I suggested might happen, the book did make the trip to Cambridge with me, back to its origin of purchase. I had this picture taken to prove it, posing in my most Cambridge-esque manner with my friend's college scarf...

latest review of biblical literature

Mark Goodacre has posted the latest New Testament-related book reviews at the Review of Biblical Literature: Review of Biblical Literature latest.