A Podcast All About Christianity
One of the uplifting letters by the Apostle Paul is that of the Philippians. Paul didn’t seem to have the same struggles with this church that he had with some others. This is a letter that is worth studying to understand the early church. A good resource is Gordon Fee’s Philippians, a part of the … Read More “Philippians – Review” »
I enjoy the “A Very Short Introduction” series of books. Of course the authors are limited in what they can write in these short books. The book on Paul is written by E.P. Sanders. Sanders is an influential New Testament scholar. He was one of the pioneers of what is known as the New Perspective … Read More “Paul: A Very Short Introduction – Review” »
Paul’s letter to the Romans is one of the most influential texts for the Christian church, ancient and modern. This epistle had a deep impact on such figures as Augustine, Martin Luther, John Wesley and Karl Barth. Much of protestant theology is shaped by Romans but the epistle is not easy to understand. Students of … Read More “Romans: The NIV Application Commentary – Review” »
Preachers will commonly describe the “conversion” of Paul (Saul) on the road to Damascus in Acts 9. But was this truly a conversion? It depends on how you define “conversion.” Paul is sometimes presented as converting from Judaism to Christianity. That is not exactly accurate and I don’t think that Paul would have understood that … Read More “Was Paul “Converted” On the Road to Damascus?” »
One of my favourite writers on early Christianity is N.T. Wright. I have read many of his books and when I was asked what I wanted for my birthday, I knew it was Paul: A Biography. Wright has written many books on Paul but this one is unique. In some ways it is a bridge … Read More “Paul: A Biography – Review” »
One of the most important figures for understanding the early church is the Apostle Paul. However, when it comes to studying Paul, we have two different sources to examine. There are Paul’s letters and Luke’s account of his ministry in Acts. While most scholars do not struggle with using the epistles (or at least the … Read More “Paul in Acts – Review” »
One of the most controversial issues in the Christian church today is the role of women in leadership. The phrase “women in ministry” is not very helpful in that the New Testament expects all followers of Jesus to be ministering in some way. The challenge for this topic is that the New Testament seems to … Read More “Paul and Gender – Review” »
My training is in New Testament studies and not history. However, I see a very close relationship between the two. I come at New Testament studies from the perspective of history. How does one go about history in any other area? People who study Alexander the Great, the Han dynasty in China or the Napoleonic … Read More “The Relationship of History and New Testament Studies” »
It has been common from time to time to suggest a strong conflict between James and Paul in the early church. This was especially true during the time of Adolf von Harnack, who relying Hegelian philosophy, saw Judaism as the thesis (represented by James) and Hellenism as the antithesis (represented by Paul), resulting in a … Read More “Were Paul and James Enemies?” »
Biblical commentaries are a tremendous tool for understanding the Old and New Testaments. The problem is that there is not just one kind of Bible commentary. There are commentaries for preachers, devotional commentaries and scholarly commentaries. Some require some knowledge of Hebrew or Greek and some do not. But you don’t want to wait until … Read More “What Bible Commentaries Should You Use?” »
