Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters

I have always been more of a biblical theologian than a systematic theologian.  That is why I was very happy to read Andreas Kostenberger’s new book A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters.  This is the first volume in a new series in biblical theology that will be edited by Kostenberger.  My first impression of this book (other than being big as it is 567 pages) was that it was a pleasure to read.  The reader is taken on a journey throughout the whole range of issues regarding John’s Gospel and letters.  Everything from grammar to the cross to salvation to characters to the community and beyond is dealt with in this volume.  This is an extensive study and Kostenberger interacts with the scholarship of today and past generations.  Kostenberger comes at the issues from a quite conservative background.  He affirms John the Apostle as the author (against scholars such as Richard Bauckham) and is critical of the whole theory of a Johannine community.  As an evangelical, I have no problem with that.  However, I find the idea of reconciling John’s positioning of the clearing of the Temple at the beginning and the synoptic placing at the end by suggesting two cleansings of the Temple unconvincing.  I think you can accept a rearranging of events for theological and literary purposes and still affirm a high view of Scripture.  Overall, this is a very good book that is a wonderful introduction to the issues surrounding the writings of John.  Unfortunately the letters of John were pretty much swallowed up by the work on the Gospel, but other than that this is a very useful addition to scholarship.  This book is very readable and will be good for the interested layperson as well as having enough research to benefit the scholar.  This book is highly recommended.

Muslims Want to Take Over the United Kingdom

This is not the alarmist claims of Pat Robertson or some fundamentalist but a report by CNN.  You can watch the video here.

Tony Costa takes on Robert Price

Robert Price is a radical even among his Jesus Seminar colleagues in that he rejects the existence of Jesus.  Price has a new book out called Jesus is Dead. Tony Costa provides a very good review of this book in the Review of Biblical Literature.  You can read the review here.

Geza Vermes on the Testimonium Flavianum

All too often people reject all of Josephus’ testimony about the existence of Jesus because of some obvious Christian additions.  Respected Jewish scholar Geza Vermes demonstrates that such radical rejection is unwarranted.

Longenecker on Galatians

I have been taking my congregations through Paul’s letter to the Galatians.  The commentary that I have been using as my primary tool is Galatians by Richard Longenecker from the Word Biblical Commentary series.  Longenecker was my New Testament professor during my M.Div. days at McMaster Divinity College.  This is a very helpful commentary for any study on this important book of the New Testament.  Longenecker interacts with much of the scholarship regarding the relevant issues.  Longenecker’s use of rabbinic traditions is both a strength and a weakness.  It is interesting to see what the rabbis were saying about the issues that the Galatians were dealing with.  But sometimes it is easy forget that these traditions, at least in their written form, are much later than the New Testament.  Still, this would be a good addition to any biblical library.

John Piper on the Prosperity Gospel

Historical Resurrection of Jesus

Is the resurrection of Jesus just a matter of faith or can we speak of it historically?  N.T. Wright does a great job in this short video of explaining how we can speak of the resurrection historically.

The Bible Among the Myths

I recently read a very good book by John N. Oswalt called The Bible Among the Myths.  It is common to see claims that the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, is of the same genre as other ancient myths.  This seems possible as the Old Testament is filled with supernatural events, fantastic details and various themes familiar from ancient myths.  Oswalt goes beyond the surface similarities by going into detail regarding the true nature of myth.  Fantastic details are common to myths but myths are really defined by a worldview described as continuity.  In contrast, the biblical worldview centers on transcendence.  Oswalt is extremely balanced in that he does not deny similarities with mythology.  Rather he demonstrates that the differences are based on foundational issues rather than the surface similarities.  One of the interesting aspects of this book is Oswalt’s investigation into the nature of history.  Unlike ancient myths that have no interest in history, the Bible is filled with history.  Oswalt confronts some of the critical scholars who have competing theories regarding the relationship between the Old Testament and history.  Overall, this is a very good book for understanding the Old Testament in particular and the Bible in general, especially in its larger cultural and religious context.

Scientology in Trouble in France

The Church of Scientology in France is in lots of legal trouble.  You can read the story here.  This group, started by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, has been controversial since it began.  The prosecution actually tried to get it banned in France but failed.  It amazes me that seemingly intelligent people are willing to pay large sums of money for religious ideas invented by a sci fi author.

Mysteries of Mithra

I just finished reading a book by Franz Cumont called The Mysteries of Mithra.  Mithras was a popular mystery religion god that was contemporary with the beginning of Christianity.  Because of this, people often look to Mithras as an influence on the story of Jesus.  While this book is not intended to be apologetic, it has much information that is damaging to the Jesus myth hypothesis.  Cumont shows that Mithraism did not become popular until the end of the first and really more into the second century.  It also became popular in different parts of the Roman Empire so that it did not come into conflict with Christianity until the later second, and especially the third and fourth centuries.  Because of all this, it is unlikely that it had any influence on the origins of Christianity.  In addition, despite popular claims, Mithras was not born of a virgin and was not a dying and rising god.  Mithraism really was a religion of the Roman military and it is difficult to see how the earliest Jewish Christians would be open to their beliefs.  While Cumont is sometimes guilty of using Christian terms such as church, baptism and last supper in describing Mithraic practices, this is still a useful tool in understanding the false claims of the Jesus myth hypothesis.  This is an older book but it is still a classic and is worth reading by anyone interested in these issues.