Tavis BohlingerI’ve always valued a quote from Luther: “It’s not reading books that makes a theologian, but living, dying, and being damned”!
~Rev Dr Walter Moberly, Professor of Theology and Biblical Interpretation, University of Durham
Didaktikosby Hans Madueme | Covenant College Extraterrestrial life is standard fare in science-fiction literature. Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things is a fine example, a tale about a Christian missionary who journeys to another planet in order...
One thing that makes a good scholar is the ability to be an original thinker. In one sense, this means the ability to approach problems from new angles. In another, but related, sense, this means the ability to see the edifice of a scholarly...
by Tremper Longman III | Westmont College Professors and aspiring writers who know I have authored or co-authored over thirty books and many smaller pieces often ask me, “How do you do it?” I am always glad to share my thoughts on this subject...
Collaboration, curiosity, endurance, creativity, passion, courage (willing to challenge stubborn consenses), and dedication. Many of the virtues of a good detective!
Latin is a language that I picked up during my PhD studies, and it has proved useful and enjoyable. I wish that I had learned it as a youth, which is why I’ve begun teaching Latin to my children. But if you’re reading this article, I’m guessing...
A good biblical scholar realizes that others are smarter than he is.
by Alan Taylor Farnes In 2007, James R. Royse published his exceptional study on the scribal habits of six early New Testament papyri. In his work, Royse revolutionized text critics’ understanding of the text-critical canon lectio brevior potior or...
Editor’s note: Crispin Fletcher-Louis has disrupted our normal series on “What makes a good Biblica Scholar or Theologian?” with a title of his own making. We’ll let it slide, because his advice is just that good. Enjoy the...
by Mark Seifrid
I just received the Logos 7 (Deutsch) package. It turns out to be a quite impressive collection, with some nice surprises.
A good biblical scholar is discerning. This discernment is exercised at key points in the research process. First, a good scholar chooses worthwhile research projects to invest time in. Time is a limited commodity, so choosing the right project is...
Editor’s note: Today we honor of the 73rd anniversary of the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I asked my friend and Durham colleague, Jameson Ross, to write a short piece on the significance of the publication of the critical edition of Bonhoeffer’s...
by Tavis Bohlinger Even though a career in academia will be out of reach for most PhDs in biblical studies, (and theology, church history, etc.), there is no reason that biblical scholarship should be abandoned. Believing scholars of the Bible in...
I had the great honor of interviewing Stephen Chester, Professor of New Testament at North Park Theological Seminary, about his new book, Reading Paul with the Reformers: Reconciling Old and New Perspectives (Eerdmans, 2017). In the interview...
Humility: Submit your work on the text and invite the critique and examination of others without defensiveness. Others help to improve your contribution.
By Ryan Jackson | Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
As a student, I always suspected adjunct professors were personae non gratae among the serious academic community. This perception, I now believe, is the impression of a sophomoric imagination.
Faithlife StaffAdded Rediscovering Paul: An Introduction to His World, Letters, and Theology, 2nd ed., to the Bibliography of the New Perspective on Paul section.
Book Review David B. Capes, Rodney Reeves, and E. Randolph Richards, editors, IVP Academic, 2017. According to the Introduction, the work is intended as a student textbook that covers, in a manageable size, several aspects of Paul: his background...
Theology is a bit like a spider’s web, in the sense that cutting a single strand of a theological framework can drastically alter the shape of the whole.
By John D. Meade In biblical and theological instruction and writing, it is common to refer to “the LXX” or “the Septuagint.” Old Testament / Hebrew Bible scholars refer to the LXX as the oldest translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and scholars in...
What makes a good biblical scholar? Well, many things, of course. But one thing I seek to embody in my own work and to impart to my students is fairness to others, especially when I disagree with them.
If you don’t know who Jacob Neusner is, it’s time to bone up. Apart from his exceptional prolific publishing output (and that’s an understatement; see point one below), he was known both for his highly acerbic nature to some and his deeply...
by Craig L. Blomberg When I was a college student, I attended several time-management seminars. Invariably, someone would start off with the solemn declaration, “We all have twenty-four hours in a day. The only difference is how we choose to use...
Although the image of the lone scholar is prominent, it is not really accurate. All of us need other scholars to sharpen our ideas and to gain new viewpoints on the texts. As a result, it is important for scholars to be humble regarding their ideas...
by Christoph Heilig* Introduction Two weeks ago, Tavis Bohlinger wrote a blogpost in which he encouraged students and scholars of the New Testament to focus on the “common dialect,” ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος of the Greek language—that is, the Greek spoken...
By Douglas Estes Describing Ben Witherington III as prolific is like saying water is wet. Over the past thirty years, he has written commentaries on all twenty-seven New Testament books—plus dozens of other volumes. He is currently working on a...
A good biblical scholar or theologian thinks through their writing, page by page, from the perspectives of their various types of expected reader, from scholars, to students, to church ministers and, if appropriate, to church members. ~Peter Oakes...
by Vinh T. Nguyen In his recent post Four Reasons to Master Koine (and to Leave Attic Alone), Tavis Bohlinger made a plea to specifically focus on Koine in order to master “this particular type of Greek as thoroughly as possible.” This post...
I’ll never forget the day when I was sitting among other recently admitted post-grads at the University of Aberdeen in the presence of the I. Howard Marshall. Make no mistake about it: although we remained in our chairs, we were sitting at Howard’s...
Learning to read Koine (or biblical) Greek is essential, if you are training for church ministry, an academically focused career in biblical studies, or simply as a means to reading the New Testament in its original language. Even while I was in...