toddscacewaterWhy the Apostles Rarely Mention the Kingdom You may have noticed that “kingdom” language is frequent in the Gospels and in Jesus’ teaching particularly, but that it almost disappears in the rest of the NT. After examining every instance of βασιλεία...
garetrobinsonMichael Bird has just released a new book (surprise!), Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology. As the subtitle makes explicit, the book confronts adoptionism, which is the idea that Early Christianity believed Jesus was adopted...
Faithlife StaffAdded Mark Nanos’ new book Reading Corinthians and Philippians within Judaism: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos, vol. 4 to the Bibliography of the Paul Within Judaism section.
Tavis Bohlinger5 Resources You Need to Succeed in Seminary When I began seminary 7 years ago, I was ignorant of the tools that would help me succeed in the classroom, the pulpit, and now postgraduate studies. Logos’ Back-to-School Sale includes dozens of...
Mark WardἈγωνίζομαι is a Greek word commonly abused by Bible interpreters; and I think it raises an interesting test case for what to do when major Bible translations differ. In this post, I want to try to discern what that word is used to mean in its...
The following post is by Edith M. Humphrey, William F. Orr Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. The matter of marriage and ordered sexual relations is found throughout Scriptures, not only in the Old Testament but also in...
Derek BrownComing Back Together: Effectual Calling and Regeneration as Twin Realities (Part 2) As I discussed in Part 1, Reformed theologians such as Hodge and Berkhof articulated their doctrine of regeneration to guard the larger doctrine of salvation from...
Steve RungeDependent adverbial clauses are a common feature of Koine Greek, generally categorized based on the kind of content conveyed (e.g., conditional, comparative, spatial, temporal, reason/result, etc.) While many spatial and temporal adverbial clauses...
With and Through the Word: Rethinking Regeneration and Effectual Calling in the Reformed Ordo Salutis, Part 1 In the introduction of his volume on the Puritans, The Quest for Godliness, J. I. Packer observes the natural connection that exists...
Charles C. Helmer IVKarl Barth’s Church Dogmatics (CD) is arguably the most important product of twentieth-century theology. It is difficult to describe adequately its enduring influence on academic theology. What Barth called his opus imperfectum never came to...
In this final segment of our interview with Matthew W. Bates, author of Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), we discuss the impact of “allegiance alone” on...
I daily contemplate how I can improve my reading ability in Greek and Hebrew (as well as Latin, German and French). These languages are essential to my career as a biblical scholar. But like muscles without exercise, language abilities atrophy...
The following post is by Dr. Dale Brueggemann, Contributing Editor at Faithlife Corporation. Christ in the OT Do we know for certain that Jesus can be found in the OT? In our efforts to “read backwards,” are we finding Christ where perhaps he...
Shawn WilhiteWhile many NT scholars may know a whole lot about Matthew–Revelation, many lack the ability to pick up and read Josephus and Clement in the original Greek, or Seneca and Cicero in Latin. This reveals not just a severe lack of language ability, but...
Welcome to the fourth installment of our Hot Seat interview with Matthew Bates, author of Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017). In this segment, we discuss...
Rick BrannanTop References Discussed in Biblical Theologies An earlier post discussed how systematic theologies use the Bible to discuss the classic topics of systematic theology. We looked at the most frequent references found in contexts discussing the...
This post is designed mainly to help students build an effective and robust bibliography for any research project they undertake. Although focused on New Testament works, it should also be useful for other readers who may wish to pursue a writing...
In this post, we interview Dr. Matthew Barrett, Lecturer of systematic theology and church history at Oak Hill Theological College in London, and the general editor of Reformation Theology: A Systematic Summary. For the first part of our interview...
Welcome back to the third installment of theLAB’s Hot Seat interview with Matthew Bates on his new book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone. In this segment, we engage Matt on his perception of the gospel message, whether “allegiance alone” can correct...
This is the second post on theLAB featuring Michael Bird’s take on the recent Trinity controversy. Be sure to watch Part 1 and also see the Logos Talk Blog posts with perspectives from Peter Leithart and Wayne Grudem. Michael Bird has a way...
Top References Discussed in Systematic Theologies
So you want to write a systematic theology? Then certain passages must be referenced, at least if you want to be consistent with past works of systematics, not to mention the biblical witness itself.
The doctrine of the Trinity came under intense scrutiny last summer (2016), but it wasn’t from unbelieving philosophers or Jehovah’s Witnesses. A debate raged for the better part of three months amongst evangelical theologians, concentrating within...
We welcome Matthew Bates back to theLAB for a second round of probing questions regarding his new book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017). Here in Part 2, we...
How does Philo, the ancient Jewish philosopher, conceive of the origin of evil in each individual person compared to the Stoic understanding in which he operated? A excellent point of comparison is Philo’s use of a “double trunk” or “double branch”...
Not since the Reformation has there been a challenge to the five solas as persistent and potentially persuasive as Matthew W. Bates’ third book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids:...
Kris LyleDid you know that God is a name-caller? That Yahweh identifies people with derogatory terms? This is nowhere more evident than in the Old Testament Prophets.
Drew LongacreSince I began actively working with the Dead Sea Scrolls over a decade ago, I have become increasingly convinced that they are fundamental to understanding the Bible. In this post I would like to explore two of the more significant ways that the...
As the writer of Ecclesiastes mourns, and as John the Evangelist hints, there is no end to the number of works one might consult for acquiring knowledge. When commencing research for a paper or sermon, a critically important skill is that of...
Katie WoolstenhulmeI am pleased to introduce the publication of our first book review here on the relaunched Academic Blog. We are honoured to have Katie Woolstenhulme contribute this first review for us. Here, Katie critically examines Candida R. Moss and Joel S...
Joey Dodson“Revisionist history” is inherently redundant, since all history is revised. As George Bernard Shaw writes: “History is always out of date,” and is rewritten to lie, to burn, and to stick in our throats. That is to say, a revision may seek to...