I had the great pleasure recently of reading Jamie Davies’ Paul Among the Apocalypses?: An Evaluation of the “Apocalyptic Paul” in the Context of Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic Literature, his contribution to T&T Clark’s Library of New Testament Studies monograph series. Jamie and I sat down for a conversation about Paul, the meaning of “apocalyptic,” and how the church stands to benefit from recent scholarship on the issue. [Read more…]
Astrobiology and Other Strange New Things
by 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 to evangelize an alien species.1 The Three-Body trilogy by Cixin Liu is an even better example of intergalactic drama; it is remarkably good Chinese storytelling than which none greater can be conceived.2 Beyond fiction, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has programs funded by NASA, public universities, and private donors. As astronomers discover thousands of “exoplanets”—planets that orbit a sun beyond our solar system—the cultural plausibility of alien life is strong. But whether such speculations have any theological plausibility is a different question entirely. [Read more…]
The Fight for the Trinity: Michael Bird explains the Eternal Subordination debate (Part 1)
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 the complementarian camp. This intramural controversy seriously threatened to dissolve the unity of complementarians and evangelicalism as a whole. [Read more…]