Essay / Avant-Garde

If You Had Been There

Once upon a time –not quite “in the beginning,” but not too long after– a snake had a question. He sauntered up and posed it quite politely, and if you’d been there you’d have agreed that both his posture and his manners were impeccable. He

Essay / Theology

“All the Prophets Proclaimed These Days”

In Acts 3, near the end of his sermon in Solomon’s Portico, Peter says that “all the prophets, as many as have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, also predicted these days” in which God would bring salvation in Christ. Old Testament scholar R.

Essay / Theology

Doctrine or Problem: Wainwright on the Trinity in the New Testament

In 1962, Arthur W. Wainwright published The Trinity in the New Testament, a helpful one-volume treatment of a vast subject. Wipf & Stock keeps it in print, and no wonder: Wainwright handled the material so well that only a few pages in it seems dated –though

Essay / Theology

Unlucky Argument for Pauline Authorship of Hebrews

E.W. Bullinger (1837-1913) was a quirky Bible teacher. I would caution anybody against a steady diet of his books, but as long as you’re getting most of your nutrition elsewhere, a little dash of Bullinger can be a piquant spice. You can count on wild

Essay / Literature

Hermeneutics with Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson gives some excellent advice in his Preface to Shakespeare (1765) that applies to reading in general, and especially well to Bible reading. Johnson advises readers to plow straight through a Shakespeare play, keeping up a good pace even when passages aren’t clear. To

Essay / Theology

“English Bible” did not mean “Dumbed Down”

Earlier this year I noted the premiere of a new journal, the Journal of Inductive Biblical Studies.  The second issue is out now, and among the essays published there I especially enjoyed the autobiographical piece by David Bauer entitled, “My Journey with Inductive Bible Study.”

Essay / Podcasts

The Common Room, Ep. 7: On 1 and 2 Samuel

Theologians Dr. Joe Henderson and Dr. Adam Johnson discuss the books of 1 and 2 Samuel.  Moderated by Dr. Matt Jenson. For other episodes of The Common Room, click here.  The Common Room is available on iTunes in both video and audio formats.

Essay / Theology

Amateurs Needed for the School of Translators

Last year, four professors from Torrey gave brief talks on some of our favorite 20th-century Christian thinkers (Chesterton, Sayers, Tolkien, Lewis). Videos of the talks are here; the whole thing was pretty obviously an excuse to collaborate with Chris Mitchell on a project where he

Essay / Theology

One of Those Critters

Here is a link to some footage of Bob Warren, who died last week, doing his thing: teaching. This is vintage Bob –although in one sense this footage is not characteristic of him, in that he doesn’t have his Bible open and he’s not digging

Essay / Theology

Erasmus Milks Ephesians

Erasmus of Rotterdam taught the Renaissance world how to take a thought and expand it, expound it, extrapolate it into a fountain of new expressions and novel turns of phrase. His “abundant style” bore much fruit for the students who learned it from him. But the

Essay / Theology

Journal of Inductive Biblical Studies

I’m intrigued and encouraged to see the first issue of the Journal of Inductive Biblical Studies, a new journal scheduled to appear twice a year and devoted to promote the hermeneutical approach to the study of the Scriptures generally known as Inductive Biblical Studies. By

Essay / On This Day

Happy Birthday, Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889)

Today (March 7) is the birthday of Alfred Edersheim, the nineteenth-century Bible scholar who really made the grand tour: He was born in Austria, converted from Judaism to evangelical Christianity in Hungary, studied theology in Edinburgh and Berlin, was a missionary to Jews in Romania