As I indicated in last week’s post, I am starting a new 10-part video series on big questions related to the faith, and particularly the origins and reliability of the New Testament.
So, here’s the next installment in the series: “Wha…
Over the years, I have done an enormous amount of video interviews related to the origins and reliability of the Bible. I have been able to collect some of the more recent clips and form them into a 10-part video series on a number of important issues….
In the 2020 Apple TV breakout hit, Ted Lasso, there’s a remarkable scene in the local London pub where Ted challenges the show’s nemesis, Rupert Mannion, to a game of darts. Confident that he can beat this silly American who knows nothing about British…
“One of these things is not like the others.” That was a classic segment on Sesame Street, as well as the title of a popular children’s book. It proves again that everything you need to know in life you probably learned in Kindergarten.
After all, whe…
It’s that time of year again.
A wonderful new crop of seminary students has arrived here at RTS-Charlotte and they are in the middle of a grueling month-long experience of Summer Greek. And, like all seminary students before them, they will begin to …
Now that it’s officially August, the “back to school” conversations have begun. For many parents, however, it is not back to school for their kids, but “away” to school. Some parents are sending kids to college—perhaps for the first time.
My family has…
“What’s your favorite Gospel?”
As a New Testament scholar, I get this question all the time. Sometimes people are just curious about what I think. Sometimes they are wanting to study a Gospel themselves and don’t know where to s…
In the 1979 film Rocky II, the newly famous Rocky Balboa, fresh off his split-decision loss to Apollo Creed, is hired to do a TV commercial. During the filming of the commercial it quickly becomes clear that he can’t read the cue cards. The direc…
One year ago on this day, we said goodbye to Tim Keller. In honor of his passing, I am reposting my original tribute to him below.
______________________
By now, you have heard the sad news. Tim Keller has just passed away.
I still remember the first t…
Ever since I became the president of the Charlotte campus of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS)—now more than a decade ago—I’ve been committed to a basic practice. It might not seem like much. It’s not anything extraordinary. But I think it has proven…
Ok, let’s just get it out there. Parenting is hard. And parenting teens is particularly hard. Even more, parenting teens in our current culture moment is exceptionally hard.
While every generation has “new” challenges, it is fair to s…
Well, soon it will be Easter. That wonderful time of the year when we remember (and celebrate) the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
But, not all will be celebrating. There are many that find Easter to be a senseless holiday—apart from, perhaps, the…
Well, soon it will be Easter. That wonderful time of the year when we remember (and celebrate) the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
But, not all will be celebrating. There are many that find Easter to be a senseless holiday—apart from, perhaps, the…
When we want to know how the New Testament canon developed, we have a number of sources at our disposal. Most fundamentally, we have patristic sources—the writings of the church fathers—which can show us when books were known, read, and cited.
We also …
Since this blog is primarily designed to put out lay-level content on the origins of the New Testament (among other issues), I don’t normally talk about the more technical scholarly projects I am working on behind the scenes. So, here’s a l…
One of the most notable features of early Christianity is that it was a religion concerned with books. Particularly, scriptural books.
As Margaret Mitchell observed, “Christianity was a religious movement with texts at its very heart and soul, in its b…
What’s the most important skill you need to be successful in ministry? Knowing how to run a good meeting.
Ok, that’s not really true. Many other things matter more (a lot more!). But, running a good meeting still matters. And more than you think.
Ev…
We have a lot of books in our New Testament. All of them, we believe, are divinely inspired. And yet we don’t spend equal amounts of time reading them. For most of us, our reading pattern is profoundly lopsided, focusing mostly on Paul (especially Roma…
There is more to a text than merely the words on the page.
This is a principle that is often missed, even by modern readers. When a person reads a book, of course the intellectual attention is primarily centered upon the words and the meaning of those …
When it comes to the reasons people reject the Bible, the Old Testament might just rank near the top of the list. Whether it’s just something confusing (the book of Leviticus), or something historically hard to believe (the “giants” …
Back in September of 2023, I published an article on the newly discovered “gospel” manuscript from Oxyrhynchus: “New ‘Gospel’ Manuscript Discovered? (What it Is and Why it Matters).”
That manuscript, labelled P.Oxy. 5575, is a small papyrus…
Well, it’s New Year’s Eve. It’s the time of the year to be inundated with “Best of” stories and “Year in Review” segments, dutifully cataloging everything that happened in pop culture or politics.
But, what if a “Year in Review” was about more than cel…
Bah, humbug.
That’s probably one of the most well-known lines in literary (and now, cinematic) history. Everybody immediately recognizes the curmudgeonly voice of Ebeneezer Scrooge as he pours cold water all over our Christmas spirit.
And his point i…
One of my favorite electives I teach here at RTS Charlotte is “The Origin and Authority of the New Testament Canon.” We cover a lot of ground in that course: why we have a NT canon, what is the earliest evidence for a canon consciousness, w…
Next week I’m headed to San Antonio, TX, for the annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL)—two of the largest gatherings for biblical scholars in the world. In addition to the normal m…
Students of the Gospels will know that there has been a long-standing discussion among scholars about the relationship between the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). These three Gospels are so similar at so many points (often word for word), t…
Exactly one month ago, I published a TGC article on the recently discovered ‘gospel’ manuscript from Oxyrhynchus, P.Oxy. 5575. This new manuscript is noteworthy for many reasons (which I cover in the article), but mostly because it includes…
OK, so I really love my wife’s new book. I know that may seem predictable since I am her husband, but this new kids book really captures some wonderful biblical truths in a winsome, fun, and entertaining way.
Melissa just released Lucy and the Sa…
At the inaugural Keller Center gathering last spring, I got together with Josh Chatraw, Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism at Beeson Divinity School, to discuss this important issue of doubt in the Christian life. The video of our conversation is below.
…
The Old Testament has run into some hard times as of late. It’s seen by many as a curmudgeonly, legalistic, violent, confusing, and, maybe most of all, boring sort of book. As the atheist Richard Dawkins famously opined, “The God of the Old Testament …
