I am finishing up a detour in my research schedule. Work on a small book on John 5 (forthcoming later this year) has forced me to revisit Ben Sira 50, my favourite Jewish text outside Hebrew Bible. Reading through Otto Mulder’s rich and detailed treatment of the chapter () I noticed for the first time the importance of… Read more »
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King Solomon and N. T. Wright’s Pauline Theology
Earlier in the year, in June, I presented a paper on Solomon in 1 Kgs 3–4 at the Son of God Conference at St Andrews: Abstract N. T. Wright has argued that Pauline theology is indebted to a Jewish and biblical notion that the king is a representative, incorporative figure. This paper offers fresh evidence from the… Read more »
On the transcendence of conflict in scholarship
I observe that in scholarship—as in life generally—the truth often lies between and beneath or above conflicting arguments. Too often we are prone to taking sides and binary thinking. Our emotions and personal, relational, allegiances colour our perception. Rarely does the truth lie entirely with one side of a conflict, especially where sides have become… Read more »
Labuschagne’s Numerical Secrets republished
I have just seen that Wipf and Stock have now published (originally published in 2000 by Bibal Press). This is a seminal work in biblical numerical criticism or, as Labuschagne now calls it, “arithomology”. Although the book has not received the attention it deserves, I reckon it is one of the most important pieces of biblical scholarship to appear… Read more »
New publications on Adam in Second Temple Judaism
I see that the recent volume of articles from the 13th conference of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature ) includes two important articles dealing with Jewish and early Christian traditions about Adam: Menahem Kister, “Hellenistic Jewish Writers and Palestinian Traditions: Early and Late,” pp. 150–230. Sergey Minov, “Satan’s Refusal to… Read more »
Audio Interview on Jesus Monotheism 1
For those interested, there is a 47 min interview with Matthew Bates over at OnScript about my Jesus Monotheism Volume 1. The interview may be useful for anyone wanting an audio summary of the argument of the four volumes and of volume 1 (5:15 – 17:31 minutes into the recording). I was also struck by the way… Read more »
Jesus’ “Equality with God” in John’s Gospel
I have just returned from an enjoyable and stimulating conference in Italy on John’s Gospel and Jewish Messianism organised by the Enoch Seminar. The invitation to give a main paper to an international group of specialists on John and Judaism gave me the opportunity to explore my thinking on John’s testimony to the character and… Read more »
N. T. Wright and Israel’s Representative Messiah
I’m getting ready to speak at a symposium on the theme of Divine Sonship at St Andrews (Scotland). My paper tackles a question raised by N. T. (Tom) Wright’s work on Paul and offers new evidence to support one of Tom’s more controversial claims.[1] Wright thinks (as a growing number now do) that when Paul uses the… Read more »
The high priestly office and Jewish messianic hope
In late October last year I gave a paper at a conference at the University of Gloucestershire dedicated to 1 Enoch and Contemporary Theology. My topic was the political theology of the Similitudes of Enoch (1 En. 37–71) in its ancient context. The paper will likely appear in a published volume from the conference before… Read more »
Peter Leithart on divine and human creativity
I am writing a conference paper on Solomon (in 1 Kings 3–4) and have been rereading the wonderful . In his discussion of Solomon’s achievements, Leithart eloquently explores a point that I make in my Jesus Monotheism Volume 1 (p. 146) about the relationship between the Creator and the human calling: “Humans are created in the image of… Read more »