Twenty years ago today, armed with a diamond ring and two scoops of ice cream, I asked Sarah Davis to marry me on the beach in South Haven, MI. Things haven’t been quite the same since. We’ve learned a lot, not least how to master the family calendar.  We’re celebrating by seeing each other for […]

At several points in the conference on Galatians last week, discussions touched on the relationship between faith and works. It’s fairly typical to imagine that the opposing pair of “faith” and “works” has everything to do with the supposed absolute dichotomy between inward faith and outward action.  Many assume that when Paul commends faith, he […]

I returned yesterday from a week in St. Andrews, Scotland, where I attended the conference on Galatians and Christian Theology.  Mark Elliott and his team of organizers were perfect hosts, providing a wonderful venue for intense exegetical and theological engagement and conversation. I’ll have more to say about some of that down the road, but […]

I’ve titled my paper for the St. Andrews conference, “Reading Scripture in Galatia: Galatians 3:10-14 as a Series of ad hoc Arguments.”  Here’s part of the introduction: In Gal. 3:10-14, Paul makes a series of assertions followed by Scriptural citations.  Various Christian theological traditions have regarded these assertions and citations in terms of fundamental oppositions.  […]

I’ve been a bit busy lately, which is why I haven’t been posting.  Not only am I preparing for my trip to St. Andrews, I’ve been doing some field work for the U.S. Dept. of Inclement Weather. A brutal heat wave has overtaken West Michigan over the last several weeks, so my assistant Riley and […]

We often confuse or pervert Christian relational postures and character traits.  There are probably lots of reasons for this. Humility is one of those.  It is often badly understood as something like self-loathing.  Self-loathing people downgrade themselves, their abilities and capacities.  They sound self-deprecating. It seems to me that this is how wounded pride talks.  […]

When I return to St. Andrews (yes, that holy land) next week, I’ll be engaging in more than discussions about Galatians and its impact on Christian theology.   In addition to catching up with friends and colleagues, I’m eagerly anticipating trudging around the hallowed ground of the town links. The St. Andrews Links has six […]

I’m working on my paper on Galatians 3:10-14 for the St. Andrews conference next week (along with doing some other field research that I may discuss in coming days), and I’m giving some thought to Paul’s critique of Judaism. I’m not convinced that Paul actually has any critiques of Judaism.  “Perspectives” are actually multiplying, but […]

I’m speaking this weekend about salvation as cosmic realm transfer and sanctification as learning to inhabit the new creation.  Among a few other Pauline texts, I’m making reference to Galatians 2:20-21.  Here’s my expanded translation: I died with Christ to that old realm so I don’t live there anymore, and I have been raised to […]

Scripture casts the whole range of human behavior in terms of worship.  Humanity is in the Creator God’s image, so their relating, their spreading over the whole earth, their overseeing creation’s flourishing, their exploring creation’s beauties, their creating and enjoying new aspects of culture—any of these and all of these constituted their worship of the […]