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Adam was formed first, then Eve
Paul’s instruction that a woman should “learn quietly with all submissiveness”, that she should not teach, that she should not “exert a damaging influence over” a man but should remain quiet (1 Tim. 2:11-12), is grounded in the order of their creation in Genesis 2: “For Adam was formed first, then... (1st Feb. 2012 | 5 comments)
A helper fit for him
I pointed out yesterday that there is no reason to read “he shall rule over you” in Genesis 3:16 as the corruption of an original good andrarchy. In response to this Nigel Dutson asked about the interpretation of Genesis 2:18, where God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will... (31st Jan. 2012 | 3 comments)
He shall rule over you
Prompted by reading the chapter in Daniel Kirk’s Jesus Have I Loved, But Paul? on the place of women in the story of God, I recently set out my view i) that andrarchy (in this context, mandated rule by the man) is a consequence of the fall; ii) that it is therefore an aspect of the fallenness of... (30th Jan. 2012 | 6 comments)
Why I disagree with Tom Wright about the triumphal entry and divine kingship
A key text for Tom Wright’s “gospel christology” is the account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:1-9; Mk. 11:1-10; Lk. 19:28-40). In Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters, which is excellent in many ways, this story is the climax towards which his chapter... (29th Jan. 2012 | 4 comments)
Who are the 144,000 in Revelation, historically speaking?
Kevin DeYoung asks, “Who are the 144,000 in Revelation?” Are they a remnant of ethnic Jews who are left behind after the rapture, who will evangelize the Gentiles, as presumably dispensationalists would argue? Or does this symbolic number stand for the “entire community of the redeemed”?DeYoung... (23rd Jan. 2012 | 13 comments)
The curse of patriarchy and the hope of new creation
What impressed me most in Daniel Kirk’s discussion of the place of women in the story of God was his argument that the church is called actively and concretely to realize in the present a future new creation in which it will be unnecessary for the man to rule over the woman.There are two main parts... (20th Jan. 2012 | 0 comments)
The parable of the two houses and the apocalyptic storm
In a brief exchange with Daniel Kirk about the apocalyptic character of the story that is being told in the New Testament I touched on Jesus’ parable of the two houses, which is found at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:24-27). We usually understand this passage as a description of the... (17th Jan. 2012 | 4 comments)
Jesus Have I Loved, But Paul? Chapter 6: Women in the Story of God
Today the Blog Tour for Daniel Kirk’s new book Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? pulls in at Chapter Six: “Women in the Story of God”. In addition to my contribution here, there will be a piece by Julie Clawson, which I am willing to bet will be nothing like as overwrought and self-serving as what... (16th Jan. 2012 | 9 comments)
The fault line between the Reformed and the... er, post-Reformed?
Everyone by now must have noticed that there is a large and unsightly crack running down the middle of that highly vocal and energetic sector of Western Christianity that thinks of itself in the broadest sense as “evangelical”. It is not the only fault line—Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Pentecostalism... (12th Jan. 2012 | 16 comments)
Daniel Kirk's Jesus Have I Loved, But Paul? Blog Tour
A new book by Daniel Kirk has been released with great fanfare and a star-studded blog tour, to which I will make a contribution next week. The book is called Jesus Have I Loved, But Paul? and is basically an attempt to show that Jesus and Paul are on the same page—or at least on different pages in... (10th Jan. 2012 | 1 comment)
The fog of biblical interpretation
You are lost in thick fog in open country. You don’t have a compass. You have a map but you have no idea where you are on the map and you can see none of the landmarks—a hilltop, a church spire, a radio mast—that would allow you to get your bearings, triangulate your position, move forward in the... (9th Jan. 2012 | 8 comments)
Free e-commentary from Robert Gundry (and the clash between Christ and Caesar)
Baker Academic is promoting a new series of “ebook shorts” from Robert Gundry by offering his commentary on Ephesians as a free download for a period of 24 hours on Monday 9th January. You can get it from Amazon, CBD and Barnes and Noble. This is what the publisher says about the series: In these... (8th Jan. 2012 | 3 comments)
A parable of two sons
There was a man who had two sons. The older son loved to tell stories and would keep the relatives and servants that made up his father’s household enthralled for hours with his repertoire of tales—not all of them believable—from the family’s eventful history. The younger son was of a much more... (3rd Jan. 2012 | 8 comments)
The weapons of our warfare: on the integrity of Christian ministry
This is one of the passages often cited in support of a theology of “spiritual warfare”—an activity popularly understood as one in which Christians engage in combat with satan and his cohorts through prayer, exorcism, and aggressive proclamation of the Word of God. It is not my intention here to... (2nd Jan. 2012 | 1 comment)
Interpreters of the New Testament should show more respect for boundaries
My argument about the historical frame of the Christmas stories and of Simeon’s prayer in particular has been subjected to sustained criticism by Peter Wilkinson, who is certain that at least in the latter case there is reference to the salvation of the nations.Since Peter is unconvinced by the... (28th Dec. 2011 | 0 comments)
Simeon and the salvation of Israel before the eyes of the nations
One more quick post in the mad rush before Christmas. I want to clarify my reasons for thinking that Simeon is not speaking about the salvation of Gentiles when he speaks of God’s salvation as “a light for revelation to nations” (Lk. 2:30-32).It is tempting initially to read this as an allusion to... (23rd Dec. 2011 | 1 comment)
How do we get our names into the book of life?
My Kindle book Hell and Heaven in Narrative Perspective is selling like hot mince pies on Amazon, which is quite a bit less than hot cakes but much more festive. Can you think of a better way to make a loved one very happy at Christmas for just $3.29 (or the equivalent in pounds and euros)? One... (23rd Dec. 2011 | 6 comments)
Christmas now and then
The true meaning of Christmas—as a Christian rather than a pagan celebration—is represented in the popular imagination most commonly by the serene tableau of the radiant baby Jesus in a manger, surrounded by his parents, a few inquisitive cherubs, rustic shepherds, and resplendent wise men,... (21st Dec. 2011 | 11 comments)
The idolatry of Christendom
It’s taken me a little while to get round to responding to a comment by Al Shaw regarding my argument that the main storyline of the New Testament effectively culminates in Constantine. Al writes: One of my areas of concern is that you appear (to my mind) to place too high a view of the... (19th Dec. 2011 | 8 comments)
Marcus Borg’s “historical-metaphorical” hermeneutic
I will be attending a small conference on Douglas Campbell’s The Deliverance of God later this week at King’s College London, and I lugged my copy of his monstrous book all the way from Dubai with a view to doing some necessary revision. Unfortunately, I have also just acquired a copy of Marcus... (14th Dec. 2011 | 2 comments)

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Why N.T. Wright's narrative of Jesus is not narrative enough (reflections on the inaugural lecture) In his recent inaugural lecture at the University of St Andrews Tom Wright talks about his leading concerns about the state of Gospel studies. In particular, despite generations of redaction criticism and narrative criticism, he remains...
Some thoughts on some thoughts of Roger Olson on narrative theology Roger Olson has just written a characteristically lucid summary of what narrative theology is. I’ll summarize his summary for those who can’t be bothered to go and read it for themselves: narrative theology deals with the whole Bible as a...
Wright and the mission of the early church Chapter 6 of Tom Wright’s How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels is entitled “The Launching of God’s Renewed People”. I read it on a rather scary bus ride through the mountains from Diyarbakir to Tatvan on the western edge...