Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

Here are some resources, the first which I developed, and the second that my students created in class this morning, that deal with religious affiliations in antiquity that are pertinent to New Testament studies. Enjoy!

Here's a sermon I gave last sunday on Philippians 3:10-4:1, which comes in our series "A Guide To Joy". The first two minutes of the audio that I refer to right at the beginning was a clip of Martin Luther King, Jr's, eulogy (excerpted from his sermon "Drum Major Instinct"). Anyway, click the link below to hear the sermon (PS: I noticed that from about the 2-3 1/2 min mark it goes silent, just go to the 4 min mark). Enjoy!

My doctoral supervisor, Dr. Ben Witherington, III, just gave me a copy of his new book, Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor . This is the first book in a series, on the cycles of life (e.g. work, rest, etc.) and looks to be a good little book with down-to-earth stories, good humor and sound theology. I look forward to getting into this text and have heard from a couple of friends already that it’s qui te a good read!

Several months ago, I received some friend requests on Facebook from people who lived in the area where I grew up. I faintly recognized some of the people and decided to accept them requests. Turns out, these people were attending the same church and were connected. One thing I quickly noticed about them, especially the so-called preacher, was the quickness with which he positioned himself as an anti-intellectual Christian. Several times he posted comments about Jesus or the Bible or other things, which were not only theologically unsound but just plain ignorant! Whenever I challenged his views and or beliefs, he got super defensive and went into anti-smart mode, argued against the validity of "thinking" about things (e.g. "you can't read the Bible with reason" or "you can't out-think God" etc.). The church-goers did the same. In fact, one of the congregants was getting so hostile (and we all know what happens when religion, hostility and ig...

Here's a copy of the lecture I gave for NT Theology this morning at ATS for those who are interested:

It is official, the news has been announced, Dr. Craig Keener is joining the faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary. Keener , a renowned author, respected scholar and globally reputable teacher will migrate from his post at Palmer / Eastern and relocate to Kentucky. Keener will be working with graduate and post-graduate students alike, mainly in the department of New Testament studies. There are many reasons Keener will be a good fit, not least being his diversity in the Gospels & Acts, his extensive knowledge of Historical Jesus & Pauline studies, but also because he is globally and missionally minded, which is a huge part of Asbury's ethos. Though I will probably only get to take one class with Keener, I still have several years left at ATS and look forward to getting to know him. So, let me just say, "Welcome, Dr. Keener. We're blessed to have you among us and we look forward to advancing the Kingdom with you." For those of you who, for some odd rea...