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Creation to Eschaton (website), 2023

Seminary Now recently released my Biblical Eschatology course, where I look at how the Bible's vi... more Seminary Now recently released my Biblical Eschatology course, where I look at how the Bible's vision for the end connects with the entire biblical story.

Creation to Eschaton (website), 2023

Bob Marley's "One Love / People Get Ready" transforms Curtis Mayfield's original song in the dire... more Bob Marley's "One Love / People Get Ready" transforms Curtis Mayfield's original song in the direction of mercy and grace for "hopeless sinners." "One Love" was clearly influenced by the Curtis Mayfield song "People Get Ready." The way Marley quotes (and changes) the lyrics of the Mayfield song amounts to a critique of the selfrighteousness of many in the church (and in the wider society).

My response to a previous blog that raised some questions about my notion that humans are God's i... more My response to a previous blog that raised some questions about my notion that humans are God's image in creation. here I clarify some seemingly contradictory biblical texts.

This blog post reflects on my various connections to the Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell, who po... more This blog post reflects on my various connections to the Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell, who popularized the idea of "six degrees of separation." Some of these connections came through meeting his relatives (of Jamaican origin), but it turns out that my wife's family is related to his family (by four degrees of separation). And there's more too.

In this autobiographical blog, I contrast the impetus from my culture of origin to separate the "... more In this autobiographical blog, I contrast the impetus from my culture of origin to separate the "spiritual" or "sacred" from the "secular" with what I found from studying the Bible. This amazing text presented a holistic vision of the holiness of all of life, including God's intent to reverse the distortions of human sin by making all things new, culminating in the transformation of the created order into "a new heaven an a new earth."

In much of Western history (informed by Plato) we have conceived of the person as a combination o... more In much of Western history (informed by Plato) we have conceived of the person as a combination of an immortal soul and a mortal body. This blog post examines the different understanding of "soul" (nephesh) in the Old Testament as an living organism, and the transformation of "soul" (psyche) in Paul's writings to a negative term, such that "soulish" (psychikos) is equivalent to "carnal" (sarkinos)--and both are opposed to (God's) spirit.

The Gospels contain divergent accounts of the resurrection of Jesus, which cannot easily be harmo... more The Gospels contain divergent accounts of the resurrection of Jesus, which cannot easily be harmonized. Are these divergences a problem for people of faith? Or are they what is to be expected, given the diversity of human experience and memory?

In a modern, scientific age, many people have problems believing in miracles, including the resur... more In a modern, scientific age, many people have problems believing in miracles, including the resurrection of Jesus. Many might prefer to think of the resurrection symbolically, as a reference to a spiritual experience of the disciples, or they think that perhaps Jesus's spirit was not trapped by death. But the bodily resurrection of Jesus is crucial to Christian faith since it is theological validation of the importance of embodied existence and God's commitment to redeem creation.

Is it possible to affirm the classical Christian doctrine of a historical fall (a falling out of ... more Is it possible to affirm the classical Christian doctrine of a historical fall (a falling out of the human race with God) given what the evolutionary sciences are telling us about human origins? This BioLogos blog post engages in a close reading Genesis 3 to notice what it actually says and what we import from the history of tradition, with a view to affirming a more biblically grounded view of a historical origin of human evil that takes into account evolutionary history and yet is in line with Christian orthodoxy.

This BioLogos blog examines why evolution need not cause problems for the distinctive biblical un... more This BioLogos blog examines why evolution need not cause problems for the distinctive biblical understanding of humanity in Genesis 1:26-28 as created in God's image (imago Dei).

The biblical portrayal of the cosmos (both its size and age) is significantly different from how ... more The biblical portrayal of the cosmos (both its size and age) is significantly different from how we today understand the expanding universe over deep time. How might we go about interpreting the cosmology of the Bible in order to understand its normative theological claims? This blog post for BioLogos explores the biblical idea of the cosmic temple and how it might relate to our contemporary cosmology.

The question of how we read the Genesis creation narratives is particularly pressing in a scienti... more The question of how we read the Genesis creation narratives is particularly pressing in a scientific age. But even prior to this issue is the fact that the creation accounts in the first two chapters of the Bible seem to contradict each other. This blog post for BioLogos suggests how we might interpret these chapters in relationship to each other.

A co-authored blog post for BioLogos, addressing a common question that readers often ask. Author... more A co-authored blog post for BioLogos, addressing a common question that readers often ask. Authored by Tremper Longman III, with input from John H. Walton and J. Richard Middleton.

A realistic, yet hopeful look at Matthew's Christmas story, relevant to our contemporary world of... more A realistic, yet hopeful look at Matthew's Christmas story, relevant to our contemporary world of suffering and pain. Please click on the Wordpress.com link (which should be visible) to access this blog post.

This is my introduction to the seminary at which I teach, which has a unique curriculum and theol... more This is my introduction to the seminary at which I teach, which has a unique curriculum and theological approach among seminaries in North America, Click on the worpress.com link to access the blog post.

Here are the PDFs of three blog posts I wrote on the topic of the new book I am working on, calle... more Here are the PDFs of three blog posts I wrote on the topic of the new book I am working on, called "The Silence of Abraham, the Passion of Job: Explorations in the Theology of Lament" (Baker Academic).

My most recent book, A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academi... more My most recent book, A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academic, 2014), won the World Guild Award for best book in the Biblical Studies Category. The book had been shortlisted for the award by the World Guild (the primer Christian organization for Canadian writers) and the award at their annual Gala in Toronto (June 13, 2015). Click on the wordpress.com link for my post on the subject (at my Creation to Eschaton website).

Brian Walsh's interaction with my book, A new Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschato... more Brian Walsh's interaction with my book, A new Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academic, 2014), at the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association in Ottawa, May 31, 2015. Click on the Wordpress.com link for the review posted on my website, Creation to Eschaton.

This is my preview of my talk at the Rochester preaching conference (May 21, 2015) on what Matthe... more This is my preview of my talk at the Rochester preaching conference (May 21, 2015) on what Matthew 1-2 is doing with its series of quotations from the Old Testament. By reading the OT quotes in context a pattern becomes clear, resulting in a reading of the Infancy narratives as a critique of Israel's leadership, proposing Jesus as an alternative "son of David."

Click on the wordpress.com link to read the blog post.

I participated in an online interview on the topic of creation and violence in the Old Testament.... more I participated in an online interview on the topic of creation and violence in the Old Testament. Bill Brown (of Columbia Theological Seminary) and I were interviewed by Matt Lynch of the Westminster Theological Centre in the UK. Click on the worpress.com link for my blog about the interview, and click on the google.com link for the actual interview.

Creation to Eschaton (website), 2023

Click on the wordpress.com link to read the blog post.

The oracle against the house of Eli (1 Samuel 2:27-36), followed by the account of Samuel’s rise ... more The oracle against the house of Eli (1 Samuel 2:27-36), followed by the account of Samuel’s rise (chapter 3), is riddled with interpretive conundrums. Eli is informed that his priestly line will be cut off and a new line initiated, although the house of his ancestor had been chosen to be priests “forever” (2:30) While this switch from unconditional to conditional election affirms YHWH’s justice, other interpretive conundrums are not so obviously theological.
Utilizing diachronic reconstruction, some take the mention of one of Eli’s descendants begging for bread (2:36) as presaging Ezekiel’s demotion of Levites to the status of temple assistants, and it is typical to view the promised replacement priestly line as alluding to Solomon’s choice of Zadok. Yet in the text’s narrative world it is more obviously Samuel who is the replacement priest, since he ministers before YHWH wearing an ephod as Eli’s apprentice in the Shiloh temple (2:11, 18; 3:1).
But even in the text’s narrative world there are strange shifts in God’s promises, which can confuse the attentive reader. The promise (now reneged on) that the original priests would “go in and out before” YHWH (2:30) is modified to say that the new priest would “go in and out before” YHWH’s anointed (2:35). And the promise of a “trustworthy” (ne’eman) replacement priest (2:35) is never fulfilled in the Samuel narrative. Instead, the fledgling priest Samuel becomes a “trustworthy” (ne’eman) prophet (3:20) and the Elide line never actually ends (even Zadok is arguably an Elide). Is God fickle, reneging on promises and constantly changing course?
Instead of resorting to a diachronic (behind-the-text) resolution of these difficulties, this paper will read the oracle against the Elide line and the account of Samuel’s rise as a coherent narrative that articulates a profound discernment of the relationship of YHWH’s justice and mercy at the time of Israel’s momentous transition to the monarchy.

"Traditional Jewish and Christian readings of Genesis 22 hold Abraham up as a paradigm of virtue.... more "Traditional Jewish and Christian readings of Genesis 22 hold Abraham up as a paradigm of virtue. By contrast, this paper will question whether Abraham’s unquestioning obedience to the divine command to sacrifice his son is meant to be either morally or religiously exemplary. Since any self-aware interpreter must wonder whether such an alternative reading is a function of contemporary sensibilities or is intrinsic to the narrative itself, the paper will mine salient details of Genesis 22, while reading the Aqedah in the context of the broader Abraham story, especially Abraham’s earlier conversation with God over Sodom’s fate (Genesis 18) and clues in the later narrative concerning his relationship to Isaac, and Isaac’s relationship to his sons. The paper will suggest that what is being “tested” in Genesis 22 is not Abraham’s obedience, but his discernment of YHWH’s “way” (18:19) and will examine the consequences of Abraham’s (failed) discernment of God on his family, especially Isaac.

Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, May 24, 2014."

Catalyst, 2023

This is the final installment of a three-part article that I've been invited to write on the ques... more This is the final installment of a three-part article that I've been invited to write on the question of how Christians might engage our contemporary postmodern culture, especially the toxic polarization that characterizes so much of our world today.

Catalyst, 2023

This is part 2 of a three-part essay in which I've been invited to revisit the analysis that Bria... more This is part 2 of a three-part essay in which I've been invited to revisit the analysis that Brian Walsh and I made in our book Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (InterVarsity Press, 1995). Although the book was written nearly thirty years ago, I have been asked to reflect on how our analysis back then might apply to our contemporary culture of toxic polarization.

Catalyst, 2023

We live in a time of toxic polarization. It's not just that people hold different opinions. It's ... more We live in a time of toxic polarization. It's not just that people hold different opinions. It's that we hold our opinions vehemently-often with disdain or anger towards those who disagree with us. This is true also for Christians, whether on the right or on the left. It has become vividly clear that we who are followers of Jesus are not exempt from the temptation to absolutism, where we close ourselves off from genuinely listening to other points of view or even to look down, and denigrate, those who hold opinions different from ours. This absolutism among Christians has prompted a reaction from many in the church over the past few decades, who have undergone what they call "deconstruction," the project of stripping away aspects of the faith that they find to be oppressive. It has led some to become post-Christian, abandoning the faith entirely. In this essay, I'm going to analyze the nature of our contemporary polarized culture, which many call postmodern. Acknowledging that the term postmodern has a wide variety of meanings, I'll explore my own understanding of the term and how I think it appropriately describes our contemporary culture. This will require sketching the core commitments of the modern worldview that began to be articulated in the Renaissance and that held sway in western cultures from the scientific revolution through the Enlightenment until the nineteenth century, while attending to the seismic worldview shift that occurred in the twentieth century. My focus won't be on description of the postmodern; I'm not going to give a full exposition of the various features of our times. Rather, my emphasis will be on diagnosis. I hope that by probing beneath the surface symptoms, we might discern what is the core problem of our current conflicted culture. This diagnosis will form a prelude for my follow-up essay, where I'll explore whether authentic Christian faith-rooted in the Scriptures-has the resources to address our current toxic situation with healing and hope.

Characters and Characterization in the Book of Samuel, ed. Keith Bodner and Benjamin J. M. Johnson (Library of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Studies 669; London: T&T Clark., 2020

Earnest: Interdisciplinary Work Inspired by the Life and Teachings of B. T. Roberts, ed. by Andrew C. Koehl and David Basinger (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2017), 2017

There are few texts in the Bible as important as Genesis 2-3.The seemingly simple story of the ga... more There are few texts in the Bible as important as Genesis 2-3.The seemingly simple story of the garden, the first couple, and the original disobedience, constitutes a profound articulation of God’s intent for human life (Genesis 2) and how things have gone terribly wrong (Genesis 3). Yet this seemingly simple story is actually is a highly complex piece of literature, with a structured plot, nuanced rhetorical patterns, Hebrew puns or wordplays that make theological points, and a variety of lacunae that cry out for explanation.

While the placement of Genesis 2-3 at the outset of the larger biblical story suggests it is paradigmatic for understanding human life (both in its ideal state and in its present, distorted reality), very little in the rest of the Old Testament makes explicit reference to this primordial story. Not until Second Temple Jewish literature (in the century or two before the New Testament) does this text come into its own as a paradigmatic statement of the human purpose and its distortion through sin.

Precisely because this is a paradigmatic statement, it is troubling that Genesis 2-3 has often been interpreted in ways that constrict human life and that are at odds with what the text actually says. For example, Christians (both past and present) have often understood Genesis 2-3 to teach the God-ordained subordination of women to men, the essentially fallen nature of work, and a generally pessimistic view of the human condition (where God’s image is all-but-obliterated and replaced by a “sin nature” that is genetically passed on to every person born in the world). Yet none of these notions can be supported from a careful reading of the text.

A partial explanation for such misreadings might include the deceptive simplicity of the story, along with the fact that the Old Testament does not provide much guidance for understanding its meaning. Yet, by far the most significant explanation is that interpreters have brought extraneous cultural assumptions and paradigms to the text and then made the text conform to these assumptions. One of the things that unites many of these assumptions is the tendency to merge creation (God’s original purpose for life) with fall (the distortions that presently pervade human life).

This essay clarifies how the garden story portrays the Creator’s normative purpose for flourishing in two fundamental human relationships: the relationship of human and earth, which is relevant for understanding the dignity of work, and the relationship of man and woman, which is relevant for understanding male-female equality. This requires distinguishing between God’s original intent (Genesis 2) and the subsequent corruption of that intent (Genesis 3). The essay advocates that if humans live out the divine intent for flourishing in every dimension of our lives—including our treatment of others (whether male or female) and our work and creative engagement with God’s world—we will be on the road to manifesting what B. T. Roberts (following John Wesley) called “social holiness.”

Explorations in Interdisciplinary Reading: Theological, Exegetical, and Reception-Historical Perspectives, ed. by Robbie F. Castleman, Darian R. Lockett, and Stephen O. Presley (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2017), 26–45. , 2017

Out of 150 psalms in the MT, seventy-three are connected to David in some way through their super... more Out of 150 psalms in the MT, seventy-three are connected to David in some way through their superscriptions (seventy-five in the DSS, eighty-four in the LXX, not counting extra psalms). Although the ambiguity of the preposition in l’david does not specify the exact connection (it can mean to, for, belonging to, of, etc.) thirteen psalms in the MT have superscriptions that make an explicit link to some event in David’s life (eighteen in the LXX).

The most famous of these is Psalm 51, which references the liaison with Bathsheba and the subsequent confrontation with the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 11-12), suggesting that the psalm is David’s prayer of confession on that occasion. Although there are, indeed, a few phrases in the body of Psalm 51 that might suggest this particular incident, there are others that actually problematize such a connection.

Taking into account the complex issue of Davidic superscriptions (including the divergent testimony of the MT, DSS and LXX), this essay explores the possibility of an careful intertextual reading of Psalm 51 and 2 Samuel 12, where the psalm calls into question aspects of David’s inadequate response recounted in the prose narrative.

Evolution and the Fall (Eerdmans), ed. by William T. Cavanaugh and James K. A. Smith, 2017

St. Mark’s Review , 2017

The book of Job is an artful, complex, polyvalent text, whose meanings have exercised interpreter... more The book of Job is an artful, complex, polyvalent text, whose meanings have exercised interpreters for millennia. Among the oft-debated hermeneutical issues is the divergence between the perspectives found in the poetic dialogues and the prose framework of the book. One particularly egregious divergence between the dialogues and the framework is the tension or contradiction between 1) God’s explicit approval of Job’s abrasive complaint, in contrast to that of his friends’ speech (stated twice in the prose epilogue) and 2) God’s implicit rebuke of Job’s arrogance at daring to question divine justice (found in the speeches from the whirlwind), a rebuke that is followed by Job’s “repentance.”

Without claiming to provide any definitive resolution of the tension between dialogue and prose framework, this essay engages in a close reading of God’s speeches and Job’s responses, with a focus on the second speech. My purpose will be to explore the wild possibility that God’s intention in the speeches might actually cohere with the explicit approbation given Job in the prose epilogue. Central to my reading of the second speech will be three questions. First, what is the status of God’s appeal to the primordial monsters, Behemoth and Leviathan? Secondly, of what does Job “repent” in his response to the second speech? And, thirdly, why is there a second speech at all (why didn’t the first suffice)? In answering these questions it will become clear that God greatly values both Job and Leviathan in their untamed wildness.

Canadian-American Theological Review, 2016

In contrast to the posture of unquestioning submission to God that informs spirituality in many f... more In contrast to the posture of unquestioning submission to God that informs spirituality in many faith traditions, the Hebrew Bible assumes a stance of vigorous protest towards God as normative. This essay investigates the theology underlying the stance of the petitioner in lament/complaint prayers in the Psalter and the prophetic model of intercession on behalf of the people (with Moses as prime exemplar). In light of the background of expostulation with the divine as a mode of faithfulness, the essay briefly addresses the anomalous case of Abraham's silence in the Aqedah and the possibility that the book of Job might constitute an inner-biblical response, signaled by the use of the term " God-fearer " to characterize both Abraham and Job, and by the phrase " dust and ashes " found on the lips of both (and nowhere else in the Bible). Personal experience is often generative of hermeneutical questions. In my case, a time of darkness regarding my vocation, and even my purpose, combined with doubt about God's goodness, led to the discovery of the psalms of lament in the Bible. These psalms, comprising perhaps as much as one-third of the Psalter (on some counts), are the dominant form of prayer in the book of Psalms, indeed, the dom

Canadian Theological Review 2/1 (2013): 44-58., 2013

Among the many psalms that refer to creation, Pss 8 and 104 stand out in being entirely devoted t... more Among the many psalms that refer to creation, Pss 8 and 104 stand out in being entirely devoted to this theme. Whereas Ps 8 highlights the prominent, even exalted, human role in the created order, Ps 104 contextualizes humanity as but one creature among many in a complex intertwined cosmos. Nevertheless, upon closer study, it becomes evident that both psalms share elements of a common worldview, including a remarkably similar view of what constitutes being human, a conception of the world as a cosmic temple, and a rejection of the motif of creation-by-combat against primordial enemies. An exploration of the diversity-in-unity of Pss 8 and 104 yields insights into how their common theological vision may address the human vocation of the use of power in a world understood as a sacred realm over which God is enthroned, yet into which evil has intruded.

Reprinted as chap. 7 in Islands, Islanders, and the Bible, ed. by Jione Havea, Margaret Aymer Oget, and Steed Davidson (Semeia Studies; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, forthcoming).

Meditations from the book of Isaiah according to the Anglican daily lectionary for Advent, with a... more Meditations from the book of Isaiah according to the Anglican daily lectionary for Advent, with a focus on social justice. Originally published by the CJL Foundation, 1993. Adopted as a 1993 Advent study guide by the Anglican Church, Diocese of Toronto. Revised edition published by Dordt College Press, 1994.

The project of developing a contextual theology for the Caribbean was first articulated in the ea... more The project of developing a contextual theology for the Caribbean was first articulated in the early 1970s in Trinidad and Jamaica. In the years since, many evangelical churches and theologians in the Caribbean have been ambivalent about the validity of this project, assuming that an emphasis on context was somehow antithetical to the pure gospel. But the crisis of the times, along with a more mature hermeneutic, has led to a re-evaluation of this assumption.

Here a group of evangelical Caribbean theologians enter the discussion, with substantive proposals for how the gospel addresses the Caribbean context. They are joined by other theologians from mainline Protestant and Catholic traditions in the Caribbean. The result is an ecumenical dialogue on the diverse ways in which orthodox Christian faith may provide both challenge and hope for the Caribbean context. Half the essays in this volume were originally presented at the Forum on Caribbean Theology held in 2010 at the Jamaica Theological Seminary; the rest were invited especially for this volume.