I discuss ‘Unity and Diversity: An Inquiry Into the Character of Earliest Christianity‘ by Professor James D.G. Dunn. Unity and Diversity is a thorough investigation into the New Testament and Christianity’s origins. It assumes the reader is familiar with the… Read More ›
I read from ‘Christology in the Making: An Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation‘ by professor James D.G. Dunn, pp 29-30. This text is designed for students and academics studying the doctrine of the incarnation. Dunn… Read More ›
The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council condemned the teachings of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who… Read More ›
The First Council of Constantinople was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople in AD 381 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. This second ecumenical council confirmed the Nicene Creed, expanding its teaching to produce the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, and… Read More ›
Above all, the two most significant christological titles for Luke are surely Lord (kyrios) and Christ (christos). The word ‘kyrios’ had a very wide range of meanings. Kyrios can be just a term of polite respect to a teacher (as… Read More ›
The consensus opinion of historians of the New Testament is that Luke was probably written around 80-85 AD. Like Matthew, Luke in chapters 1 and 2 of his gospel adds a birth narrative to Mark’s gospel. But as Professor James… Read More ›
Historians of the New Testament usually date Matthew’s gospel to around 80-85 AD. Like Mark, the work is anonymous. The anonymous author of ‘Matthew’ (the title The Gospel According to Matthew was added later in the second century) used Mark… Read More ›
The Church of Iceland’s new ‘woke’ ad welcoming people to Sunday School has sparked outrage after it featured a bearded Jesus Christ with breasts, makeup and a dress. The advert, which apparently shows Jesus shaking his ‘breasts’ while dancing under… Read More ›
To make sense of early Jewish outrage over claims concerning the messiahship of Jesus, we need to cut though many centuries of Christian thinking, mountains of subsequent theological speculation, and masses of Christian “common sense” about how Jesus came as… Read More ›
I confess to being surprised by this survey. Perhaps the instinctive common sense of most people shines through. A man who allegedly cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34) is obviously not… Read More ›
Early and Diverging Views of Christians and Jews. Divergent understandings of Judaism were found among Christians in the mid-second century. At one extreme were the Jewish-Christian adoptionists, who continued to worship the God of Israel as the one true God… Read More ›
