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2019-08-23T06:43:41-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Truth about Cats and Dogs and Every Debate in Early Christianity

Last updated on: August 23, 2019 at 6:43 am By Michael F. Bird

In Steven D. Smith’s Pagans & Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018) there is one juicy anecdote that I think can be applied to so many debates about various groups in relation to the first Christians. Smith takes issue with those who argue that there really wasn’t much of a difference between paganism and Christianity. He has in mind especially Guy Stroumsa’s argument in The End of Sacrifice that ancient Christianity was... Read more

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2019-08-23T06:55:39-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Pagans and Christians in the City

Last updated on: August 23, 2019 at 6:55 am By Michael F. Bird

Steve D. Smith Pagans & Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018. Available at Eerdmans and Koorong. This is definitely one of the more interesting books I’ve read of late. Smith’s basic thesis is that paganism never really went away and today’s cultural wars are really just a rehash of the old pagan vs. Christian debates. The contest is between those who say that sum of all value and meaning... Read more

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2020-01-03T17:59:57-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Trump, Grudem, and Hermeneutics

Last updated on: January 3, 2020 at 5:59 pm By Michael F. Bird

After Christianity Today’s call for the removal of Donald Trump from office a number of evangelical leaders have rushed to Trump’s defense including Franklin Graham and now theologian Wayne Grudem. Grudem is a well-known theologian in evangelical circles, having written a popular theology textbook, he helped found the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and has written helpful books on 1 Peter and spiritual gifts. I once had breakfast with him at Tyndale house about ten years ago where he... Read more

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2019-12-23T18:06:15-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

St. Paul among Friends

Last updated on: December 23, 2019 at 6:06 pm By Michael F. Bird

Find here the link to an article I wrote for the Christian History Institute about the apostle Paul and friendship. Here’s some key quotes: Paul’s notion of loving friendship was something of a revolution in the ancient world. Philosophers of the late Roman republic like Cicero (106–43 BC) and of the early empire like Seneca (d. 65 AD) wrote much about the nature, benefits, ethics, and goodness of friendship (see “A pure and holy love,” p. 18). Yet this friendship... Read more

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2019-08-23T02:03:08-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Plea for the Trinity

Last updated on: August 23, 2019 at 2:03 am By Michael F. Bird

James Sawyer Resurrecting the Trinity: A Plea to Recover the Wonder and Meaning of the Triune God Weaver Book Company (Wooster, OH), 2017. Availabe at Amazon.com Review by Dr Kate Tyler As a systematic theologian who spent the years of my thesis-writing becoming familiar with the work of Thomas Torrance, and how his doctrine of the Trinity informs his ecclesiology, it was a delight to pick up Sawyer’s Resurrecting the Trinity, with his unselfconscious acknowledgment that the trinitarian perspective developed... Read more

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2019-12-24T19:46:01-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The True Meaning of Christmas: Trust God, Resist Empire

Last updated on: December 24, 2019 at 7:46 pm By Michael F. Bird

In the WaPo is my Christmas message for 2019. The True Meaning of Christmas: Trust God, Resist Empire. No, I haven’t gone all liberation theology, but the Infancy Narratives and Apocalypse of John, with their birth stories, are written against the backdrop of empire. Check it out! For the faithful, Christmas is a celebration that God is for us, God is near us, because God was one of us. God comes to us, in the vulnerability of child, to save... Read more

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2019-12-20T23:22:35-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Few Recent Podcast Interviews

Last updated on: December 20, 2019 at 11:22 pm By Michael F. Bird

For those interested, N.T. Wright and I have done a few podcasts with some cool folks which were fun. First, I (Mike Bird) was interviewed by Matt Bates and Erin Heim for OnScript. Second, Tom was interviewed by Alison and Nich Quient for Split Frame of Reference. Read more

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2019-12-20T22:27:27-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

N.T. Wright on what the NT really says about Heaven

Last updated on: December 20, 2019 at 10:27 pm By Michael F. Bird

N.T. Wright has an article at – of all places – Time Magazine on The New Testament Doesn’t Say What Most People Think It Does About Heaven. Not a big surprise to anyone familiar with NTW and his book SbH, but is a good summary of his views of heaven as life after life after death! The followers of the Jesus-movement that grew up in that complex environment saw “heaven” and “earth” — God’s space and ours, if you like —... Read more

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2019-12-08T06:52:59-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Grant Macaskill on Autism and the Church

Last updated on: December 8, 2019 at 6:52 am By Michael F. Bird

Grant Macaskill Autism and the Church: Bible, Theology, and Community Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2019. Available at BUP. This is easily one of my favourite books of 2019. Moreover, it is a book that I would urge every church pastor to read because all of our churches will have people, especially children, on the autism spectrum. So definitely add this to your reading list for 2020. I should note that I have a son who is on the autism... Read more

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2019-09-13T05:12:02-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

More Evidence for Philippians and Philemon Written from Ephesus

Last updated on: September 13, 2019 at 5:12 am By Michael F. Bird

In the last few months there’s been two great articles further solidying the cas for an Ephesian provenance for Philippians. First, M. Eugene Boring, “Philippians and Philemon: Date and Provenance,” CBQ 81.3 (2019): 470-94, which provides even more evidence of an Ephesian origin for these two letters: Boring arguesthat “praetorium” refers to people rather than a building and the “emperor’s household” refers to all persons under the emperor’s control. He concludes: The resurgence of traditional arguments for the Roman provenance of Philippians... Read more

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