On November 12 and 13, I spoke at the Global Center at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. My two lectures were on the topics of John 3:16 and John’s trinitarian mission theology. I also met with students in the Divinity School and a missions-minded group of Samford University students. I was also fortunate to be able to spend some time with Drs. Frank Thielman and Paul House, as well as visit the Civil Rights Museum.
At the ETS conference, I moderated a panel on the new BTNT series with Zondervan which included Doug Moo, Mike Wilkins, and Darrell Bock. Doug Moo and Mike Wilkins talked about the issues involved in writing a theology of Paul and Matthew, respectively, and the ensuing panel discussion highlighted the collaborative efforts of the BTNT contributors.
I also met with the core of the steering committee of the projected Johannine studies group at ETS. We hope to make a proposal to the executive committee by the June 1, 2010 deadline and have an informal inaugural session at next year’s meeting in Atlanta. I also met with Alan Bandy to discuss our joint forthcoming volume in the BTNT series on the book of Revelation and participated in a book signing of my new NT Intro, The Cradle, the Cross and the Crown (B&H; co-authored with Scott Kellum and Chuck Quarles). Later on the ETS editorial committee met, including the new ETS executive director, Michael J. Thigpen.
At the ETS banquet, president Bruce Ware addressed the society on the topic of the humanity of Jesus, and in particular his impeccability.
The Crossway breakfast lecture at ETS featured Don Carson, who gave a sneak preview of his forthcoming Crossway book on the nature of evangelicalism. Later on, a panel made up of Walt Kaiser, Al Wolters, Kevin Vanhoozer, and Bill Webb discussed “Going beyond the Bible.” Vanhoozer was colorful as usual, advocating his theatrical metaphor for theology, while Webb spent over half of his allotted 15 minutes on relating a rather curious personal anecdote. Mark Strauss helpfully asked the following questions of the panelists: What controls the drawing of principles? Why cut off the development of the canon? Is it always an upward trajectory or is God responding to a particular cultural situation?
The IBR meeting included a very interesting talk by Tremper Longman on the making of commentaries. He was largely positive (to be expected, since he has written numerous commentaries himself). Personally, I am a bit more critical regarding the proliferation of commentaries. I’m not so convinced we really need all the commentaries we are getting. Much (or at least some) of it seems to be commercially driven. The next morning, Dan Reid who is an editor an InterVarsity Press, delivered a very interesting assessment of the making of commentaries from a publisher’s perspective.
At the Zondervan lunch at SBL, Doug Moo elaborated on plans to revise the TNIV.
Two interesting sessions of the John, Jesus & History group met at SBL as well. Gary Burge delivered a very interesting paper on recent archeological discoveries pertaining to John’s Gospel. Robert Webb disputed John’s portrayal of John the Baptist as a witness to Jesus (he and Darrell Bock have a new book out in the WUNT series, Key Events in the Life of the Historical Jesus). Harold Attridge spoke to John’s historicity as well.
Finally, Tom Wright addressed a very full lecture hall about his views on justification. Little of what he said seemed questionable. He traced his own journey in coming to understand the issue and expressed his desire to focus on the big picture and to understand the original questions Paul was seeking to address.
