A fine opportunity to learn about Jesus’ parables

29 August 2023 by Steve Walton
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My good friend (and former student) Dr Philip Richardson is teaching a four-week online course on the parables of Jesus with the overall title ‘Waiting on the Eternal King: Jesus’ Parables about Life, Death, Judgement and the Second Coming’, and it’s available to anyone in the world! The course is for students at Emmaus University, Haiti (where Philip is interim Vice President of Academic Affairs), and you can join in through Zoom here or YouTube (or @PhilipRichardson-ws5ls from YouTube) later. Philip is inviting donations to Continue reading →

Frank Field’s Politics, Poverty and Belief

8 May 2023 by Steve Walton
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On 16 June 1986 Frank Field, then MP for Birkenhead, kindly came and spoke to the youth group at St Andrew’s, Bebington after being interviewed about his faith and politics in our 6.30 pm evening service. I was the curate who invited him to come and gave you a lift home to Birkenhead afterwards. He spoke very well in the service about Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God and its implications for national and political life, and the youth group found him inspiring as a Continue reading →

Con Campbell’s Jesus v. Evangelicals—a review

3 April 2023 by Steve Walton
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Constantine R. Campbell, Jesus v. Evangelicals: A Biblical Critique of a Wayward Movement.Grand Rapids: Zondervan Reflective, 2023. ISBN 978-0-310-13544-9. $12.99. This is a fascinating book by my friend Con Campbell, an Aussie New Testament scholar (presently Associate Research Director of the Sydney College of Divinity)—and very fine saxophonist—who worked in the US for several years. Full disclosure: he kindly asked his publisher to send me a copy, and I’ve read it with interest and appreciation. Con sets out to offer a critique of the American Continue reading →

Reflecting on SBL Denver 2022

9 December 2022 by Steve Walton
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I greatly enjoyed being in Denver a couple of weeks ago for the annual SBL meeting. It was a lovely opportunity to reconnect with people, many of whom I’d not seen in person for three years because of covid—I cannot recall a day when I have hugged so many people as the Friday! In particular, it was great to see current and former doctoral students in person again. I went to a bunch of papers, although I found myself generally selecting individual papers in a Continue reading →

A cracking read: Luke Timothy Johnson’s autobiography as a scholar

31 October 2022 by Steve Walton
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Luke Timothy Johnson, The Mind in Another Place: My Life as a ScholarGrand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022. ISBN 978-0-8028-8011-6. I read Luke Timothy Johnson’s book with great appreciation over the weekend. It’s clear, lucid, engaging, and very encouraging and stimulating. I’ve long been an admirer of his work: his published PhD dissertation, The Literary Function of Possessions in Luke-Acts (SBLDS 39; Missoula, MT: Scholars, 1977) was a pioneering ‘narrative’ reading of Luke-Acts which I found very helpful in my own PhD work a few years later, Continue reading →