Alistair Wilson on the Edinburgh ‘Power, Authority and Canon’ conference

Many thanks to Alistair Wilson of Highland Theological College (University of the Highlands and Islands) for this valuable report on the ‘Power, Authority and Canon’ conference at New College, Edinburgh on 6 May. Yesterday, I returned to New College, Edinburgh, where I did my undergraduate studies, for a day conference on the theme of ‘Power, Authority and Canon’. Many thanks to Steve for the invitation to write a short report about this conference for this blog. As of the time of writing (11 May), the programme and abstracts Continue reading →

The launch of Peter Oakes’ exciting commentary on Galatians

         My good friend Peter Oakes of the University of Manchester has kindly sent me details of the launch of his new commentary on Galatians in the Paideia series from Baker Academic. He has an impressive line-up of senior scholars saying very nice things about it (see below). Nijay Gupta has greeted it with enthusiasm, and Mike Bird and Antony Billington  have written positive brief posts about it. I’m greatly looking forward to digging into this book, as I teach Galatians in Greek with a second-year class. There’s quite Continue reading →

Places still available for the Cities of God? conference at St Mary’s University

There are still some places available to register for the excellent ‘Cities of God?’ conference happening at St Mary’s University, Twickenham (London) on Friday 22 and Saturday 23 May. We have an outstanding line-up of speakers from New Zealand, Germany, Norway, USA, and the UK—a mixture of Classicists, New Testament scholars, and Human Geographers—and their papers cover a fascinating range of issues and perspectives on early Christian engagement with and reflection on the ancient urban setting(s). More details here, including the conference programme, abstracts of the papers, and Continue reading →

James Crossley: welcome to St Mary’s!

A very warm welcome to Professor James Crossley, who is coming from the University of Sheffield to join our Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible team at St Mary’s University, Twickenham on 1 September. James will bring a strong interest in the Gospels and the historical Jesus, and particularly the way the Bible is ‘received’ in today’s world, not least in the spheres of politics and culture. His latest book is Jesus and the Chaos of History (OUP, Feb 2015). He’s well published, and a Continue reading →