ACTS and MORE—Steve Walton’s blog on New Testament Studies

1 October 2023

Jesus’ message to Smyrna: video and slides from a talk

I had the privilege of preaching on Jesus’ message to the church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) as part of a series on the book of Revelation at our church, Emmanuel, Loughborough on the evening of Sunday 1 October. Here are the slides from my talk. My scholarly readers will recognise the influence of Colin Hemer’s superb The Letters to the...

Speaking Comments: 0

29 August 2023

A fine opportunity to learn about Jesus’ parables

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...

People/Speaking Comments: 0

21 August 2023

Slides and a video on Jesus’ meeting with the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28)

I had the privilege of preaching on this passage last Sunday. It’s interesting because it’s sometimes claimed (wrongly) as showing Jesus being racist and sexist—Ian Paul tackles that well on his blog, here. The video of my sermon is and here are my slides—thoughts and comments most welcome.

Speaking Comments: 0

17 August 2023

Is the Roman Empire a friend or a foe in Acts?

I’m giving a paper to the Hindustan Bible Institute, Chennai, India’s online research seminar today (17 August), and so here are the slides and the handout for this talk. Thoughts and comments welcome!

Articles and papers/Research/Speaking Comments: 4

9 August 2023

Slides and a video on the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)

My apologies for the sound between about 7 mins 20 secs and 8 mins 45 secs: there was some distortion on the original recording which I haven’t been able to fix. Please persist: the voice is audible (to my ear, at least) in the fuzzy bit, and it then becomes clear.

Speaking/Study Comments: 0

6 August 2023

Ian Paul on practising evangelical spirituality

Ian Paul, The Practice of Evangelical Spirituality, Grove Spirituality series 162Cambridge: Grove Books, 2022; ISSN 0262-799X; £3.95Available in print or e-book format from Grove Books website here I’ve read this recent booklet (28 pages) by Ian Paul with appreciation. He brings together lots of thinking about the kind of spirituality evangelical Christians practise (particularly in the UK), with a view...

Books and articles/Reviews Comments: 0