Tag Archives: research

Reflecting on Rest

I’ve recently read the very thought-provoking and helpful book Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang (Penguin, 2016). Pang is building on much work that’s recently shown that, beyond 40-50 hours, we become less productive during the time we work. It’s not just that we are less productive in the extra hours—we’re actually less productive in (e.g.) 60 hours than we would have been in 40 hours. This is a timely argument in the midst of a crazy-busy lifestyle for Continue reading →

Closing the Gap: a very worthwhile conference in Durham (3)

                     This is the third (and final) post about this conference in Durham. The first two are here and here. Many thanks to Tavis Bohlinger for his excellent photographs of the second day of the conference, reproduced above and below with his kind permission. Day two started with Dr Wesley (Wes) Hill (Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge, PA) considering ‘doctrinal exegesis’ by discussing trinitarian theology in relation to the Fourth Gospel, especially John 10:30, 38. He began Continue reading →

Closing the Gap: a very worthwhile conference in Durham (2)

                      This is the second of three posts about this conference in Durham; the first is here. Prof. David Ford (University of Cambridge) gave us a swashbuckling paper, delivered with enthusiasm and panache, coming out of his own work over some years on a commentary on John’s Gospel. This was fascinating, for Ford is a theological scholar, rather than a biblical scholar (although it was pretty clear he’s no mean exegete!). He discussed a number of influences on his Continue reading →

Closing the Gap: a very worthwhile conference in Durham (1)

        I’ve spent a very enjoyable and stimulating couple of days in Durham this week at an excellent conference, ‘Closing the Gap: Best Practices for Integrating Historical and Theological Exegesis’ hosted by the Theology and Religion department of the university, and initiated and organised by two enterprising PhD students, Ben White and Justin Allison. Both had found that their PhD work in New Testament had raised theological questions which their supervisor, Prof. John Barclay, had encouraged them to pursue and to integrate into their Continue reading →

Two helpful recent productivity and writing posts

  Here are two recent posts which I’m finding helpful. The first is from patter (Professor Pat Thomson) about a new collection of short essays critiquing bad ideas about writing (which mostly seem to be US-based and derive from Strunk and White’s key book). Her summary is both clear and helpful (and a model of how to do so), and there is also a link to the book, which is freely available in digital format. The other is from the Nozbe team, and gives seven Continue reading →