Saturday, June 20, 2009

A Treasure Trove of New Testament Scholarship

A few weeks ago I came across quite an amazing site. It's a blog forum called PrimeTime Jesus. A bunch of Evangelical scholars, including Darrell Bock, Craig Blomberg and Dan Wallace, all contribute regularly about the latest media happenings that concern the New Testament. I've read several blog posts and can say that it's a great place to visit. It's a good way to keep on top of stuff that you'd never know about if someone didn't point it out. One of the most provocative and popular posts is Blomberg's criticism of a recent National Geographic piece. It's wonderful that these guys are making their work public and not keeping it confined to journals and books. Read and be enlightened, edified and encouraged.

In a related note, you should visit the Day of Discovery site. I can't vouch for any of the other programs that DOD puts out, but the Jesus: Man, Messiah or More? series is phenomenal. It has it's cheesy cinematic moments, as most Christian productions do, but the research presented is worth putting up with the cheese. A group of Evangelical scholars, known as the Jesus Group, which includes some who regularly post on PrimeTime Jesus, worked together for a decade, defending the historicity of the portrait of Jesus that's found in the Gospels against the many critical portraits that have arisen in recent decades. (And because I must, I'll note that the Jesus Group includes Mike Wilkins, Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Dean of the Faculty at Talbot School of Theology.) Each of the 8 shows are filmed in Israel, so it's much more exciting than just reading words on a page. Check it out if you get the chance.

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