Category Archives: Justice

Esau McCaulley was Dynamite! Report on the Rochester Preaching Conference

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I just came from presenting with Rev. Esau McCaulley (doctoral candidate in New Testament at the University of St. Andrews) at the annual Preaching Conference of the Rochester Consortium of Theological Schools, held at St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry (May 21, 2015). We had a great time, with lots of discussion, both in the Q&A after each talk and during lunch with the attendees.

My presentation on Matthew’s use of the Old Testament in the infancy narratives had considerable overlap with his presentation on Paul’s understanding of the Law in Galatians 3:10-14.

Just as I addressed Matthew’s use of four Old Testament quotations, Rev. McCaulley addressed Paul’s use of four OT passages in the Galatians text. In both presentations we argued that the New Testament writer in question (Matthew/ Paul) was reading the OT texts in context with significant discernment.

Further, we both focused on how the broader biblical narrative of Israel’s crisis/exile and coming Messianic resolution framed the argument of the New Testament text. And in both cases we addressed the communal and socio-political implications of the text relevant for preaching.

It looked like we had collaborated on our presentations, but we hadn’t. This just shows that when Rev. McCaulley begins as a new faculty member at Northeastern Seminary (part-time, at a distance this Fall, and full-time on campus in Fall 2016) there’s going to be great synergy in the biblical studies courses—and, indeed, with the entire core curriculum of NES, which emphasizes the relationship of Bible, theology, and praxis.

In fact, since Rev. McCaulley just signed his contract with Northeastern (the day before the conference), he is already technically on the faculty.

So I want to affirm the welcome to Professor Esau McCaulley that Doug Cullum, the Dean of NES, extended at the conference. Lots of students are eagerly looking forward to taking your courses and being mentored by you.

You can access Esau McCaulley’s blog here.

Creation, Violence, and the God of the Old Testament (Google Hangout Interview)

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On May 13, I will be participating in a Google Hangout interview on the topic of “Creation, Violence, and the God of the Old Testament.”

Matthew Lynch of the Westminster Theological Center in the UK will interview both me and  William Brown (Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary) on our previous writings on creation. Brown is an excellent biblical scholar who has published numerous books on aspects of OT creation theology and most recently has written Wisdom’s Wonder: Character, Creation, and Crisis in the Bible’s Wisdom Literature (Eerdmans, 2014). I expect that the interview will interact with my book The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Brazos, 2005).

This is how the Westminster Theological Center describes the interview on their website:

In this event, Matt will discuss this subject with two of his favourite OT scholars, J. Richard Middleton and William P. Brown. Creation and the question of violence occupy an important place in the work of these OT gurus. Plus, they’ve both just come out with some fantastic new books that you’ll want to read to help you navigate these topics and open up new worlds. Middleton’s book is A New Heaven and A New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker, 2014) and Brown’s is Wisdom’s Wonder: Character, Creation, and Crisis in the Bible’s Wisdom Literature (Eerdmans, 2014).

The time frame for the interview is 3:00 – 4:00 PM EST (8:00 – 9:00 PM UK time) and you can watch the interview online as it happens or you can watch it later on You Tube.

You can even send in your own questions for either interviewee by Twitter or by emailing Matt Lynch in advance (deanofstudies@wtctheology.org.uk).

Plus, the organizers (the Westminster Theological Center) have stated that you can enter to win a copy of either my eschatology book A New Heaven and a New Earth or William Brown’s book Wisdom’s Wonder by retweeting their original tweet about the interview.

The Advent of Justice

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Back when I was working on my PhD in Canada I was asked to contribute to a book of Advent meditations in honor of Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ), a Canadian justice organization run by Christians. To that end Sylvia Keesmaat, Brian Walsh, Mark VanderVennen, and I each wrote meditations for one of the four weeks of Advent readings from the daily Lectionary (seven meditations apiece); all of us had been involved in some way with this important justice organization.

I had been personally impacted by CPJ, including their published literature on a Christian approach to the political sphere and the helpful guides they provided to the various issues as each Canadian election approached. I was also impressed by their political advocacy in the name of Christ on behalf of those negatively affected by unjust social policies in the context of our modern consumer society. CPJ had been an important voice in helping me think through the political implications of my own Christian faith.

Since the Old Testament readings for that Advent season all focused on passages from Isaiah, which connected faith with justice, we decided to make this the focus of our meditations, while also drawing connections to the Gospel readings for each day.

These meditations were published back in 1993 by the CJL Foundation (an arm of CPJ), as a short book called The Advent of Justice. That book was then adopted by the Anglican Diocese of Toronto as an Advent study guide for that year.

A well-known Toronto artist, Willem (Bill) Hart, graciously contributed watercolors for the book cover and as introductions to each week’s meditations.

The Advent of Justice was reprinted the following year (1994) by Dordt College Press; and it’s been used on and off by lots of different people over the years as a guide to reflecting on the meaning of the Advent season.

The Advent of Justice has just been reprinted by Wipf and Stock publishers in time for this year’s Advent season. I was delighted that Northeastern Seminary decided to give copies away at their annual alumni reception (held a week ago). And they have just this past week posted my own Advent reflections from the book (with permission from the publisher) on the Northeastern Seminary website.

For anyone interested, the post for the first day of the week (Sunday) can be found here. The posts for the other days (Monday through Saturday) can be accessed from the right hand column of the website.

A flyer about the book can be accessed here.

Wishing you a blessed and meaningful Advent season.