Latest Blog Posts
Israel Research Trip, Post #15
Due to the amount of information I desire to communicate about Beth-shean, this site will require two posts: this post covers Old Testament Beth-Shean and Post #16 will cover New Testament Scythopolis. Beth-shean / Beth-shan / Tell el-Husn One of my favorite sites to visit in Israel is Beth-Shean (בֵּית שְׁאָן) — alternative spelling, Beth-Shan
The Psalms: A Primer for Prayer
For six and a half years we worked our way through the Psalter psalm by psalm (Psalm 1 through Psalm 150). After reading each psalm at the start of our Sunday morning class, we then prayed sentence prayers based upon that psalm. Then, as I taught through the Hebrew Psalter in seminary courses exegeting each
Israel Research Trip, Post #14
Caesarea Philippi / Banias Continuing our visits to the jewels of northern Israel, we come to Caesarea Philippi (known also as Banias/Banyas and Paneas) on the shoulder of Mt. Hermon east of Tel Dan along highway 99. The site sits about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and at about 1,700 feet higher
Israel Research Trip, Post #13
Tel Dan No site in Israel combines all the elements that Tel Dan displays: a delightful walk through the forest along the rushing waters of a source for the Jordan River, a high place notorious in the Old Testament, an example of a gateway containing both a judgment seat and massebot, and a Middle Bronze
Reading Theology in the New Year
One of the newest books to come into my possession in 2020 (thanks to my good colleagues at Zondervan) is Karin Spiecker Stetina’s How to Read Theology for All Its Worth (Zondervan Academic, 2020). Yes, its title purposefully associates the volume’s intended audience with its predecessor, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth:
CTS Memberships Available
As a member of the executive board of the Creation Theology Society (CTS), I’m thrilled to be able to pass on the following announcement to everyone visiting my personal website: We, the CTS Executive Board, are pleased to announce the formation of the Creation Theology Society, which will partner with the Creation Biology Society and
Truth and Christmas
Many of us receive gift cards and money as Christmas gifts and wonder what we should purchase with those gifts. Ah, but some of you might still be trying to get in a last-minute Christmas gift and might want to give a book (hard copy or digital) to someone. The two books I will highlight
Israel Research Trip, Post #12
Hazor Tell el-Qedah (Hazor) is one of the most thoroughly excavated sites in all Israel, joining Megiddo with a similar reputation. The site sits about ten miles north of the Sea of Galilee in a well-watered pass between the Sea of Galilee and the Huleh basin. It watches over an ancient crossroads of major branches
Israel Research Trip, Post #11
Chorazin Jerome Murphy-O’Connor refers to Chorazin as “Capernaum with a view.”[1] The city sat about two miles north of Capernaum at a site known as Khirbet Karazeh (or, Karraza), with which C. W. M. Van de Velde identified Chorazin (Korazim) in the 1850s. Here lie the remains of another synagogue with ties to the time of
Israel Research Trip, Post #10
Capernaum The city of Capernaum in Galilee gained its greatest attribute when Jesus chose it as the location of His residence after leaving His boyhood home in Nazareth. The name of the city is more accurately Kepher Nahum, “the village of Nahum.” Capernaum was the seat of customs for goods entering Galilee and then on