The arguments of my Divine Heartset include more than half-a-dozen proposals for new translations of some unusual Greek language that Paul employs in his letter to the Philippians. Outside of the Christ Hymn, my favourite appear in the passage where Paul tees up his praise of Christ. Here is my translation of 2:1–4, with new translations... Read more ..read more

We are back! The fruit of 10 years research on the Christology of Paul’s letter to the Philippians (and the meaning of Christ Hymn in Phil 2:6–11 + 3:20–21) is now published (www.divineheartset.com). If you are interested in joining a Reading Group with other scholars who will be working their way through the book, starting... Read more ..read more

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You can hear me discussing some of the ideas at the heart of the Jesus Monotheism project on a just-released The Bible Project podcast, here: https://player.fm/series/the-bible-project-1401633/did-jesus-really-think-he-was-god-feat-dr-crispin-fletcher-louis Tim and John are doing wonderful job bringing recent and cutting edge scholarship to the masses, so it was a privilege and to spend time with them ..read more

I have spent much of the last couple of years revising my understanding of Phil 2:6–11. The journey has been uncomfortable. For the duration of the time you are forced to rearrange your mental furniture there can be nowhere comfortable to sit. But the rearrangement has been necessary and the end result has far reaching... Read more ..read more

An article has just been published that I reckon contains a breakthrough insight into the earliest understanding(s) of Jesus and the movement he started. In his ‘Long Live the King: The Fourth Gospel’s Responses to Greco-Roman Suspicions Concerning Monarchy’, JGRChJ 13 (2017), pp. 189–212, Adam Booth contends that John’s gospel presents a problem for first... Read more ..read more

  I have just returned from the a stimulating symposium in St Andrews on the Atonement in biblical texts and traditions. I heard expertly done main papers by Deborah Rooke, David Moffitt, David Wright, Martha Himmelfarb, Carol Newsom and Catrin Williams and many short papers with the latest research on everything from the precise meaning of... Read more ..read more

The writing of volume 2 of my Jesus Monotheism series has taken longer than expected. The main reason is that in my work on the Christ hymn in Phil 2 I have been forced to acknowledge dimensions of Phil 2:6–11 which I had missed and parts that I had, in the past, misunderstood. I am... Read more ..read more

I have just received my copy of the papers from a conference in Zürich in 2015 dedicated to worship and angels in ancient Judaism and early Christianity (). I was invited to speak to the conference on the back of my 2002 book , in which I investigated the role of angels and human transformation... Read more ..read more

On Monday of this week I gave a lecture at a Biblical Studies conference at the University of Birmingham entitled “Intertextuality and the Son of Man Problem”. It was an invited (“Keynote”) paper and, as I was asked to speak to the general topic of Intertextuality, the research and writing has helped me clarify my understanding of the... Read more ..read more