The registration period for next term’s Davenant Hall courses is soon ending. My next course is ‘The Bible and Politics’ (you can see the syllabus for the course if you follow the link). Davenant Hall courses only cost $225 to audit, for at least 20 hours of class time. The recordings of Davenant Hall classes are provided exclusively to registered students, so, if a student is registered for a class, they can watch any classes that they miss. For auditors, who don’t have attendance requirements, this makes things even more flexible. Every Davenant Hall class I’ve taught has had a very wide va ..read more

I recently recorded a twenty-hour course entitled An Introduction to Biblical Wisdom at Davenant House in South Carolina. The course provides an introduction to the reading of Scripture, an overview of the entire Bible, and a discussion of the theme of wisdom within it. The lectures are now on sale, with a discount for pre-orders. On Sale Here Some previews below ..read more

A two part piece of mine was recently published over on The Biblical Mind. Within it, I explore what it means to read the Law with wisdom, focusing upon the fourth commandment, concerning the Sabbath. I show that the import of the core commandment is discovered in the extensive expansion of its principle in history, covenant, feast, and broader legal material. Read part 1 here and part 2 here ..read more

I have an article on the Theopolis website, exploring some of the reasons for the naming of Jesus. That ‘Jesus’ would be the name chosen for the Son in his incarnation might seem underwhelming. As a Greek form of the name Joshua, it was not an uncommon name; indeed, it was a name that the Child would have shared with many other boys. Its meaning, ‘the Lord saves’, was certainly uniquely apt for this bearer of the name. However, it is not difficult to imagine other names that would also have been fitting for this Child. There was, of course, a famous bearer of the name Jesus/Joshua in Is ..read more

For a while, I’ve wanted to teach a course that more directly focuses on teaching skills of biblical reading. As I will be teaching an intensive residential course on the subject of Exodus for the Theopolis Institute later next year (watch this space!), I needed to rework the Exodus and the Shape of Biblical Narrative course that I’ve taught for Davenant before, to ensure that the two courses don’t significantly overlap. The result is a complete overhaul of the course, which is now designed to offer a detailed introduction to skills that equip us to read biblical narrative well, skills which ..read more

Thomas Achord is the headmaster of a private classical Christian school, the co-author of the 2021 book Who is My Neighbor? An Anthology in Natural Relations, and is co-host of the Ars Politica podcast with Stephen Wolfe, the author of the recent book, The Case for Christian Nationalism. Ars Politica is devoted to Christian political thought and has been running for seventy episodes, and Achord’s public political project is focused on applying his understanding of the Christian political tradition to the present day. Here is his profile: Of what relevance is Achord? Achord came to my att ..read more

In an article for the latest issue of First Things, I review Paul Copan’s recent book, Is God a Vindictive Bully? Reconciling Portrayals of God in the Old and New Testaments, and discuss responsible handling of narratives of divine violence in the Scriptures more broadly ..read more

In the latest Theopolis Conversation, I discuss Brad East’s recently published work, The Church’s Book: Theologies of Scripture in Ecclesial Context, which explores the relationship between bibliology (the doctrine of Scripture) and ecclesiology in the work of Karl Barth and three of his theological successors: John Webster, Robert Jenson, and John Howard Yoder. The book is complemented by East’s other recent release, The Doctrine of Scripture, within which he discusses the relationship between the Church and the Scriptures. Within the opening essay, I review The Church’s Book, concluding wit ..read more

In the latest Theopolis Conversion we are discussing how Christians should respond to vaccine mandates and other such policies. Douglas Farrow kicked off the Conversation with his essay. Mine is the first response, which you can read here. Make sure to follow the whole discussion: there are several more responses to come! It is entirely possible to take COVID seriously without being driven by irrational fear or elevating it to the level of a god (and, on the other hand, quite possible to treat opposition to COVID measures as a shibboleth that divides Christ’s church). Even as we challenge mea ..read more

At the end of 2021, I thought it might be good to reflect briefly upon the past year, which has been an extremely full, productive, and rewarding one for me, on several fronts. I’ll be spending January of 2022 in the US, largely reading, writing, teaching, and enjoying the opportunity to catch my breath before the plunge into the immense and exciting challenges I have lined up for 2022. Daily Reflections Project Two years ago, I began a project going through the lectionary of the 2019 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. The initial intention was to offer some brief and assorted reflections ..read more