Apocalyptic – The Two Cities

Disaster Films & The Bible with Dr. Michelle Fletcher (podcast)

Sep 7, 2022

In this episode we turn from our series on Jesus films to discuss the intertextual relationship of Disaster Films and the Bible as an epilogue to our Summer series with Dr. Michelle Fletcher, who used film theory to analyze citations of the Hebrew Bible in Revelation in her book, Reading Revelation as Pastiche: Imitating the Past (with Bloomsbury T&T Clark). Dr. Fletcher is Research Fellow at King’s College, London on the Visual Commentary on Scripture. Over...

Revelation Advent Sermon (Why The COVID-19 Vaccine Is Not The Mark of the Beast)

Dec 21, 2020

At my local church here in Minneapolis, Mill City Church, we’ve been reading through and preaching through the New Testament, and the plan was always to preach through Revelation for Advent. This was planned long before 2020 became the “apocalyptic” year that we all think of it as. At present, one of the particularly relevant aspects of Revelation for our cultural moment is the notion among some concerned Christians that maybe the COVID-19 vaccine might...

Check out my New Article on Pauline Chronology and Eschatology

Sep 14, 2018

My new article in Journal of Biblical & Theological Studies is now officially out. The paper is entitled, “Eschatological Emphases in 1 Thessalonians and Galatians: Distinct Argumentative Strategies Related to External Conflict and Audience Response.” In this article I am addressing a couple of different issues at once. To begin, there is the issue of the chronological ordering of Paul’s letters. Most scholars tend to think that 1 Thessalonians is the earliest and most primitive example of...

The Apocalyptic Perspective

Jun 20, 2018

As I study and research I came across the Apocalyptic Perspective. This “new trend” in Biblical theology is quite appealing. It provides a new way of thinking about salvation, redemption, creation, and most importantly good and evil. It seems that it all started with Bultmann who thought that myth should be interpreted not cosmologically but anthropologically, creating the cosmological vs anthropological debate. But then Käsemann disagreed and argued that anthropology was cosmology and that the...

Review of Apocalypse against Empire by Anathea E. Portier-Young

Aug 15, 2015

Anathea E. Portier-Young. Apocalypse against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism. Eerdmans, 2014. 462 pgs. $35 (Paperback). ISBN 978-0-8028-7083-4. Anathea E. Portier-Young’s Apocalypse against Empire (originally release in 2011) comprises, to quote John Collins from the book’s foreword, “an important contribution to the study of Judea under Seleucid rule and to the social context of apocalyptic literature” (xiii). Winner of the 2013 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise, and now rereleased in a more...

My New Article in the Scottish Journal of Theology

Jan 13, 2015

I’m excited that my article, “Suffering and Covenantal Hope in Galatians: A Critique of the ‘Apocalyptic Reading’ and Its Proponents,” is finally in print, appearing in the newest issue of the Scottish Journal of Theology (68.1 [2015]: 1–15). The paper was originally presented in the Paul Group at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the British New Testament Conference which took place at King’s College, London in September 2012. Below is the abstract: This article addresses...

Most Influential Commentaries on Galatians (Top 5)

Jun 17, 2014

A little over a year ago I wrote a post about the Top Galatians Commentaries. For that list I chose the 5 best in terms of teaching the text the closest to how I think it should be understood. I still stand by those 5—although with the recent addition of Doug Moo’s commentary I think I’d probably change the list slightly (and you can read my review of his commentary over at Themelios)—but every time...

From Premillennialism to Amillennialism And Back: An Eschatological Change of Mind

Feb 11, 2014

Nearly two years ago I wrote a post entitled, “Amillennialism: Rethinking and Critiquing my Eschatology After Five Years.” In that post I analyzed an earlier blog post I wrote back in 2007 called, “How I Became An Amillennialist.” Two years ago I concluded that I was still an Amillennialist, but I realized that many of the arguments I previously found so convincing were not nearly as persuasive. Now I’m ready to say it: I’m a...

Why I don’t Believe in the “Rapture”

Aug 15, 2013

I should admit from the outset that my own convictions concerning end-times events is pretty unformed. That being said, I have become unconvinced that what has become known as “the Rapture” is actually found in the Bible, at least in the way that I was taught growing up. In other words, I don’t believe that the New Testament teaches us that Jesus will remove Christians from the earth prior to his final appearing (the Parousia). I’ll...

Amillennialism: Rethinking and Critiquing My Eschatology After Five Years

Mar 6, 2012

Back in May 2007 I posted a little blurb on my silly little blog (Dunne’s Discourses) about how I had become an Amillennialist. The main person responsible for my conversion was Pastor Kim Riddlebarger of Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, CA. His book A Case for Amillennialism is one of the best at defending the position from a Reformed perspective. Since it is almost the fifth anniversary of my eschatological conversion from Dispensational Premillennialism to Reformed Amillennialism...