Associate Professor of New Testament, Tyndale Seminary
We do not know much about Luke’s patron, Theophilus, but we can easily imagine the kind of person he might have been. Perhaps his home was Alexandria, the pearl of Hellenistic culture at the mouth of the Nile, chief city of Roman Egypt. On this morning Theophilus left his city house early and rode out…
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A Cosmic Mission Much like Matthew, Luke too emphasizes that the non-Jewish nations are now being invited to participate in the re-established reign of God. Luke places Jesus’ genealogy at the transition from the infancy narrative to the account of Jesus’ adult career. So it is significant that Luke traces the Messiah’s ancestry all the…
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A Faithful Scribe in the Kingdom As we approach the Gospel of Matthew, let us imagine that we are there in the room with the book’s author. His back is turned to us, so we cannot yet see his face. He is seated on a low writing bench, the fresh papyrus roll balanced on his…
Read MoreReading for the Effect When we interpret a passage in one of the gospels, one of our primary goals is to understand the text. But what does “understanding” mean here? I don’t think it should mean distilling down the “essence” or “theology” of the text, so that we no longer need to consult the book…
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The First Written Gospel If we had been part of Mark’s first audience, we would not have picked a bound book up from the shelf of a library or bookstore. In fact, we would not likely have been reading it at all. For years we would have been used to hearing the stories of Jesus…
Read MoreMany of my blog posts begin life as answers to my students’ questions. This one is no different. A student asked a good question about how we know Mark wasn’t written much earlier than AD 65 or so. Here is my (lightly edited) reply. The starting point for dating Mark is that our earliest church…
Read MoreI recently stumbled across a very useful site for students working on the Gospels or on the Jesus tradition. The Five Gospels Parallels, by John W. Marshall at the University of Toronto, presents the gospel texts (in English) in parallel vertical columns. The text is divided into pericopes, and for each one Marshall provides links…
Read MoreThis was a sermon delivered at St. Paul’s-on-the-Hill Anglican church in Pickering, Ontario, Sunday March 13th.
Read MoreOne student recently suggested that there might be a progression in the Gospels from earlier books that are more this-worldly in focus to later books that are more “mystical.” I don’t think I’d agree that the later Gospels become more mystical, if by that you mean more “other-worldly.” On the one hand, I think all…
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Ian W. Scott 