The Good Book Blog: Historical Theology

Soldiers in the Gospels

Gary Manning Jr — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 10:42:00 -0700

When I teach or preach from the Gospels, I always bring in relevant aspects of the historical and cultural background. Including such details not only helps us in our interpretation of the scene, but also helps us retell the story well — an...

The Heart of Reformed Spirituality

Kyle Strobel — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:30:00 -0700

When I first came to seminary, I called myself an Arminian. That wasn’t true, really. The reality was that I just didn’t like people I knew who called themselves Calvinists! I simply knew too many folks who were far too arrogant and far too...

The Resurrection Challenge

Thaddeus Williams — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 21:02:43 -0700

Can We Build a Case Using only Non-Christian Scholars and Seven Hollywood Hits? [A video of Dr. Williams presenting this case can be found here. The research presented comes from his book Reflecting the Son (Zondervan, 2026), available for...

20 Truths From ‘Becoming God Family: Why the Church Still Matters’

Carmen Imes, Ed Stetzer — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:30:00 -0700

Carmen Imes is on a bit of a roll lately. You may have seen Tim Tebow mention Carmen Imes regarding her last book, Being God Image: Why Creation Still Matters . It a great resource, and now she has a follow-up book, out in November 2025. Also,...

What Can We Learn from the Life of Polycarp? (Polycarp Remembrance Day)

Kenneth Berding — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 13:39:00 -0800

Today is the anniversary of Polycarp death, roughly 1,870 years ago (exact date is disputed). What can we learn from his life and ministry? Polycarp (c. AD 69-155 or 51-155) is one of my heroes. Trudi and I lived in Polycarp city for two and a...

The Holy Spirit and Grammatical Gender

Gary Manning Jr — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:48:00 -0800

The New Testament clearly presents the Holy Spirit as a person. The Spirit is described as doing things and experiencing things that only make sense if the Spirit is a person. For example, the Spirit guided Jesus (Luke 4:10) and provides moral...

Discernment and Spiritual Practices: Wisdom from the Desert

Kyle Strobel — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:34:21 -0700

When talking about desert spirituality, John Cassian Conferences must be a key resource. In Cassian work, we find him and his friend Germanus interviewing eastern monks about the spiritual life. In it, we get a sense of the wisdom of Christian...

Whether-by-Life-or-Death Prayers

Kenneth Berding — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 15:31:46 -0700

In Philippians 1:19, Paul writes, “for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance.” New Testament scholars disagree about what Paul is affirming. A proper understanding of this...

Feeble Faith in Judges: Part 2

Kenneth Way — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 10:24:06 -0700

In our previous post, we discussed faith in Gideon story. Here in Part Two, we discuss the remaining three individuals from Judges who are mentioned in Hebrews 11:32-34. Faith in Barak Story (Judges 4-5). In Judges 4-5, Barak is not the...

Feeble Faith in Judges: Part 1

Kenneth Way — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 15:32:00 -0700

Hebrews 11:32-34 mentions four infamous individuals from the book of Judges (ordered Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah). [1] But these four are not listed in the literary order of the cycles of the book of Judges, which has the sequence Barak,...