Latest Posts

• The Good Book Blog

  If God Has Done Such Great Miracles, Why Don’t More People Believe?

  Sean McDowell — June 26, 2017

  Some time ago I was speaking on the evidence for intelligent design at a family camp in Michigan. Immediately after my talk—in which I discussed the evidence for design from DNA, fine-tuning, and more—a woman approached me and asked, “The evidence is really powerful. Do you think we will ever get to a point when people will have to concede there’s a God?” ...

• Biola News

  Biola Honors 2017 Alumni Award Winners at Alumni Weekend

  Recipients honored for their work in ministry, media, healthcare and missions

  Peter Voelker — June 24, 2017

  The 2017 Biola University Alumni Award Winners were honored today in a ceremony during Alumni Weekend — an annual homecoming event for Biola...

• The Good Book Blog

  Did God Overlook China?

  Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig

  William Lane Craig — June 23, 2017

  Dear Dr. Craig, I'm originally from China and have lived in the U.S. for 17 years. Through a Christian friend, I've been introduced to your books and debates online. I've been going to church for two years now, getting very close to becoming a Christian. Your work has been instrumental in helping my "engineeringly" wired brain making sense of god, slowly but steadily building up my faith. For that, I'm very grateful and want to give my immense gratitude and appreciation ...

• The Good Book Blog

  Can There Be Forgiveness Without Repentance? Part 1

  John McKinley — June 21, 2017

  The problem I notice is that many times Christians have ongoing difficulty in forgiving those who have wronged them. The strain may go on for many years even as they keep trying to forgive. They frequently assume that there is something wrong with them as being hardhearted and otherwise unloving. They fault themselves for not being able to forgive others. Perhaps these unforgiving Christians are trying to do something that God has not called them to do. Perhaps one-sided forgiveness is actually impossible in the absence of a necessary condition for forgiveness ...

• Student Life Blog

  Preview, Read and Recall

  Louie Chong — June 20, 2017

  Trouble reading textbooks? Try this method to improve reading efficiency

• The Good Book Blog

  Jesus in Genesis 3:15?

  Jeffrey Volkmer — June 20, 2017

  In a post on his blog, "Jesus Creed," eminent New Testament scholar Scot McKnight seems to agree with some of the findings of Claude Mariottini's book Rereading the Biblical Text: Searching for Meaning and Understanding which argues that Gen. 3:15 is not in fact messianic. McKnight further points out that such a conclusion agrees with Old Testament luminaries Gordon Wenham and Gerhard von Rad as well as some translations. These, says McKnight, conclude that the “seed” mentioned in Gen. 3:15 refers to not an individual, but rather the sum total of the descendants of both the woman and the serpent ...

• The Good Book Blog

  Critical Tactic: Surfacing the Question Beneath the Question

  Sean McDowell — June 19, 2017

  One difficult lesson I have learned in apologetics and evangelism is to identify the question beneath the question. To be honest, I have spent considerable time answering questions I thought people were asking, but because I was operating under false assumptions, I missed the heart of their query. Have you ever made this same mistake? Here are three examples from my own life and ministry, and the brief lesson I learned from each of them ...

• The Good Book Blog

  How Can We Be Commanded to Believe in God?

  Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig

  William Lane Craig — June 16, 2017

  Dear Dr. Craig, Thank you for your work in theology. I am grateful for your broad contributions to discussions about theology and religion in public life. Your philosophical and theological ventures are welcoming, thoughtful and substantive. My question concerns a remark you made in a recent podcast. You mentioned that God commands us to believe in Him. God commanding us believe in Him seems problematic. It is notably articulated by Hasdai Crescas ...

• Talbot Magazine

  No Disconnect

  How Online Learning Can Build Character and Community

  Joanne Jung — June 15, 2017

  Creating an effective communal environment for learning can be challenging. Technology used well, however, has proven instrumental in addressing and accomplishing these tasks.

• Talbot Magazine

  YHWH & Genocide

  Reflections on an Unpleasant Topic in the Old Testament

  Charlie Trimm — June 15, 2017

  While the old testament contains multiple “unpleasant” topics for modern readers of the Bible, most likely none are as serious as the question of YHWH’s commanded destruction of the Canaanites. To say the point bluntly, YHWH’s commands to Israel in Deuteronomy 7:1–2 sound suspiciously like genocide: “You must devote them to complete destruction” (Deut. 7:1–2, ESV). The people of Israel followed those instructions when they conquered Jericho (Josh. 6:20–21).

• Talbot Magazine

  Shelf Life

  Recent publications from our very own Talbot Faculty.

  Gary McIntosh, Ryan Peterson, Scott Rae, Kenneth Way — June 15, 2017

  Growing God’s Church: How People Are Actually Coming to Faith Today; Introducing Christian Ethics: A Short Guide to Making Moral Choices; The Imago Dei as Human Identity: A Theological Interpretation; Judges and Ruth, Teach the Text Commentary Series

• Talbot Magazine

  Book Excerpt: The Empowering Spirit

  Excerpt adapted from "Ephesians (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)," by Clinton E. Arnold

  Clinton E. Arnold — June 15, 2017

  Ephesians has much to say about the nature and work of the Holy Spirit, but one of the most important features of the Spirit’s work is that he represents the empowering presence of God in the lives of believers.

• Talbot Magazine

  Best of the Blog

  Biblical Necessities? Or Theological Explanations?

  Kenneth Berding — June 15, 2017

  In recent years, I have been helped in my study of the Bible by employing an informal distinction between “biblical necessities” and “theological explanations.” Of all the classes I teach at Talbot, this distinction has been most helpful to students taking a class I teach called “Pauline Theology: Romans.” Since some of my students have benefitted from this distinction, I thought you might appreciate reading about it.

• The Good Book Blog

  What Pliny the Younger Learned When He Interrogated Christians (ca. A.D. 110)

  Kenneth Berding — June 15, 2017

  For many years I have been curious about a Roman governor known to us from history as Pliny the Younger. My interest initially arose because I resided for four years in one of the principal cities he governed—not to mention that one of my four daughters was born in that city. Moreover, since I have expended significant effort studying the writings of the earliest Christian authors after the period of the apostles (those authors known as the “Apostolic Fathers”), I continue to be intensely interested in learning anything I possibly can about the lives of Christians who lived during the first half of the second century ...

• The Good Book Blog

  Warfare in the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament 3: Fighting Chaos

  Charlie Trimm — June 14, 2017

  The second chapter of my book on warfare in the ancient Near East (see an overview to the book in a previous post) studies the casus belli of the ancient kings. Although presumably kings often went to war to gain plunder, this was not frequently stated in such bald terms. Instead, the most commonly stated reason for warfare was that the king fought to defeat chaos and preserve order in the world. In this post we will look at the Egyptian and Assyrian claims for preserving order as their goal for war and how these claims help us understand Scripture ...

• Talbot Magazine

  News Briefs

  M.Div. Program Reduced From 96 to 79 Credits, M.A. Programs Reduced From 64 to 49 Credits, Talbot Rolls Out Three Fully Online M.A. Program Concentrations

  Talbot Magazine Staff — June 13, 2017

  Over the past two years, Talbot faculty have been working hard and creatively to streamline the curriculum in the Master of Divinity program.

• Talbot Magazine

  Faculty Profile: Michael Thigpen

  Executive Director of ETS Joins Talbot’s Faculty

  Jeanette Pifer — June 13, 2017

  Michael Thigpen, one of Talbot’s newest faculty members, not only transplanted himself from Kentucky to California, but he has also brought the main office for the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) as he maintains his role as its executive director.

• Talbot Magazine

  William Lane Craig Named in Biola's First Endowed Chair

  Joanna Wu — June 13, 2017

  An endowed chair has been established in recognition of William Lane Craig, a world-renowned philosopher and theologian who has been teaching at Talbot School of Theology for more than 20 years.

• Talbot Magazine

  New Center Established to Focus on Work of the Holy Spirit

  Donor-funded initiative aims for more spiritual transformation and empowerment for evangelism

  Jason Newell — June 13, 2017

  What would happen if Biola were more intentional about understanding the work of the Holy Spirit and developing a greater passion to be led by the empowering and life-giving Spirit of God?

• Talbot Magazine

  From the Dean

  Clinton E. Arnold — June 13, 2017

  Sundoulos served us well for many years. But not everyone knew what the term “sundoulos” meant. As much as I like Greek, that is the danger of quoting it in your sermons, Bible studies and magazine names. “Sundoulos” is a fellow servant, and our intent is to be just that. We want to continue to serve you in the ministries where God has called you.

• The Good Book Blog

  How Do You Best Prepare Students for College? An Interview with Author Jonathan Morrow

  Sean McDowell — June 12, 2017

  Jonathan Morrow is one of the top communicators for both students and adults on apologetics and cultural issues. He is adjunct professor of Apologetics at Biola University (with me!) and director of cultural engagement at Impact 360 Institute where he teaches high school and college students. Check out his website and Twitter account: jonathanmorrow.org and @Jonathan_Morrow. We co-authored the book Is God Just A Human Invention? together in 2010. Last week he released an update of his classic book Welcome to College. This has been one of the top books I recommend for future college students to read so they can experience relational, emotional, academic, and spiritual success. Check out this interview and if you are an aspiring college student, or you know one, consider getting a copy of his excellent book ...

• Biola News

  How Can Christians Engage Others Holding the Dominant Perspective?

  Professors Tim Muehlhoff and Rick Langer answer this in their new book Winsome Persuasion

  Jenna Loumagne — June 12, 2017

  In their new book, Winsome Persuasion, Biola University professors Timothy Muehlhoff and Rick Langer ask what Christians’ interactions with the...

• Student Life Blog

  Managing Test Anxiety

  Norlan Hernandez — June 09, 2017

  You are not in the classroom and have many things competing for your time and attention.

• The Good Book Blog

  Resurrections prior to the World’s End?

  Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig

  William Lane Craig — June 09, 2017

  Fact 4, Point 2 in your opening statement of the debate with Bart Ehrman: you state that Jewish views of the afterlife precluded having a glorified existence prior to the general resurrection. Yet, the accounts of the Transfiguration of Jesus, three disciples saw Moses and Elijah. Elijah, according to the account in Kings, never died, but Moses is recorded as having died at the end of Deuteronomy. Whether or not he was actually raised and glorified in the same sense they came to believe Jesus was, could they not have believed that to be the case? Apparitions of the dead (Samuel to Saul and the medium at En-dor) were not unknown in the OT ...

• The Good Book Blog

  5 Game-Changing Books to Read this Summer

  Sean McDowell — June 08, 2017

  I love reading. And what better time is there to read than summer? While there are certainly plenty of good books to read, here are five of my personal favorites. While they tend to be in the category of apologetics and culture, these books were all “game changers” for me that either led me to act or see the world differently ...