Happy New Year! The Year of God's Favor and Strength

Wow! 2017 came and went. I know it's the same 12 months in a year, or 52 weeks, 365 days, 8760 hours, or 525,600 minutes, and so on... but it does feel like it goes by much faster as I get older. And before I knew it, 2017 raced by without many blog posts. My life just became too busy to keep up with weekly posts. I did not even keep up with monthly ones. Probably, for the time being, I will post randomly and occasionally. I hope this is just an interim period. As soon as I get some book projects off my desk, and perhaps finish my tenure as chair of the biblical field at North Park, I will come back to the blog and reignite it with a flurious succession of original articles, book reviews, pastoral reflections, and historical-cultural notes from the world of the New Testament and early Christianity. 
     But for now, blessings to all this 2018!

FYI, this is the year of the dog according to the Chinese Lunar calendar! It's the year of fortune and health. May the Lord bless the work of your hands and give you strength to serve Him faithfully this 2018. MJL

Will Start to Blog Again... I Think!

Illustration Credit: Gemma Correll (public domain)

Well, the photo says it all. As the Spring 2017 semester comes to a close:

When giving finals, I was the early bird (who schedules finals at 8am? especially Greek!)

When grading finals, I was the night owl (why do students upload papers after midnight?)

When submitting the final grades, I slouch over as the permanently exhausted pigeon (there is no rest for the faithful!) 

But PTL!, I'm done. Now I can start my research summer, put this crazy semester behind me (and it was nuts... can I retire before North Park does another 10-year ATS accreditation report?), and hopefully get back into blogging again. I will start off slow and find a regular rhythm later to talk about the most random things concerning Paul, early Christianity, and the church today. Glad summer is here! MJL

Happy Thanksgiving 2016!

Blessed Thanksgiving this year of 2016
Photo Credit by @HWCDSB

Ever since the Symposium on Science and Religion held at North Park last month, I have not been doing much blogging. But I have been active on twitter. I think, for the time being, given my increasing duties at the seminary (I'm now the chair of the biblical field, and the whole faculty including myself is currently working on the ATS report for the seminary's reaccreditation), I will continue this habititude of tweeting actively and only occasionally posting on this blog. I do, by the way, have some reflections on the past SBL-AAR in San Antonio that I would like to share here after the holiday has passed. But generally you can find me on my twitter feed (see the side bar) and randomly posting something on this blog where a tweet will not suffice (hopefully 1X a month). 
   As for now, I would like to wish everyone a Blessed Thanksgiving this November 2016! Personally I have been reflecting on Romans 14:8 "For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's (τοῦ κυρίου ἐσμέν)." In the midst of a morally confused and rapidly changing world, I have only one assurance: I belong to the Lord. I can count on Him who will never let me go. So whether I live or die, experience loss or gain, suffer in the present or find unexpected moments of peace this day, my life rests on God's kingdom and purpose unfolding in my life at His speed, His timetable, not mine. 
    So Lord Jesus, thank you that whatever my family, my church, or I might experience in this earthly life, we can count on one thing: we are the Lord's.

Hiatus from Blogging during Summer 2016

I'm not sure how many people follow my blog, but in case you missed my twitter announcement, I'm taking time off from blogging to wrap up some writing projects before the summer ends. When I start teaching again at North Park Theological Seminary this Fall 2016, I'll resume my weekly posting for the rest of the year and beyond. I'll definitely start with posting and writing short articles on the archaeological and historical sites I saw during my post-doc at the Ecolé Biblique et Archéologique Française as well make some comments for the upcoming sessions at the Society of Biblical Literature in San Antonio come November 2016. 
   In the meantime, please follow my twitter feed (to the left or click), for which I do daily tweets and posts on all things theological and pastoral. As a preview of things to come in the Fall, below is a photo from my visit to Caesarea Maritima, the Roman port city built by Herod the Great, with the track of the hippodrome in the forefront, and the Mediterranean Sea in the background. Blessings, MJL

The Hippodrome (horse racing track) in Caesarea Maritima, Israel, built by
Herod the Great (10 B.C.) and restored with a theater added (2nd c. A.D.)
Photo by Max Lee © 2016

And if you are looking for some good scholarly humor, check out this gag reel by Wipf & Stock publishers featuring biblical and theological scholars (i.e., Michael Gorman, Chris Tilling, Doug Campbell, and others) struggling to make a joke, and making me and I'm sure many others laugh wholeheartedly with them. 

Can a scholar tell a joke? @christilling @ProfDCampbell @Dru_Johnson @mmountshoop @lucepeppiatt @WaltBrueggemannhttps://t.co/axpxGFnZFm

— Wipf and Stock (@wipfandstock) June 28, 2016

Posting on the Blog Randomly and Infrequently until Summer 2016

Well, I hate to do this, but I'm already missing too many self-imposed deadlines for a few books projects. So I'm going to take a break from blogging so I can jump-start my own research. Every now and then, I will post random musings on Pauline scholarship, or make announcements concerning the Intertextuality in the New Testament Section I co-chair at the Society of Biblical Literature. I might also blog on my post-doctoral studies at the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem this coming April.
     But I'm just going to free myself from my regularly weekly posting schedule and resume it at the start of Summer 2016. It's been so crazy busy lately, I have not even made my way to watch the movie Risen yet, which I'm eager to see (and perhaps post a review later?)
     In the meanwhile, here's a Dilbert cartoon reflecting my own frustrations over the writing enterprise: 

Illustration Credit by Dilbert.com ©2015

Back to Blogging after a Summer Hiatus

The summer has blitzed by and I'm still catching my breath. Although I returned from the seminary trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo in early June, and was planning on only taking a few weeks before going back to blogging, I ended up taking the entire summer off. I took a week to recover from the Congo trip and then one demand after another ensued. Now the Fall semester is about to begin at North Park. Ugh!
    This academic year, I'm on a sabbatical research leave (Thank you Louisville Institute and North Park for making this a reality!). Ironically, while I am free from teaching and administrative duties, I have a full plate of research and writing demands that will occupy my time fully (not to mention that I have my oldest son applying to colleges this year and all the parental duties that are tied to that enterprise!). However, I do plan to get back to a weekly posting on the Paul Redux blog now that I am gearing up for a year of instense reading, writing, text-editing, and everything else that needs to be done to finish two book projects. 
     I'll begin by posting some reflections on my Congo student trip, and then my visit to the Getty Villa early August. Stay tuned for the next post! It's good to be back and into a regular routine again. Blessings! 

The Protestant University of Ubangi (UPU)
where I taught a 5-day seminar series on Reconciliation
Photo by Max Lee © 2015

He Is Risen! Blessings this Easter Sunday

It has been some time since I posted on the blog, but it has not been from lack of desire. My schedule has gotten a bit out-of-control these past few weeks. I might not be able to return to blogging regularly until after my trip to Congo in May. Until then, I do wish many who have visited this blog the Lord's blessings this Easter weekend! I shall return to blogging regularly. I simply need to get other tasks out of my queue before I can do this any time soon.

The Garden Tomb, the alternative location for the burial of Jesus
beyond the traditional site at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons © 2008

Hope you are having a glorious Easter and see you again in May! MJL

Blizzard and Blogging

Well so much for whatever I planned for the weekend, including blogging... the minor blizzard that hit Chicago just changed my schedule. I'm spending most of the day shoveling snow and fighting off cabin fever at home with my sons. Actually, I'm going to put them to work and have them help me shovel. 

What happened to the road? Chicago's Northside
Photo credit: Max Lee © 2015

   It's also rare that North Park University cancelled the day's full schedule of classes for all faculty today. The campus is closed except for Helwig Gym and the Brandel library, and I'm sure all my students are celebrating with joy the extra day off. I, however, am scratching my head trying to figure out how to get my classes back on track with a day now gone. Ugh!