The 2018 Nils W. Lund Memorial Lectureship

North Park Theological Seminary's Nyvall Hall
Home of the Annual  Nils W. Lund Memorial Lectureship

Live streaming links: here 

This coming September 26-27, 2018, North Park Theological Seminary is hosting its annual Nils W. Lund Memorial Lectureship which invites one Old Testatment lecturer and one New Testament lecturer to speak on their current research and how it is relevant to the mission and ministry of the church. 
    This year, our OT lecturer is Dr. Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford, The Carolyn Ward Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages at the McAfee School of Theology. She is the current OT editor of the Word Biblical Commentary series and will be giving the following lectures on Wed morning: 

Dr. Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford - The 2018 Old Testament Lund Lecturer

Wednesday, September 26, 2018
9-10:15am: Lecture 1 – “Let the Floods Clap Their Hands:  An Ecological/Feminist Reading of the Enthronement Psalms (Psalm 93-99)”
10:30-12pm: Lecture 2 – “The Embodied Praise of God in the Songs of Ascents (Psalm 120-134)”

    I'm especially excited that a mentor who was on my doctoral dissertation committee is the NT lecturer: Dr. Seyoon Kim, Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has two major works that will be published within the next year: his long-awaited commentary on 1-2 Thessalonians in the Word Biblical Commentary series and a book on Jesus and Paul. The latter is the subject of his lectureship which take place Thursday morning: 

Thursday, September 27, 2018
9-10:15am:  Lecture 1 – “Justification & God’s Kingdom.” Part 1
10:30-12pm: Lecture 2 – “Justification & God’s Kingdom.” Part 2

    The Lund Lectures are live-streamed and the link for the livestream will be posted on the seminary website here. Scroll to the middle of the page and click "Watch Live" about 15 minutes before the 1st lectureship begins. 
    I hope many will join us in person and online. Best, MJL.

New Year's Resolutions for the Scholar

As I think about new year's resolutions and commitments, I have two that I will attempt. One is a modification of Lee Iron's excellent suggested reading plans for the Greek New Testament (click on the link). Given the craziness of this 2015 with my finishing the WUNT monograph in the next few months, I think trying to read the GNT in one year is just not going to work. But if you take Lee Iron's 2-year plan, ignore the dates, and just check off all the Pauline texts as you get through them one at a time, I believe a modest goal for myself to read through (again) all of the Pauline letters is a reachable new year's resolution for 2015.

Our making Korean dumplings at home on New Year's Eve
for a traditional dish called dduk-gook (a dumpling+rice cake soup)

    Secondly, an exercise routine. My son showed me an alarming video (a short 3 min) of the dangers of sitting too long, which is a definite occupational hazard for any scholar. According to the video, sitting for six hours total (that's it! I sit at least that much if not more!) in any given day is bad for your health. Ouch! When I'm writing, I'm often oblvious to time until my wife angrily shakes me from my focused trance and reminds me to do household chores, pick up the boys from their after-school activities, or call it a night and go to bed! And especially since I have been eating way toooooo much food this winter break (i.e., Korean food and dumplings!), the video is sobering to say the least. The health(-scare) video is below and the persons who created it have other science tutorials on their youtube channel. 

   Warning: watching the video can scare you into exercising more! 

Finally, this is not really a resolution as much as a spiritual tradition in the Lee family household to pick a Bible text as a the key verse of the year. Mine is Psalm 23:1 - "The Lord is my shepherd, and I lack for nothing." Personally, I want 2015 to be a year when, no matter how tough life gets, no matter the unexpected challenges thrown my way, in the end all I need is to abide in Christ and follow with reckless abandon the Chief Shepherd who has shown himself faithful, time and time again. 
   May you all experience the joy of having Christ and therefore lacking in not one thing this 2015. 

The Earth Is the Lord's... and a Beautiful Day in Chicago Can Be Miraculous

Just when I blogged in my previous post about giving up my rights for the sake of serving others, I was also reminded that I need not rupture the theological tension between an ethics of pleasure (based on what God considers good) and an ethics of sacrifice for the good of my neighbor. I was dropping my teenage son off at the Adler Planetarium last Saturday for his internship there as an astro-journalist, when I decided to stick around the area (instead of driving home) and simply enjoy the beauty of a nice sunny Chicago day (such a welcome relief after the brutal winter we had!). Walking along Lake Michigan, I enjoyed this scene: 

Photo taken with my iphone near the Adler Museum

When Paul quotes Psalm 24:1 (= 23:1 LXX) concerning his teaching on idol food in 1 Cor 10:26: "The earth and its fullness are the Lord's" (τοῦ κυρίου γὰρ ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς), he reminds the Corinthians that: 1) if there is anything good in the world, it is comes as a gift from God since everything belongs to Him; and 2) therefore, we can celebrate the sovereignty of God, especially over false idols and fake gods, and receive with gratitude creation-gifts which are a sign of the Creator's grace and favor. It is also likely that Paul drew the quotation of Psalm 24:1 from the common practice in Judaism to recite this verse (along with others; e.g., Pss 50:12; 89:11) as part of the prayers voiced before a meal (see b. Sabb. 119a; Garland, 1Cor-BECNT, p. 482).
    Despite the rain all this mid-week, I was reminded this past weekend about how good the Lord is, and how beautiful the earth can be, as I took a much needed prayer walk around the sunny shoreline of Chicago. Blessings!