I am preparing for a long trip to Europe for a variety of professional conferences. I will be gone seven weeks but plan to keep blogging (July 4-August 24). I will attend four conferences. The first is an international conference held every two years in Italy. It concentrates on one of the more fascinating of the books out of Judaism of the period of Jesus, 1 Enoch. This year's conference will discuss the relationship between 1 Enoch and another key Jewish work, Jubilees. Both of these works were written before the time of Jesus. They come from parts of Judaism that thought about the origins of evil and proper moral life. Jubilees is more focused on the Law, and was one of the most well circulated books at Qumran. 1 Enoch has the most developed presentation of a figure who judges alongside God at the end, the Son of Man, a term that is Jesus' favorite name for himself from Daniel 7. I am currently reading these works as slowly as I ever have, as well as some scholarly literature related to these books. This is what professors do in the summer when they are not teaching; they study.

I am returning to Texas after my annual two week stint teaching in Los Angeles at Talbot Theological Seminary. It is an encouragement to see how students preparing for ministry are so serious about serving the Lord. We worked through the gospel of Luke and covered the gospel showing how eschatology and ethics are side by side. Just start with how John the Baptist calls the nation to readiness for the coming of the Lord in Luke 1:16-17 and Luke 3:10-14 and go on from there.

Today the world lacks heroes and models. The world lost one today. Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, died today at 87. In sixty-four years of marriage, she was his rock and support, as well as a trusted partner. Together they were a model of marriage. Here is what Billy said in a statement released through his spokesman, Larry Ross:"Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team," Billy Graham said in a statement. "No one else could have borne the load that she carried. She was a vital and integral part of our ministry, and my work through the years would have been impossible without her encouragement and support.

I have been asked on various occasions why use a text like 2 Maccabees 7 to discuss resurrection? It is an important and fair question. One uses such a text because it indicates (1) how physical a resurrection the Jews anticipated and (2) because the meaning of resurrection of Christians is what is being debated, making use of the Bible a problem for some who are listening to the discussion.

I am in California currently on my annual two week teaching stint at Talbot. I also had a meeting today with editors of a book for which I am writing a major essay on the use of the OT in the NT.This essay is now in the final stages and is one of three views that will interact with each other. Zondervan is the publisher.The essay will work through multiple examples and attempt to describe how the progress of revelation works in the NT's use of the OT. How new contexts impact the meaning of a text and what it refers to will be a major concern, along with how that progress helps us to read earlier texts in light of fresh aspects of revelation with more detail and understanding for its meaning. The essay is a major update and expansion of the OT in the NT essay I wrote for INTERPRETING THE NEW TESTAMENT TEXT, released earlier this year by Crossway, a detailed study of the exegetical process.

There are more cases of blasphemy charges against Christians in Pakistan.Two incidents have occured recently. They are detailed in a piece from Christianity Today online.the URL is: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/juneweb-only/123-43.0.htmlHere is the opening of the article by Elizabeth Lawson:Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws have been used against Christians in two recent incidents, prompting a louder by groups who say the laws are abusive.

I am slowly working my way through the comments that were made and got lost for a time (see Technical Problems June 1)I will try to post a few a day until I get caught up. I have responded to most of those under Hollywood hype now, where by far the most comments were.Also feel free to ask for topics you would like to see addressed, since I have more time in the summer.

The IBR Jesus Group, an international group of Jesus Scholars, are meeting in Dallas this week to begin the final stages of their work.The Group which is examining twelve key events in the life of Jesus are covering three topics this weekend: (1) the temple incident, (2) Pilate's examination and crucifixion, and (3) the empty tomb and Jesus' appearances. The group has its final meeting next year before publishing its cumulative results, hopefully in late 2009.

Once again there has been an important legal judgment in a country where Christians are in a minority. This time it is in Malaysia, where the conversion of a woman to Christianity was not recognized.Here is an excerpt from the report of the ruling: PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: In a controversial victory for Islamic law over secularism, Malaysia's highest court refused Wednesday to recognize the conversion of a Muslim-born woman to Christianity, ruling that the matter was beyond the jurisdiction of the country's civil courts and should be handled by religious authorities.

Dear Bloggers:I need to apologize that some comments have not been posted until recently. At some point a while ago, comments got lost in our queue and have just resurfaced. There were over 180 that went missing. I am not going to try and recover all of these. We think we have the issues now in hand. Let me say if you tried to comment and are just now seeign it that this is because we posted the backlog, but I have not gone through them becasue there are still issues in terms of my being able to link to your comment and reply.