I’ve been informed some users land on “hmm…can’t access this page” or a similar message when attempting a download. I even get this on my computer! If you wait a few moments for the security systems on our page and your computer to “talk” and “give clearance”, you will find the download you requested will load automatically. Stay on the “hmm…” page and you will be rewarded. Blessings, Kathleen

A new article has been added on the Prophets page: The Wesley Gilpin Lecture that John gave at Regents Theological College in Malvern, UK, in October 2025.

A new article by John on Zechariah 2-3 can be found on the Prophets page:

In the second of Zechariah’s dream visions, a divine aide bids a surveyor rethink the project of building new walls for Jerusalem, and in the third, Yahweh bids a court restore the stained Joshua to his high-priestly role. These visions continue to suggest ways of thinking about Jerusalem, about the Jewish people, and about the church. They also continue to suggest ways of thinking about the leadership of the people of God, and in particular the leadership of the church when it is in crisis, as it is in the Church of England.

The “sin offering” in Leviticus 4 has had a significant role in the development of a doctrine of the atonement. The article considers further what Leviticus means by sin or offense, sin offering or offense offering, mistake, guilt offering or fault offering, stain on the person and on the sanctuary, violation, reparation , ransom or covering or cleansing or atonement, and pardon and forgiveness. It notes how these find expression in Israel’s history, and considers how they illumine the significance of the death of Jesus for the Jewish people and for the world. It notes that Leviticus does not talk about wrath, propitiation of God, or substitutionary punishment. It concludes that looking at the death of Jesus in light of its provision, one can see that he dissolved our stain, won a victory over the forces of death embodied in our stain, made reparation to God on our behalf, embodied God’s gracious willingness to carry us in our waywardness, and drew the world to seek God’s pardon, but that God is concerned for justice as well as mercy and can also let his people and the world carry their own waywardness. 

The article is posted on the Theology page.

This is a contribution for an upcoming book on “Biblical Justice,” for which I was asked to write the chapter on Ezra-Nehemiah. I think it is right that the expression mishpat usedaqah, which is usually translated “justice and righteousness,” is the biblical term for (social) justice), so in this paper I look at Ezra-Nehemiah in light of that. It’s posted under “Writings.”

It’s sometimes said that Proverbs has a bumper-sticker theology, which may be an insult or a compliment. It may suggest brief, pithy insights, or brief, pithy oversimplifications. Either way, bumper-sticker statements can be clever, confrontational, and humorous, though also serious. They are based on human insight or human experience, and they are thus contextual, culturally-rooted, and possibly puzzling to someone from another culture. Clever, confrontational, humorous, and those other descriptions do also apply to Proverbs. How do its aphorisms compare with bumper stickers? In this paper, I focus on the great central section of the book, Proverbs 10:1–22:16, where aphorisms are most consistently concentrated. I first consider a number of characteristics common to some bumper stickers and some aphorisms in Proverbs. Second, I consider how the aphorisms differ rhetorically from the bumper stickers. And third, I note two key distinctive theological features of the aphorisms.

Here is a Q and A with John on Biblical Israel and Modern Israel:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=750653543607754