2016 was a fun year for us! We enjoyed helping you all improve your Greek and we’ve enjoyed the friendships we’ve developed. The following five posts were the most popular and most highly-shared this year, so we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss them. Be sure to subscribe to the blog, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter to keep up with us!
Number 5
7 Ways to Improve Your Writing
Over the last 8 years I’ve worked hard to improve my writing. I’ve worked as a consultant for a writing center, as a grader, researcher, and editor for many professors. I’ve written a lot and published some, but most of all I’ve absorbed everything I could learn to improve my writing. Here’s a few of my top ways to improve your writing.
Number 4
Did Most Reformers Hold to Unlimited Atonement?
In his controversial book on the extent of the atonement, David Allen argues that no one held limited atonement until Theodore Beza. He then argues that many Reformed theologians also held to unlimited atonement, most famously Richard Baxter, who argued against Owen’s thesis in Death of Death. In our interview with Allen, he estimated that probably 1/4 of Reformed theologians since Beza have held to unlimited atonement. His book has a great introduction to the topic that defines all the terminology well, while the rest of the book is sure to stir up some controversy. This popular post gives Allen’s summary on the Reformers and their take on the atonement.
Number 3
The Most Comprehensive Critique of N. T. Wright
N. T. Wright draws as much criticism as he does commendation. His prolific academic career has given plenty to interact with, and he’s recently added a capstone to his career by publishing his 1,700 page volume on Pauline theology, Paul and the Faithfulness of God. Many reviews appeared, some of article-length, and Wright even responded to these reviews in a short book, The Paul Debate. But such a monumental work of such weighty importance deserves a full, critical treatment.
Number 2
Craig Blomberg’s Comprehensive Study on the Reliability of the New Testament
Blomberg’s latest gift of scholarship is an 800-page work that covers topics of historical reliability across the entire New Testament. The Historical Reliability of the New Testament (B&H Academic, 2016) is a fitting companion to its counterpart by Kenneth Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Like Kitchen, Blomberg is well-situated for this project, being a senior scholar and a leading expert on the topic. The purpose of the work is to render complex, academic discussions in accessible, bite-sized discussions for laymen, students, pastors, and even academics. Also see our bibliography of all of Blomberg’s works on the reliability of the Bible.
Number 1
Three of Your Favorite Evangelical Commentaries Are Tainted by Plagiarism
Unfortunate news broke this year, that the corpus of O’Brien commentaries were problematic with respect to their citation. They were taken out of print. This post gives a few takeaways from the incident, as well as some advice on how to avoid the problem yourself.
