Word from the Bird

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Here I share a summary of things I’ve been doing, presenting, and listening to at the international Society of Biblical Literature meeting in Adelaide. Get more from Michael F. Bird in the Substack app Available for iOS and Android

Hey friends, YOU MUST CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO by the Free Press on CHINA vs. GOD. It documents the round of persecutions begun in 2018 against Christian Churches by the Chinese Communist Party. Sad and disturbing, and it goes to show that Christian Nationalism is not the only problem churches face, the dangers of left-wing totalitarianism loom large in many parts of the world today. Some good news, though: Pastor Ezra Jin has been released from detention, praise God.

▶️ Did Jesus take upon himself the judgment destined for Israel? ▶️ What is new about the Holy Spirit in the New Testament? ▶️ How should Christians understand violence in Scripture? Hey, also, ANTWA now has its own dedicated YouTube page, so please check it out, SUBSCRIBE, and hit that bell to make sure you don’t miss out on the latest videos and podcasts. Plus, a new bonus episode this week, Tom and I talk about the purpose of the Law/Torah in biblical history.

I still have in my files a copy of Kevin Vanhoozer's paper on "Systematic Theology: The State of the Evangelical (Dis)union" delivered at Gordon-Conwell in 2009. It includes these 10 theses on theological interpretation. As I prepare to delve into his new book, Mere Christian Hermeneutics, I thought it’d be worth revisiting. 1. The nature and function of the Bible are insufficiently grasped unless and until we see the Bible as an element in the economy of triune discourse. 2.

This is a superb book on a fascinating topic by two leading New Testament scholars and film lovers, John Anthony Dunne and Jeannine Brown. Jeannine Brown and John Anthony Dunne The Greatest Story Ever Told: Envisioning Jesus Narratives From Gospels to Film Baker Academic, 2026 The focus of this book is the way that Jesus and the Jesus story are portrayed on film.

Guest post by Kyle Hughes, author of Scripting the Son: Scriptural Exegesis and the Making of Early Christology (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2024). Starting in Hebrews 1:5, the author of Hebrews makes the starting claim that a series of Old Testament quotations could not have been addressed to the angels, and therefore must have been spoken to God the Son.

When Christians confess the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - a subtle question lurks beneath the surface: Are these three persons truly equal? Or does one of them hold a kind of supremacy over the others? That question has driven some of the most sophisticated theological debates in the history of the church. And at the center of it is a doctrine with a deceptively simple name: the Monarchy of the Father.

I love visiting the US, especially North Carolina, a lovely place. I could seriously live there (albeit under a slightly different presidential administration). I have amazing doctoral students, former and current, who are Southern Baptists, doing great work. I learn from them and love them! I get my students to read SBC scholars like Tom Schreiner, Jim Hamilton, Peter Gentry, and Stephen Wellum.

It is another week at Word from the Bird, and we’ve got a great mix of discussion on Christian patriarchy, the Trinity, a live Q&A event, plus Moses as a god over Pharaoh! Photo by Francisco Gomes on Unsplash Friends, while you are here, I’m trying to build my YouTube channels. So if you haven’t already subscribed to Early Christian History and AI for Academics, please consider hitting the subscribe button, which helps me promote the contents.

▶️ Has the gospel already reached “the ends of the earth”? ▶️Why do some Christians feel spiritually stuck even after years of faith? ▶️ How should parents respond when their children walk away from Christianity? Hey, also, ANTWA now has its own dedicated YouTube page, so please check it out, SUBSCRIBE, and hit that bell to make sure you don’t miss out on the latest videos and podcasts. Plus, a new bonus episode this week, this time about Tom’s new book, God’s Homecoming.