New book on the Church, Israel and ME now on Kindle

The new revised and expanded version of my edited volume, The Jews, Modern Israel and the New Supersessionism, will (finally!) be published on 1 June 2013.

With front matter it's running nearly four hundred pages (the first edition was around 170), with loads of new and revised content. Cost £14.99.

However, the Kindle edition is available from today at nearly half price!

Further details of the book, including contents, list of contributors and testimonials available on at the King's Evangelical Divinity School site. Please pass on this information and links to anyone you know may be interested in the book's contents. Many thanks.

BMJA annual conference, London, 27 April

Tomorrow I'm speaking at the BRitish Messianic Jewish Alliance annual conference, which is being held at The Bridge Fellowship, Bridge Lane, Golders Green, London. It begins at 10.30 am and further details can be found on the BMJA website at http://bmja.net/BMJA/News/News.html.

Jerusalem in 1896

Yesterday I came across the piece of film below here, which is reputed to be the first moving picture of Jerusalem, dated 1896 (the sound track was added much later). 

I'm interested in 19th century photos and first-hand travel accounts of the land because, as someone who takes B.Th. students to Israel to examine (among other things) how topography contributes to a better understanding of some Bible texts, urbanisation has made topographical studies difficult and such pictures can sometimes help us picture Jerusalem's topography more easily.

The situation in the land prior to 1948 also gives valuable historical insight into the current conflict. The film shows Jewish people and Hebrew shop signs a year before the First Zionist Congress and only a few years after the start of the  First Aliyah (return of diaspora Jews to their homeland). This is long before the Holocaust (often cited by Israel's opponents as the cause of Western guilt which allowed an influx of Jews to displace the Arab indigenous population - in fact the evidence suggests the opposite is true, that Britain, for example, turned away Jewish refugees from Mandate Palestine). Meanwhile, and what many people don't realise, is that there has been a continuous Jewish presence in the land since the Babylonian exile almost 600 years before the birth of Christ. For anyone interested I commented several years ago on a very interesting book exploring the land before Zionism. It's well worth a read.

Another Time, Another Life...

From L to R: Rachael Heyhoe Flint OBE DL (famous female cricketer, since ennobled); Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Head of Her Majesty's Government; Maureen Hicks, Conservative MP for Wolverhampton North East; Calvin Smith (aged 23 then, I think... it's me, I promise), slim upstart with little education and grinning insanely. How things have changed (no longer slim, slightly better educated, but still grinning insanely!).

Renewal in the Americas

Renewal across the Americas:

Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements in Latin America and among Latinas/os

I've been asked by one of the organisers of the above conference, which will be held at Regent University, Virginia (USA), to circulate details to our students. As some people read this blog because they have an interest in Latin American Protestantism/Pentecostalism I also thought I would post details here. I will likely attend and present a paper. 

The event features some very well-known academics in the field of Latin American Pentecostalism, and this conference is well-worth attending for anyone with an interest in the subject area, region, Pentecostal Studies more generally, and religion and culture. A conference volume is planned. Further details are available on the conference website.

I know the area and campus (which is impressive) and there is plenty to do in this area (Regent is not far from some of the most historic parts of the US, where early English settlers established themselves), so if anyone plans to go and make a holiday of it, it's a good spot to visit.

KEDS Focus on News

King's Evangelical Divinity School is going through various changes as the school continues to grow and attract new students. We have new modules being introduced (including in the areas of Messianic theology, systematic and apologetics), a major revision of our Knowing Your Bible programme, and an ongoing expansion and development of our innovative eCampus facility (we just had a major upgrade to allow further exciting functionality). 

One of the changes consists of a greater focus on school and tutor news which KEDS is seeking to publicise more widely on its public website, so that prospective students and friends of the school can keep up-to-date with news and developments. Therefore, why not take some time to visit the public site more frequently at www.kingsdivinity.org to keep informed about school news and events. In the meantime watch out for a site redesign in coming weeks.