Talbot School of Theology is thrilled to have 16 faculty members presenting at the 2026 Evangelical Theological Society Meeting! Their participation reflects Talbot's commitment to biblical & theological scholarship and service to the Church. Be sure to connect with our faculty!

A few years ago, I posted a list of passages that work well for group prayer. That list also will work well for individual prayer. kennethberding.com/2023/10/1…

This article first appeared on my personal blog: kennethberding.com/2026/10/1…

It was a wonderful conference up in the mountains with my colleagues (maybe the best seminary faculty and staff you'll find anywhere in the world). Thank you, Ed, for insistently reminding us of the importance of seeking and saving those who are lost.

D. A. Carson and Andrew David Naselli recently released a third edition of Exegetical Fallacies, a book that in its first two editions helped thousands of Christians interpret the Bible well—and avoid common pitfalls in interpretation. I reached out to Andy Naselli to see if he would answer a few questions about biblical interpretation and the kinds of mistakes people frequently make in interpreting the Bible. Ken Berding: Why do we need to be aware of mistakes people make in interpretation—what you refer to as “exegetical fallacies”? Andy Naselli: Bible teachers are responsible to explain and apply God’s word faithfully. We should be ashamed if we do that sloppily. Because we are fallen and finite, we will inevitably make mistakes when we interpret the Bible. Studying common fallacies helps us catch our own errors before we pass them on to others. The goal isn’t to make you paranoid. It’s to help you support your convictions with sound reasons and to move us all toward greater unanimity in thinking God’s thoughts after him. Ken: Is interpreting the Bible easy or hard? How would you answer this (obviously overly binary) question? Andy: You’re right that it’s a false binary! Both answers are true depending on what you mean. It’s easy. The basic message of the gospel is plain enough that a child can grasp it, and the Reformers were right to insist on the clarity of Scripture on matters necessary for salvation. And it’s hard. Careful, responsible exegesis (the kind that avoids the mistakes in Exegetical Fallacies) takes real work: learning the biblical languages, understanding genre, tracing an author’s argument, knowing something of the historical-cultural context, and constantly checking your own presuppositions against the text rather than reading them into it. Ken: How is this book organized? What can people expect to see when they open a copy of the third edition of Exegetical Fallacies? Andy: The book’s introduction explains why this study matters, why it’s dangerous (it can breed either pride or despair if handled wrongly), and what its limits are. The book has four chapters: Word-study fallacies Grammatical fallacies Logical fallacies Presuppositional, literary, historical, and theological fallacies Each fallacy gets a heading, a concise definition, and concrete (and sometimes entertaining!) examples. The real-world illustrations come both from published scholarship and from ordinary church life. The book is a practitioner’s manual, not a technical monograph. Ken: I read the first edition of Exegetical Fallacies in its entirety and have often referred people to the second edition. Why was a third edition deemed necessary—and what has changed from the second to the third edition? Andy: Don Carson’s second edition came out in 1996—thirty years before this one. A lot has happened in New Testament studies and in the wider culture since then. For example, there have been developments in verbal aspect theory for the Greek verb, and there’s a good deal of new evangelical scholarship worth citing. I have added roughly thirty percent more material, including entirely new fallacies—especially in the presuppositional and theological categories. A lot of interpretive mischief today comes from importing an unbiblical worldview (critical theory, postmodern epistemology, sexual revolution assumptions) into the text as a “given” rather than testing it against Scripture. I also give each fallacy a short definition alongside its label, which the earlier editions didn’t do. I tried to make the prose more accessible to beginning students while still being useful to advanced readers. Ken: I’m pretty sure that the instances where I have most frequently encountered mistakes in interpretation have been when people start explaining individual biblical words. In fact, in most cases when someone begins a sentence with “this word actually means __________”, whatever comes out of their mouth next is incorrect—entirely or slightly. In your observation, why do you think that word-study fallacies are so prevalent? Can you offer one or two pieces of advice to people wanting to handle biblical words responsibly? Andy: Word-study fallacies are common because word studies are the most accessible form of “original language” work for someone without much Greek or Hebrew. Click a word, see its other occurrences, and suddenly you feel like you’ve done exegesis. But a word is a sign that points to meaning. It doesn’t carry meaning intrinsically, and etymology is a notoriously unreliable guide to what a word means in actual use. Two pieces of advice: (1) What establishes a word’s meaning is its usage in context—not its root or history. (2) Resist the urge to dump a word’s entire semantic range into one occurrence (dump truck exegesis!). A word’s context narrows its meaning the way “trunk” means something different at the zoo than at a car dealership. Ken: What is your relationship with your co-author, D. A. Carson, and what do you appreciate most about him? Andy: Don Carson was my doctoral supervisor, and I served as his research manager for nine years. Getting to study under him felt something like a young lawyer clerking for a Supreme Court justice. I carefully read the second edition of Exegetical Fallacies in the 1990s, so this book is, in a sense, thirty years of apprenticeship coming full circle. The volume I cut my exegetical teeth on as a young man became one I got to coauthor with my mentor as a middle-aged man. I appreciate Dr. Carson’s combination of rigor and humility. He is willing to publicly correct his own earlier exegetical mistakes (you’ll see some examples in the book itself), which models exactly the kind of self-critical posture our book is trying to teach. Underneath the scholarship is a pastor’s heart: Dr. Carson cares whether this stuff actually helps people preach and teach the Bible more faithfully, not whether it’s academically impressive. Ken: Thank you for this interview, Andy. Blessings on the release of your new book. I hope many people buy it, read it, and increasingly become faithful interpreters of God’s Word. Be sure to pick up a copy of Exegetical Fallacies

I really enjoyed this conversation with Chad Potts on RevRx Podcast about memorizing Scripture. Thanks Chad! youtube.com/watch?v=-6AhYZmZ…

Thanks for reviewing our new book, Christopher. Blessings on your continuing ministry.

Need some heavenly perspective? The book of Hebrews is full of heavenly perspective. kennethberding.com/2026/09/2…

Should Students at Christian Colleges Go to Church? Should students at Christian colleges go to church? (This is a repost of an article I wrote for the Good Book Blog in 2011.) “It really doesn’t matter whether I go to church. I have Christian friends, Bible classes, and chapels at Biola; why do I need a church?” I’ve heard some version of this statement at least three times during the past week. Although many Biola students truly understand the importance of the local church and are actively involved in their churches, some of our students still don’t get it. They think that they already have plenty of access to good Bible teaching, fellowship, worship services, and opportunities to go on short-term missions trips. So what’s the big deal about the local church? This week I have been preparing a talk for a New Testament survey class I’m teaching at my local church where I serve as an elder. This coming Sunday I’ll be walking people through 1 & 2 Corinthians and focusing on marks of Christian community. And interestingly enough, a quick look at this list will answer the question: “Why does a Christian college student need to be part of a local church?” Some of the items on the list could be used to describe Biola; some of them you cannot. Here are ten marks of Christian community I’ve culled from the Corinthians letters. 1. Adherence to and proclamation of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-5; 1 Corinthians 1-2) 2. Baptism & the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 1:13-15; cf. Acts 18:81; Corinthians 11:17-34) 3. Teaching & mentoring (1 Corinthians 3) 4. Church discipline & restoration (1 Corinthians 5; 2 Corinthians 2:5-11) 5. The church as family (marriage & singleness) (1 Corinthians 7) 6. Body life & love (1 Corinthians 12-13) 7. Corporate worship (1 Corinthians 14) 8. Shared suffering (2 Corinthians 1, 4, 6, 7) 9. Generosity & service (2 Corinthians 8-9) 10. God-appointed leadership (2 Corinthians 10-13) So here is the problem:  Christian colleges and universities, as important as they are, don’t address all of the issues on this list—nor are they trying to.  Biola students (I’m speaking to you now), here are some things you are missing when you aren’t committed to a local church. If you lead someone to Christ while a student at Biola, where are you going to take them to grow? To Biola? (Are you going to pay their tuition costs?) No, they need a local church. What if you start to harden your heart toward the Lord through unconfessed sin? You need a local church to confront you, discipline you if necessary, and restore you when you repent. You need the leadership of a local church to do this for you. Though there are occasional exceptions to the pattern, most baptisms take place in the context of a church, and most opportunities for sharing the Lord’s Supper are in the context of a church. You need to regularly be sharing the ordinances that Christ established in the community he appointed, that is, in the church. Body life will only occur on a limited level in a place like Biola. Unless you are regularly interacting with older people and children, your Christian development will be stunted. You will not be able to break out of the assumptions shared by people of your same age and stage in life; and you need to learn how to see beyond these presuppositions more than you realize. Becoming an integral part of a Bible-believing church will help you to see beyond your blind spots. Though a Biola student can individually be generous and involved in service, he or she cannot be part of the systematic member-care that takes place in churches. Churches collect benevolence funds to help people who are struggling, host cold-weather shelters for people on the streets, visit older members who are bed-ridden. All of this takes place on quite a different level from a Biola student collecting money from his friends to help someone he knows who is in need (as God-honoring as that is). Short-term missions—though valuable in many ways—will not reach the remaining unreached peoples of the world. We need long-term cross-cultural missionaries who are sent and supported by their local churches to do that. Every Christian needs to be part of reaching the least-reached peoples of the world; this means that everyone needs to be involved at some level with the outreach ministry of a local church. Should Biola students go to church? No. They shouldn’t go to church—not if it means simply finding another sermon to sit through every week. What they really need is to become active and committed members of a local church where they serve the community, where they place themselves in submission to God-appointed leadership, where they interact with older and younger members, and where they prepare for the day when they will no longer be students at Biola University.

15 Key Differentiations in Genesis 1-2 I recently read Carl Trueman’s book, Crisis of Confidence (Crossway, 2024). On page 46, Trueman makes the following comment: “The creation account in Genesis makes a series of fundamental distinctions that are important….” He then mentions numbers 1, 10, and 11 from the list below (see pp. 46-47). I decided to fill out Trueman’s list and draw out one significant implication from this list. Here are 15 key differentiations in Genesis 1-2, following their order in the text: 1. Creator differentiated from creation. 2. Light differentiated from darkness. 3. Upper waters differentiated from lower waters. 4. Land differentiated from seas. 5. Certain types of vegetation differentiated from other types of vegetation (“according to their kinds”). 6. Sun (light for the day) differentiated from moon and stars (lights for the night). 7. Sea creatures differentiated from one another (“according to their kinds”). 8. Birds differentiated from one another (“according to their kinds”). 9. Animals differentiated from one another (“according to their kinds”). 10. Humans (created in the image of God) differentiated from fish, birds, and animals. 11. God-appointed subduers (humans) differentiated from subdued (rest of creation). 12. Males differentiated from females. 13. Six days of work differentiated from one day of rest. 14. Tree of life differentiated from tree of knowledge of good and evil. 15. Heterosexual marital union (“one flesh”) differentiated from other unions. What is the significance of so many differentiations in Genesis 1-2? This pattern of differentiation indicates that one of the purposes of the author of the Genesis narrative was to highlight distinctions. It appears to be one of the reasons he constructed these two chapters as he did. Consequently, when a modern person decides to blur lines—say, a pantheist blurs the line between Creator and creature (#1), or an anti-speciesist blurs the line between humans and animals (#10 and #11), or a self-identifying trans person blurs the line between male and female (#12), or a workaholic blurs the line between work and rest (#13), or a relativist blurs the line between good and evil (#14), or a homosexual blurs the line between heterosexual marital union and all other unions (#15)—such a person undermines the purposeful and beautiful differentiations that God intended from the beginning. kennethberding.com/2026/09/0…

How to navigate a changing world.

This past Spring when I learned that Brett McCracken had written a soon-to-be-released book about sleep, I knew that I had to read it as soon as it came out. (I read it in one day this past weekend.) I reached out to Brett to see if he would answer a few questions about sleep with the hope that it might pique your curiosity about all the other wise and Christianly things Brett writes about in his new book. kennethberding.com/2026/08/1…

From Public Baths to Prisons: How Ancient Civic Places Unlock the Bible I recently read a fascinating book about ancient places (like theaters, agoras, libraries, cemeteries) and how understanding their functions can illuminate early Christian life. The author is Jason Borges. Jason earned his Master of Divinity at Talbot School of Theology (Biola University) and a Ph.D. at Durham University in northeast England. Jason recently released Christian Life in the Greco-Roman City: The Civic and Architectural Contexts of Early Christianity (Baker Academic, 2026). Jason currently lives and travels in the apostle Paul’s stomping grounds. I reached out to see if Jason would do an interview with me. I’m so glad that he did. Here is that interview: Ken Berding (KB): Can you tell us a little about yourself? Jason Borges (JB): My wife and I met as undergrads at Biola University, and since then, we have lived most of our adult lives overseas. Currently, our family lives in Antalya, Turkey, where I work as a New Testament scholar at the Asia Minor Research Center. This involves research, publishing academic scholarship (Academia), presenting at conferences, leading tours (upcoming), training local tour guides, and pursuing whatever other opportunities open up. For example, last week I traveled to Lystra to meet with the Turkish archaeologist leading the new excavations there, and we discussed plans for an international symposium about Paul’s journeys to Iconium and Lystra (Acts 14:8–20; 16:1–2). Basically, I have the dream job for a scholar–I get to study and teach the New Testament at the historical sites like Ephesus (with limited administrative responsibilities!). KB: What prompted you to write this book? JB: This book began with my own historical curiosity. When I visit archaeological sites related to the New Testament, I typically wonder about the purpose and function of the ruins. So, rather than inquiring about the facts of archaeological remains, I want to understand their meaning. Why did people build this? What values did this building express? I’ve observed that most people who visit ancient sites are curious about such social aspects, far more than about the historical facts like dates or measurements. So, I try to address those questions in my own research and teaching. This book gathers together my teaching material from leading tour groups and training local tour guides at the archaeological sites. No Bible scholar had written a book about the architectural and civic context of Early Christianity, so I decided to fill the need. I tried to write a book for people curious about the urban context in which early Christians lived. At the beginning of the writing process, I thought, “Oh, I’ve done most of the research I’ll need for this book!” Needless to say, it was fascinating to learn more and more about the ancient city and how that informs the New Testament. KB: Tell us a little more about the book itself. How did you organize it? Why did you choose to organize it this way? JB: Each chapter describes an important public space in Roman cities. These are agoras, temples, baths, prisons, theaters, libraries, and cemeteries. The chapters all follow the same three-part format: explaining the civic structure, detailing one extant example, and relating its significance to the New Testament. My goal was to help readers understand the civic structure (both its physical shape and social function), then illustrate how that information helps us understand New Testament texts and theology. Basically, this is a book about New Testament backgrounds. The ancient city was so different than our modern cities—especially the Nevada farming town where I grew up! So, becoming aware of the ancient city helps us modern readers understand the assumptions and references of NT authors, often in fascinating and helpful ways. I also wanted to help people understand the city as a whole, not just its parts. So, the opening chapter introduces ancient civic architecture in general, and the closing chapter considers how early Christian ideas reshaped ideals about the ancient city (polis) into the heavenly city (“New Jerusalem”). I wrote this book for a popular audience, so it has lots of pictures and limited footnotes. And, instead of citing modern scholars, I cite mostly ancient authors so people can encounter their thinking on the topic firsthand. KB: Can you give us a few insights from your book? What are some ideas that modern people think about ancient Greek and Roman places that need some adjustments? JB: I’ll give two examples that I found really intriguing. They both provide a window into ancient life and the issues faced by early Christians. Every ancient city had an agora. This was the central town square with an open courtyard surrounded by covered porticoes. Most English Bibles translate this word as “marketplace,” as if it were a farmer’s market where people bought groceries. But, in fact, the ancient agora was predominantly a political and judicial space. In Acts 16–18, when Paul is traveling through Greece, in four different cities, he is brought into the city agora. He’s not there selling leather tents but facing accusations about his gospel message. He’s being tried in the public courts. The point of those stories set in the agora is that, even when Christians face public accusations from Roman authorities, Christ is the true judge who vindicates his people. So, I suggest that the Greek word agora should be translated as “town square,” “public forum,” or even “the courts” (see Acts 19:38). The second example is about temples. In 1 Cor 8–10, Paul offers guidance about meat sacrificed to idols. His teaching seems contradictory–he denounces eating meat as demonic (10:18-21), yet tells his readers to enjoy it (10:25–27)! This tension is resolved when we understand how people butchered and consumed the meat. Ancient temples were mostly for offering sacrifices upon the open altar (not for gathering as a community). Worshippers burnt the animal fat to the gods and gave the entrails to temple workers (see 1 Cor 9:13). Then, they took the carcass to enjoy a meat feast with friends. They dined with the god (in the form of a statue) in sacred dining rooms near the temple. Any extra meat from the sacrifice, however, was sold in the public meat market. Apparently, the Christians in Corinth (and Pergamon and Thyatira too; see Rev 2) continued to participate in the pagan sacred meals. This was the “meat sacrificed/presented to idols,” which the Jerusalem council (Acts 15) preemptively forbade. But if Christians bought some meat at a shop to eat at home, that was no problem. The issue was not what they ate, but where (or, with whom)they ate. KB: What do you hope readers will learn from your book? JB: On the one hand, ancient cities were quite different than our contemporary life, so it benefits us to learn about that world so we can better appreciate how early Christians lived and thought. At that level, I want people to understand ancient civic life to interpret the New Testament better and to live its message. Yet, people are still people; Christians today face issues similar to those faced by the apostles and their disciples. We too are trying to live our faith in complex civic environments and express our religious identity within physical spaces, whether that be malls, schools, or church buildings. As we live intentionally in our modern cities, we too can participate in the construction of God’s church and the heavenly city! In this way, we can learn from early Christians about how they navigated civic life. KB: Thanks so much, Jason. I hope a lot of people benefit from reading this insightful book. Pick up a copy of Christian Life in the Greco-Roman City: The Civic and Architectural Contexts of Early Christianity wherever books are sold.

Here's a wonderfully warm review of my recent book, The Bible by Heart: The Bible's Own Method for Scripture Memory at the scripturespeakers.com website. Thanks, Mike Domeny from Outloud Bible (outloudbible.com) for the great review and Rachel Eernisse from Scripture Speakers for sharing the book with Mike! lnkd.in/gHktN4RK

I told Trudi this morning that one of the reasons I’m willing to work hard in ministry, lose sleep, and frequently end each day tired is because I have a strong sense of calling. But after making this comment to Trudi, I paused and re-asked myself: What do I mean when I say that I have a strong sense of calling? kennethberding.com/2026/08/0…

A Different Kind of Love Song: A Reflection on Marriage and Mission This summer, Trudi and I are celebrating 40 years of marriage. Forty years ago, I vowed faithfulness, friendship, and my entire future to Trudi Lynn Wilson. Apart from following Christ, it was the best decision I ever made. Trudi has shown more love, compassion, and grace than I could have ever hoped for, and far more than I deserve. She has willingly tramped all over the world with me, setting up home, family, and ministry in Portland, Berlin, two cities in the Middle East, Philadelphia, New York, and twice (in four houses) in Los Angeles. But this post isn’t a veiled attempt to get you to send notes of congratulation (though gifts are welcome). I decided today might be a good day to share a song I wrote for Trudi about five years into our marriage. This isn’t the only song I’ve ever written for Trudi; there were quite a few before this song and more after. But I wrote this song with a different purpose than simply to communicate my affection. When we were young, Trudi and I dreamed big. We believed that God wanted us to change the world. By the time I wrote this song, we were on the mission field, about to try to open up a new unreached city, and had begun to face some hardship as a result of our commitment to follow Christ. This song was a call to renew our passionate pledge to live as a Christ-centered couple on a mission regardless of what our future held. I share it with the hope that other couples will read it and refresh their shared commitment to follow Christ and his call … no matter what. Will You Walk With Me? Verse 1 Yesterday we loved with the freedom of our youth I was to you Boaz; to me you were my Ruth We dreamed that our lives would change the world We sacrificed it all to buy a precious pearl (bridge and chorus) Verse 2 Today we face the foes we knew that we would see The lure to live our lives in mediocrity But we still dream that we’ll reach our goal We won’t let go of the hope to which we hold (bridge and chorus) Verse 3 Tomorrow, who can say what will lie ahead? I just want to know it’s not been left unsaid That I love you, I need you, I do You’re mine, and forever I’ll walk this path with you (bridge and chorus) Bridge But with each passing week, we can choose to seek To live to be all that we can be Not a solitary life, but as husband and wife I need you there to walk it next to me Chorus Will you walk with me Through the challenges we see before our eyes Through the happy days and through the darkest nights? Will you share with me All the changes that for us are meant to be All the pain and all the problems we might see? Will you love with me Touching heart to heart as each time we embrace Holding fast the hope that sparkles from your face? Will you walk with me…share with me…will you love with me?