John Mark Hicks

Some Corinthians thought Paul was fickle and unreliable because he changed his plans and did not show up in ways they expected or Paul had intimated. Paul responded that his decisions—his plan changes—were  rooted in God’s faithful grace rather than human wisdom. There was more, however, to the situation than simply the rearrangement of Paul’s […]

Reading 2 Corinthians, we find ourselves in the middle of a conversation about which we are largely ignorant. The Conversation We were not there when Paul founded the congregation at Corinth or his subsequent two visits. We don’t have access to two other letters Paul wrote to Corinth; we only have two of four (and […]

The 2013 Christian Scholars Conference is currently in progress. Gary Holloway asked me to present a paper that would respond to the ecumenical 1982 Lima “Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry.” I have uploaded the paper on my Academic page and it is now available here. The paper suggests that the great strength of the document is […]

David Lipscomb wrote a wonderful biography of Tolbert Fanning which was published in Franklin College and Its Influences (Nashville: McQuiddy Printing, 1906). There are many historical gems in this piece, especially concerning the history of the Nashville Church. One particular theme struck me as I read through it again. After Philip Slater Fall, who had led […]

The ending of Mark has long been a controversial subject among scholars even though the present general consensus is that the long ending (Mark 16:9-20) is not original to the Gospel. I will not rehearse that evidence here except to say that 9-20 is absent from the earliest manuscripts, patristic evidence is scanty and confirms […]

Samuel Parker Pitmann (1876-1965), a graduate who joined the faculty of the Nashville Bible School (now Lipscomb University) in 1897, enjoyed a unique position to assess the values and interests of its founding fathers. He called James A. Harding his “father in the gospel” who taught him “the true philosophy of life” based on Matthew […]

Jesus went into the water (Jordan), then he was thrown into the wilderness, and finally he went into Galilee. Mark structurally highlights this movement with the use of the preposition into (εíς). Each of these events has multiple layers of significance and meaning. At one level, they are rehearsals of the life of Israel. Jesus, as the […]

There are many texts in Paul where one could illuminate the theme of this series.  I have chosen Colossians 1, but others would include Ephesians 1 among others. Kingdom language is not as frequent in Paul as it is in the Gospels, but it is nevertheless part of the substance of his theological perspective.  For […]

May 10 is my father’s birthday, but he is no longer with us on this earth. His story is the story of many devoted ministers throughout history. He worked with small churches with little notice but was loved by those he served. This is the story of most ministers and I honor them with this […]