You have probably seen daily devotional books that deal with Psalms, Proverbs or the Gospels. But I doubt you have seen one inspired by the Torah, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. How should Christians reads those texts? How do you find spiritual meaning and direction from the description of the high priest’s garment? Well, Mark Lanier, founder of the Lanier Theological Library, has shown us how to do just that in 366 Scripture readings taken directly from Torah. He stopped by to talk with me on “The Stone Chapel” about his newest book, published by 1845 Books, a division of Baylor University Press. It is an amazing book. I recommend it to you as you consider the new year.
The Stone Chapel is a podcast of the friends and staff of the Lanier Theological Library in Houston, Texas. It is hosted by Dr. David Capes, Senior Research Fellow at the library and former faculty member at Houston Baptist University and Wheaton College. The purpose of the podcast is to bring to our audience great conversations from the world’s leading experts in theology, biblical studies, archaeology, Church history, the Dead Sea Scrolls, ethics, ministry, and a host of other topics close to the mission of the library.
The Lanier Theological Library is a magnet for scholars, church leaders and influencers. For the last ten years, it has welcomed hundreds of academics and church leaders from across the globe for public lectures, study, panel discussions, consultations, and encouragement.
These podcasts as well as the Lanier library and the Stone Chapel are generously underwritten by Mark and Becky Lanier and the Lanier Theological Library Foundation. If you have questions or comments, please be in touch: Email david.capes@lanierlibrary.org
On this edition of “Exegetically Speaking,” Mark Lanier, lawyer and founder of the Lanier Theological Library, describes the history and mission of the library he and his wife, Becky, started in 2010. It is an amazing resource tucked away in northwest Houston. Take a look at their website: https://www.laniertheologicallibrary.org/ Four to five times a year they host lectures featuring top scholars in Scripture, archaeology, and theology. There is a great library of past lectures available featuring scholars such as N. T. Wright, Lynn Cohick, Larry Hurtado, Richard Bauckham, Andrew MacIntosh, John Piper, just to mention a few. Listen. All it takes is seven minutes!
Not long ago I was invited to moderate a panel discussion at the Lanier Theological Library featuring three top Hebrew Bible specialists: Dr. Tremper Longman (Westmont College), Dr. Lawson Younger (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) and Dr. James Hoffmeier (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School). The topic of the symposium was Biblical Wisdom, inspired by Tremper Longman’s new book (The Fear of the Lord is Wisdom, [Baker Academic]).
Mark Lanier, who normally moderates these panel discussions, was out of town and not able to join us. So I was grateful for the opportunity to work with the panel of experts that day.
Here is a link to the conversation. It was a good introduction to the wisdom tradition in the Old and New Testaments. Few traditions bring together both Old and New Testaments in a more elegant and personal way.
A few weeks ago Mark Lanier invited me to speak to his Sunday School class at Champions Forest Baptist Church. Mark teaches a class weekly of about 700 people, and I have been privileged to speak there are few times.
On this occasion Mark was doing a series on the apostle Paul, and he asked me to contribute a talk on “Paul: Surprises Along the Way.” Essentially, Mark asked me to talk about the kinds of things I’ve learned about Paul that I would have never expected. I have written a couple of books on Paul and it was a delight to spend some time thinking through a few of the surprises. Each of Mark’s Sunday School classes are recorded and made available on YouTube. I’ve included a link here, in case you are interested. The talk is about 45 minutes.
I had the privilege on May 6, 2016 of moderating a panel discussion at the Lanier Theological Library. Mark Lanier, owner and namesake of the library, was out in California and made a surprise appearance at the end. I guess the winds were in his favor.
The topics were diverse: The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife and the notion of substitutionary atonement in Paul. Those two topics were related only in that our special guest, Simon Gathercole, had written on them recently. We rounded up some usual and unusual suspects for the afternoon’s discussion. Here are the key contributors:
David Capes (Moderator – Dean, Professor of New Testament, Houston Graduate School of Theology, Houston, TX) Graham Cole (Dean, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL) Craig Evans (Dean, School of Christian Thought, John Bisagno Distinguished Professor of Christian Origins, Houston Baptist University, Houston, TX) Simon Gathercole (New Testament Scholar/Teacher, University of Cambridge, England) David Moessner (Professor, A. A. Bradford Chair of Religion, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX)
The video lasts for 90 minutes but contains a lot of great information on topics related to the New Testament. I’m grateful to Charles Mickey and Brent Johnson for their help that day. Mark Lanier took a big chance getting a non-lawyer to moderate, but I hope he wasn’t too disappointed. I thought it was a good discussion.
A Word in Edgewise 
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