Philip completed an MCS from Regent College in 1983 and an ACT MTh in 1996, both in New Testament studies. He was Registrar of Tyndale College from 1985 until 2000 as well as being a regular tutor for the College. Philip has recently completed a PhD in New Testament through Otago University. His research is in temple symbolism in the book of Hebrews. He is Chairman of the MECO (NZ) Trust, and on the boards of the Asia Theological Association (NZ) and A Rocha Aotearoa NZ. He joined Laidlaw in 2002, after a career in accountancy.
PUBLICATIONS
Book Chapters and Journal Articles
2013
“4Q174 and the Epistle to the Hebrews.” In Keter Shem Tov: Collected Essays on the Dead Sea Scrolls in Memory of Alan Crown, 333-59. Edited by Ian Hunter and Shani Tzoref. Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures and its Contexts; Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias, 2013.
“The Temple in the Apocalypse of Weeks and in Hebrews,” Tynbul 64.1 (2013): 109-28.
2011
“‘Here we have No Lasting City’ (Heb 13:14): The Promised Land in the Letter to the Hebrews.” The Gospel and the Land of Promise: Christian Perspectives on the Land of the Bible. Edited by Philip Church, Peter Walker, Tim Bulkeley and Tim Meadowcroft. Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, 2011
“‘God has by no Means Rejected his People’ (Rom 11:1): A Response to the Accusation of ‘Replacement Theology’.” The Gospel and the Land of Promise: Christian Perspectives on the Land of the Bible. Edited by Philip Church, Peter Walker, Tim Bulkeley and Tim Meadowcroft. Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, 2011.
2009
“The Promised Land in the New Testament and in Particular in Hebrews.” Israel: 5 Views on People, Land and State, 15-25. Auckland, Vision Network of New Zealand, 2009.
“Dispensational Christian Zionism: a strange but acceptable aberration or a deviant heresy”? WTJ 71 (2009): 375-398.
2008
“The True Tent which the Lord has Pitched: Balaam’s Oracles in Second Temple Judaism and in the Epistle to the Hebrews. A Crowd of Witnesses: The Theology of Hebrews in its Ancient Contexts, 145-157. Edited by Richard Bauckham, Daniel Driver, Trevor Hart and Nathan MacDonald. LNTS 387; London: Continuum, 2008
Blogs
2014
Does the Bible Really Condone Slavery? March 2014
Religious Instruction and the Resurrection of Jesus, February 2014
2013
The "Waning of Christianity", November 2013
The Greatest Human Ever?, September 2013
Maaloula, September 2013
Mangroves Making Way for a Beach, June 2013
The New New Testament, April 2013
Where is the Christian Voice?, March 2013
A Book with no Quotations?, February 2013
2012
Was Jesus really born in a stable?, December 2012
Did Jesus have a wife?, December 2012
Euthanasia, September 2012
The Beast of Blenheim?, August 2012
What is going on in Syria?, August 2012
Jesus, Israel and the Church, June 2012
Stimulus, April 2012
ANZAC Day, April 2012
Public Nakedness, February 2012
Sensible Sentencing, January 2012
2011
Water, December 2011
Book Reviews
2014
Christopher A. Richardson, Pioneer and Perfecter of Faith: Jesus' Faith as the Climax of Israel's History in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Review of Biblical Literature[http://www.bookreviews.org] (2014)
Herbert W. Bateman, Charts on the Book of Hebrews, Review of Biblical Literature [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2014).
2013
Murray J. Harris, Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament: Essential Tools for Exegesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012). Stimulus 20/1 (April 2013): 56-57.
2012
Bruce K. Waltke, James M. Houston with Erika Moore, The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010). Stimulus 19/1 (April 2012): 48-49.
John Paul Heil, Hebrews: Chiastic Structures and Audience Response. Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2010. Review of Biblical Literature [http://www.bookreviews.org] (2012).
Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Hebrews. The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010). Colloquium 44/1 (2012): 121-23
Robert P. Gordon, Hebrews. 2nd ed. Readings: A New Biblical Commentary (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2008), The Bible and Critical Theory 8, 1 (2012): 130-32.
2001
Francis Foulkes, A Guide to St Matthew’s Gospel (London: SPCK, 2001), Daystar 1/5 (October 2001), 14; and Reality 51 (June/July 2002), 52.
2000
Bruce Manning Metzger, Reminiscences of an Octogenarian (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1997), Reality 37 (Feb-Mar 2000), 44
1999
David Stone, Teach Yourself The New Testament (London: Hodder Headline, 1996), Reality 33 (June-July 1999), 49
1996
John H. Walton, Covenant: God’s Purpose, God’s Plan (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), Stimulus 4/4 (November 1996), 65-66
David E. Holwerda, Jesus and Israel: One Covenant or Two (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans and Leicester: Apollos, 1995) Stimulus 4/4 (November 1996), 65-66
1993
Douglas Rawlinson Jones, Jeremiah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans and London: Marshall Pickering, 1992), Stimulus 1/3 (August 1993), 41-42
1990
Frederick Fyvie Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews; rev edn (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), CBRF Journal 126, 40-41
1989
R. McL. Wilson, Hebrews (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), CBRF Journal 119 (November 1989), 39-40
Thomas Edward McComiskey, The Covenants of Promise (Nottingham: IVP, 1985), CBRF Journal 119 (November 1989), 41-42