Recent Trends in Scholarship Favorable to Christianity

In April of 2022, I posted an article entitled "Recent Trends in Scholarship Favorable to Christianity." In this post, I would like to add some updates. A few formatting issues before I do so:

1) I am copy and pasting the original post here, but adding more to that post;

2) I am making a new post, as opposed to updating the old one, so that the reader can more easily find this newer version;

3) As previously mentioned: this sort of post will be updated as time moves on. Now that is out of the way, onward: 

• Recent commentaries on Isaiah 53 agree that the servant in question is a single person. Of course, not all commentators will agree that it is Jesus, but how many candidates fulfill the passage in such a way as Jesus does? 

• The argument that Paul didn't know of or believe in an empty tomb is now untenable thanks to the work of James P. Ware and John Granger Cook. See also my quote and additional commentary from Dale Allison's recent book on the resurrection. 

• The burial of Jesus has been convincingly argued for by scholars such as Byron McCane, Craig Evans, Jodi Magness and John Granger Cook. 

• The debate about Christology, of course, rages on, but here are some papers that are rarely discussed, at least in online circles. Jason Combs on Mark 6:49-50, Brian McPhee's paper on Jesus walking on the water, and Thomas Keiser's paper on the divine plural in the Old Testament. Jason Staples has argued that Jesus is presented as YHWH in Matthew and Luke. McDonough has written a book discussing the doctrine of Christ being the creator. Lee wrote a book about the preexistence of Christ. Obviously helpful in numerous Christological contexts.
• In 2023, Luke Van De Weghe wrote a book covering Luke's reliance on eyewitness sources. He also came out with a more popular version. This line of argumentation is developed from a 2022 paper of his that argues along the same lines. To close out with Luke, he also has a paper that develops the argument from name statistics first put forward by Richard Bauckham. Along a similar lines, John J. Peters has a paper from 2020 discussing Luke's use of sources and source claims. Simon Gathercole has a great paper covering the Gospel titles in our earliest New Testament manuscripts. He also has a paper discussing the anonymity of the Gospels. I disagree with some of the arguments therein, but still recommend it. The credibility of Irenaeus is often attacked by critics due to the fact that he says Christ was crucified at age 50. In 2020, scholar Devin L. White convincingly argued that it was based on Irenaeus's misreading of John 8:57. The credibility of Papias is often attacked based on his colorful description of the death of Judas Iscariot. Both Candida Moss and Christopher B. Zeichmann have papers discussing this passage. In 2021, Lydia McGrew published a paper covering Gospel genre and the implications.