David I. Yoon

Last night, we celebrated Stanley E. Porter, who has served as president, dean, and professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College for over 25 years. In order to commemorate this monumental occasion, we presented him with a Festschrift, co-edited by me and my brother and colleague, Chris Stevens, with contributions by nearly two dozen contributors. The volume centers on methodology, a constant emphasis that Stan has instilled in his students to clearly identify and articulate when conducting research. There are a wide variety of essays contained din the volume, including a brief biography of Stan and a survey of Thomas Kuhn's potential influence upon Stan's scholarship (both my contributions to the book). It is published with Wipf & Stock and can be purchased at a reasonable price now 🙂 P.S. This was the hardest secret to keep for several years while working on this project!

Let's talk about Paul's thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7). A popular understanding of the identity of Paul's thorn is some sort of physical illness or disability. But I think it was literally a "messenger of Satan," who came to him usually in the late nights, to torment him by reminding him of his previous way of life, persecuting, arresting, and even condemning to death his now brothers and sisters. You can read my detailed argument for this view here: davidiyoon.com/wp-content/up…

According to a recent Harris Poll, Gen Z has the highest percentage of people who identify as religious, compared to millennials, Gen X, and Boomers. What does this mean for the future of the church, in light of other reports suggesting the demise of the local church? theharrispoll.com/wp-content…

Got my co-editor copies of Pauline Ethics this weekend. As always Brill, now @degruyter_brill, did a fantastic job putting this book together

See, your education does matter!

50 years ago today, a group of Irish teenagers got together in one of their kitchens to form a band. 4 of them ended up being one of the greatest bands of all time. Thanks U2 for 5 decades of iconic music open.spotify.com/show/42d9pV…

Seems legit. I've always wanted to be interviewed by Ryan Seacrest, bibliophile

Twenty-five years ago today, I was running late to my insurance claims job. I got in the elevator and a guy jumps in, and says, "Crazy huh?" I had no idea what he was talking about, but just shook my head and said, "Crazy man." I got to the office to see my coworkers huddled around computers and TV screens. It looked unreal, like a scene from a movie. We all eventually went home, and little did I realize then that our country would never be the same. Fast forward to just under ten years later (Aug 11, 2011), some friends and I had a chance to be in NYC and see One World Trade Center under construction. I remember my emotions as I stood there, thinking about the families that lost their loved ones and the men and women who continue to risk their lives to serve and protect our country from radical terrorists who seek to threaten the freedoms and liberties we enjoy. In the words of GWB, "We must stop the terror. I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you. Now, watch this drive."

The traditional view of eternal punishment in hell has been questioned in recent decades, with an alternative view called annihilationism or conditional immortality. They state that those who do not believe in Christ go to hell and suffer but become annihilated, or extinct; after a time of suffering, they cease to exist. I wrote an article examining the exegetical arguments for this view, and found it to be wanting, and also misleading. mcmasterdivinity.ca/wp-conte… I wrote this article because while it is an attractive view, the current arguments are based on bad logic and bad exegesis.

As first week of classes begin at @biolau here's a reminder of the overarching purpose of higher education, especially Christian higher education. Proud to be an alumnus of a university that has not lost its vision by maintaining strong programs in arts and humanities, bible and theology domainthirtythree.com/2024/0…

This is more than an interesting report by MIT; it's potentially guiding all of higher learning into the new age of AI and education. aiandeducation.mit.edu/repor… In the report, the ad hoc committee states: "In a listening session with instructors, we learned that some were considering using AI agents as research assistants instead of hiring undergraduates as UROPs. One can see the case for speed and efficient use of resources (especially now, when research resources are so constrained). But if those criteria come to dominate our decisions, we all have to ask, 'What is it that we are here together to do?' "As a community, we need to keep in mind that although research is central to MIT’s mission, it’s more than an end in itself; on our campus, research is also an apprenticeship, a means of training the next generation of researchers to continue our work and drive our fields of inquiry forward. Using research as an opportunity for learning-by-doing may produce seeming “inefficiencies,” but that’s a feature, not a bug." One of the calls to action is to put humanity front and center, that learning is not just about acquiring information or even processing information but about building relationships, collaboration, mentorship, and even academic trust among instructors, students, and classmates. Higher learning is highly relational. Some of my best learning moments were with mentors and other peers, not just reading a book or article--although I did learn a lot from them. We've just begun the process of integrating AI into life, including education, and we need to learn how to best utilize this tool, rather than let it dehumanize us.

I don't deny that we need popular level, introductory books in the church, but I think we also need more monographs for society. Here's why: domainthirtythree.com/2026/0…

Man I miss Kobe youtu.be/vCxKs38DUp4?is=Gw88…

It's ironic that in evangelical scholarship, where "authorial intent" and "original meaning" are considered a vital part of interpretation, they use a definition of a word (intertextuality) that is not according to the original intent and authorial meaning of the one who coined the term. Maybe for consistency's sake, we should reconsider abandoning the term, unless we are using it as Kristeva envisioned