Welcome to episode forty-nine of New Creation Conversations. In today’s conversation I am delighted to be joined by a friend and former colleague from my Azusa Pacific days, Dr. Adam Winn. Adam is Associate Professor of Christian Studies at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Texas. He’s an alum of Southwest Baptist University and has both MA and PhD degrees from Fuller Seminary. He is the author of four books on the New Testament and numerous academic articles and essays. His primary research interests include the Gospels of Mark and Luke, the Roman imperial world of the first century, and the Christology of the early Christian church. His passion is helping people read and interpret the Gospels in the light of the context and culture from which they emerged.

I have been especially excited to talk with Adam about his very interesting book on the Gospel of Mark entitled, Reading Mark’s Christology Under Caesar: Jesus the Messiah and Roman Imperial Ideology – published by IVP Academic. In recent decades, biblical scholars have found the Gospel of Mark deeply interesting and, as you will hear, I think reading Mark in the light of what was going on – especially in Rome – at the time, can open our understanding to the life and mission of Jesus in new ways. I’m really thankful for the deep exegetical work that scholars like Adam commit themselves to, for the sake of the church. This conversation digs deep into the text of Mark’s Gospel, but not for the sake of the academic exercise itself, but out of the deep desire to know Christ more. I hope you will pick up that spirit from this conversation and be edified by it.