Weblog

Logos Bible Software now has a Herman Ridderbos Collection available for order on their pre-publication program and a John Huss Collection open for bidding on their community pricing program. According to the respective product pages: ...

On the web: Joseph Kelly discusses biblical theology and history of religion research. Cary Nelson considers ownership issues for faculty-developed intellectual property. Rod Decker comments on ζῶ. Allison Friederichs discusses grade inflation.

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, ‘Anna Presenting Her Son Samuel to the Priest Eli’ In due order within The City of God’s longer discussion of Hannah’s prayer at Samuel’s dedication, 1 Augustine arrives at the clause, “[a]nd [he] shall exalt the horn of His Christ” ( 1 Sam 2:10). Here, Augustine ponders: ...

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“175”] Louis Comfort Tiffany, “Window of St. Augustine” (Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, Florida; photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption] Citing Varro as “a most learned man among the [pagans], and [a man] of the weightiest authority” on paganism ( Civ. 4.1 [ NPNF1 2:64]), Augustine summarizes Varro’s account of the naming of Athens ( Civ. 18.9 [ NPNF1 2:365]): ...

On the web: Randy Kennedy discusses how the current economic crisis in Greece is imperiling local antiquities. Matthew Kalman discusses documentary sensationalism and its impact on the status of biblical archaeology. Charles Jones highlights resources for Macedonian coinage, the Acta Sanctorum, Augustan Rome’s geography, and the Byzantine scholia on Homer’s Iliad. Jim Davila notes Google’s efforts to read unopenable Dead Sea Scrolls. Joel Willitts comments on selections from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together. Robert Woods discusses wisdom from a Thomistic perspective. Tokens provides part 3 of a series of YouTube clips series from their October 24, 2011 interview with Walter Brueggemann. See here for parts 1 and 2.

On the web: Jim Davila reports the discovery of some previously lost Greek homilies on the Psalms, potentially by Origen ( 1, 2). Peter Williams provides a link to a set of images of the manuscript. Roger Pearse comments on the press release and quotes Jerome’s catalogue of Origen’s writings. Alin Suciu passes along a letter from Lorenzo Perrone, provides several updates on the discussion, and releases a guest post from Mark Bilby. Dirk Jongkind comments on a textual variant in the text’s quotation of 1 Corinthians.

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“80”] Darrell Bock[/caption] In the second volume to be released in Zondervan’s Biblical Theology of the New Testament series, Darrell Bock takes up Luke and Acts. On the text’s product page, the Westminster Bookstore has assembled a 5-part playlist of YouTube interviews from Zondervan about the volume.

Faithlife Study Bible Although the product has already some limited availability, Logos Bible Software has now announced that the Faithlife Study Bible, which includes the Lexham Bible Dictionary, is available for free through March 2014. ...

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“80”] Colin Kruse[/caption] In recognition of the release of Colin Kruse’s Romans volume in the Pillar New Testament Commentary, the Westminster Bookstore is running several sales, including: ...

All four Gospels report Peter’s adamant affirmation of fidelity Jesus, no matter what may come ( Matt 26:33–35; Mark 14:29–31; Luke 22:31–34; John 13:36–38). A key feature in the Synoptics’ presentation is Peter’s persistence about remaining with Jesus ( Matt 26:35; Mark 14:31; Luke 22:33). In so presenting his declaration, Matthew and Mark focus exclusively on Peter’s commitment to die with Jesus ( Matt 26:35; Mark 14:31). Beyond this affirmation, Luke also explicitly mentions Peter’s readiness to accept the lesser affliction of imprisonment with Jesus ( Luke 22:33). ...

The Journal of Biblical Literature 131, no. 2 includes several noteworthy articles.

On the web: The Society of Biblical Literature releases Christo Lombaard, ed., The Old Testament and Christian Spirituality: Theoretical and Practical Essays from a South African Perspective. Brian LePort comments on Craig Evans, Joel Lohr, and David Petersen, eds., The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation. Michael Kruger anticipates Carl Trueman, The Creedal Imperative.

On the web: Stephen Carlson’s dissertation on Galatians’ textual history is now available online in PDF format. Joel Willitts ponders “what to do with the story of Israel.” Tony Peterson reviews the recent Tokens show at Lipscomb University that featured Miroslav Volf, Saeed Khan, and Fred Gray, among a number of musicians. Brian LePort considers Everett Ferguson’s discussion of Tertullian. Joseph Kelly reviews some recent discussion of the referent(s) of “Torah” when used in the Hebrew Bible. ...

Thanks to the folks at Zondervan, Michael Horton’s For Calvinism and Roger Olson’s Against Calvinism came in yesterday’s mail, as the volumes are doing for a number of others too. According to the publisher, ...

Image representing New York Times as depicted … Sunday’s New York Times had a disquieting article about a potentially dramatic increase in substance abuse among teens for the sake of improved academic performance: The boy exhaled. Before opening the car door, he recalled recently, he twisted open a capsule of orange powder and arranged it in a neat line on the armrest. He leaned over, closed one nostril and snorted it. ...

First Chronicles 16 reports the ark of the covenant’s placement in the tent David had prepared for it (1 Chron 16:1). The middle of the chapter is a poetic section that celebrates Yahweh’s greatness toward Israel (1 Chron 16:8–36). The first part of this section (1 Chron 16:8–22) corresponds to Ps 105:1–15, the second (1 Chron 16:23–33) to Ps 96:1–13, and the third (1 Chron 16:34–36) to Ps 106:1, 47–48.1 The Chronicler does not explicitly describe David as this hymn’s composer, although this supposition appears reasonable.2 In any event, the hymn is offered in David’s presence and at his behest (1 Chron 16:7, 37). ...

On the Web: Paul Barrett is now blogging (HT: Michael Bird). The Israel Antiquities Authority issues a press release with further information about the recently discovered Bar Kokhba-era coin and jewelry cache (HT: Jim Davila). Ray Bradbury has passed away. Robert Woods posts a brief tribute and considers how Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes sits within Mortimer Adler’s framework for identifying “Great Books.” Richard Keeling and Richard Hersh argue for the importance of culture change in higher education.

On the web: The new Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament is openly accessible online (HT: Charles Jones). Keith Williams reflects on the “cloud ed” use of technology in the classroom. Ancient World Online has a new plugin for WordPress.org users. Stephen Carlson reflects on the placement of the “burden of proof.” Mark Goodacre discusses Steve Walton and David Wenham’s treatment of the synoptic problem in their Exploring the New Testament. Colin Kruse’s replacement for Leon Morris’s commentary on Romans in the Pillar New Testament Commentary is soon to be available (HT: Logos Bible Software). Charles Jones notes the availability of a Christian Art index. A Bar Kokhba-era cache of coins and jewelry has been discovered (HT: Jim Davila).

A new collection of online Loeb Classical Library volumes is now available (HT: Charles Jones). This new collection provides locally-hosted PDFs that can be downloaded without completing a CAPTCHA field. The page also provides a link to a single ZIP file (3.2 GB) that contains all the individual LCL volume PDFs available on the page. ...

Healing of the Man Born Blind The account of the man who had been born blind ( John 9:1– 10:21) shares some significant features with the story of the woman at the well ( John 4:4–42). In both cases, the individuals’ births place them at or outside societal margins ( John 4:9, 27; 9:2). Yet, in the end, it is such marginal individuals whom the narrative situates as most in step with Jesus’ mission and, therefore, most in step with Yahweh’s purposes for his people ( John 4:23–24, 39–42; 9:35–38), when a different situation would typically have been expected ( John 4:20, 22; 9:13–34, 40–41; 10:19–21). ...

On the web: Mark Goodacre responds to Micheal Bird’s recent post on the synoptic problem. Brian Tucker reviews Trevor Burke and Brian Rosner, eds., Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology, and Practice. Michael Kruger comments on obedience and hopefulness.

On the web: Michael Bird interacts with James Crossley’s response to his Evangelical Quarterly article on “Modernizing Jesus” and discusses the Holtzmann-Gundry (three-source) hypothesis. Todd Bolen notes the discovery of a new boundary inscription at Gezer (HT: Jim Davila).

On the web: Matthew Montonini and Chris Tilling highlight the availability of recordings from the recent King’s College conference devoted to Doug Campbell’s Deliverance of God. Brian Tucker favorably reviews BibleWorks 9, especially commenting on the value of the: BibleWorks Manuscript Project [that] allows the user to compare original manuscripts, with high quality digital images of the texts that are fully searchable. . . . BibleWorks 9 includes, among others, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, and Bezae. These have full transcriptions (and notes), digital images, verse tags, comparison tools, and, though incomplete, some morphological tags (with more to come). Furthermore, the New Testament Critical Apparatus from the Center for New Testament Textual Studies is also included, securing for BibleWorks a place as the preeminent electronic resource for detailed manuscript analysis and textual criticism. ...

John’s narrative about Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman highlights the presence of faith in unexpected places.

Following up on yesterday’s comment about upgrading to and installing Logos 4 on Ubuntu via a Windows XP machine in VirtualBox, Logos 4 offers a nice import procedure that allows Logos 3 users to transfer all their personal user data files (e.g., notes, markups, queries) into Logos 4 relatively painlessly. There do, however, seem to be a couple hitches when trying to import Logos 3 user data in virtualized setup like the one described here. For the import to work properly, ...

On the web: Mark Goodacre starts reviewing Brice Jones’s Matthean and Lukan Special Material. Matthew Montonini comments on Frank Matera’s God’s Saving Grace, Murray Harris’s Prepositions and Theology, and the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary. Brian LePort reviews Craig Evans’ volume on Matthew in the New Cambridge Bible Commentary.

On the web: Michael Bird excerpts Oscar Cullmann on poor biblical interpretation. Joel Willitts notes the discovery of a seal bearing the name “Bethlehem.” Chris Brady continues discussing character and motivation in Ruth. Rod Decker comments on a few Greek palindromes.

Socrates in the City has made available Eric Metaxas’s April 9, 2010 lecture that digests his then newly released Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Thomas Nelson, 2010). After the introductory farce, the lecture proper commences at about 12:45. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/11208555 w=400&h=300] ...

On the web: Matthew Montonini notes the updated location for this fall’s Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity Conference. Mike Aubrey considers some contemporary difficulties in receiving Stoic testimony about the Greek verbal system. Rafael Rodrodríguez discusses referential consistency in uses of the phrase “the historical Jesus.” Peter Williams and Simon Gathercole discuss faith and scholarship (HT: Michael Bird).

Jesus and Nicodemus, Crijn Hendricksz, 1616–1645. John 1:13 describes a group of individuals “who were not born from blood nor from a fleshly will nor from a husband’s will but from God” (οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς ἀλλʼ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν). For John, being born “from blood” (ἐξ αἱμάτων), “from a fleshly will” (ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός), and “from a husband’s will” (ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός) would all have been perfectly reasonable ways of describing ordinary, human generation. 1 Yet, the individuals John describes as not having been born in these ways but as having been born “from God” (ἐκ θεοῦ) are still very much human beings ( John 1:9–12). John’s point, then, is not to negate the reality of the ordinary, human, physical generation of the individuals he describes but to negate the significance of this origin for determining the identity of the “children of God” ( John 1:12; τέκνα θεοῦ). ...