Weblog

This week in the blogosphere: James McGrath helpfully notes that John Byron, Associate Professor of New Testament at Ashland Theological Seminary, is now blogging at The Biblical World. Sadly, Gerald Hawthorne passes away (HT: John Byron). Helen Bond discusses the composition of the Sanhedrin in first-century Palestine. Trevor provides a good summary of a variety of different ways to add records to Zotero. Happy Dissertating suggests priming the writing pump as necessary via 750 Words. Based on what the site provides, it looks like a fully private blog could also be used in much the same way, but particularly for those who would prefer not to need to ensure for themselves that all their privacy settings are correct or who might enjoy some of the other features that 750 Words offers, the site may be worth a look. Pat McCullough begins a bibliography of resources about the application of Social Identity Theory to biblical studies and invites suggestions for additions.

Formerly of Berit Hadasah, James Tucker is now blogging at Biblical Exegesis and Interpretation with an “expand[ed set of] blogging interests.” For at least a representative list of these interests, see here.

While reading Darrell Bock’s Studying the Historical Jesus in preparation for class this fall, I came across the following, insightful comment: Every culture has its “cultural script” that is assumed in its communication. These [Second Temple Jewish] sources help us get a reading on the cultural script at work in the time of Jesus. They also help us understand the reaction to Jesus and his ministry. They also deepen our own perception of Jesus’ claims ( 40–41). ...

The mid-year issue of Themelios is now available, and it includes: Carl Trueman, “Minority Report: Not in the Public Interest” Fred G. Zaspel, “B. B. Warfield on Creation and Evolution” Denny Burk, “Why Evangelicals Should Ignore Brian McLaren: How the New Testament Requires Evangelicals to Render a Judgement on the Moral Status of Homosexuality” Stephen Dempster, “A Member of the Family or a Stranger? A Review Article of Jeffrey J. Niehaus, Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology” William Edgar, “Parallels, Real or Imagined? A Review Article of Jeffrey J. Niehaus, Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology” Jeffrey J. Niehaus, “How to Write—and How Not to Write—a Review: An Appreciative Response to Reviews of Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology by Dempster and Edgar” D. A. Carson, “Pastoral Pensées: Motivations to Appeal to in Our Hearers When We Preach for Conversion” Book Reviews

Jeremy Thompson has July’s Biblioblog Top 50 available. Jim West and Joel Watts again take the top two spots respectively. The top ten student biblioblogs are: StudentOverallAuthor(s)BlogAlexa Score18Stephen SmutsBiblical Paths22490929Matt DabbsKingdom Living228817311Mark StevensScripture, Ministry, and the People of God240043414Jeremy ThompsonFree Old Testament Audio Website Blog328123515Brian LePort, JohnDave Medina, and Robert JimenezNear Emmaus: Christ and Text331730616Scott BaileyScotteriology342515718Gavin RumneyOtagosh408591835JasonEis Doxan729697936Rick MansfieldThis Lamp7365221038Brandon WasonSitz im Leben791601 ...

[caption id=“attachment_2049” align=“alignright” width=“100” caption=“D. A. Carson and Douglas Moo”] [/caption] Thanks to the kind folks at Zondervan, I just received the second edition of D. A. Carson and Douglas Moo’s Introduction to the New Testament for use this fall. I had used the first edition (co-authored also with Leon Morris) when I took my initial New Testament Introduction course, so I will be interested (finally—this second edition has been available since 2005) to see firsthand what revisions have been made. ...

This week in the blogosphere: Baker acquires Hendrickson’s academic arm (HT: Nijay Gupta and Rod Decker). Larry Hurtado rightfully lauds and recommends careful attention to Harry Gable’s Books and Readers in the Early Church. Cynthia Nielsen continues her discussion of interconnections between Joerg Rieger and Frederick Douglass with a post about duality in identity construction. Michael Halcomb has a new website specifically dedicated to Getting (Theological) Languages. Kirk Lowery returns to the biblioblogosphere after a hiatus for the development of the Groves Center as an independent research unit. I had the privilege of doing an Aramaic and a Hebrew Bible text-linguistics seminar under Kirk and am again looking forward to seeing what shows up on his “scratchpad.” Happy Dissertating suggests PhD2Published as a potentially valuable resource for new PhD graduates in humanities disciplines. James McGrath spots several video recordings of presentations at this past year’s annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion. Michael Bird starts reading a recent biography of Ernst Käsemann and reproduces several, brief quotations from Käsemann that are, as one might expect, particularly insightful. Todd Bolen reports a recent spectrometric analysis that suggests a Jerusalem origin for a newly discovered cuneiform tablet. Ken Schenck discusses the reading of biblical literature as Christian scripture. Brian LePort discusses the relationship between scripture and tradition in view of the Trinitarian-Oneness debate. On this relationship, our Writing Center director at Southeastern recently brought to my attention F. F. Bruce’s edited volume, Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. I have yet really to peruse it, and the book is scarcely findable in print at this point. Still, it does look like a very interesting volume, and much of it is available through Google Books. Google and Verizon propose, regarding Net Neutrality,“that ‘wireline broadband providers [sh]ould not be able to discriminate against or prioritize lawful Internet content, applications or services in a way that causes harm to users or competition’, but broadband providers [sh]ould be able to offer ‘additional, differentiated online services’.” Chris Brady shares some of his conclusions from his recent International Organization for Targumic Studies presentation about Boaz in Targum Ruth.

Hosea (NICOT) The Book of Hosea, written by Andrew Dearman for the New International Commentary on the Old Testament series, has been released. Dearman is Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary’s Houston extension. Some of the endorsements for Dearman’s volume include: ...

This week in the biblioblogs: Christopher Skinner points out an interview with Simon Gathercole about the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Judas. Cynthia Nielsen provides part one of a series on Joerg Rieger, Frederick Douglass, and the myth of individualism. John Meade discusses the Peshitta’s reading of Acts 16:34. Jeff Oien, Robert Jimenez, and Michael Bird spot an interview with Gordon Fee primarily connected with Fee’s forthcoming commentary on Revelation but also with various hermeneutical issues. James McGrath mentions that Tim Henderson, a recent PhD graduate from Marquette University, is now blogging at Earliest Christianity. Joel Watts begins a series on 2 Clement and puts this early Christian document into dialog with the “prosperity gospel.” Michael Bird refers us to a Touchstone essay in which N. T. Wright reflects on C. S. Lewis.

As promised, Jim West’s revival of the Biblical Studies Carnival has begun. HT: Mark Goodacre.

This year’s second issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research arrived in the mail yesterday and includes the following: Brian Gault, “An Admonition against ‘Rousing Love’: The Meaning of the Enigmatic Refrain in Song of Songs,” 161–84 William Wilder, “The Use (or Abuse) of Power in High Places: Gifts Given and Received in Isaiah, Psalm 68, and Ephesians 4:8,” 185–200 Gerald Peterman, “Plural You: On the Use and Abuse of the Second Person,” 201–14 Craig Keener, “Spirit Possession as a Cross-cultural Experience,” 215–36 Joshua Jipp and Michael Thate, “Dating Thomas: Logion 53 as a Test Case for Dating the Gospel of Thomas within an Early Christian Trajectory,” 237–56 Book reviews, 257–307

In commenting on Phil 2:12 in his recent Pillar series volume, Walter Hansen observes the following about Paul’s description of Christian community and obedience: The church is an eschatological community, a colony of heaven. But in order for the heavenly reality to be a present, earthly experience, believers need to work out the salvation promised to them. Paul desires to see an ecclesiological fulfillment of the eschatological promise of salvation. This understanding of working out salvation as a present expression of God’s promise of salvation does not contradict but rather implements Paul’s earlier instruction to look after the interests of others ( 2:4) ( 174–75; cf. 177). ...

In this clip, Richard Bauckham briefly abstracts his own argument from Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=292NTf1cCNw&hl=en_US&fs=1]

Blogging has unfortunately gotten edged out by too many other things the past few months, but I hope the dearth of posts here recently will be reversing itself shortly. In any case, last week, Carrie and I were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Ella Grace. Ella came a bit early, but I can now officially enter her as my vote for the “most precious baby ever” award: [slideshow]

Robert Cargill reports that a recent test conducted by Italian scientists suggests that the Temple Scroll’s papyrus was “cured using water from the Dead Sea.” Cargill also mentions a forthcoming test that could reasonably demonstrate a connection between the scroll’s ink and the water of the Dead Sea. Even if it does so, however, Cargill qualifies, “this still leaves open the possibility that both the inks and parchment were produced at Dead Sea industrial installations and exported to other areas (for instance, Jerusalem), [but] the preponderance of evidence (animals at Qumran, inkwells at Qumran, scrolls in caves near Qumran) would seem to support the continued suggestion that at least some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were produced at Qumran.” ...

Sunday, National Geographic reported that researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had successfully tested a computer system that, by itself, deciphered a substantial amount of Ugaritic “in a matter of hours” ( MIT press release). This system is based on a statistical model developed by Benjamin Snyder and Regina Barzilay of MIT and Kevin Knight of the University of Southern California. According to MIT, ...

[caption id=“attachment_1618” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Paul Silvia”] [/caption] Over at To Do: Dissertation, one of the authors provides a list of aids that dissertation writers may find helpful. Second on this list is Paul Silvia’s book How to Write a Lot, which has proven particularly helpful to me as well. The book really is worth its purchase price for the number of practical thoughts that it includes that may help the writing process go more smoothly. ...

Defending the legitimacy of the category of “collective memory,” Maurice Halbwachs observes the following: History is neither the whole nor even all that remains of the past. In addition to written history, there is a living history that perpetuates and renews itself through time and permits the recovery of many old currents that have seemingly disappeared ( 64). Thus, in some respect, the “collective memory” provides the means by which a community recovers for itself things that it has forgotten or allowed to fall into the vague and dusty corners of its memory. Without such collective memory, these lost currents would have no presence in relation to the community and they would have to be recovered—if they would ever be recovered at all—in the same manner as the community discovers new things of which it had not previously been aware. ...

The equivalent of 15 print volumes of over 1,800 Oxyrhynchus Papyri fragments are now available to order from Logos via their pre-publication discount program. Details about the module and a list of the papyri it will include are available here. ...

[caption id=“attachment_5648” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Elizabeth Mburu”] [/caption] Due out in a little less than one month is the revised version Elizabeth Mburu’s PhD thesis, Qumran and the Origins of Johannine Language and Symbolism. In the book, Mburu sets out to demonstrate that the sectarian Qumran document The Rule of the Community, provides linguistic clues which illuminate our understanding of how the author of the Fourth Gospel used truth terminology and expected it to be understood. ...

Christian Book Distributors is offering their 22-volume collection of Calvin’s commentaries for $99.99 (retail: $1200.00) with a bonus copy of Calvin’s Institutes. Also, starting November 1, CBD will offer a 14-volume set of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics for $99.99 (retail: $995.00). Even after accounting for shipping costs, the 90%+ discount offered on these sets’ retail prices still leaves them as strikingly good bargains. ...

Today, the following arrived from the kind folks at Baker for use this fall: [caption id=“attachment_5710” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Craig Blomberg”] [/caption] [caption id=“attachment_5709” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Darrell Bock”] [/caption] Being in the classroom (whether virtual or physical) is always enjoyable, and I am certainly looking forward to meeting and interacting with everyone there again this fall. ...

In the second and third centuries, the church worked under several different hermeneutical constraints, including: canonical development, community boundary definition (vis-à-vis Judaism, Paganism, and heretical, “Christian” sects), and hermeneutical method. Although this period of biblical interpretation has long been closed, being aware of the natures of these respective constraints can help us understand the early church’s hermeneutical environment and gain better access to some of their thoughts about scripture. Regarding canonical development, within the patristic period the text of the Jewish canon was essentially closed, but what has become known as the New Testament was not yet a distinct collection. In this period, the church sometimes used certain documents as scripture, although these documents like Shepherd of Hermas or 1 Clement were not eventually canonized, and the church sometimes refrained from using as scripture other documents like Hebrews and Revelation, which were eventually canonized. Additionally, the early church seems to have viewed the Old Testament as having a higher status than the Gospels [including the Diatessaron ( ANF 9:43–130)] and Paul’s epistles, although a somewhat more egalitarian view was also feasible (cf. 2 Pet 3:15–16). For instance, when the Epistle of Barnabas cites the New Testament, the references seem to be mainly incidental to the main line of thought (e.g., Epistle of Barnabas 5:9; 4:14; 13:7), whereas the Old Testament seems to be used as though it held more weight for Barnabas’s author. In the earliest part of the patristic period, it was also possible for Papias to say that he preferred the “living voice” (of oral testimony) to what was written. By contrast, in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho (ca. AD 165; ANF 2:194–270), Justin explicitly cites the New Testament as scripture (e.g., §43, 100). Justin’s use of the New Testament as scripture typified a growing trend out of which the Muratorian Canon list (ca. AD 200; see Westcott 557–64) came and which culminated in Athanasius’s Easter letter of AD 367 ( NPNF2 4:551–52). In this letter, Athanasius demarcated what he saw to be the boundaries of the New Testament canon, which have remained until the present day. ...

The Evangelical Theological Society’s southeastern, regional meeting begins tomorrow and will feature some interesting-looking papers, a couple of which I have been able to preview as they have come through Southeastern’s Writing Center. Fellow blogger Alan Knox will be presenting on “A Theology of Encouragement in Hebrews,” and my own paper, “But What about Israel?: A Biblical-Theological Approach to the Question of Individual and Corporate Election in Romans 9–11” has also been included in the program. To abstract this paper briefly: ...

Thanks to wonderful readers and the excellent folks at the Westminster Bookstore, the following arrived at our door this past week: [caption id=“attachment_5466” align=“alignleft” width=“100” caption=“Kurt Aland”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_5467” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“William Holladay”] [/caption] [caption id=“attachment_5468” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Warren Trenchard”][/caption][caption id=“attachment_5464” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Miles Van Pelt and Gary Pratico”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_5465” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Ronald Williams”] [/caption] ...

In the March 26 issue of All You magazine, my wife, Carrie, has had following recipe featured: The roll-ups really are quite good, and of course, the black-and-white picture hardly does justice to the visual appeal of the dish. In addition to the instructions here, the chef herself does suggest that the “sprinkl[ing] with mozzarella” (#4) should be done rather generously. ...

Jeremy Thompson has the month-end biblioblog rankings available, and Joel Watts again tops the chart. Congratulations are also due to the folks at Near Emmaus who, after cracking the top 50 in the middle of the month, have now settled into the number 40 slot for February as a whole. Today will tell, but on the back of what may turn out to be the busiest month yet, New Testament Interpretation has also risen to 79th place, its strongest standing thus far. Many thanks to everyone for the interest. ...

New to the biblioblogosphere this week is Matthew D. Larsen’s NT Studies Blog. Matthew is a graduate student in Jewish Studies, and some of his major, academic interests include studying the synoptics, the historical Jesus, and early Jewish-Christian relations with, according to the blog’s subtitle, a blend of “Narrative, Rhetorical, and Historical” criticism. In his inaugural post series, Matthew is discussing Jesus’ relationship to women against the backdrop of several different corpora of Jewish literature. ...

Brooke Lester has a bipartite Biblical Studies Carnival LI available at Anumma. In consideration of February 3 as Blogroll Amnesty Day, Lester particularly highlights the smaller fry in the biblioblogging community.

Why should Christians care about Jewish scriptures and their theology? Bruce Waltke offers some telling remarks: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBoswQ9WhW8&hl=en_US&fs=1&] Consequently, Waltke’s remarks appear nicely to complement and extend Klyne Snodgrass’s recent lectures on a hermeneutics of identity. HT: Matthew Montonini