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Dead Sea Scrolls Today A revised edition of James VanderKam’s excellent introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls is making its way to retailers. This new edition “retains the format, style, and aims of the first edition, and the same wider audience is envisaged” ( xii). Consequently, this edition includes five primary categories of changes ( xii–xiii): ...

The Evernote blog has a helpful new video for Google Chrome users, showing them how to get Chrome to search their Evernote accounts directly. Firefox users can achieve the same results with Ubiquity (0.1.9.1) by copying this code into the Ubiquity command editor or by subscribing to this command feed. ...

In an essay entitled “Paul and James on the Law in the Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Martin Abegg incisively observes that The interpretation of the law, which had been revealed by God, is the focus of the phrase “works of the law” [at Qumran]. . . . No doubt the emphasis is on Torah in its entirety (see 1QS 8.1–2) but “obeying the law” was in accordance with the correct interpretation, that which had been revealed by God. . . . [T]he phrase does not simply mean “works of the law as God has commanded,” but rather “works of the law that God has commanded and revealed fully only to us” ( 72–73; italics original). ...

Klyne Snodgrass discusses a “hermeneutics of identity.” Snodgrass repeatedly observes the New Testament’s concern with issues related to identity.

Jeremy Thompson has mid-month biblioblog rankings available for the top 50 biblioblogs. Congratulations to Brian LePort and JohnDave Medina, who have cracked the top 50 for the first time, and to Joel Watts who continues to lead the pack. The full list, including some additions, will again be available at the month’s end.

At least in dramatic representation. The clip below was uploaded earlier this year, and if it is any measure of today’s performance, the folks at Oklahoma Baptist have just enjoyed a substantial treat. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfsO-JhqZak&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

When they happen, scientific revolutions occur suddenly by a process that may not be completely quantifiable, a fact that partially accounts for the controversy and opposition often experienced in the historical period surrounding a given revolution ( Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 89–90, 151–52, 159; cf. Barber 97–113; Poythress 461). Although certain criteria exist, based on the broader scientific community’s shared paradigm, by which a scientific community can evaluate a candidate paradigm ( Achinstein 413; Kuhn, Essential Tension 321–22), these criteria’s applications and their relative weights are insufficiently discreet to facilitate paradigm choice by simple proof alone ( Kuhn, Essential Tension 320, 329; cf. Carson 89–90; Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 94, 152, 160–87; Kuhn, Since Structure 208–15). Thus, one might best describe paradigm change as a kind of “conversion” ( Kuhn, Essential Tension 338; cf. Poythress 473), and different conversions may have different magnitudes. Indeed, even a conversion to the same paradigm may have different magnitudes for different, scientific sub-communities ( Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 49–51, 92). ...

Three routes exist for crisis resolution within a normal scientific community. First, the community may forestall the crisis by proposing an adjustment to the received paradigm, provided that this adjustment is plausible enough to decrease the severity of the paradigm’s perceived inadequacies. Second, the community may, after repeated failures to explain the crisis-inducing problem(s) satisfactorily, defer this problem(s) indefinitely to future, scientific research. In both these cases, the crisis finds its resolution, however tenuously, in fresh reaffirmation of the received paradigm ( Kuhn 84–85). ...

Joel Watts has a very intriguing “showcase [of] several motifs in Second Temple Jewish thought” related to the creation narrative in Genesis 1–3. To read the three-part series, click below. Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Creation Part 3: Seven Days As a whole, the series “survey[s] . . . how certain authors interpreted and perhaps used the Creation account as a means to [their own] end[s].” ...

Today, Philip Payne concludes his critique of Peter Head’s contention that the distigmai in Vaticanus “mark[] textual variation” and “belong to one unified system that was added some time in the 16th century.” To read the series in five parts, click below. Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Diple Part 3: Small Numbers, Large Numbers, and Other Marginalia Part 4: De Sepulveda Part 5: Identifying Later Distigmai and Conclusion A composite PDF is forthcoming, as is Head’s revised argument that incorporates Payne’s critiques. ...

I have been asked to produce a resource for distance education students who may have more difficulty than on-campus students with accessing traditional research venues like the brick-and-mortar library. To that end, this blog now has an Online Research page, part of which subsumes and expands the old, Other Websites page. I have tried to highlight and link to many of the wonderful resources already available for distance education students who are doing biblical studies work, but if anyone has suggestions about other free-access resources that these students might find particularly useful, please do post them in the comments section here. The students who will use this page and I would be very grateful for these additions. ...

This morning, Logos Bible Software announced an agreement with Baker Books that will soon allow Logos to bring “hundreds” of Baker titles into pre-publication. According to Logos’s normal procedure, once available on the Pre-Pub page, production will begin on a given title once a sufficient number of people have ordered that title at the Pre-Pub price. Some of the new Baker titles already available on the Pre-Pub page include: ...

Various people have expressed, at different points, the wish that David Black’s blog had its own feed, but Google Reader users can now have this feed—somewhat. Last week, the Official Google Reader Blog announced an update to Google Reader that allows individual users, much as they would add any normal feed within Reader itself, to have Google Reader watch for changes on any webpage. ...

Presuppositions that remain unacknowledged at least to oneself can still exercise strong influence. Indeed, [a] person who believes he is free of prejudices, relying on the objectivity of his procedures and denying that he is himself conditioned by historical circumstances, experiences the power of the prejudices that unconsciously dominate him as a vis a tergo. A person who does not admit that he is dominated by prejudices will fail to see what manifests itself by their light [because it will not be foregrounded from them] (Gadamer, Truth and Method, 2006, 354 and Gadamer, Truth and Method, 2013, 369). ...

Since Michael Bird’s books are still in transit, cross-checking with Piper’s Future of Justification, 24–25 n. 30 ( PDF), that Bird’s post (“Justification - Publications and Conferences”) mentions, here is the relevant Jonathan Edwards quote to accompany the other excellent remarks in Bird’s post: ...

In Rom 11:15, Paul’s reference to ζωὴ ἐκ νεκρῶν ( life from the dead) may refer to bodily resurrection, but it may also be read as metaphorically referring to the restoration of the then hardened portion of Israel into participation in the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant that Paul regards as having come to fruition in Jesus: ...

Amy Donaldson’s dissertation on Explicit References to New Testament Variant Readings among Greek and Latin Church Fathers is now available in PDF format through Notre Dame’s thesis and dissertation database. According to the abstract, In his introduction to New Testament textual criticism, Eberhard Nestle stated a desideratum, later repeated by Bruce Metzger, for a collection, arranged according to time and locality, of all passages in which the church fathers appeal to New Testament manuscript evidence. Nestle began this project with a list of references; Metzger continued the work by examining the explicit references to variants by Origen and Jerome and expanding Nestle’s list. This dissertation picks up where Metzger left off, expanding and evaluating the list. The purpose is to contribute to patristics and New Testament textual criticism in two ways: first, by providing a helpful catalogue of patristic texts that refer to variant readings; and second, by analyzing the collected data with a focus on the text-critical criteria used by the fathers. ...

[caption id=“attachment_4657” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Natalio Marcos and Wilfred Watson”] [/caption] The second edition of Natalio Marcos and Wilfred Watson’s Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek Version of the Bible is now available in a somewhat more cost effective paperback from the Society of Biblical Literature. According to Brill, who has previously published the hardback edition, ...

Biblical Studies Carnival XLX is available at Abnormal Interests in two sections: one based on submitted posts and the other based on Duane Smith’s own blog reading and interests. HT: James McGrath

Despite the preeminence sometimes assigned to method in hermeneutics, [i]n seeking to understand tradition[,] historical consciousness must not rely on the critical method with which it approaches its sources, as if this preserved it from mixing in its own judgments and prejudices. It must, in fact, think within its own historicity. To be situated within a tradition does not limit the freedom of knowledge but makes it possible ( Gadamer 354). ...

The University of Groningen is seeking a PhD candidate for the project: The Jewish Revolt against Rome: Religious Groups and the Shaping of Identities in First-Century Judaea: The Graduate School of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Groningen is looking for a PhD candidate (0,9 fte) for the project ‘The Jewish Revolt against Rome: Religious Groups and the Shaping of Identities in First-Century Judaea’. ...

Jeremy Thompson has the automated, monthly Alexa chart available for a short(er) list of 237 biblioblogs for which Alexa reported rating data. This month, New Testament Interpretation saw a bump up to slot 156, and not surprisingly, Joel Watts tops the chart. ...

Lipscomb University is set to host a symposium in honor of Everett Ferguson: Everett Ferguson’s Baptism in the Early Church offers an exhaustive survey of the literary and material evidence for baptismal practice in the first five centuries of Christian history. This symposium, hosted by the Christian Scholars’ Conference, brings together leading scholars to engage this magisterial work and to honor its author’s contribution to ecumenical theological scholarship ( Lipscomb). ...

Yesterday, Zotero 2.0 moved from beta into its first and second release candidate versions. If you have yet to try Zotero, you may download it or view the video introduction from their homepage. At this point, Society of Biblical Literature Handbook of Style support is still under development, but even so, Zotero does provide a fairly good approximation that can be tweaked here and there with reasonable ease. ...

Yesterday, Nijay Gupta posted the first half of his interview with Craig Keener, and the second half of the interview is now available.

In the past few days, there have been several very interesting posts around the biblioblogosphere. To highlight some of those posts here: Tommy Wasserman reports the new online presence of Bodmer 25 (GA 556) and, at Münster’s Virtual Manuscript Room, another 60 manuscripts as well. This morning also sees the beginning of a series in which Philip Payne is critically responding to Peter Head’s contention that the distigmai in Vaticanus “mark[] textual variation” and “belong to one unified system that was added some time in the 16th century.” John Anderson has an excellent and substantive interview with Richard Hays (HT: Stephen Carlson), and Andy Rowell has compiled a complementary bibliography of Richard Hays resources (HT: Mark Goodacre). Nijay Gupta has posted an interview with Gordon Fee (HT: Thomas) and the first part of an interview with Craig Keener, as well as a link to a website that is identifying free, online, public-domain Loeb Classical Library volumes. Jeremy Thompson has automated the compilation of a new biblioblog Alexa ranking list (HT: Mark Goodacre). On a similar note, the Official (Unofficial) Biblioblog List has undertaken the task of maintaining an updated list of biblioblogs (HT: Joseph Kelly) and, as of this morning, the task of maintaining a current biblioblog search engine. The Official (Unofficial) Biblioblog List also makes available HTML code that will restore a biblioblog badge that has become non-functional with the password protection of the Biblioblog Top 50.

In the introduction to To Each Its Own Meaning: An Introduction to Biblical Criticisms and Their Application, Steven McKenzie and Stephen Haynes observe that One fundamental disagreement between “historical” and “literary” methods of biblical criticism is found in their assumptions about the relationship between texts and history. This disagreement can be expressed in simple terms by saying that historical methods such as source criticism, form criticism, tradition-historical criticism, and redaction criticism emphasize the historical, archaeological, or literary backgrounds or roots of a text, and the development of the text through time. Thus historical-critical methods are sometimes referred to as “diachronic.” On the other hand, literary methods such as structural criticism, narrative criticism, reader-response criticism, and poststructuralist criticism tend to focus on the text itself in its final form (however the final form might have been achieved), and the relationships between a variety of textual elements (both surface and deep), and the interaction between texts and readers ( McKenzie and Haynes 7; emphasis original). ...

Regarding the place of Jesus in Paul’s hermeneutic, James Aageson suggests that [Paul’s] hermeneutic is inherently theological and is governed by his experience on the Damascus road and its legacy. From a persecutor of the early church, Paul was transformed into a man with a mission to carry the name of Jesus to the Gentile world. The divine mystery that was revealed to Paul in Christ opens for him new ways of reading and listening to the ancient texts of the Jewish people. His belief in Christ is both an experience and a conviction that, in his eyes, allows him to comprehend the “true” meaning of the religion of his people and their sacred texts ( 155–56). ...

With a post titled “Why?”, Jim West has reentered the biblioblogging sphere at http://zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com/, still reflecting the new title that he gave to http://jwest.wordpress.com/ shortly before he deleted that blog. Although the first post at Zwinglius Redivivus ostensibly presents a quotation from Calvin regarding apostolic vocation, it has some amusing inter-(hyper)textual connections with Dr. Jim West (the blog) and Zwinglius Redivivus. ...

Normal scientific endeavor can suggest beneficial refinements to a given paradigm, but because the paradigm defines normal science itself, the paradigm’s essential components stand beyond normal science’s refining the influence ( Kuhn 46–47, 66, 73, 128–29). In other words, although normal science may suggest refinements of the reigning paradigm that account for the observed difficulties, these refinements, by definition, can only be ad hoc accretions rather than systemic revisions ( Kuhn 68–71, 75, 78, 86–87; cf. Hung 78–79). ...