Blog on J. David Stark

How to Make a Study Bible

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The 𝘈𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 accessibly distills the first millenium of Christian interpretation. Follow along as the project progresses.

Why Do You Seek the Living among the Dead?

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Among Jesus’s followers, some fared better than others in accepting his resurrection. But it should have been something all of them were anticipating.

Behind the Scenes of 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 with Jared Saltz

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Seeing how others work can help you hone your own craft. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Jared Saltz’s essay in 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴.

Behind the Scenes of 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 with Kevin Youngblood

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Seeing how others work can help you hone your own craft. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Kevin Youngblood’s essay in 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴.

How to Think about Genesis, Hermeneutics, and Unity

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Unity isn’t easy. Neither is Genesis. But the history of interpretation has important things to teach contemporary readers who are looking to foster unity.

Do You Want to Read Difficult Texts Better?

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar is continuing its series on difficult texts. This year’s sessions focus on Joshua and Judges. We hope you’ll join us!

Where Can You Actually Find Philemon in the Earliest Centuries?

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Philemon may be Paul’s shortest letter. But it still sees plenty of use by writers in the earliest Christian centuries.

The Ultimate Open Online Research Library for Biblical Studies

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Internet is a massive library. Cut through the clutter with this growing guide to more than 700 open online resources.

Why You Need to Celebrate Accomplishing Your Goals

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

After completing a goal, it’s tempting to move straight into the next thing. But celebrating accomplishment is a key way of giving thanks.

You Need to Identify Your Motivations for Your Goals

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Completing large goals can naturally prove challenging. But clarity about why you’re pursuing them can help you focus on seeing them through.

You Need to Know What You Want to Accomplish in 2026

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What do you want to accomplish in the next 12 months? Intentionally planning with these 5 steps will help you make the most of them.

12 Reasons You Need to Read Your Bible

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Critical biblical scholarship is irreplaceable. But even when you do this, there are 12 reasons you still need to read your Bible.

Happy New Year 2026!

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

As the year ends, life tends to slow a bit. That ebb provides helpful space to consider the year that’s passed and the one that lies ahead.

All the Best to You for a Merry Christmas 2025!

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’m celebrating Christmas. If you are also, I hope you’ll enjoy those who matter most to you and reflect on the elements of lasting value in the season.

Where Do You Want the Most Help Next Year?

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Where do want help next year? Drop me an email or take a quick survey to let me know what would be most helpful.

How to Think about Hebrews's Use of Israel's Scriptures

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

For Christian readers, Hebrews remains a seminal work through which to encounter Israel’s Scriptures. 𝘏𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘴’𝘴 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘤 shows you how.

Why You Need to Take Time Away during the Holidays

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In the academy, it’s easy to always press ahead into what’s next. But academic life also involves being away, and it’s worth doing that well.

How to Have Your Best Academic Conference

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Academic conferences can be hard to do well. But some simple steps can help you have your best meeting yet.

How to Avoid Imposter Syndrome at Conferences

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Academic conferences can be intimidating even for seasoned scholars. If you find yourself having “imposter syndrome,” try imposturing.

How to Type Biblical Languages in Unicode

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In biblical studies, you need to be able to type biblical languages. Transliteration can work, but you can’t always bank on using it. Instead, use Unicode.

Behind the Scenes of 𝘏𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘴'𝘴 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘤 with David Moffitt

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Seeing how others work can help you hone your own craft. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at David Moffitt’s essay in 𝘏𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘴’𝘴 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘤.

Behind the Scenes of 𝘏𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘴'𝘴 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘤 with Ardel Caneday

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Seeing how others work can help you hone your own craft. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Ardel Caneday’s essay in 𝘏𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘴’𝘴 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘤.

Behind the Scenes of 𝘏𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘴'𝘴 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘤 with Alex Stewart

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Seeing how others work can help you hone your own craft. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Alex Stewart’s essay in 𝘏𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘴’𝘴 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘤.

How Do You Choose a Good Research Topic?

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000

The ability to “see what is questionable” and to ask questions accordingly is the first step in choosing a good research topic.

How to Say No to the Urgent But Not Important

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000

The urgent and unimportant easily consumes more time than it should. But 5 strategies can help you say the “no” that your “yes” really needs.

10 Reasons to Use Zotero in Your Research

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0000

A good reference manager can be an incredibly helpful tool in your research. There are 10 reasons you should seriously consider using Zotero.

How to Think about Status and Power

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 20:44:52 +0000

In Mark 10, “James and John, the sons of Zebedee” (v. 35a; Ἰάκωβος καὶ Ἰωάννης οἱ υἱοὶ Ζεβεδαίου) ask Jesus to sign a blank check.¹ “We wish that you would do for us whatever we might ask you” (Mark 10:35b; θέλομεν ἵνα ὃ ἐὰν αἰτήσωμέν σε ποιήσῃς ἡμῖν), they say.

Of course, Jesus knows better than to underwrite such a desire. So, he cautions James and John that they don’t truly know what they’re asking. They don’t fully recognize what what it means to sit “at [his] right hand and at [his] left in [his] glory” (Mark 10:37; σου ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ … ἐξ ἀριστερῶν καθίσωμεν ἐν τῇ δόξῃ σου; see Mark 10:38–40).

Do You Need to Open Some Doors?

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:12:25 +0000

At the end of John’s Gospel, Jesus’s words and the Spirit’s presence enables the disciples to move past their fear and begin the new chapter that lies before them.

How to Actually Avoid Public Theology's Temptations

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Calling theology “public” highlights how that theology addresses the public square or speaks to matters of concern within it.¹ Such theology may be undertaken by specialist biblical scholars and theologians. Or it might be undertaken by Christians with no such specialized training. In either case, public theology’s address to the public square confronts three key temptations.

Public Theology’s Temptations

One is a tendency toward authoritarianism. Public theology succumbs to this temptation when it seeks to enforce adherence. Against this temptation, public theology finds itself obliged to uphold the independence of the public square.

How to Properly Handle Facts of Publication with Zotero

Mon, 19 May 2025 12:00:00 +0000

In the Society of Biblical Literature’s adaptation of Chicago style, footnotes citing books have a “facts of publication” section. This section appears in parentheses and includes the work’s

place of publication,
publisher, and
publication date.

In determining what SBL style requires, Chicago’s style authorities have a lower rank than SBL’s. So, where they explicitly speak to a given issue, SBL’s own authorities solely determine SBL style. These authorities include the SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd ed. ( affiliate disclosure) and the SBL Handbook of Style blog.

Three Readings for Cinco de Mayo

Mon, 05 May 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Cinco de Mayo (5 May) commemorates the Mexican victory over France at the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862.¹ And more generally in the United States, Cinco de Mayo is an occasion for the celebration of the culture and heritage of Mexico and, to some extent, Latin America more broadly.² In honor of Cinco de Mayo this year, I’d like to offer the following three readings.

Reading 1

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.³

How to Put More Focus Where You Need It

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Academic life often involves competing demands. But amid its ambiguities, a 4-step process will help you put more focus where you need it.

The Expositor's Greek Testament

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:01:43 +0000

The Expositor’s Greek Testament is now dated, but it preserves some keen exegetical insights that more recent commentators have continued to find helpful.

The Right Way to Change Word Styles to Direct Formatting

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Using styles is a great way to ensure consistent formatting in a Word document. But, here’s a way to turn these styles into “direct” formatting.

How Zotero Makes It Easy to Cite Different Creator Types

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:05:00 +0000

When you add a new record in Zotero, you can identify the author for that source. But sometimes, works have more than one author. Or works might have more than one type of role involved in their production (e.g., editors, translators). Whatever the scenario, though, Zotero has you covered.

Creator Types

Within Zotero, you almost never see a Creator field as such. Instead, for different types of resources, have different types of creators available in the interface. For resources related to biblical studies, the most common creator types, include

Opportunities Cost You: Why "Yes" Actually Means "No"

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Human experience works out such that inside any “yes” is also a “no.” But investing effort in activities like study lets us engage better with life as a result.

How to Easily Add Real Text to Image-only PDFs with Zotero

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:56 +0000

Having text in your PDFs makes them searchable and easier to mark up. For any image-only PDFs you have, Zotero can extract and add this text.

How to Increase Your Zotero Cloud Storage: 4 Ways

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:38 +0000

Zotero comes with a little free storage, but you’ll soon need more. So, here are 4 ways to get the space you need as you expand your research.

Why You Need to Ship for Feedback after Distribution

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000

You can’t know your research is publishable unless you ship it. But even publishing should involve shipping for feedback.

How to Find Your Way around the Aleppo Codex

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Printed texts have their virtues. But sometimes you need to look at a manuscript. Here’s how to find your way around the Aleppo Codex.

How to Ship Your Research for Distribution

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000

You can’t know your research is publishable unless you ship it. But even as you ship for distribution, you should still ship for feedback.

Do You Have Questions about What Happened with X?

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 11:30:00 +0000

TL;DR

The content of my X feed has substantively changed for the foreseeable future.¹ If you find value in what I post there, please continue following. Otherwise, if you would like to see content like I more typically post, please

subscribe to my weekly email newsletter or
follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Mastodon.

An Open Letter

Friends,

How to Ship Your Research for Feedback

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

You can’t know your research is publishable unless you ship it. But you can improve your odds by shipping it for feedback.

When Do You Need to Wait to Ship?

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 12:00:00 +0000

To know if your research is publishable, you need to ship it. But if you’re a student, you also might need to wait before you ship.

How Do You Know What Color Your Research Is?

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, it can be hard to know whether your research is actually publishable. There are two steps to find out.

Two Problems You Can Have Creating Purple Research

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 16:00:16 +0000

You can have two problems creating purple research. Black or brown research might look purple. Or purple research might look black or brown.

Your Research Is Publishable When It's Purple

Mon, 30 Sep 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Determining whether research is publishable is essentially the same action as seeing whether a cow is purple.

Can Your Research Really Be for Your Faith Community?

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Faith communities can be perfectly valid audiences for your research. And like any audience, that who will naturally shape your what.

Irenaeus on 666 and 616

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 12:09:42 +0000

Irenaeus of Lyons

In his Against Heresies, Irenaeus argues that 666 is a particularly “fitting” number for the name of the beast in Rev 13:18:

since he sums up in his own person all the commixture of wickedness which took place previous to the deluge, due to the apostasy of the angels. For Noah was six hundred years old when the deluge came upon the earth, sweeping away the rebellious world, for the sake of that most infamous generation which lived in the times of Noah. And [Antichrist] also sums up every error of devised idols since the flood, together with the slaying of the prophets and the cutting off of the just {cf. Matt 24:37–38/ Luke 17:26–27}. For that image which was set up by Nebuchadnezzar had indeed a height of sixty cubits, while the breadth was six cubits; on account of which Ananias, Azarias, and Misaël, when they did not worship it, were cast into a furnace of fire, pointing out prophetically, by what happened to them, the wrath against the righteous which shall arise towards the [time of the] end {cf. Matt 24:15/ Mark 13:14}. For that image, taken as a whole, was a prefiguring of this man’s coming, decreeing that he should undoubtedly himself alone be worshipped by all men {cf. Rev 13:15}. Thus, then, the six hundred years of Noah, in whose time the deluge occurred because of the apostasy, and the number of the cubits of the image for which these just men were sent into the fiery furnace, do indicate the number of the name of that man in whom is concentrated the whole apostasy of six thousand years, and unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deception; for which things’ sake a cataclysm of fire shall also come [upon the earth]. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5.29.2 [ ANF 1:558; affiliate disclosure] square brackets original; curled brackets added)

What Do You Want Your Research to Be?

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Once you know who your research is for, you can then determine what it means to create publishable research for them.

Your Research Actually Isn't Just for Your Professor

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 12:00:00 +0000

If you’re a student, your research isn’t just for your professor because your assignment likely imitates something outside your class.

4 Questions to Help You Know Whether Something Is Important

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 16:08:01 +0000

To start cutting through the clamor of the urgent and discern whether something is actually important, you need to ask these 4 questions.

Why Authentic Doctrines Aren't Freestanding

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Doctrine needs to respond to a question that arises and demands an answer. If it’s a freestanding assertion, it loses connection with its life context.

Who Is Your Research Really For?

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Clearly understanding what you want in your research is important. Still more foundational, though, is grasping who it’s for.

How to Think about Spiritual Formation and Online Education

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Online education can readily foster spiritual formation because language always mediates formative presence and spiritual formation is a language game.

How to Actually Fix Windows's Language List Keyboard Shortcuts

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Keyboard shortcuts can speed up frequent changes among input languages. If you use Windows, you need some extra steps to save your shortcuts.

How to Master IATG for SBL Style with 4 Simple Steps

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 01:45:03 +0000

The SBLHS, 2nd ed., defers to IATG, 3rd ed. for abbreviations that SBLHS doesn’t include. Follow these steps to make working with IATG as seamless as possible.

How to Understand the Fusion of Rhetoric and Hermeneutics

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 13:59:49 +0000

At first glance, rhetoric and hermeneutics are quite different things. But, if we look more closely, they comingle in a way that makes them inseparable.

Why You Need to Back Up Your Research Locally

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Your research is worth protecting. Nobody will ever have more incentive to keep it safe than you do. So be sure you have a robust backup plan.

How to Send Secure Email

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Email is everywhere in biblical studies.¹ And for all its benefits, it also presents challenges, one of which is security.

Maybe that’s not a big issue for you day-to-day. But there may also be times when it presents a concern. For those times, though, you can send email securely with a few, straightforward steps.

Why You Might Want to Send Secure Email

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Email can be a useful, and even a necessary tool, but it also has its issues.((Header image provided by Abby Anaday.)) And as might be surprising, one of these issues has to do with its security. Send the wrong thing across email at the wrong time, and you might find yourself picking up the pieces rather than writing up that next research project.

How to Synchronize Your Zotero Profile—without a Database Catastrophe

Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

To get a basic installation of Zotero up and running is incredibly straightforward.¹ It’s also quite flexible and customizable. So, as you work with Zotero, you can tailor its behavior to how you work, including by adding and customizing extensions.²

If you use Zotero on multiple computers, you can easily synchronize your Zotero library among those machines. But the same isn’t the case for the rest of your Zotero profile—all your settings, styles, and extensions. So, any time you change your profile, you have to make that same change on each machine separately.

You Need to Know What's Essential

Mon, 27 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

The beginning of the school year is one natural time to take stock of what lies ahead. Demands mount (or are about to). How can we stay afloat?

Why You Need to Maintain a Waiting-for List

Mon, 06 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

The more projects you do, the more likely you are to have to wait for something to finish a project.¹ The likelihood of needing to wait especially increases as you collaborate on projects with others. And as the number and importance of things you’re waiting for grows, you increasingly need to maintain a waiting-for list.²

Elements of a Waiting-for List

A waiting-for list has four key elements. These elements include

What Types of Inboxes You Need to Have Today

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

A lot comes at you in a day.¹ In years past, what came to you might well land in or be reducible to a physical inbox on a desk.² Today, that might still be possible, but it’s definitely a greater challenge. And you might well find it’s easier to have different kinds of inboxes for specific kinds of incoming information.

Of course, you could easily have too many inboxes. You reach that point when you don’t know where to look for something you need to handle. It also happens when you lose track of something because you don’t regularly think about wherever you put that thing.

A Simple Guide for How You Need to Format Bibliographies

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

The process of formatting bibliographies has several elements.¹ If you’re using SBL style, these elements include

the structure and formatting of each bibliography entry considered just itself. For these components, Zotero proves incredibly helpful since it allows you to insert a bibliography with the push of a button from the word processor plugin.²
your bibliography’s pagination, which needn’t take any special attention if you’ve set up the bibliography section properly.
the heading and top margin on the first page of your bibliography, which also should be well in hand based on your use of heading styles.

Even after you have all this formatting in place, however, you’re still left with the spacing between items in your bibliography and a hanging indentation.

How to Use Thunderbird to Minimize Your Inbox Time

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Email is ubiquitous in biblical studies— sometimes too much so.((Header image provided by Thunderbird.)) But there are several principles you can use to get out of your inbox more benefits and fewer downsides.

In the bigger picture, the specific tools you use to access your email is less important than that you use it according to such principles. Doing so will help make sure you’re using it and not being used by it. And you can implement these principles in various ways depending on how you prefer to send and receive email.

Why You Need to Read the Greek New Testament

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 10:42:01 +0000

Academic New Testament studies sits at the crossroads of various disciplines.((Header image provided by Kelly Sikkema.)) History, rhetoric, social sciences, linguistics, lexicography, and textual criticism are just a few.

Each of these disciplines has its own voluminous secondary literature. Even once you specialize into a particular New Testament book or corpus, the amount of secondary literature is still vast.

The Ultimate App You Need to Use for Academic Writing

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

A lot goes into writing in biblical studies.¹ And any number of tools can help you marshal your research into strong prose. For instance,

Logos can give you access to hundreds of shelves’ worth of resources,
Zotero can help you manage and cite this literature, and
Word can give you a place to craft your arguments.

But there’s another application that’s vastly more important than all of these combined.

How to Make Your Zotero PDF Annotations Available for Mobile

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 12:00:00 +0000

One feature with some substantial upgrades in Zotero 7 is the built-in PDF viewer and annotator.((Header image provided by Zotero via Twitter.)) For a long time, I’ve not used this feature. But seeing the updates that it’s gotten, I decided to give it a try, and I really do like what the developers have done with it.

How to Add More Resources to Your Zotero Library

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Zotero is an incredibly helpful research tool.¹ But it’s only as useful as the information it contains. So, the more you improve what your Zotero library contains—whether by adding or correcting contents—the more useful the tool will become.

There are multiple ways to add additional resources to Zotero. Several of them allow Zotero to automatically input information from various places. But if the information you import is itself incorrect or just doesn’t import properly, Zotero won’t be able to use that information as it should. So, especially when you automatically import resources into Zotero, it’s well worth proofreading briefly what you’ve imported.

How to Configure Zotero 6 and Zotero 7 Side-by-Side

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Zotero has been undergoing a major overhaul.((Header image provided by Zotero via Twitter.)) In May 2023, Zotero announced the public beta for the popular research platform.((Dan Stillman, “Announcing the Zotero 7 Beta,” Zotero Forums, 20 May 2023.)) Since that time, the beta version for Zotero 7 has received scores of updates.

How to Easily Create a Searchable Backup Archive with Macrium Reflect

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 09:33:06 +0000

Macrium Reflect is a wonderful backup tool. It does have a missing feature, but thankfully, a comparable solution is available.

How to Thrive as a Biblical Scholar in Uncertain Times

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 12:00:00 +0000

It’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you’re lost when you’re looking at stepping out into a career in biblical studies.((Header image provided by Katja Anokhina.))

The content of biblical studies is one thing—the manuscripts, texts, traditions, languages, and literature. All of that is why you set out to join this discipline in the first place.

But you keep hearing how bleak prospects are, how hard everything is. And you’re not sure where it all leads.

A Simple Guide to How to Expand Your Research Materials

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 12:00:00 +0000

There’s so much material available to support your research. You just have to know where to go and how to look for it.

How to Reduce Your Email Time by Reducing Email Frequency

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 14:47:38 +0000

In biblical studies as in other knowledge work fields, email is everywhere.((Header image provided by Joanna Kosinska.)) But it’s prominence and frequency far outstrip its importance.

Because of this, email and similar tools have a distinctive capacity to pull you away from more essential activities into less essential ones. Thankfully, however, you can minimize email’s downsides while you maximize its value for cases where you can’t readily avoid it. So, needing to email a journal editor about publishing an article needn’t leave you paying excess “email tax.”

The Unique Ways τὲ καί Clarifies Paul's Audience in Romans

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 08:59:17 +0000

By itself, τὲ καί can’t indicate who Paul was writing to in Romans. But the phrase puts on the table important pieces to the puzzle.

Do You Make One of These Common Mistakes with Footnote Spacing?

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 14:50:59 +0000

Style manuals often require that footnotes have a blank line between them. There are two common mistakes about how to get this blank line.

Although It's Easy, Email Isn't Always the Best

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Email is easy, cheap, and flexible.((Header image provided by Proton.)) Those factors make it a persuasive default for how coordination happens in knowledge work.

The only problem is that these same factors sometimes make email even more a liability than it is an asset. But the fact that email creates such liabilities doesn’t mean there aren’t clear ways to reduce them.

Free ESV Audio Bible

Sat, 18 Nov 2023 08:19:05 +0000

Faith Comes by Hearing has a selection of free audio Bibles, including the English Standard Version.

Registration requires both an email and a physical address.

You Need to Pick Which Email Problem You Want

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Email is a deeply entrenched protocol within biblical studies. Partly for that reason, it presents a constant choice of which problem with it is better.

You Don't Actually Win by Doing the Most Email

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Biblical studies isn’t a matter of “(s)he who writes the most email wins.” But that obvious truth that can still get obscured all too easily.

How to Think About Your Email (Un)like Your Mail

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 12:00:00 +0000

For all its benefits, email presents definite challenges. But those challenges are mainly ones of degree rather than kind.

Why You Need to Be Careful with Email

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Email can be a useful tool, and sometimes a necessary one. But you need to be careful with using it so you don’t end up being used by it.

5 Steps to Store Series Information in Zotero

Mon, 09 Oct 2023 15:59:36 +0000

Citation managers like Zotero can simplify how you reference series. But what a citation manager puts out is only as good as what you put into it.

How to Actually Modify the Language List in Word

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Microsoft Word’s language list can be helpful for multilingual documents. A few simple steps will set it right again if it gets messy.

How to Easily Handle Non-English Citation Information in Zotero

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Zotero can do a lot of work, including giving your citations the proper case. With non-English sources, two features are especially helpful.

How to Enable Dark Mode in Zotero: 2 Methods

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Dark mode isn’t magic. But if you find it helpful like I do, then you can enable it in Zotero in either of two ways.

What Do You Do When Too Much Feels Important?

Mon, 11 Sep 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, even just what’s important can be too much. When it is, these 4 strategies can particularly help you cope.

Scraps

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 17:07:30 +0000

V.M.L. … is a two-year-old U.S. citizen child currently being held incommunicado … at an unknown location … in the Alexandria[, Louisiana,] area. … On or around April 22, 2025, around 8:30am, V.M.L.’s mother[, Jenny Carolina Lopez Villela,] attended a scheduled check-in at the New Orleans [Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP)] office with V.M.L. and her eleven-year-old sister. [ISAP required V.M.L.’s mother to bring both of her daughters to her check-ins, which V.M.L.’s mother had been regularly attending for almost four years. At] that appointment, ICE officers apprehended V.M.L.’s mother and the two girls.

What Do You Think Evangelicalism Is Now?

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 12:00:00 +0000

The term “evangelical” has varied and sometimes conflicting definitions. Add your voice to the discussion in a new research initiative.

Read the Original Languages in Logos—without Cheating

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 17:33:19 +0000

Biblical studies software can be a helpful tool—sometimes too helpful. Here are 5 steps to help you read original languages in Logos without cheating.

How to Cite Individually Paginated Journal Articles with Zotero

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 13:40:14 +0000

SBL style has a specific way to cite individually paginated articles from electronic journals. But Zotero can handle those citations too.

How Do You Know When Something Is Urgent?

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 12:00:00 +0000

The sooner something matters, the greater its urgency. The greater the urgency, the more whatever situation will press upon you.

You Need to Decide What Gets Priority, but How?

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Deciding what gets priority can be tricky. But a classic decision matrix can bring clarity and guide the kinds of actions you take.

Your Research Is Important, but It's Not All-Important

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 12:00:00 +0000

If you never make time for your research, your project will go nowhere. But making time starts with deciding when you won’t do research.

How to Take Time Away That You Actually Enjoy

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Being good at taking time away is part of the craft of biblical scholarship. With 8 steps, you can take this time better and enjoy it more.

Reflections on How to Read: An Example for Computers

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Human bodies differ, as do their adaptations for reading. But they’re also similar. So, what’s helped me might spark your imagination too.

How to Support the Body's Hermeneutic Role

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Reading is a task for the whole body. And the discipline of “ergonomics” can help you improve how you read.

How to Think about the Body's Hermeneutic Role

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 12:00:00 +0000

The body’s influence on reading isn’t an excuse for inattention to ourselves or criticism of others. It’s a basis for learning to read better.

You Need to Avoid Dismissiveness with the Body's Hermeneutic Role

Mon, 29 May 2023 12:00:00 +0000

The body shapes interpretation and, therefore, reading as an interpretive act. But that’s no excuse for “Bulverizing” dismissal of others.

The Simple Ways Your Body Shapes Your Reading

Mon, 22 May 2023 16:18:07 +0000

Your body can pose challenges to your reading efforts. But addressing those challenges are precisely part of how your body enables reading.

How the Body Actually Influences the Most Impartial Decision Makers

Mon, 08 May 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Biblical studies isn’t jurisprudence. But both are thoroughly interpretive. So, you need to watch for where you’re being a “hungry judge.”

Why You Need to Think about How Your Body Reads

Mon, 01 May 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Forgetting the reading body can have a kind of utility to it. Despite this fact, that forgetfulness remains problematic and needs a solution.

Why Reading Bodies Are in Danger of Being Forgotten

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 15:58:57 +0000

You can’t read independently of your body. But for three reasons, reading bodies often get forgotten in thinking about the task of reading.

How to Think about How You Read

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Biblical scholarship often considers reading as a mental activity. It’s about understanding texts. But in reading the whole body is critical.

How Zotero Makes It Easy to Handle Serial Journal Articles

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000

SBL style’s citation formats are sometimes challenging to accommodate. But Zotero can handle even cases like serialized journal articles.

How to Cite Serialized Journal Articles in SBL Style

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Usually, journal articles are fairly brief. But when they’re long enough to serialize, citing them in SBL style involves some challenges.

How to Stop Word from Messing Up Greek Diacritics

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Microsoft Word’s automatic language detection can seriously mess up the placement of diacritics. So, it’s a feature that’s best avoided.

How to Inflect Spiritual Formation for Academic Life: A Bibliography

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 16:19:08 +0000

Spiritual formation needs contextualization for particular vocations. As you contextualize yours, you might find these resources helpful.

How Zotero Makes It Easy to Cite Specific Locations

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Don’t edit Zotero citations to enter locators. Instead, let Zotero manage these locators, what goes around them, and any citation updates.

How to Prevent Ransomware from Devouring Your Research

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 12:00:00 +0000

To safeguard your research, you need to have a plan that addresses how you’re protecting it even from generally trustworthy sources.

You Need to Prevent Ransomware from Devouring Your Research

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 16:46:38 +0000

The Internet is an incredible tool. But threats from it can devour your research. It almost happened to me. Don’t let it happen to you.

How to Make Time for Biblical Languages

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 17:49:31 +0000

It can be hard to make time for the biblical languages amid everything else that’s going on. But two simple steps can help you start today.

Larger Cambridge Septuagint Online

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 10:04:02 +0000

The Larger Cambridge Septuagint project, The Old Testament in Greek according to the Text of Codex Vaticanus, had 9 fascicles published from 1909 to 1940. These fascicles are available in full-text PDFs via Internet Archive:

Octateuch and Later Historical Books((For making me aware of this section, I’m grateful to Karen Jobes and Moíses Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint, 2nd ed. ( affiliate disclosure), 68n12.))
Esther, Judith, Tobit

Although the Larger Cambridge series is incomplete and has been superseded by the Göttingen edition, the volumes are still quite valuable and, for the texts they cover, perhaps also much more accessible than the corresponding Göttingen volumes.

How to Use Zotero to Cite a Conference Presentation

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Citing conference papers involves certain ethical questions. But if you are able and need to cite one, Zotero can handle that citation.

Zotero Can Now Do Even More with Your Citations

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Zotero can help you keep your citations in order while also clearing your way to focus on the substance of your research and writing.

Everything You Need to Know about Logos 10

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 21:31:13 +0000

Logos 10 is now available. As an academic user, there are 10 things you need to know about this new release.

How to Easily Cite ANF and NPNF with Zotero

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 12:00:00 +0000

There are more up-to-date translations of the fathers. But if you do use ANF or NPNF, Zotero can handle SBL style’s special citation format.

How to Expand Your Research Materials with Internet Archive

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Internet Archive has a vast repository of books, including some that are hard to access otherwise. So, it’s well worth seeing what’s there.

How to Expand Your Research Materials with Amazon

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Amazon’s good for more than just buying books. Used appropriately, the “look inside” feature can be a helpful research tool on its own.

How to Expand Your Research Materials with Google Books

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Google Books can be a helpful research tool. You can find full texts of public-domain titles, as well as previews of those under copyright.

How to Expand Your Research Materials with Libraries

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Expanding your research materials doesn’t have to break the bank. So much is already available through the libraries you have access to.

How to Make Bulk Editing Items in Zotero Easy

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0000

“Garbage in, garbage out” applies to Zotero just like any other software. But there’s an easy way to bulk edit items to tidy your database.

How to Quickly Create a Dynamic Table of Contents

Mon, 23 May 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Tables of contents can consume much more time than they should. But Word can create tables that automatically update with your document.

How to Put More Focus beyond Email

Mon, 09 May 2022 12:00:00 +0000

A 4-step process can help you focus on what really matters. This process can even help you curb something as overloading as email.

(Re)amplifying the Amplified Bible

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 07:17:04 +0000

At LogosTalk, Mark Ward has a helpful discussion of “how to use—and not to use—the Amplified Bible” for English-only Bible readers. Mark comments, in part:

The Amplified, when used according to its stated design, invites readers to deny this interpretive truism. It makes them think, “Ah, now I know what the Greek word here really means”—and then to Choose Their Own Adventure, picking the meaning they like most.

You Need to Stop Redoing the Same Work

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000

It’s no fun going in circles, redoing work you’ve already done. But it’s all too easy to do unless you question how you do what you do.

How to Easily Change Text Directions after Hebrew Words with Zotero

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Right-to-left text like Hebrew can sometimes cause unexpected results in Zotero citations. But if so, it’s easy to straighten things out.

How to Customize Your Citations with Zotero

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, you work with sources that involve some extra complexity if you’re going to cite them properly.((Header image provided by Zotero via Twitter.)) Rather than making these changes one by one, however, Zotero allows you to make them automatically any time you cite a given source.

That way, you only have to work out once how to cite a source once. After that, it’s saved in your library, and you can focus on how you want to discuss that source rather than on how you need to cite it.

A Simple Guide to When You Need to Capitalize "Gospel(s)"

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 15:27:50 +0000

Deciding whether you need to capitalize “gospel” language can be tricky. But you can cut through confusion with six principles.

How to Make Your Goals Even More Actionable

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 15:23:15 +0000

Even actionable goals aren’t doable. That’s why you focus on the next actions they require. And when those are done, your goals will be too.

How to Make Untitled Book Review Citations Easy with Zotero

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 15:20:06 +0000

SBL style asks that untitled book reviews be cited in some unique ways. But Zotero can handle these requirements and free you to write more.

How to Control Citation Title Casing with Zotero

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Different languages and styles have different capitalization conventions. But Zotero can handle all these different requirements for you.

Zotero Can Easily Support Your Students' Research

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Zotero might or might not be a tool you want to recommend to your students. But it definitely could help simplify their work—and yours.

How to Find a Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 12:00:00 +0000

What ISBNs do for books DOIs do for all kinds of sources. And if you need DOIs in your citations, there are some simple ways to collect them.

How to Convert the Greek Parse Font to Unicode

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 22:03:56 +0000

If you’ve used the Greek Parse font, don’t retype text to make it Unicode compliant. Three free tools can convert most of it automatically.

How to Automate Outline Numbered Headings in Word

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Numbering headings by hand can be a time consuming mess. With a few simple steps, though, Word can number your headings automatically.

The Easy Way to Create Timer Backgrounds for Online Meetings

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0000

In online meetings, common timers often aren’t available, despite how helpful they can be. And you can, though, easily add one to your webcam.

How to Time Block with Todoist and Google Calendar

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Time blocking can help you intentionally plan your days. And with Todoist’s Google Calendar integration, you can make it pretty seamless too.

6 Steps to Block Your Time for More Focus in a Digital Workspace

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 12:00:00 +0000

However you time block, you can use 6 simple steps can make that process pretty seamless in a digital workspace.

5 Ways You Can Block Your Time to Focus on What Really Matters

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 15:43:29 +0000

These 5 ways to block your time can help you focus on what really matters, rather than what’s just latest and loudest.

Why You Need to Block Your Time

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:00:00 +0000

When are you going to work on your goals? Rather than wondering where the time goes, be proactive and make a plan for your calendar with time blocking.

How to Budget Your Time If It's Irregular

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 11:12:39 +0000

Having an irregular schedule doesn’t mean you can’t budget your time. It just means you need to focus on the commitments that are most important.

How to Best Budget Your Time When It's Regular

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Time blocking is a great way of budgeting time because it shows when you’ve spent time and whether you’ve spent it on what’s important.

How Todoist Can Support Your Work and Life

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

School, work, and life are complex. You need a way of managing your commitments. If you’re looking for this, Todoist might be the tool for you.

You Need to Scale Up Your Research Project Timeline

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

You need to scale up your research timeline because of inaccuracies in small samples, differences between projects, and the planning fallacy.

How Long Will Your Research Project Really Take?

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

You can better understand how long your research project may take if you track your progress, set your scope, and scale your timeline.

Who Is Your Research Question Good For?

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Your research question can be known or unknown by your audience. But they need to have the question before you can answer it.

How to Use Zotero to Properly Cite Grammars in SBL Style

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 13:00:00 +0000

You might think citing a grammar according to the “SBL Handbook of Style” would be straightforward. It is, but there are several special cases to account for.

How to Stock Your Biblical Studies Toolbox

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 17:39:39 +0000

Plumbers, electricians, and carpenters all have specific tools they use for their trades. As they hone their skill in those trades, a good part of that development means improving their skill at using the tools of their trade.

If you had a plumber who ended up being able to use his or her tools only as well as a weekend “do-it-yourselfer,” you’d probably find someone else next time. (I’ve seen this recently. It wasn’t pretty.)

How Can You Make Logos Even More Helpful for Academic Work?

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 17:11:49 +0000

Logos is an incredibly useful tool straight out of the box (or off the website). But as with any tool, it can take some time to get to know it well and use it better.

As an academic user, you’re also coming to Logos from a specific angle. Your context uniquely shapes how you want to use the tool.

And as with any craft, you can produce better results by learning to use your tools better.

How Can You Make Your Research Remarkable?

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 20:02:52 +0000

Purple, or remarkable, research shares some common elements. But it can also have different shades depending on who it’s for.

How to Cite Resources from Your Logos Library

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 13:06:05 +0000

Logos can give you access to an extensive digital library. And with 5 simple steps, you use that library properly in your research.

How to Cite Dictionaries with Zotero

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 12:00:00 +0000

SBL style prescribes different citation formats for encyclopedias, lexicons, and dictionaries. Zotero can handle these formats if you know how.

Your Word Processor Is Important. But How Do You Use It?

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Your word processor is an important tool. But how to make it do many things that are quite common in biblical studies has been pretty obscure.

Behind the Scenes of 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 with Stephen Lawson

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 12:00:56 +0000

Seeing how others work can help us hone our own craft. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Stephen Lawson’s essay in 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵.

Behind the Scenes of "Understanding Scripture through Apostolic Proclamation"

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Seeing how others work can give us helpful ideas for honing our own craft. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at my essay in “Scripture First.”

Behind-the-Scenes Resources from Making 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 12:00:00 +0000

The preorder bonuses for 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 help you see behind the scenes of and learn from the process for producing the volume.

6 Ways to Make Scripture First

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 12:00:17 +0000

𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 argues for reading Scripture along with earliest Christian tradition as the church seeks to express its unity better.

How to Correctly Format Your Bibliography

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 12:00:56 +0000

Combined with a few other steps, editing Word’s “Bibliography” style will give you more consistent formatting with fewer headaches.

How You Should Not Format Your Bibliographies

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 12:00:05 +0000

You can get your bibliography to look like SBL style requires in a few different ways. But several common approaches create serious problems.

How to Easily Change First Page Margins in Word

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

On the first page of a major section, SBL style asks for a 2-inch top margin. But that doesn’t mean you need to change the margin size in Word.

You Need to Budget Your Time to Avoid Guilt and Shame

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

You need to budget your time to avoid having priorities assigned to it by social pressure that aren’t consistent with your vocation.

You Need to Budget Your Time to Avoid Schedule Crises

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Budgeting your time can help put you in a better position to avoid additional time and energy spent managing schedule crises.

You Need to Budget Your Time to Get the Most Out of It

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 13:50:27 +0000

You need to budget your time in order to get the most out of it not only by doing more things but also—and more importantly—by doing more important things.

You Need to Budget Your Time to Manage Your Commitments

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 12:00:00 +0000

You need to budget your time in order to manage your commitments because your time is limited, but your possible commitments are unlimited.

Why You Need to Budget Your Time

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 15:50:03 +0000

Do you really need to budget your time in the first place? There are at least 4 very good reasons the answer is a firm “Yes.”

Daily Gleanings: Creating (18 December 2019)

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 08:44:31 +0000

Michael Hyatt has a brief, helpful discussion of differences in mindset between successful and unsuccessful creatives.

Confused or Intrigued with Second Temple Hermeneutics?

Mon, 31 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000

“Sacred Texts and Paradigmatic Revolutions” illustrates how modern readers can work to recover Second Temple interpretive contexts.

How to Budget Your Time If It's Regular and Irregular

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000

If your schedule is both regular and irregular, you can budget your time by combining approaches for regular and irregular time.

𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵: 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘍𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

It’s easy to pit Scripture against tradition. But the Bible articulates a fundamental unity between Scripture and the tradition it embodies.

Audience and Predestination in the Letter to the Romans

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 12:00:00 +0000

In a special podcast, Chris Jones and I discuss the challenging issues of Romans’s audience and the letter’s perspective on predestination.

F. F. Bruce, Paul and the Mind of Christ

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 15:54:18 +0000

From Rob Bradshaw:

The following rare monograph is now available on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, Paul and the Mind of Christ. Leicester: Religious & Theological Students Fellowship, 1982. Pbk. pp.43.

Visit the latest additions page for the link.

Uncertain about Integrating History and Theology?

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 12:00:00 +0000

It can be a challenge to read Scripture historically and theologically. “Explorations in Interdisciplinary Reading” helps you address this challenge.

The Odd Thing about Font and Line Sizes

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 12:00:00 +0000

When you select a font, you select its size in a unit called “points.” But the font face also affects the visual size of lines and type on the page.

How to Justify Your Title Page Text Blocks in No Time

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 12:00:03 +0000

You can save yourself a lot of time by letting Word handle title page formatting—particularly when you’re vertically justifying the title page text.

How to Prepare Your Title Page Text Blocks

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 12:00:00 +0000

If you delegate your title page formatting to Word, you can save time formatting. A key preparatory step is to properly segmenting your title page text.

Rasputin and Romans 6

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 14:34:27 +0000

In his Tyndale series Romans commentary, F. F. Bruce offers the following colorful, if also sad, illustration as he discusses Rom 6:

A notable historical instance [of a tendency to read Paul as advocating antinomianism] may be seen in the Russian monk Rasputin, the evil genius of the Romanov family in its last years of power. Rasputin taught and exemplified the doctrine of salvation through repeated experiences of sin and repentance; he held that, as those who sin most require most forgiveness, a sinner who continues to sin with abandon enjoys, each time he repents, more of God’s forgiving grace than any ordinary sinner.((Bruce, Romans ( affiliate disclosure), 134.))

How to Actually Format Your Title Page Text

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 12:00:00 +0000

If you delegate your title page formatting to Word, you can save yourself time spent formatting.((Header image provided by Etienne Girardet.)) You can also end up with a title page that’s more precisely formatted.

To start delegating your title pages to Word, there are four basic steps. The first of these is to capitalize and center your title page text.

Why You Need to Delegate Your Title Pages

Mon, 25 May 2020 12:00:00 +0000

You can space your title page content simply by entering blank paragraphs. But if you do so, you set yourself up for more work and at least three problems.

The Fundamentals of How to Format a Title Page

Mon, 18 May 2020 12:00:00 +0000

To pass your title page formatting off to Word, you need to start by understanding what SBL style requires in formatting your title page.

Okhlah we-Okhlah: What It Is, Why It's Important, and How to Get It

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Okhlah we-Okhlah is a medieval compilation of information about the Hebrew Bible. Here are the basics about why it’s important and how to access it.

The No-fail Way to Space Footnotes

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 12:00:52 +0000

Style manuals often require that footnotes have a blank line between them. The best method for achieving this spacing is to edit the footnote style.

How to Avoid Missing Manuscript Images

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 12:00:48 +0000

In INTF’s database, sometimes a transcription isn’t available or a manuscript image is harder to read. In these cases, check external image repositories.

How to Quickly See Manuscript Information in INTF's Database

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 12:00:00 +0000

With the document ID handy, INTF’s Liste search makes it quite easy to see additional information about that manuscript—and possibly the manuscript itself.

To Be Productive, You Need to Be Adaptable

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 10:25:11 +0000

Adaptability is central to productivity. Especially amid life’s complexities, to stay productive, you need to stay adaptable and open.

What You Need to Know to Use INTF's Document ID System

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 13:30:00 +0000

Once you understand INTF’s system, you can call up any manuscript in the database. For Greek New Testament witnesses, the document ID is a 5-digit sequence.

What Do You Do When Your Critical Apparatus Is Confusing?

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 12:00:00 +0000

A modern Greek New Testament’s critical apparatus holds a wealth of information. When you’re uncertain what the apparatus means, consult the manuscripts.

What You Need to Know about Editing Tables of Contents Styles

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 12:00:00 +0000

To follow the “Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style,” there are three key steps to editing the styles for your table of contents.

What You Need to Know about Formatting Tables of Contents

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 12:00:00 +0000

It’s not immediately clear how to customize some formatting for tables of contents. The key to make the formatting “stick” is to modify its styles.

Dr. Hildegard von Bingen

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 10:32:10 +0000

Hildegard von Bingen

Courtesy of Michael Barber, I have realized (somewhat belatedly) that Hildegard von Bingen has now been added to the list of “doctors of the church.” Like many, I have been very unfamiliar with Hildegard, but some of her hymnody is exceptional (e.g., Last.com, Pandora).

Turn the Tables of Contents over to Word

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Microsoft Word can quickly create tables of contents so that the headings and page numbers update along with your document.

How to Format Headings with Styles in Word

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 12:00:00 +0000

In Microsoft Word, a “style” is a collection of one or more pieces of formatting information. Styles are especially helpful when you use them to format your headings.

Pro Tips for Busy Writers: Alex Stewart

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 12:00:56 +0000

Alex Stewart provides a number of pro tips for busy writers in biblical studies. Alex stresses the importance of taking a long-term view of one’s writing.

Pro Tips for Busy Writers: David DeSilva

Tue, 14 Jan 2020 09:49:42 +0000

David DeSilva provides several pro tips for busy writers in biblical studies. David stresses the importance of “no” and working on one project at a time.

Daily Gleanings: Updates (6 January 2020)

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:00:58 +0000

I’m running an experiment with how to format the content that has been in the Daily Gleanings series.

Daily Gleanings: Habits (19 December 2019)

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 11:48:00 +0000

Chris Bailey and James Clear, author of “Atomic Habits,” discuss habit formation and the impact that small habits can have.

Daily Gleanings: DRH (30 December 2019)

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 11:24:37 +0000

The Database of Religious History tries to address the volume of scholarly literature being produced and the difficulty of keeping current with it all.

Daily Gleanings: Theology (3 January 2020)

Fri, 03 Jan 2020 16:00:18 +0000

Gavin Ordlund’s “Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals” addresses a “‘me and my Bible’ approach to theology.”

Daily Gleanings: Textual Criticism (2 January 2020)

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 16:00:12 +0000

Now available from Brill is Donald Parry’s treatment of the Dead Sea Isaiah scrolls and their variants.

Daily Gleanings: Productivity (1 January 2020)

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 16:00:13 +0000

Erik Fisher and Craig Jarrow discuss essential time management tools.

Daily Gleanings: Community Rule (31 December 2019)

Tue, 31 Dec 2019 16:00:06 +0000

Sarianna Metso’s edition of the Community Rule addresses all surviving witnesses for the Rule and includes a critical apparatus.

Daily Gleanings: Romans (27 December 2019)

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 16:00:42 +0000

Chris Tilling has a very fine two-part lecture on Karl Barth’s commentary on Romans.

Daily Gleanings: Paul (26 December 2019)

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 16:00:20 +0000

Katja Kujanpää discusses Paul’s quotation in Rom 11:35 and argues that it comes not from Job 41:3 but from Isa 40:14.

Daily Gleanings: Bezae (25 December 2019)

Wed, 25 Dec 2019 16:00:14 +0000

Pasi Hyytiäinen discusses the “Evolving Gamaliel Tradition in Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, Acts 5:38–39.”

Daily Gleanings: Working (24 December 2019)

Tue, 24 Dec 2019 16:00:20 +0000

Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller reflect on some “reasons you can’t stop working.”

Daily Gleanings: Finishing (23 December 2019)

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 16:00:02 +0000

To finish goals or projects that seem to drag on forever, try time keys or splitting things up into smaller units.

Daily Gleanings: Benchmarking (20 December 2019)

Fri, 20 Dec 2019 16:00:10 +0000

Instead of simply focusing on skill development, Scott Young suggests that “benchmark projects” will tend to be more effective.

Daily Gleanings: Writing (17 December 2019)

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 16:00:21 +0000

Emmanuel Nataf outlines several concrete practices to develop in order to foster consistent writing.

Daily Gleanings: Paul (16 December 2019)

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 16:00:56 +0000

Larry Hurtado reviews Archibald Hunter’s “Paul and His Predecessors.” The full text of the revised 1961 edition was available on Internet Archive.

Daily Gleanings: Saying No (13 December 2019)

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 16:00:29 +0000

Michael Hyatt suggests five reasons to cultivate the skill of gracefully saying no.

How to Quickly Number Pages for Long Essays in Word

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 12:22:39 +0000

The guidance about page number placement in for SBL style long essays is clear enough. Achieving this placement in Word can be too with some simple steps.

Daily Gleanings: German (12 December 2019)

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 12:22:18 +0000

Now a good five years in the making Alan Ng and Sarah Korpi, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have made openly available online a German grammar.

Daily Gleanings: Time Blocking (11 December 2019)

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 16:00:37 +0000

Stephen Altrogge provides a helpful introduction to time blocking as a way of creating and committing to space for deep work.

Daily Gleanings: Logos (10 December 2019)

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 16:00:02 +0000

Logos Bible Software now offers gift cards so others can partner in building your Logos library.

Daily Gleanings: Free Books (9 December 2019)

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 16:00:00 +0000

For December, Logos is offering Jaroslav Pelikan’s Acts commentary for free. Verbum is offering Thomas Aquinas’s commentary on Matthew.

Daily Gleanings: Atomic Minimalism (6 December 2019)

Fri, 06 Dec 2019 16:00:00 +0000

James Clear and Cal Newport discuss the symbiotic relationship their prior work has in terms of fostering focus.

Daily Gleanings: Productivity (5 December 2019)

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Jory MacKay discusses productivity shame and five strategies for coping with it.

Daily Gleanings: Lectures (4 December 2019)

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 16:00:26 +0000

Using a baking metaphor, McGever encourages chronic over-preparers not to “overwork the batter” of their lectures so that they don’t come out overly dense.

Daily Gleanings: Finances (3 December 2019)

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 16:00:21 +0000

In Logos’s 2020 seminary guide, Daniel Zacharias and Benjamin Forrest discuss how to finance seminary or other similar education.

Daily Gleanings: Focus (2 December 2019)

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 16:00:46 +0000

Corey Pemberton discusses eight specific types of challenges with focus and provides some suggestions for overcoming each type.

Daily Gleanings: Showing Up (29 November 2019)

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 16:00:34 +0000

Steven Pressfield shares his thoughts on winning inner creative battles. Pressfield encourages continuing to show up, do the work, and keep moving forward.

Daily Gleanings: Personality (28 November 2019)

Thu, 28 Nov 2019 16:00:47 +0000

Michael Hyatt and Ian Cron discuss different personality types, their particular productivity challenges, and how to overcome these.

Daily Gleanings: Textual Criticism (27 November 2019)

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 16:00:34 +0000

Peter Gurry distills five lessons for budding scholars. Textual criticism isn’t something you can afford to ignore if you’re dealing with the biblical text.

Daily Gleanings: Inscriptions (26 November 2019)

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 16:00:19 +0000

The Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of the Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age is producing a database of Latin inscriptions.

Daily Gleanings: Free Books (25 November 2019)

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 16:00:52 +0000

This week is the last chance to grab the Faithlife platforms’ free and deeply discounted volumes this month. All three have resources of interest here.

Daily Gleanings: 1 Enoch (22 November 2019)

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 16:00:03 +0000

Daily Gleanings about 1 Enoch and the problems with establishing a Second Temple period text for it.

Daily Gleanings: Q (21 November 2019)

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 16:00:58 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Occam’s Razor and how it does and doesn’t play into arguments about Q and the Synoptic Problem.

Daily Gleanings: Missing Out (20 November 2019)

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 16:00:30 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the need to miss out on some things in order engage most fully with what’s most important.

Daily Gleanings: GTD (19 November 2019)

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 16:00:49 +0000

Daily Gleanings about overviews of the “Getting Things Done” methodology popularized by David Allen.

Daily Gleanings: Conversations (18 November 2019)

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 16:00:14 +0000

Daily Gleanings about how to be a better conversationalist, not least in professional networking contexts.

Daily Gleanings: Church Fathers (15 November 2019)

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the importance of doing textual criticism on the texts of church fathers.

Daily Gleanings: Romans (14 November 2019)

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Word & World’s issue on Romans and especially Arland Hultgren’s essay on “Paul, Romans, and the Christians at Rome.”

Daily Gleanings: Digital Distractions (13 November 2019)

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about avoiding digital distractions, prioritizing writing, using social pressure, and sleeping.

Daily Gleanings: Scriptures (12 November 2019)

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about “Ancient Jewish and Christian Scriptures,” co-authored by John Collins, Craig Evans, and Lee Martin McDonald.

Daily Gleanings: Memory (11 November 2019)

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 16:00:47 +0000

Daily Gleanings about memory and its improvement.

How to Quickly Number Pages for Short Essays in Word

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 12:00:22 +0000

The guidance about page number placement in for SBL style short essays is clear enough. Achieving this placement in Word can be too with some simple steps.

Daily Gleanings: Old Testament (8 November 2019)

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 16:00:45 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the open access journal “Old Testament Essays.”

Daily Gleanings: Freedom (7 November 2019)

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Freedom for Chrome OS and Linux.

Daily Gleanings: Overwhelm (6 November 2019)

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about overwhelm and some strategies for moving past it.

Daily Gleanings: Lingusitics (5 November 2019)

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the (non-)use of linguistics in biblical studies, particularly in Hebrew lexicography.

Daily Gleanings: White-listing (4 November 2019)

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Freedom’s release of white-listing for Windows users.

How to Actually Paginate an Essay

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 12:00:00 +0000

The guidance about page number placement in the “Student Supplement for the 𝘚𝘉𝘓 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦” is mostly clear. But some of it takes some guesswork.

Daily Gleanings: Scribal Habits (1 November 2019)

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the problems of studying scribal habits via work on singular readings.

Daily Gleanings: Ptolemy IV (31 October 2019)

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 16:00:20 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the recent discovery of the tomb of Ptolemy IV Philopater.

Daily Gleanings: Scripture (30 October 2019)

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Joe Gordon based on his book “Divine Scripture in Human Understanding.”

Daily Gleanings: Works of the Law (29 October 2019)

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Matthew Thomas about the second-century reception of Paul’s comments on “works of the law.”

Daily Gleanings: Sacred Texts (28 October 2019)

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about what’s available through the British Library’s “Discovering Sacred Texts” web portal.

How to Use Freedom to Support Your Priorities

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0000

Freedom is a powerful tool. It allows us to set priorities for our time ahead of time when we’re thinking clearly about what’s most important.

Daily Gleanings: Johannine Grammar (25 October 2019)

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 16:00:51 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Edwin Abbott’s “Johannine Grammar.”

Daily Gleanings: Transportation (24 October 2019)

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 16:00:46 +0000

Daily Gleanings about transportation networks in the Roman World of the 3rd century.

Daily Gleanings: Case Frames (23 October 2019)

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 16:00:29 +0000

Daily Gleanings about getting started with case frame analysis.

Daily Gleanings: Revelation (22 October 2019)

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 16:00:47 +0000

Daily Gleanings about “Reading Revelation in Context: John’s Apocalypse and Second Temple Judaism.”

Daily Gleanings: Miracles (21 October 2019)

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 16:00:43 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Michael Kruger about arguments against the possibility of miraculous events based on probability.

How to Easily Edit and Unedit Zotero Notes

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0000

Zotero makes it very easy to edit notes beyond what a particular citation style allows. Unediting notes is also simple but less immediately clear.

Daily Gleanings: Textual Criticism (18 October 2019)

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 16:00:48 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Peter Gurry about textual criticism and preferences regarding explanations from intentional and unintentional changes.

Daily Gleanings: Overwhelm (17 October 2019)

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 16:00:50 +0000

Daily Gleanings about overcoming feelings of overwhelm.

Daily Gleanings: Ezekiel (16 October 2019)

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 16:00:47 +0000

Daily Gleanings about newly digitized fragments of MS 967 containing Greek text of Ezekiel.

Daily Gleanings: Monastic Manuscripts (15 October 2019)

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 16:00:57 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the Monastic Manuscript Project.

Daily Gleanings: Hebrew Bible (14 October 2019)

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 16:00:43 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Ziony Zevit’s edited volume, “Subtle Citation, Allusion, and Translation in the Hebrew Bible” and Jacques van Ruiten’s review.

Pro Tips for Busy Writers: Anthony Le Donne

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0000

Anthony Le Donne provides several pro tips for busy writers in biblical studies. Anthony stresses self-awareness and prioritizing your dissertation.

Daily Gleanings: Romans (11 October 2019)

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 16:00:15 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Sarah Casson’s “Textual Signposts in the Argument of Romans: A Relevance-Theory Approach.”

Daily Gleanings: Photographs (10 October 2019)

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 16:00:53 +0000

Daily Gleanings about open access photographic resources from Carl Rasmussen and Jesse Gavin.

Daily Gleanings: Focus for Study (9 October 2019)

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 16:00:54 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Freedom about how to focus your attention better when studying.

Daily Gleanings: Martha (8 October 2019)

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 16:00:27 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Martha as an interpolation in John’s gospel.

Pro Tips for Busy Writers: Jason Maston

Mon, 07 Oct 2019 16:00:35 +0000

Jason Maston provides several pro tips for busy writers in biblical studies. Jason stresses working on projects that matter to you in your specific context.

Daily Gleanings: Academic Job Hunting (7 October 2019)

Mon, 07 Oct 2019 16:00:24 +0000

Daily Gleanings about academic job hunting and finding your place in the higher education landscape.

Daily Gleanings: Indistractability (4 October 2019)

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 16:00:31 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Nir Eyal’s discussion about how to improve focus and become “indistractable.”

Daily Gleanings: Assyrian (3 October 2019)

Thu, 03 Oct 2019 16:00:06 +0000

Daily Gleanings about how to get the 21-volume “Assyrian Dictionary” via open access from the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute.

Daily Gleanings: Email (2 October 2019)

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 16:00:54 +0000

Daily Gleanings about how best to minimize the footprint doing email has in your days.

Daily Gleanings: Greek Articles (1 October 2019)

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 16:00:25 +0000

Daily Gleanings about “The Article in Post-classical Greek.”

Daily Gleanings: Freedom for iOS (30 September 2019)

Mon, 30 Sep 2019 16:00:48 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the return of app blocking to Freedom for iOS.

Daily Gleanings: Origen on Hebrews (27 September 2019)

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 16:00:42 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Origen’s position on Paul’s authorship of Hebrews and the importance of reading primary literature.

Daily Gleanings: Archaeology (26 September 2019)

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 16:00:35 +0000

Daily Gleanings about a new open-access monograph series from the Council for British Research in the Levant.

Daily Gleanings: Apostolic Fathers (25 September 2019)

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 16:00:07 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Michael Kruger about evidence for the importance of written gospel texts to the Apostolic Fathers.

Daily Gleanings: Productivity (24 September 2019)

Tue, 24 Sep 2019 16:00:11 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the importance of focus for productivity and a case study in thinking about productivity in the context of full-time church work.

Daily Gleanings: Pressure (23 September 2019)

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 16:00:31 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the importance of community for enabling productivity in settings and times where you feel like you’re under pressure.

Pro Tips for Busy Writers: Matthew Bates

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 12:00:36 +0000

Matthew Bates provides several pro tips for busy writers in biblical studies. Matthew stresses the need to stay focused and work on one project at a time.

Daily Gleanings: Planning Preaching (20 September 2019)

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 16:00:21 +0000

Daily Gleanings about planning preaching and coordinating it with academic work.

Daily Gleanings: Consistency (19 September 2019)

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 16:00:05 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Michael Hyatt about the importance of consistent effort over time and this effort’s relationship to (mega)batching.

Daily Gleanings: Hittite (18 September 2019)

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 16:00:07 +0000

Daily Gleanings about openly accessing Alwin Kloekhort’s 2007 dissertation from Leiden University, “The Hittite Inherited Lexicon.”

Daily Gleanings: BDB (17 September 2019)

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 16:00:33 +0000

Daily Gleaings about how to access BDB openly online.

Daily Gleanings: Focus (16 September 2019)

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:00:48 +0000

Daily Gleanings about how to free yourself to focus better on what matters.

Daily Gleanings: Resurrection (13 September 2019)

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 16:00:18 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Brandon Crowe’s forthcoming “Hope of Israel: The Resurrection of Christ in the Acts of the Apostles.”

Daily Gleanings: Hebrews (12 September 2019)

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 16:00:36 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the “Hebrews” inscription discovered during ongoing excavations at Atarot in Jordan.

Daily Gleanings: Miracles (11 September 2019)

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 16:00:47 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Craig Keener about David Hume’s objections to miracles.

Daily Gleanings: Origen (10 September 2019)

Tue, 10 Sep 2019 16:00:56 +0000

Daily Gleanings about a couple free works by Origen, courtesy of Verbum, as well as deep discounts on related resources.

How to Master SBL Style in 7 Simple Steps

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 16:30:24 +0000

SBL style shares much with Chicago but also has many details specific to biblical studies. Here’s a 7-step checklist to help you master SBL style.

Daily Gleanings: Pistis (6 September 2019)

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 16:23:34 +0000

Daily Gleanings about David Downs and Benjamin Lappenga’s “Faithfulness of the Risen Christ,” which links “pistis Christou” and Jesus’s resurrection.

Daily Gleanings: James (9 September 2019)

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 16:00:33 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the free Zondervan Exegetical commentary on James from Logos, as well as deep discounts on related resources.

Daily Gleanings: Weekly Reviews (5 September 2019)

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 16:00:48 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Todoist about how to do a weekly review to keep perspective amid hectic weeks.

Daily Gleanings: Septuagint (4 September 2019)

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 12:27:20 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Siegfried Kreuzer’s “Introduction to the Septuagint.”

Daily Gleanings: Faith-Allegiance (3 September 2019)

Tue, 03 Sep 2019 16:00:28 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Matthew Bates’s “Gospel Allegiance,” which follows up on the thesis of “Salvation by Allegiance Alone.”

Pro Tips for Busy Writers: Ben Blackwell

Tue, 03 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Ben Blackwell provides several pro tips for busy writers in biblical studies. Ben stresses scheduling time both for writing and for rest.

Daily Gleanings: Scheduling Change (2 September 2019)

Mon, 02 Sep 2019 16:00:20 +0000

Daily Gleanings in the month of September will be a bit different. Here’s what to expect and why.

Pro Tips for Busy Writers: Ben Blackwell

Mon, 02 Sep 2019 13:27:00 +0000

Ben Blackwell provides several pro tips for busy writers in biblical studies. Ben stresses scheduling time both for writing and for rest.

Daily Gleanings: Persisting (30 August 2019)

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 16:00:17 +0000

Daily Gleanings to help you persist in focused work.

Daily Gleanings: Starting (29 August 2019)

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 16:00:54 +0000

Daily Gleanings to help get you started with difficult focused work.

Daily Gleanings: Logos Features (28 August 2019)

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 04:11:04 +0000

Daily Gleanings about features in Logos Bible Software.

Daily Gleanings: Free Resources (27 August 2019)

Tue, 27 Aug 2019 16:00:33 +0000

Daily Gleanings about a free chapter from Nijay Gupta’s “Prepare, Succeed, Advance” and WiBiLex, a “scholarly Internet Bible lexicon.”

Daily Gleanings: New Books (26 August 2019)

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 16:00:40 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Craig Keener’s “Christobiography” and Antti Laato’s “Spiritual Meaning of Jerusalem in Three Abrahamic Religions.”

Daily Gleanings: Insights (23 August 2019)

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the benefits of learning biblical languages and how to cultivate more insightful work.

Daily Gleanings: Knowledge Work (22 August 2019)

Thu, 22 Aug 2019 16:00:13 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the challenges inherent in knowledge work and ways of balancing productive work with healthy engagement in the rest of life.

Daily Gleanings: New Publications (21 August 2019)

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 16:00:05 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Vanhoozer’s “Hearers and Doers” from Lexham and Jason Ripley’s “Glorious Death, Imperial Rome and the Gospel of John” from JGRChJ.

Daily Gleanings: Textual Criticism (20 August 2019)

Tue, 20 Aug 2019 16:00:01 +0000

Daily Gleanings with Peter Gentry on his Göttingen volume for Ecclesiastes and continuing comment from Peter Gurry on the Johannine comma.

Daily Gleanings: Digital Humanities (19 August 2019)

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 16:00:16 +0000

Daily Gleanings about digital humanities resources for philology and epigraphy.

Daily Gleanings (16 August 2019)

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 16:00:03 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Michael Hyatt and Megan Miller about not investing in the wrong people and from Roger Pearse about hunting for manuscripts online.

Daily Gleanings: Manuscript Matters (15 August 2019)

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 16:00:55 +0000

Daily Gleanings about manuscript structure (ektheses) and using Patristic citations for textual criticism of the Greek New Testament.

Daily Gleanings: Focus (14 August 2019)

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 16:00:10 +0000

Daily Gleanings about focus and Focusmate.

Daily Gleanings: Ros Barber (13 August 2019)

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 16:00:13 +0000

Freedom interviews Ros Barber on how to nurture the focus necessary for academic and creative writing.

Daily Gleanings: Free Books (12 August 2019)

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 16:00:14 +0000

Daily Gleanings about free books for August 2019 from Logos and Verbum.

Daily Gleanings (9 August 2019)

Fri, 09 Aug 2019 16:00:22 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Mark Goodacre about “sourceomania” and from Nir Eyal about distraction and focus.

Daily Gleanings: Focus (8 August 2019)

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 16:00:31 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Joshua Becker about the unimportance of the “right” tool or “best” gadget and from Michael Hyatt about the significance of stillness.

A Hermeneutic of Love

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 16:35:34 +0000

Communication is hermeneutical; it involves people sending and receiving messages. To make the communication process work, the sender(s) and receiver(s) both have to meet their own particular, communicative responsibilities. Of course, with literature like the New Testament, the people who sent the messages it contains cannot clarify or supplement anything they have already said. So, if communication is to happen, any modern readers, or receivers, must try to understand the text’s own communicative horizon, for all the problems that task entails (see this post for a discussion). On this task, consider the following, insightful comments from N. T. Wright’s New Testament and the People of God:

Daily Gleanings: Manuscript Preservation (7 August 2019)

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 16:00:33 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Dan Wallace about CSNTM and Roger Pearse about the longevity of manuscripts in antiquity.

Daily Gleanings: Textual Criticism (6 August 2019)

Tue, 06 Aug 2019 16:00:12 +0000

Daily Gleanings from John Meade about the Göttingen Septuagint volume for Ecclesiastes and Peter Gurry on the Johannine comma’s origin story.

Daily Gleanings: CSC Plenaries (5 August 2019)

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 16:00:28 +0000

Daily Gleanings from the 2019 Christian Scholars’ Conference plenaries on child rearing in the Greco-Roman world and the Christology of the Greek fathers.

Daily Gleanings: Greek New Testament (2 August 2019)

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 16:00:06 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Nijay Gupta’s critical introduction to 1–2 Thessalonians and KoineGreek.com’s videos of Mark’s gospel in Greek.

Daily Gleanings: Software (1 August 2019)

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 16:00:47 +0000

Daily Gleanings about improved cross-compatibility among word processors in Zotero and about exporting information from PhraseExpress.

Daily Gleanings: Thoughts from Freedom (31 July 2019)

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 16:00:45 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Freedom about avoiding procrastination and Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s thoughts on how to foster focused work as a busy academic.

Daily Gleanings: Software (30 July 2019)

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 16:00:43 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Chrome’s new “Limit” extension by Freedom and Logos’s double- and triple-click shortcut options.

Daily Gleanings: Textual Criticism (29 July 2019)

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 16:00:13 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the Göttingen Septuagint volume on Ecclesiastes and possible new fragments of 1 Corinthians.

Pro Tips for Busy Writers: Craig Keener

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 12:00:39 +0000

Craig Keener provides several pro tips for busy writers in biblical studies. Craig stresses scheduling writing time and working on one project at a time.

Daily Gleanings (26 July 2019)

Fri, 26 Jul 2019 16:00:38 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Logos about plotting search results on a timeline and from William Ross about the Song of Songs in Greek.

Daily Gleanings: Life in Biblical Scholarship (25 July 2019)

Thu, 25 Jul 2019 16:00:50 +0000

Daily Gleanings about managing stress and living with students as a faculty member.

Daily Gleanings: New Publications (24 July 2019)

Wed, 24 Jul 2019 16:00:36 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Greg Goswell about reading Romans after Acts and from Carol Newsom about rhetoric and hermeneutics in biblical and ST literature.

Daily Gleanings: New Books (23 July 2019)

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 16:00:01 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Richard Middleton on Christian worldview and ethics and from Larry Hurtado on scribal and readerly changes.

Daily Gleanings: Freedom (22 July 2019)

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 16:00:10 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Freedom about distractions (digital and otherwise) and how to overcome them to improve your focus on what matters.

Daily Gleanings (19 July 2019)

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 16:00:01 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the Muratorian fragment and the expansion of one’s English vocabulary through reading German texts.

Daily Gleanings: Recent Publications (18 July 2019)

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 16:00:50 +0000

Daily Gleanings about biblical theology from Eckhard Schnabel and Craig Keener’s commentary on Galatians from Larry Hurtado.

Daily Gleanings (17 July 2019)

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 16:00:37 +0000

Daily Gleanings about how David Allen would design software for GTD and how to use Todoist to leverage the Eisenhower matrix.

Daily Gleanings (16 July 2019)

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 16:00:37 +0000

Daily Gleanings about simple productivity improvements to try and better understanding the importance of networks for work in biblical studies.

Daily Gleanings: Open Access References (15 July 2019)

Mon, 15 Jul 2019 16:00:34 +0000

Daily Gleanings about open access references for Greek personal names and subsequent transmission of classic Greek literature.

Daily Gleanings (12 July 2019)

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 16:00:58 +0000

Daily Gleanings from RBL about Heath Thomas’s commentary on Habakkuk and Rocketbook about maximizing productivity.

Daily Gleanings: Finds from AWOL (11 July 2019)

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 16:00:13 +0000

Daily Gleanings about finds from AWOL about Hittite and expanded ranges of fonts.

Daily Gleanings: Paul in RBL (10 July 2019)

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 16:00:53 +0000

Daily Gleanings about reviews of recent publications on Paul in the Review of Biblical Literature.

Daily Gleanings: New Titles from SBL Press (9 July 2019)

Tue, 09 Jul 2019 16:00:16 +0000

Daily Gleanings about new releases from SBL Press on the theology and intertextuality of the Hebrew Bible.

Daily Gleanings: Free Books (8 July 2019)

Mon, 08 Jul 2019 16:00:24 +0000

Daily Gleanings about books available for free—or otherwise deeply discounted—this month from Logos and Verbum.

Pro Tips for Busy Writers: Nijay Gupta

Mon, 08 Jul 2019 12:00:43 +0000

Nijay Gupta provides a number of pro tips for busy writers in biblical studies. Nijay stresses the importance of planning, organization, and persistence.

Daily Gleanings (5 July 2019)

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 16:00:07 +0000

Daily Gleanings about complex systems, their failure, and remedies for these failures, as well as brief suggestions for restoring motivation.

Daily Gleanings (4 July 2019)

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 16:00:52 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Brice Jones about P.Oxy. 83.5345 (a “first-c.” Mark fragment) and Larry Hurtado about Darina Staudt’s, “Der eine und einzige Gott.”

Daily Gleanings: RBL (3 July 2019)

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 12:00:56 +0000

Daily Gleanings from RBL on Fiona Gregson’s, “Everything in Common?” and Jason Maston and Benjamin Reynolds’s, “Anthropology and New Testament Theology.”

Daily Gleanings: Paul in RBL (2 July 2019)

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 16:00:16 +0000

Daily Gleanings from RBL about Channing Crisler’s “Reading Romans as Lament” and David Capes’s “Divine Christ.”

Daily Gleanings: Attention (1 July 2019)

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 16:00:56 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Dropbox about Jenny Odell’s “How to Do Nothing” and Freedom about time tracking.

Pro Tips for Busy Writers: New Series

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 12:00:16 +0000

In this series, we hear from mid- and later-career scholars who have successfully created habits for productive writing in busy lives.

Daily Gleanings: Book Reviews (28 June 2019)

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 16:00:59 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Mike Aubrey’s discussion of new books in Greek linguistics and Mark Ward’s review of Dirk Jonkind’s “Introduction to the GNT.”

Daily Gleanings: Open, Free Access Resources (27 June 2019)

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 16:00:36 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the final EAGLE conference proceedings and Cairo Geniza texts, transcriptions. Both are freely available online.

Daily Gleanings: New Releases (26 June 2019)

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 16:00:30 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the publication of the proceedings from the 16th IOSCS congress and Matthew Crawford’s treatment of Eusebian canon tables.

Daily Gleanings: Avoiding Distraction (25 July 2019)

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 16:00:43 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller about how to avoid drifting through life and from Cal Newport about avoiding digital distraction.

Daily Gleanings: Insights from Freedom (24 June 2019)

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 16:00:37 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Freedom on the new Insight extension for Chrome and on how to manage time effectively and cut the clutter of distraction.

Daily Gleanings: Textual Criticism (21 June 2019)

Fri, 21 Jun 2019 16:00:09 +0000

Daily Gleanings about multi-spectral images from CSNTM and an open access series from Gorgias in partnership with De Gruyter.

Daily Gleanings (20 June 2019)

Thu, 20 Jun 2019 16:00:41 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Michael Kruger about ordination exams (with applications for new faculty) and from Todoist about “eating the frog” for productivity.

Daily Gleanings: Digital Humanities (19 June 2019)

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 16:00:17 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Digitial Classics on YouTube and the Catalogue of Digital Editions.

Daily Gleanings: New Books (18 June 2019)

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Colin Whiting’s “Documents from the Luciferians” and Crawford and Zola’s “Gospel of Tatian.”

Daily Gleanings: RBL (17 June 2019)

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from the Review of Biblical Literature on gift exchange in Paul’s letters and rewritten and received Bible.

Authorities for SBL Style: Classes, Miscellanea

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 12:00:00 +0000

The “Student Supplement to the SBL Handbook of Style” can be helpful for classes. For anything not in a higher authority, see the 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦.

Daily Gleanings (14 June 2019)

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Joseph Dongell, Ben Witherington, and Craig Keener on the New Perspective on Paul.

Daily Gleanings (13 June 2019)

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Todoist on the Pomodoro technique and Peter Gurry on the Harklean Syriac.

An introduction to Gadamer

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 10:04:29 +0000

St. Johns Nottingham has a helpful introduction to the life and philosophy of H.-G. Gadamer.

Daily Gleanings (12 June 2019)

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Larry Hurtado about early Alexandrian scholarship and INTF about how ECM handles patristic material.

Daily Gleanings (11 June 2019)

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Michael Thomas discusses the importance of sleep for knowledge work through the lens of a couple key anecdotal narratives.

Todoist has published a helpful introduction to “GTD practices and what [they] think is the most intuitive way to implement the[se practices] in Todoist.”

The essay comments, in part, that “the key to GTD isn’t the techniques or tools you use to execute tasks but rather the habits you employ on a daily basis to think about and prioritize your work.”

Daily Gleanings (10 June 2019)

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Michael Kruger on early Christian scribal culture and from Jake Mailhot on the eschatology of the classic Christian creeds.

Authorities for SBL Style: Abbreviations, Spelling

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 12:00:00 +0000

The “SBL Handbook of Style” is a great resource but doesn’t include everything. Two other sources are necessary authorities for abbreviations and spelling.

Daily Gleanings (7 June 2019)

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from John Meade about his edition of Hexaplaric fragments for Job 22–42 and Brill about open access articles for 50th anniversary of JSJ.

Daily Gleanings (6 June 2019)

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about criteria for determining authenticity and Brill’s “Dictionary of Ancient Greek.”

Daily Gleanings: Articles (5 June 2019)

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 16:00:44 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Benj Giffone on technology and worship and Collin Cornell on Brevard Childs and Julius Wellhausen.

Daily Gleanings (4 June 2019)

Tue, 04 Jun 2019 16:00:06 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Paul, the Law, and PDF versions of the “SBL Handbook of Style.”

Daily Gleanings: Post Updates (3 June 2019)

Mon, 03 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000

I’ve been grateful to be able to materially update two prior posts with additional content:

Publication Year Ranges in Zotero: Previously, this post described how to get Zotero to produce the proper output when citing a series or multivolume work as a whole that was published over a range of years. The prior post version, however, was only able to address this for ranges of years that already had an end date. But with thanks to Brenton Wiernik on the Zotero forums, I’ve been able to update the post to describe how to get the output required if the year range doesn’t yet have an end. This is useful when citing series that are still being published (e.g., the Göttingen Septuagint).
Get Strack and Billerbeck via Internet Archive: Previously, this post identified how to access on Internet Archive volumes 1–3 of Hermann Strack and Paul Billerbeck’s Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch. But these volumes represent only half of Strack and Billerbeck’s commentary. Happily, Ronald van der Bergh mentioned that he had found another page on Internet Archive that provides a combined file of volumes 1–4. I’ve now included a link in the post to this additional file. If anyone comes across volume 5 or 6, do please leave a comment with where you found them, and I’ll be happy to update the post further.

Authorities for SBL Style: SBL

Mon, 03 Jun 2019 12:00:00 +0000

After a house style, SBL Press itself provides the next two highest-level authorities for SBL style—namely, the SBLHS blog and the SBLHS itself.

Daily Gleanings: Thoughts from Larry Hurtado (31 May 2019)

Fri, 31 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Larry Hurtado about early Christian investment in manuscripts and “extant” evidence.

Daily Gleanings: Craig Keener Lectures (28 May 2019)

Fri, 31 May 2019 08:38:49 +0000

Daily Gleanings with Craig Keener on Acts and Romans from the 2019 Stone-Campbell Journal conference.

Daily Gleanings (30 May 2019)

Thu, 30 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Roger Pearse about the translation of the King James Version and AWOL about Brill’s “Digital Biblical Studies” series.

Daily Gleanings (29 May 2019)

Wed, 29 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings from Freedom about the new Pause extension for Chrome and from Michael Kruger about contemporary cultural influences on the New Perspective.

Daily Gleanings (27 May 2019)

Mon, 27 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings on “Paul, a New Covenant Jew” and from J. T. Ellison on productivity as a writer.

Authorities for SBL Style: School House Style

Mon, 27 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

The SBL Handbook of Style doesn’t include everything. There are seven main SBL style authorities, including your school’s house style.

Daily Gleanings (24 May 2019)

Fri, 24 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

University College London has posted on YouTube their 1971 documentary Greek Papyri: The Rediscovery of the Ancient World.

HT: Tommy Wasserman

Sean Hadley, one of our current PhD students in Humanities, positively reviews Robbie Castleman, Darian Lockett, and Stephen Presley’s edited volume Explorations in Interdisciplinary Reading: Theological, Exegetical, and Reception Historical Perspectives (Pickwick, 2017). Along the way, Sean provides some kind comments about my contribution in the volume.

Daily Gleanings (23 May 2019)

Thu, 23 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

On theLAB, Dougald Mclaurin discusses how faculty can “work with librarians to help students write better papers.”

Similarly, see also these prior discussions about how to use your school’s library or other libraries near you.

From Brill:

With the publication of Keeping Watch in Babylon, Brill is happy to have published the 100th volume of the series Culture and History of the Ancient Near East.

Daily Gleanings (22 May 2019)

Wed, 22 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Freedom discusses how to use their “block all except” whitelisting feature to block out distractions and interruptions.

For more discussion of Freedom, see these prior posts.

John Meade surveys ch. 4 of Ronald Hendel and Jan Joosten’s How Old Is the Hebrew Bible?(YUP, 2018) and promises a follow-up post “attempting to engage the authors on one of their examples from chapter 4 with a view to showing how they think diachony and TC work together.”

Daily Gleanings (21 May 2019)

Tue, 21 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

IBR has a new research group on “Linguistics and the Biblical Text.”

HT: William Ross, Mike Aubrey

The University of London’s Department of History provides an open list of “justifications. addenda, and corrigenda” for A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian (Harrassowitz, 1999).

Daily Gleanings (20 May 2019)

Mon, 20 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Mike Aubrey points to a full set of video recordings of lectures from the recent SEBTS conference on linguistics and NT Greek. I’ve included this playlist below as well. The “hamburger” button in the upper left-hand corner will expand the playlist contents with a list of speakers and their topics.

Larry Hurtado reviews Michael Dormandy’s recent TC essay, “How the Books Became the Bible: The Evidence for Canon Formation From Work-Combination in Manuscripts.”

Authorities for SBL Style: Publisher House Style

Mon, 20 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

The 𝘚𝘉𝘓 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦 doesn’t include everything. There are seven main SBL style authorities, starting with a publisher’s house style.

Daily Gleanings (17 May 2019)

Fri, 17 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about the “Text and Canon Institute” and improving performance by minimizing distractions.

Daily Gleanings (16 May 2019)

Thu, 16 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about digitizing medieval manuscripts and plans for the NA29 and UBS6.

Daily Gleanings (15 May 2019)

Wed, 15 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about perfectionism, to-do lists, and the “spirits in prison” in 1 Peter.

Daily Gleanings (14 May 2019)

Tue, 14 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Codex Robertsonianus and the application of “YHWH texts” to Jesus.

Daily Gleanings (13 May 2019)

Mon, 13 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Hume’s critique of miracles and the downsides of email.

Are You Free to Focus? (Part 6: Takeaways)

Mon, 13 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

I had two main takeaways from “Free to Focus” that I’ve already started implementing: megabatching and using technology to avoid distracting technology.

Daily Gleanings: Email (10 May 2019)

Fri, 10 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Michael Hyatt offers practical advice for staying on top of email.

In contrast with the commonly touted practice of “Inbox Zero,” Taylor Lorenz describes “Inbox Infinity” in the Atlantic. HT: Doist

Part of what can help prevent the extremely large inboxes that give rise to Lorenz’s counsel of despair is to unsubscribe from messages you shouldn’t get in the first place. If you can’t unsubscribe, email clients and services often have good filtering abilities. A few minutes spent learning and setting up some key filters can drastically reduce the amount of email that appears in your inbox in the first place.

Daily Gleanings (9 May 2019)

Thu, 09 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Andreas Köstenberger offers reflections and advice on writing ( 1: Why, 2: How).

Peter Gurry extracts some preview examples of translation revisions in the NASB 2020 by comparison to the NASB 1995.

HT: Fred Sanders on Twitter

Daily Gleanings (8 May 2019)

Wed, 08 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

De Gruyter Open has a number of volumes in classical and Ancient Near Eastern studies via open access.

HT: AWOL

Freedom continues the dialog over Apple’s added rules that effectively removed much of Freedom’s functionality for new iOS users.

Daily Gleanings (7 May 2019)

Tue, 07 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Doist provides a “complete guide to deep work.” The essay is mainly geared toward summarizing the advice of Cal Newport’s Deep Work with some additional insertions from Digital Minimalism.

Both books are definitely worth reading. But Doist’s essay is a thorough crash course on the basics.

Daily Gleanings (6 May 2019)

Mon, 06 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings on perfectionism and recent articles in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism.

Are You Free to Focus? (Part 5: Assessment)

Mon, 06 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

Now that we’ve surveyed Michael Hyatt’s “Free to Focus,” we can to offer an assessment of its proposal. In a phrase, it’s “GTD for Essentialists.”

Daily Gleanings (3 May 2019)

Fri, 03 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about Greek, linguistics, and saint cults in late antiquity and the early middle ages.

Daily Gleanings (2 May 2019)

Thu, 02 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about expanding your research materials with “Library Extension” and the possibility of 1 Timothy’s quoting Luke.

Daily Gleanings (1 May 2019)

Wed, 01 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about Logos Bible Software, focus, and distraction.

Daily Gleanings (30 April 2019)

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about focus, distraction, social media, and essentialism.

Daily Gleanings (29 April 2019)

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about focus, distractions, and Paul’s thought about incorporation in the Messiah.

Are You Free to Focus? (Part 4: Acting)

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 12:00:00 +0000

Continued review of Michael Hyatt’s “Free to Focus.” We discuss the three elements of “acting” on what you’ve identified as most important to pursue.

Daily Gleanings (26 April 2019)

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about resources for moving from biblical studies to theology and expanded JSTOR access for members of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Daily Gleanings (25 April 2019)

Thu, 25 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about Thesaurus linguae Latinae (TLL) and fires at the Temple Mount and Notre Dame.

Daily Gleanings (24 April 2019)

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about textual criticism.

Daily Gleanings (23 April 2019)

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about social media and religion, as well as newly digitized Greek New Testament manuscripts.

Daily Gleanings (22 April 2019)

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about English vocabulary and Logos 8.4.

Are You Free to Focus? (Part 3: Cutting)

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 12:00:00 +0000

After you stop to discern what’s important, you need to cut out what sidetracks you from focusing on that. Here are three strategies for doing just that.

Daily Gleanings (19 April 2019)

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 17:00:14 +0000

Gleanings about Jewish Studies and beating distractions to write productively.

Daily Gleanings (18 April 2019)

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 17:00:57 +0000

Gleanings about persistence and the intermediate state.

Daily Gleanings (17 April 2019)

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 17:00:16 +0000

Gleanings about focus and the Kurzgefasste Liste.

Daily Gleanings (16 April 2019)

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 17:00:41 +0000

Gleanings about Logos Bible Software and the Kurzgefasste Liste.

Daily Gleanings: SCJ Plenaries (15 April 2019)

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 17:00:25 +0000

Gleanings from the 2019 Stone-Campbell Journal Conference. Topics include New Testament studies, archaeology, Acts, 1 Corinthians, and Christian education.

Are You Free to Focus? (Part 2: Stopping)

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 12:00:48 +0000

This post continues reviewing Michael Hyatt’s book “Free to Focus.” Here we concentrate on Hyatt’s advice about “stopping” to to discern what’s important.

Daily Gleanings (12 April 2019)

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 17:00:21 +0000

Gleanings about the Nathan-Melech bulla and goal setting.

Daily Gleanings (11 April 2019)

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Gleanings about the theology of Benedict XVI and taking next steps.

Daily Gleanings (10 April 2019)

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 17:00:16 +0000

Gleanings about moving forward when the next steps look difficult.

Daily Gleanings (9 April 2019)

Tue, 09 Apr 2019 17:00:29 +0000

Gleanings about persistence, regularity, and a new Greek grammar.

Daily Gleanings (8 April 2019)

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 16:53:23 +0000

Gleanings about essentialism and Charles Quarles's Matthean theology.

Are You Free to Focus? (Part 1)

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 13:00:47 +0000

Do you feel like you’re drowning in a sea of tasks? Do you keep your nose to the grindstone and complete to-dos like a machine only to look up and find you’re failing to make the progress you want in the areas or projects that matter most?

If so, then you need to read Michael Hyatt’s latest book, Free to Focus ( affiliate disclosure). The volume doesn’t release until tomorrow, 9 April. But the author and Baker Publishing kindly included me in the group that received advance copies.

Daily Gleanings: A Programming Note

Mon, 01 Apr 2019 13:00:00 +0000

I’ve been posting a couple times a day to different social media channels with helpful links and commentary I’ve found. This is changing (at least for now).

Generation Designations (Jr., III, etc.) in Zotero for the SBL Handbook of Style

Mon, 04 Feb 2019 13:00:01 +0000

With Zotero, it can be tricky to get proper citations when author names have “Jr.,” “III,” etc. Here’s how to ensure you get their names output correctly.

A Conversation about Essentials

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 12:00:40 +0000

Michele Cushatt, Michael Hyatt, and Greg McKeown discuss “essentialism,” which is about saying “yes” to what matters most.

7 Reasons I Moved to DreamHost

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 13:00:49 +0000

It can be difficult to select a website host among myriad of available options. I’ve recently moved to DreamHost. Here are a few reasons why.

Judaism in Justification and Variegated Nomism

Fri, 19 Oct 2018 16:42:22 +0000

D. A. Carson, Peter O’Brien, and Mark Seifrid

In contrast to Sanders’ emphasis on the essential consistency of Palestinian Judaism’s pattern of religion, the essays in Second Temple Judaism ( affiliate disclosure) emphasize the nomistic diversity, or variegation, that ancient Judaism exhibited.

Gabriel Vasquez on Thomas Aquinas

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 13:00:30 +0000

Gabriel Vasquez was a Jesuit theologian from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Vasquez’s commentary on Thomas Aquinas has been made available online.

Presence at a Distance at theLAB

Fri, 25 May 2018 18:25:14 +0000

The Logos Academic Blog has reposted there my essay from January’s issue of Didaktikos on presence in online education. Received wisdom says that presence is harder to achieve online. Physically, this is hardly disputable … but there also seems to be quite a bit more to the question than is often brought out.

Godet's "Première épitre aux Corinthiens"

Wed, 23 May 2018 17:27:51 +0000

Google Books has full-text PDFs available for both volumes of Frédéric Godet’s “Première épitre aux Corinthiens.”

Krüger's Griechische sprachlehre

Thu, 17 May 2018 20:50:56 +0000

Google Books as a combined full-text PDF of K. W. Krüger’s Griechische sprachlehre für Schulen (1861). The two tomes make for a combined PDF of just over 1100 pages.

Codex Marchalianus

Wed, 09 May 2018 19:50:50 +0000

The Vatican Library has an online facsimile of Codex Marchalianus (7th–8th c.). The codex contains the text of the prophets and associated writings.

SBLHS2 and Ibid.

Fri, 02 Feb 2018 14:58:49 +0000

CMS17 eliminates the use of “ibid.” SBLHS2 follows suit but does have a slightly different convention for how to format notes where “ibid.” would have appeared.

Presence in Online Education

Fri, 26 Jan 2018 20:43:34 +0000

Presence is possible online—it’s just different than it is on campus.

Codex Sarravianus Online

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 22:00:36 +0000

Internet Archive has a full-text PDF of Codex Sarravianus, a 5th-century majuscule witness to the Septuagint.

How to Accommodate Publication Year Ranges in Zotero

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 13:00:09 +0000

At present, Zotero’s “date” field doesn’t properly handle publications made over a range of years (e.g., 1950–1960).((Header image provided by Zotero via Twitter.)) Instead of including the full range in the corresponding note or bibliography entry, only the first year of the range would be presented (e.g., 1950).

If the Range Has an End

There is, however, a workaround that depends on entering the following syntax in an item’s “extra” field: issued: [first year]/[last year]. Thus, for example, if the extra field has issued: 1950/1960, Zotero would properly output a range of publication dates (thus: “1950–1960”).

Moltmann and Ricoeur in Dialog

Fri, 08 Dec 2017 13:00:35 +0000

Stephen Chan has a substantive essay on interaction between Jürgen Moltmann and Paul Ricoeur that focuses on the centrality of hope to Christian eschatology.

Crossway video about the Tyndale GNT

Tue, 05 Dec 2017 13:00:44 +0000

Crossway has provided a nice video introduction to the new Greek New Testament edition, produced at Tyndale House.

The Major Critical Edition Data for Acts Is Online

Sun, 03 Dec 2017 13:00:32 +0000

Holger Strutwolf has made the Editio Critica Maior for Acts freely available online.

Dawson on Acts and Jubilees

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 13:00:09 +0000

In JGRChJ, Zachary Dawson discusses “The Books of Acts and Jubilees in Dialogue: A Literary-Intertextual Analysis of the Noahide Laws in Acts 15 and 21.”

Wasserman and Gurry on the CBGM

Mon, 06 Nov 2017 13:00:02 +0000

Tommy Wasserman and Peter Gurry have a new introduction to the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM).

Syntax Search Tutorial for Logos

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:00:29 +0000

Logos Bible Software appears to have started releasing an updated set of tutorials about syntax searching.

Bartholomew on "What the World Needs from Christian Academics"

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 13:00:44 +0000

In an interview with Faithlife, Craig Bartholomew delivers a poignant challenge about the vocation of Christian academics for the broader world.

Walton, "Old Testament Theology for Christians"

Mon, 30 Oct 2017 13:00:40 +0000

Due out with InterVarsity Press is John Walton’s “Old Testament Theology for Christians: From Ancient Context to Enduring Belief.”

Tyndale GNT to Be Available for Free

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 13:00:04 +0000

According to the Tyndale Greek New Testament’s FAQs sheet, a digital version of the text is set to be made available for free.

Speeding up Logos on Windows

Wed, 25 Oct 2017 13:00:06 +0000

Recent updates to Logos Bible Software for Windows have included an additional feature to speed up the platform’s load time.

Anchor Bible Discounts from Logos

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 13:00:28 +0000

This month, three Anchor Bible volumes are free or deeply discounted from Logos Bible software. The Anchor Bible series is itself also on sale for 50% off.

Scott, "Exile: A Conversation with N. T. Wright"

Fri, 20 Oct 2017 13:00:30 +0000

InterVarsity Press has released James M. Scott’s “Exile: A Conversation with N. T. Wright.”

Didaktikos 1

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 13:00:03 +0000

Faithlife has launched a new journal specifically for faculty, Didaktikos, which focuses on issues related to theological education.

ATS webinars for new faculty

Mon, 16 Oct 2017 13:00:30 +0000

The Association of Theological Schools has several helpful webinars archived for new faculty.

The Chicago and SBL Manuals

Wed, 11 Oct 2017 13:00:52 +0000

With the release of the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, SBL style now defers to this edition in certain circumstances.

TopTracker

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 13:00:10 +0000

TopTracker provides a straight-forward, free time tracking utility that works on both Windows and OS X.

Journal of Textual Reasoning

Fri, 06 Oct 2017 13:00:06 +0000

The Journal of Textual Reasoning is an open-access publication from the Society for Textual Reasoning.

Post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like Fragments

Wed, 04 Oct 2017 13:00:46 +0000

The Lying Pen of the Scribes has a growing index of online information about “post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like fragments.”

Overlooking Details in Biblical Literature

Fri, 29 Sep 2017 13:00:45 +0000

Biblical interpreters must always be alert to when the text begins to disappoint the fore-meanings they bring to it.

Logos Cloud Basic

Wed, 27 Sep 2017 13:00:49 +0000

To the standard and academic basic editions, Logos Bible Software has now added free access to “Cloud Basic.”

Scholarship as Meritocracy

Mon, 25 Sep 2017 13:00:35 +0000

Whether scholarship “is” or “should be” a meritocracy could be discussed, but even when it falls short, one should still act as though it is a meritocracy.

Theology's Hermeneutic Interest

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 13:00:48 +0000

Scripture can speak for itself. But, those with Christian education vocations are specially bound to pass on its testimony and interpretation for their milieux.

The Hermeneutic Productivity of the Familiar

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 13:00:19 +0000

From the morass of the unfamiliar and strange, humans seem to acquire language or other forms of understanding by known quantities.

Price and House, "Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology"

Mon, 18 Sep 2017 13:00:01 +0000

Due out this November is Randall Price and Wayne House’s “Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology.”

Garland, “Mark”

Wed, 13 Sep 2017 13:00:00 +0000

The free book of the month from Logos Bible Software is David Garland’s commentary on Mark in the NIV Application Commentary series.

Free and Trial Biblical Studies Tools

Mon, 11 Sep 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Mark Hoffman has updated his list of “free Bible software and trial versions” to include more recent additions, as well as a number of online resources.

Levy, “Medieval Biblical Interpretation”

Fri, 08 Sep 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Due out from Baker Academic in February 2018 is Ian Levy’s “Introducing Medieval Biblical Interpretation: The Senses of Scripture in Premodern Exegesis.”

Moberly, “The Bible in a Disenchanted Age”

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Due out from Baker Academic in January 2018 is R. W. L. Moberly’s “The Bible in a Disenchanted Age: The Enduring Possibility of Christian Faith.”

Veeneman, “Theological Method”

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Forthcoming this November from Baker Academic is Mary Veeneman’s “Introducing theological Method: A Survey of Contemporary Theologians and Approaches.”

Cascadia Syntax Graphs of the Greek Bible

Sat, 02 Sep 2017 04:52:49 +0000

Logos Bible Software offers syntax graphs for “the LXX Deuterocanon/Apocrypha.”

Technology and Distraction

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google, discusses at TED the interplay between technology, attention, and distraction.

Harmonization Triggers

Wed, 30 Aug 2017 13:00:58 +0000

Dirk Jongkind reflects on harmonization triggers, especially in the Pauline corpus.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 24, 2015)

Wed, 30 Aug 2017 06:29:00 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

James Aston and John Walliss, eds., Small Screen Revelations: Apocalypse in Contemporary Television, reviewed by Sylvie Raquel
Joseph A. Bessler, A Scandalous Jesus: How Three Historic Quests Changed Theology for the Better, reviewed by Mary K. Schmitt
Daniel Bodi, ed., Abigail, Wife of David, and Other Ancient Oriental Women, reviewed by Benjamin J. M. Johnson
Jared C. Calaway, The Sabbath and the Sanctuary: Access to God in the Letter to the Hebrews and Its Priestly Context, reviewed by Carl Mosser
Ohad Cohen, The Verbal Tense System in Late Biblical Hebrew Prose, reviewed by Bálint Károly Zabán
John Granger Cook, Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World, reviewed by Charles L. Quarles
Jerome F. D. Creach, Violence in Scripture, reviewed by Pieter G. R. de Villiers
Arthur J. Dewey and Robert J. Miller, eds., The Complete Gospel Parallels, reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus
Matthew Drever, Image, Identity, and the Forming of the Augustinian Soul, reviewed by Cheuk Yin Yam and Anthony Dupont
Diana V. Edelman, ed., Deuteronomy-Kings as Emerging Authoritative Books: A Conversation, reviewed by Trent C. Butler
Shawn W. Flynn, YHWH is King: Development of Divine Kingship in Ancient Israel, reviewed by Michael B. Hundley
Steven J. Friesen, Sarah A. James, and Daniel N. Schowalter, eds., Corinth in Contrast: Studies in Inequality, reviewed by Thomas R. Blanton IV
Matti Friedman, The Aleppo Codex: In Pursuit of One of the World’s Most Coveted, Sacred, and Mysterious Books, reviewed by Paul Sanders
Cornelis den Hertog, The Other Face of God: ‘I Am That I Am’ Reconsidered, reviewed by Richard S. Briggs
Christl M. Maier and Carolyn J. Sharp, eds., Prophecy and Power: Jeremiah in Feminist and Postcolonial Perspective, reviewed by Andrew Shead
Heinz-Günther Nesselrath and Florian Wilk, eds., Gut und Böse in Mensch und Welt: Philosophische und religiöse Konzeptionen vom Alten Orient bis zum frühen Islam, reviewed by Michael S. Moore
Jonathan Miles Robker, The Jehu Revolution: A Royal Tradition of the Northern Kingdom and Its Ramifications, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
David C. Sim and James S. McLaren, eds., Attitudes to Gentiles in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, reviewed by Avram Shannon
Mirjam van der Vorm-Croughs, The Old Greek of Isaiah: An Analysis of Its Pluses and Minuses, reviewed by Randall X. Gauthier
Stephen Westerholm, Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme, reviewed by David J. Neville

HTS online

Tue, 29 Aug 2017 13:00:31 +0000

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies has its articles openly accessible online.

Scheduling focus

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 13:00:11 +0000

Freedom has a helpful tutorial about being “more productive in the afternoon.” The same principles apply to whenever is one’s preferred time for focused work.

Aune on enthymemes in New Testament scholarship

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 13:00:00 +0000

In a helpful 2003 essay, David Aune discusses “the use and abuse of the enthymeme in New Testament scholarship” (New Testament Studies 49, no. 3, 299–320).

Ode to to-do lists

Thu, 24 Aug 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Kristina Malsberger discusses managing oneself and one’s commitments amid a hectic whirlwind of activity. A time-honored key is the daily to-do list.

Cope’s introduction to Aristotle’s “Rhetoric”

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 13:00:00 +0000

E. M. Cope’s 1867 introduction to Aristotle’s Rhetoric (London: MacMillan) is available via Internet Archive in several different scans.

Ministry and graduate school

Tue, 22 Aug 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Jake Mailhot discusses “how to juggle ministry while attending seminary.” Learning to live well in this season requires healthy boundaries for various demands

Logos 7 academic basic

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 13:00:15 +0000

Logos 7 academic basic is available for free. Resources included are sufficient to get one’s feet wet in how biblical language research works in Logos.

Reading for writing

Fri, 18 Aug 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Cal Newport outlines the basics of how he reads when working on a project. According to Newport, “The key to my system is the pencil mark in the page corner.”

Focus—there’s an app for that

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Digital devices and media can make focus difficult. Freedom provides helpful of “training wheels” to foster better focus amid such distractions.

Reviving closed tabs in Logos

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Logos Bible Software supports reopening closed tabs both via panel menus and keyboard shortcuts.

Staying focused

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Valerie Bisharat shares some helpful reflections on “how to avoid focus-stealing traps.”

Middleton on Psalm 51

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Over on his blog, Richard Middleton abstracts his essay “A Psalm against David? A Canonical Reading of Psalm 51 as a Critique of David’s Inadequate Repentance in 2 Samuel 12” from Explorations in Interdisciplinary Reading: Theological, Exegetical, and Reception-historical Perspectives(Pickwick, 2017).

Burkett on Aristotle's "Rhetoric"

Wed, 09 Aug 2017 13:00:09 +0000

Texas Christian University’s open, online thesis repository contains John Burkett’s treatment of Book III of Aristotle’s Retoric. The project is a commentary-style work on that book that strives to complete the project that William Grimaldi began with Books I and II. According to the abstract,

Newly digitized gospel manuscripts

Tue, 08 Aug 2017 13:00:42 +0000

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts has digitized 10 new gospel manuscripts, with dates ranging from the 10th to the 14th centuries. For additional details, see CSNTM’s announcement or view the manuscripts in their online library.

"Explorations in interdisciplinary reading" is out

Thu, 03 Aug 2017 13:00:38 +0000

Recently released under Wipf and Stock’s Pickwick imprint is Explorations in Interdisciplinary Reading: Theological, Exegetical, and Reception-historical Perspectives, edited by Robbie Castleman, Darian Lockett, and Stephen Presley. The volume includes essays assembled from the Institute for Biblical Research’s recently concluded study group on Biblical Theology, Hermeneutics, and Theological Disciplines. A key among the essays in the volume is the interplay between Scripture as situated in its own historical contexts and its continuing reception as a canonical whole.

Rhetorical "small change"

Wed, 02 Aug 2017 13:00:39 +0000

In his 1963 essay on the “Phenomenological Movement.” H.-G. Gadamer discusses at length Edmund Husserl’s influence in founding the school. In so doing, he recounts an interesting habit of Husserl’s that

In his teaching, whenever he encountered the grand assertions and arguments typical of beginning philosophers, he used to say, “Not always the big bills, gentlemen; small change, small change!” (133)

Gadamer does not wholly underwrite Husserl’s program, but he does helpfully observe that—perhaps as much for theology as for philosophy:

Logos web app

Tue, 01 Aug 2017 13:00:23 +0000

Last month, Faithlife released a substantial web app for free to all Logos 7 users at https://app.logos.com/. But, users are advised that

at this point notes and highlights from the web app will not show up in the desktop app and vice versa. We’re working on creating this cross-platform syncing, but meanwhile you’re data, notes, and highlights are completely safe. Just keep in mind that as we make the transition to a new note system, you won’t be able to access your notes across all platforms.

Aquinas's "Summa"

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 13:00:42 +0000

It takes some digging, but Internet Archive appears to have the entire edition of Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province (London: Burns, Oats, and Washbourne, 1913–1929). Links to the individual volumes are below. Comments are certainly welcome if anyone notices a volume(s) that I’ve missed out.

Greek lexica

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 13:00:34 +0000

The post has been up for some time, but Charles Sullivan’s site has a list of links to where full texts of several several older Greek lexica can be found online.

HT: Rick Brannan, SCS.

Phillips on a textual relative of the Leningrad Codex

Thu, 27 Jul 2017 13:00:41 +0000

The latest issue of the Tyndale Bulletin carries Kim Phillips’s essay, “A New Codex from the Scribe behind the Leningrad Codex: L17.” According to the abstract,

Samuel b. Jacob was the scribe responsible for the production of the so-called Leningrad Codex (Firkowich B19a), currently our earliest complete Masoretic Bible codex. This article demonstrates that another codex from the Firkowich Collection, containing the Former Prophets only, is also the work of Samuel b. Jacob, despite the lack of a colophon to this effect. The argument is based on a combination of eleven textual and para-textual features shared between these two manuscripts, and other manuscripts known to have been produced by the same scribe.

Calvin's commentaries

Wed, 26 Jul 2017 13:00:26 +0000

John Calvin’s commentaries have been brought into varying English versions. The version published in Edinburgh by Calvin Translation Society, 1844–1856, is the version that has been reprinted by Baker Academic and Logos Bible Software ( affiliate disclosure).

Many of these volumes are openly available online. Below is a list with links to those that I’ve located thus far. Volumes not yet found are:

Watkin, "Derrida"

Tue, 25 Jul 2017 13:00:58 +0000

Forthcoming this fall in P&R’s “Great Thinkers” series is Christopher Watkin’s volume on Jacques Derrida. According to the book’s blurb,

Christian thinkers and writers who address Jacques Derrida’s philosophy face two potential pitfalls. One is to recast Christianity in an ill-fitting Derridean mold; the other is to ascribe to Derrida objectionable positions that bear little relation to his writing.

Prefix keys for Microsoft Word

Mon, 24 Jul 2017 13:00:10 +0000

In Dan Gookin’s Word 2016 for Dummies ( affiliate disclosure; Wiley, 2016), he provides a good deal of helpful guidance for beginning Word users. One particularly helpful resource that may be of interest more broadly is his nicely condensed presentation of prefix keys for producing diacritical marks (pg. 256, reproduced below).

A primer for Barth's "Church Dogmatics"

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:41:46 +0000

At the Logos Academic Blog, Charles Helmer offers five areas of suggestions to help ease readers’ paths into Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics. As an overarching suggestion, Helmer recommends,

Armed with the following tips and a healthy dose of Spirit-inspired courage, the theologian can do no better than to sit down with one of Barth’s volumes, crack it open, and get to the hard yet rewarding work of reading.

Sinaiticus's B scribe(s)

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 13:00:10 +0000

On Academia.edu, Dan Batovici has posted an uncorrected proof of his essay “Two B Scribes in Codex Sinaiticus?” BASP 54 (2017). According to the abstract,

The history of scribal hand identification in Codex Sinaiticus is a fairly complicated one. The most recent identification, splitting the work of Tischendorf’s scribe B in B1 and B2, was attempted by Amy Myshrall in a 2015 contribution, as a result of the work on the Codex Sinaiticus digitizing project completed in 2009. This article will assess the argument proposed by Amy Myshrall for distinguishing the two new scribes, and it argues that there is not enough reason to adopt the newly proposed distinction.

Zotero 5.0

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 13:00:44 +0000

The next major release of the Zotero bibliographic management system is now available. Zotero should update automatically for most users, but anyone wanting to go ahead and get the latest version can download it from Zotero’s site to install over a prior version. For discussion of what’s new in this version, see:

Sorensen on Luther

Tue, 18 Jul 2017 13:00:39 +0000

One of our current PhD students in Humanities, Rob Sorensen, has been featured on Baylor’s “Research on Religion” podcast. The discussion mostly revolves around Rob’s reflections on and in his Martin Luther and the German Reformation (Anthem Perspectives in History, Anthem Press, 2016).

For more about Rob, see his faculty page at the Bear Creek School. For more about Faulkner University’s PhD in Humanities, see the university website.

Word 2016 introduction for Mac users?

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 13:00:08 +0000

The “for dummies” series has a couple good introductions to Microsoft Word ( for all and specifically “for professionals”). But, these texts seem to concentrate on Word as it appears in Windows, which is sometimes surprisingly inconsistent with how ostensibly the same version of Word appears in Mac OS.

Loving one's neighbor in JETS

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 13:00:02 +0000

As I mentioned earlier, the current issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (60.2) contains Henry Kelly’s essay on “Love of Neighbor as Great Commandment in the Time of Jesus: Grasping at Straws in the Hebrew Scriptures” (265–81). According to the abstract,

One’s “neighbor,” generously interpreted to include everyone else in the world, even personal and impersonal enemies, looms large in the NT, especially in the form of the second great commandment, and in various expressions of the Golden Rule. The NT also contains expansive claims that neighbors have a similar importance in the OT. The main basis that commentators cite for these claims is a half-verse in the middle of Leviticus (“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” 19:18b), as fully justifying these claims, supported by other isolated verses, notably, Exod 23:45, on rescuing the ass of one’s enemy. Relying on these verses has the appearance of grasping at straws in order to justify the words of Jesus, but it seems clear that in the time of Jesus they had indeed been searched out and elevated to new significance. John Meier has recently argued that it was Jesus himself who gave the Levitical neighbor his high standing, but because the Gospels present the notion as already known, this article suggests that it had achieved a consensus status by this time.

Loving one's neighbor in JBL and elsewhere

Thu, 13 Jul 2017 13:00:23 +0000

The most recent issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature carries Matthew Goldstone’s essay “Rebuke, Lending, and Love: An Early Exegetical Tradition on Leviticus 19:17–18” (307–21). According to the abstract,

In this article I posit the presence of an early Jewish exegesis of Lev 19:17–18 preserved in the Tannaitic midrash known as Sifra, which is inverted and amplified in Did. 1:3–5, Q 6:27–35, Luke 6:27–35, and Matt 5:38–44. Identifying shared terminology and a sequence of themes in these passages, I argue that these commonalities testify to the existence of a shared exegetical tradition. By analyzing the later rabbinic material I delineate the contours of this Second Temple period interpretation and augment our understanding of the construction of these early Christian pericopae. In commenting on Lev 19:17, Sifra articulates three permissible modes of rebuke: cursing, hitting, and slapping. In its gloss on the subsequent verse, Sifra exemplifies the biblical injunction against vengeance and bearing a grudge through the case of lending and borrowing from one’s neighbor. The Didache, Matthew, and Luke invert the first interpretation by presenting Jesus as recommending a passive response to being cursed or slapped, and they amplify the second interpretation by commanding one to give and lend freely to all who ask. The similar juxtaposition of these two ideas and the shared terminology between Sifra and these New Testament period texts suggest a common source. By reading these early Christian sources in light of this later rabbinic work I advance our understanding of the formation of these well-known passages and illustrate the advantages of cautiously employing rabbinic material for reading earlier Christian works.

July resources from Faithlife

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 13:00:16 +0000

This month, the Logos Bible Software site is highlighting Mark Noll’s The Old Religion in a New World: The History of North American Christianity (Eerdmans, 2002), which is on sale for free. Similarly, the Verbum site is highlighting John Donahue and Daniel Harrington’s Mark volume in the Sacra Pagina series (Liturgical, 2002), which is available for free.

Primary literature reading schedule

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 13:00:10 +0000

Shawn Wilhite discusses the primary literature reading schedule he’s been maintaining.

How Can You Get SBL BibLit on iOS?

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 13:00:33 +0000

One of the less-than-ideal features of using an iOS device for editing or producing documents in Biblical Studies has been the difficulty of getting standard biblical language fonts (e.g., SBL BibLit) to work on the device. There are now, however, at least a couple solutions:

Chris Heard has discussed how AnyFont can resolve the issue successfully and allow users to install SBL BibLit (or other fonts) onto iOS devices and use them within standard productivity tools (e.g., Pages, Word, Keynote, PowerPoint). In the App Store, AnyFont goes for $1.99.
On the freemium side of things, Fonteer will also do the same thing. Fonteer’s free version allows users to install up to 3 fonts. So, if you anticipate only using this number or fewer, the free version will do the job. Fonteer premium (also $1.99 via in-app purchase) allows unlimited fonts to be installed. Below is an example of Fonteer working with a draft excerpt from my essay in Explorations in Interdisciplinary Reading ( affiliate disclosure).

Example of Fonteer working with SBL BibLit

Bates, Abraham, and allegiance in the gospel

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 13:00:38 +0000

At the Logos Academic Blog, Tavis Bohlinger has part 4 in his interview series with Matthew Bates about Bates’s recently released Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Baker, 2017). Bates comments, in part,

Kraft interview

Mon, 26 Jun 2017 13:00:25 +0000

William Ross has an interesting interview with Robert Kraft that focuses on Kraft’s path toward and work in the field of Septuagint Studies, in addition to his hopes for its future.

Biblical references in writing theology

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 13:00:54 +0000

Earlier this month, Rick Brannan posted an analysis of the most frequently cited in a selection of systematic theologies. Rick has since made available on his blog the bibliography of systematic theologies that fed this analysis.

Meanwhile, Christianity Today picked up the post for further discussion. According to CT,

Logos 7 Basic for free

Wed, 21 Jun 2017 13:00:44 +0000

Choosing a platform for Biblical Studies software can be tricky, inasmuch as trying things out for yourself is probably the best mechanism for finding what will work for you. But, obviously, you want to do that trying out before you commit to one of the options. This process is now a bit simpler with Logos 7 Basic, which is available for free.

An erratum in NA28

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 13:00:18 +0000

Peter Head has helpfully spotted what seems to be an erratum in NA28’s text of Phil 1:23. There is perhaps some room for debate on the matter (e.g., Maurice Robinson’s initial reply). But, Klaus Wachtel has taken “a note for a correction in the next printing of NA28” in the direction of Head’s observation.

Irenaeus and Jonah resources

Mon, 19 Jun 2017 13:00:03 +0000

In addition to special offers around John Frame’s Salvation belongs to the Lord, Faithlife has some other noteworthy deals this month:

Irenaeus, Against Heresies, trans. Alexander Roberts and W. H. Rambaut, is free via Verbum.
Irenaeus, Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching, trans. J. Armitage Robinson, is $0.99 via Verbum as a companion deal to Irenaeus’s Against Heresies.
Via mobile ed, the Logos Pro Team has made available for free “a case study on Jonah 1:1-16, [through which] you’ll learn to Observe, Interpret, and Apply the Bible, an efficient and rewarding method you can use with any passage of Scripture.”

Boersma, "Scripture as real presence"

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 13:00:01 +0000

New this year from Baker is Hans Boersma’s Scripture as Real Presence: Sacramental Exegesis in the Early Church. According to the book’s blurb,

This work argues that the heart of patristic exegesis is the attempt to find the sacramental reality (real presence) of Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures. Leading theologian Hans Boersma discusses numerous sermons and commentaries of the church fathers to show how they regarded Christ as the treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament and explains that the church today can and should retrieve the sacramental reading of the early church. Combining detailed scholarly insight with clear, compelling prose, this book makes a unique contribution to contemporary interest in theological interpretation.

Bowald, "Rendering the word" at theLAB

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 13:00:53 +0000

For the moment, visitors to the Logos Academic Blog site are being invited to subscribe via email. Email subscription unlocks a coupon code for a free copy of Mark Bowald’s Rendering the Word in Theological Hermeneutics: Mapping Divine and Human Agency (Lexham, 2015). According to the book’s blurb,

Allen keynote, part 2

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 13:00:06 +0000

I recently mentioned the first part of David Allen’s “getting things done” keynote in Milan. The second part of the lecture is now available as well.'

See also the prior posts on GTD matters.

Frame, "Salvation belongs to the Lord" free from Logos

Tue, 13 Jun 2017 13:00:24 +0000

At Logos Bible Software, this month’s free book is John Frame’s Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (P&R, 2006). According to the book’s blurb,

UC Classics podcast

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 13:00:57 +0000

The University of Cincinnati’s Department of Classics has a podcast with several noteworthy episodes, including an interview with Jodi Magness and a whole series on Qumran and Judean Desert texts.

Biblical references in systematic theologies

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 06:43:14 +0000

At theLAB, Rick Brannan has an interesting post about the most frequently cited verses in a selection of systematic theologies. Especially by comparison with the size of the two testaments, New Testament references vastly outnumber Old Testament references (90% to 10% in the top 100 most frequently cited texts). As a supplement to the analysis, it might also be interesting to see a bibliography of the exact systematic theologies involved in the accounting would be interesting, as well as whether there would be some way of calculating whether the sample size is large enough to be statistically significant (e.g., within the publication date ranges represented).

Humanities Commons

Fri, 09 Jun 2017 13:00:33 +0000

The MLA has started a new initiative, named the Humanities Commons. According to the Commons’s introductory webinar registration page,

Imagine a humanities network with the sharing power of Academia.edu, the archival quality of an institutional repository, and a commitment to using and contributing to open source software. Now imagine that this network is not-for-profit. It doesn’t want to sell your data or generate profit from your intellectual property. That’s Humanities Commons. Run by a nonprofit consortium of scholarly societies, Humanities Commons wants to help you curate your online presence, expand the reach of your scholarship—whatever form it may take—and connect with other scholars who share your interests.

EpiDig

Thu, 08 Jun 2017 13:00:31 +0000

EpiDig has a substantial Zotero collection of digital epigraphy resources.

HT: AWOL

Toward not multitasking on the Dropbox blog

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 13:00:03 +0000

The Dropbox blog has a short essay on the downsides of trying to multitask. Rather than multitasking,

deep and singular focus is just what the doctor ordered, but in our hyper-connected world, it isn’t always easy…. You could chuck all your gadgets and move to the woods, but luckily you don’t need to get that drastic. Experts say you can begin to retrain your brain and take advantage of deep focus by concentrating on one thing at a time, managing your use of technology, and reframing the “instant-response” expectations of your colleagues—and yourself.

Hyatt on Lewis on reading old books

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Michael Hyatt has a good, short discussion of the value of reading old books. Much of Michael’s post is framed around C. S. Lewis’s discussion of the same topic in his introduction to Athanasius’s On the Incarnation, an online version of which Michael has spotted on this page.

Bauckham on the EerdCast

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 13:00:32 +0000

Stemming from the release of the second edition of Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Eerdmans, 2017), the EerdCast has a new 48-minute interview with Richard Bauckham.

HT: Rick Brannan. For other discussion of Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, see “Bauckham, ‘Jesus and the Eyewitnesses’ (2nd ed.),” “Bauckham on the Gospels as Historical Sources,” and “Gospel and Testimony.”

Creating series in Logos

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 13:00:47 +0000

Under the heading of “keeping your Greek and Hebrew skills sharp,” Mark Ward has some helpful advice about creating a serial biblical text in Logos Bible Software. For instance, if you create a series between BHS and NA28 and you have BHS open, you can type a New Testament passage in the go box and run straight there. Logos will treat the two resources as combined.

Review of Longman, ed., "Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary" in Logos

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 12:50:00 +0000

The Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary is a helpful resource with some useful enhancements in the Logos Bible Software version.

Bates at theLAB, part 2

Wed, 31 May 2017 13:00:24 +0000

Over at the Logos Academic Blog, Tavis Bohlinger now has up the second part of his interview with Matthew Bates about his Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Baker, 2017). This interview portion focuses much more on Bates’s particular proposal in the volume.

Larsen on New Testament textual criticism and discussion

Mon, 29 May 2017 13:00:17 +0000

On Academia.edu, Matthew Larsen has posted his recent Journal for the Study of the New Testament essay on “Accidental Publication, Unfinished Texts and the Traditional Goals of New Testament Textual Criticism.”

Peter Head has started a related discussion on the Evangelical Textual Criticism Blog.

Ad fontes @Logos

Fri, 26 May 2017 13:00:40 +0000

I’ve previously mentioned Michael Graves’s Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church (Fortress, 2017). The text is part of a projected 8-volume series. Logos Bible Software now has the first four volumes available for order via their pre-publication program. This includes

Gupta, Lewis on ambition and pride

Wed, 24 May 2017 13:00:06 +0000

Stimulated by Craig Hill’s Servant of All: Status, Ambition, and the Way of Jesus (Eerdmans, 2016), Nijay Gupta provides some interesting excerpts and reflections. He comments, in part,

I have learned that I cannot control what other people think of me. I need to be driven by what I think is right, keep my pride in check, have friends and colleagues who can graciously call me out if I err, and pass on generosity to those who are struggling just as others have lifted me up. I think we will be held back from doing all that we are called to do if we are overly occupied with how our work “looks” to others. I try to believe that if we commit ourselves to quality (and not just quantity), we should not be embarrassed with our work and productivity.

Aubrey on theological lexica

Tue, 23 May 2017 13:00:52 +0000

Mike Aubrey has provided an excerpt from an essay of his in Linguistics & Biblical Exegesis (Lexham, 2016). The excerpt strives carefully to work out a middle ground that is neither wholly on the side of theological lexica nor on that of James Barr’s critique of them.

Zotero forum thread on commas, periods, and closing quotation marks

Mon, 22 May 2017 13:00:13 +0000

I’ve recently had a discussion over at the Zotero forums that brought to light a couple interesting points that I hadn’t been aware of:

There’s currently in beta a major update to Zotero 5.0, which includes several important feature changes. The beta isn’t quite ready for prime time yet but should be “very soon.” Included in this update is the new Citation Style Language (CSL) processor that should remedy the comma and period placement issue in the forum thread.
Frank Bennett has provided an updated CSL processor that can be installed in a current Zotero 4 version via the Propachi Vanilla plugin.

For additional discussion of Zotero here, see this tag.

GTD Times

Fri, 19 May 2017 13:00:56 +0000

It’s certainly not new, but I recently came across the GTD Times blog run by the David Allen Company. The most recent entry is the first part of a keynote in which Allen overviews his approach to “getting things done,” as covered more fully in his book by the same title ( affiliate disclosure). If academia should ever manifest itself as an environment with an overabundance of demands, Allen’s advice may be a helpful starting point in adequately coming to grips with that situation.

Classics research at University of Iowa

Thu, 18 May 2017 13:00:53 +0000

Theses and dissertations in Classics from the University of Iowa are available openly on the web.

HT: AWOL

Other discussion of Bates, "Salvation by allegiance"

Wed, 17 May 2017 13:00:48 +0000

In commenting about theLAB’s interview with Matthew Bates, I overlooked having saved a couple other recent interactions with his Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King(Baker, 2017):

Nijay Gupta provides a friendly, largely affirmative, and probing set of thoughts.
Thomas Schreiner expresses his appreciation for some of the volume’s core impulses but suggests that the proposals gains fail to outweigh the corresponding deficiencies that it creates.

For additional, related discussion, see Bates interview at theLAB and Bates, “Salvation by allegiance alone” and some theological forebears.

Bates interview at theLAB

Tue, 16 May 2017 13:00:31 +0000

At the Logos Academic Blog, Tavis Bohlinger has the first part of an interview series with Matthew Bates. This first entry takes its main impetus from Bates’s Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Baker, 2017) but also ranges into other areas of personal background, research productivity, and spiritual formation.

Wallace, "Medieval manuscripts"

Mon, 15 May 2017 15:44:04 +0000

In its first 2017 issue (currently behind the society membership paywall), the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society has a version of Daniel Wallace’s presidential address from the 2016 annual Evangelical Theological Society meeting: “Medieval Manuscripts and Modern Evangelicals: Lessons from the Past, Guidance for the Future” (5–34). Per the abstract, the essay focuses on

Cognitive bias in biblical interpretation

Fri, 12 May 2017 13:00:02 +0000

In the last 2016 issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research, Aaron Chalmers has an interesting essay on “the influence of cognitive biases on biblical interpretation” (467–80). Chalmers approaches the question from the perspective of cognitive psychology and focuses on “five key cognitive biases”—namely, “confirmation bias, false consensus effect, in-group bias, functional fixedness, and the illusory truth effect” (467).

Graves, ed., "Biblical interpretation in the early church"

Thu, 11 May 2017 13:00:28 +0000

Available in Fortress’s Ad fontes series is Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church, edited by Michael Graves.

Bauckham, "Jesus and the Eyewitnesses" (2nd ed.)

Wed, 10 May 2017 13:00:21 +0000

Available from Eerdmans is the second edition of Richard Bauckham’s “Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony.”

Hays at B&C

Tue, 09 May 2017 13:00:34 +0000

Late last year, Books and Culture interviewed Richard Hays about some of his story and common themes in his work. Stemming from Hays’s similarly titled book, one of the questions addressed is “How is reading backward in a figural sense different from reading prophecy forward?” In response, Hays comments, in part,

TNT Updates

Mon, 08 May 2017 13:00:34 +0000

Two latest posts on the Tyndale New Testament blog contain some interesting further comments about the edition and its preparation.

Babyak, "Teaching strategy for a Christian virtual environment"

Thu, 04 May 2017 13:00:21 +0000

I’ve recently had the opportunity of working through Andrew Babyak’s article, “A Teaching Strategy for a Christian Virtual Environment” ( Journal of Research in Christian Education 24, no. 1 [2015]: 63–77). A number of Babyak’s reflections are quite insightful and helpful. According to the abstract,

The current landscape in education is changing rapidly as online learning programs are experiencing great growth. As online learning grows, many professors and students are entering into new learning environments for the first time. While online learning has proven to be successful in many cases, it is not a journey upon which Christian professors or students should begin without some preparation. This article articulates a basic Christian teaching strategy by providing recommendations for those who are entering the online environment for the first time or desire to improve their online teaching effectiveness. These principles and recommendations are presented so that Christian professors can create Christian virtual environments in which they can have a significant impact on their students’ spiritual development in an online environment. It is critical that professors design their courses with the needs of online students in mind, ensuring that students of all learning styles are able to excel. Furthermore, professors should understand that online teaching often takes more time than traditional methods of teaching, increasing the importance of clear instructions and communication with students.

SBL Press on citing Migne's "Patrologia Graeca"

Wed, 03 May 2017 14:04:25 +0000

SBL Press continues to be quite responsive on its blog to questions submitted by users of the SBL Handbook of Style. One of the latest examples is the Press’s clarification of how to format citations from J.-P. Migne’s Patrologia Graeca. The 161-volume series is available online in the public domain from various sources, including Patristica.net and Document Catholica Omnia.

May freebies from Faithlife

Tue, 02 May 2017 13:00:44 +0000

Noteworthy freebies from Faithlife this month include:

Bush, Beckham, and Due, Live in Liberty: The Spiritual Message of Galatians (Lexham, 2015)
Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles (Parker, 1851)
à Kempis, De la imitación de Cristo [ The Imitation of Christ, Spanish translation] (Subirana, 1908)

Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, Volume 32

Tue, 02 May 2017 08:02:59 +0000

Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, vol. 32 has two codices that provide photographs, transcriptions, an introduction, notes, and catalog of variants for 1QIsaa.

Hyatt's Interview with Newport

Mon, 01 May 2017 13:00:26 +0000

Michael Hyatt has a helpful interview with Cal Newport, author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (Grand Central, 2016). According to Newport,

Focus is now the lifeblood of this economy.

Why? Because focus is rare and distraction abundant. As Hyatt comments,

Biblical (Digital) Humanities

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 13:00:38 +0000

Biblicalhumanities.org is

a community of computer scientists, Bible scholars, and digital humanists collaborating to create open digital resources for biblical studies. Our emphasis is on open resources for biblical languages, such as morphologically tagged texts, treebanks, and lexicons. We hope that these resources will be used widely for teaching, research, and resources used to read and study the Bible.

Tyndale House GNT

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 13:00:58 +0000

The Tyndale House Greek New Testament is set to be released with Crossway on 15 November 2017, just in time for SBL. The text is already available for pre-order on Amazon.

According to the volume’s blurb, the principal editors, Dirk Jongkind and Peter Williams, have

Oxyrhynchus Papyri Transcriptions from the Paulines

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 13:00:21 +0000

Geoffrey Smith has made available offprints of new transcriptions for 5258 (132), containing fragments of Eph 3:21–4:2, and 5259 (133), containing fragments of 1 Tim 3:13–4:8. Dated to the third century, 5259 (133) is the earliest published witness to 1 Timothy.

HT: Andreas Köstenberger, Brice Jones, Rick Brannan

Truly unmethodical: Gadamer's "Truth and Method" in English translation

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 13:00:53 +0000

Photograph of H. G. Gadamer

I’ve sometimes had the privilege of teaching a seminar in which H.-G. Gadamer’s Truth and Method was the core text through which we worked over the course of the term. The work’s English translation is in its second edition, prepared by Joel Weinsheimer and Donald Marshall. This second edition, however, now exists in at least four different printings with four different sets of pagination.

Keener on Isaac and Ishmael

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:00:37 +0000

Craig Keener has an interesting post on the interaction between Isaac and Ishmael in Gen 21:10. The post mainly outlines the major options for what the text might be suggesting and promises two followups that will discuss “Isaac’s line being Abraham’s heir [as well as] the propriety of Abraham sending Hagar and Ishmael away.”

Better attention than a goldfish

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 13:00:07 +0000

A recent study commissioned by Microsoft Canada found, disturbingly, that the human participants’ average attention spans had fallen to 8 seconds, a shorter time frame than measured for goldfish ( Evernote, New York Times). One of the major suspected drivers of these results is the propensity of the participants to use a mobile device while “paying attention” to something else.

Organizing Logos

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 13:00:57 +0000

On the Logos Talk blog, Mark Ward has a helpful post about techniques for having a “spring cleaning” in your Logos Bible Software library.

The “collections” tool is especially helpful for associating different resources that logically go together for a given purpose (e.g., multiple sets of Patristic texts, multiple grammars).

Searching Highlights in Logos

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 13:00:11 +0000

Mark Ward helpfully describes the syntax of searching for particular highlighting styles in Logos Bible Software.

INTERSECT searches in Logos

Tue, 11 Apr 2017 13:00:53 +0000

Recently, my Logos Bible Software homepage popped up this helpful video that explains searching with the “INTERSECT[S]” operator. I have largely missed the memo on this operator until now, but it is apparently a one-stop shop that will cover operations otherwise performed by “WITHIN”, “ANDEQUALS”, and “WITHIN 0 WORDS/CHARS”.

Remedying overcommitment

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 13:00:51 +0000

Michael Hyatt has a new post where he provides seven strategies for remedying or avoiding overcommitment. All seven suggestions are good and worth considering. But, the capstone suggestion, number seven seems particularly key:

Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism (2016)

Thu, 06 Apr 2017 13:00:48 +0000

During 2016, the “Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism” published several noteworthy articles.

Castleman, Lockett, and Presley, eds., "Explorations in interdisciplinary reading"

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 13:00:47 +0000

Explorations in Interdisciplinary Reading: Theological, Exegetical, and Reception-historical Perspectives, edited by Robbie Castleman, Darian Lockett, and Stephen Presley, appeared under Wipf and Stock’s Pickwick in 2017.

The volume includes essays assembled through the Institute for Biblical Research’s recently concluded study group on Biblical Theology, Hermeneutics, and Theological Disciplines.

OpenOffice Turabian (7th ed.) Template

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 05:32:45 +0000

Writers who use OpenOffice.org and need to comply with Turabian’s Manual for Writers(7th ed.) may find this template helpful in cutting out some of the grunt work involved in setting up a Turabian-style paper in OpenOffice.org. Suggestions for improving this template are, of course, very welcome.

Free Richards, O'Brien with discount on Bailey @Logos

Tue, 04 Apr 2017 13:00:06 +0000

For April, Logos Bible Software’s “free book of the month” and discounted companion focus on Scripture in its cultural contexts.

The free text is Randolph Richards and Brandon O’Brien’s Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible (IVP, 2012). According to the book’s blub:

Evernote on minimalism

Mon, 03 Apr 2017 13:00:17 +0000

Although I’ve moved away from using Evernote, their blog still often features interesting content. Recently they’ve had a three-part series on minimalism that heavily leans on Joshua Becker ( part 1, part 2, part 3). Among Joshua’s reflections that the series provides are a two-part suggestion for “saying ’no’ effectively:

Free to focus—on sleep?

Fri, 31 Mar 2017 13:00:09 +0000

Free to Focus logo

As part of Michael Hyatt’s Free to Focus resource set, he’s made available three treat the significance for productivity of adequate, quality sleep:

Interview with Shawn Stevenson (video)
Unleash Nature’s Secret Weapon eBook (PDF)
13 Essential Keys to a Good Night’s Sleep (PDF)

Shawn Stevenson’s core business certainly falls in an area where probably few biblical scholars will care to follow. But some of the implications of the expertise that he has for broader productivity applications may indeed prove informative and helpful.

Tips for better focus

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 13:00:24 +0000

Michael Hyatt has a helpful discussion of 10 tips for enabling better focus. For me, suggestions 5 (“Take email … software offline.”) and 6 (“Put on music that helps facilitates concentration.”) have tended to prove particularly helpful.

For Michael’s discussion of these tips and the other 8 he provides, see his original post.

Faith, demonstration, and friendship

Wed, 29 Mar 2017 13:00:12 +0000

In his On the Advantage of Believing, Augustine reflects on the necessity of belief but also on the danger of being overly credulous. He comments, in part,

But now consider, you will say, whether in religion we ought to believe. For even if we concede that it is one thing to believe, another to be credulous, it does not follow that there is no fault in believing in religious matters. What if it be a fault to believe and to be credulous, as it is to be drunk and to be a drunkard? One who holds this view as certain, it seems to me, could have no friend. For, if it is base to believe anything, either he acts basely who believes a friend, or, in not believing a friend at all, I do not see how he can call either him or himself a friend…. For there is also no friendship at all unless something is believed which cannot be demonstrated by positive reasoning. ( Util. cred. 10.23–24)

Gaventa, "Romans 13"

Tue, 28 Mar 2017 13:00:14 +0000

The newest issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature contains Beverly Gaventa’s essay, “Reading Romans 13 with Simone Weil: Toward a More Generous Hermeneutic.” According to the abstract,

Simone Weil’s interpretation of the Iliad as a “poem of force” has resonances with Rom 1–8, reinforcing the question of how Rom 13:1–7 belongs in the larger argument of Romans. Seeking a generous reading of 13:1–7 along the lines of the generosity Weil extends to the Iliad, I first take Pharaoh as an example of Paul’s understanding of the relationship between God and human rulers and then propose that Paul’s treatment of human rulers coheres with his refusal in this letter to reify lines between “insider” and “outsider.” I conclude with a reflection on the need for generosity in scholarly research and pedagogy.

Eliminating distractions

Mon, 27 Mar 2017 13:00:54 +0000

Going along with his Free to Focus material, Michael Hyatt has a helpful, free resource about eliminating distractions. The material in this resource is designed to work with and complement the content Michael delivers in his webinar, The 7 Deadly Sins of Productivity: The Hidden Habits Undermining Your Performance (And How to Change Them).

Productivity assessment

Fri, 24 Mar 2017 13:00:48 +0000

Michael Hyatt has a free productivity assessment tool that provides “a free analysis of your overall [personal productivity] score and a breakdown of the productivity areas you evaluated.”

A followup email provides a short set of tips for improving, and the analysis page that displays after the survey is completed provides access to sign up for a free webinar on the “7 deadly sins of productivity.” I attended the webinar recently, and it does provide a good number of suggestions revolving around focus as a primary key to productivity.

The chemistry of studying the Dead Sea Scrolls

Wed, 22 Mar 2017 11:56:29 +0000

This Decoded Science article has an interesting treatment of some of the chemical elements of the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, particularly the Copper Scroll. The article’s conclusion provides the reminder that

Archaeology allows us to look into the past. However, in order for scientists to properly examine and maintain artifacts, it’s necessary to preserve them. In many cases, chemistry makes that possible.

Raymond Brown

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 13:00:20 +0000

In going through some old bookmarks, I rediscovered this site that Matthew Montonini has assembled to collect works by Raymond Brown that are available online, in whole or in part.

Digital notekeeping

Mon, 20 Mar 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Michael Hyatt has a good discussion of digital notekeeping tools, a.k.a. “Evernote alternatives.” As even the nomenclature might suggest, Michael opts for Evernote.

I used Evernote for quite some time too but transitioned several months back to OneNote. I haven’t ever gotten particularly sold on Apple devices, so Apple-only alternatives were out by default.

In the (e)mail: Nanos and Zetterholm, "Paul within Judaism"

Fri, 17 Mar 2017 13:00:39 +0000

In addition to the Boccacci and Segovia and Rodríguez and Thiessen volumes, Fortress Press has kindly, if accidentally, passed along a review copy of Mark Nanos and Magnus Zetterholm’s edited volume Paul within Judaism: Restoring the First-century Context to the Apostle(2015). According to the book’s blurb:

In the (e)mail: Rodríguez and Thiessen, "The So-called Jew"

Thu, 16 Mar 2017 14:00:47 +0000

In addition to Boccaccini and Segovia’s Paul the Jew, inbox recently saw the arrival from Fortress Press of a review copy of Rafael Rodríguez and Matthew Thiessen’s edited volume The So-Called Jew in Paul’s Letter to the Romans(2016). According to the book’s blurb:

In the (e)mail: Boccaccini and Segovia, "Paul the Jew"

Wed, 15 Mar 2017 14:00:47 +0000

In my email recently, I found Fortress Press had kindly provided a review copy of Gabriele Boccaccini and Carlos Segovia’s edited volume Paul the Jew: Rereading the Apostle as a Figure of Second Temple Judaism(2016). According to the book’s blurb:

Textual criticism in Logos

Tue, 14 Mar 2017 13:36:34 +0000

Software certainly can’t replace expertise when filtering through text-critical data. But it can provide some useful assistance in pulling that data together.

For an overview of some of the text-critical tools available in Logos Bible Software ( affiliate disclosure), check out the overview in this video for how to use the textual criticism section in the exegetical guide.

Gadamer on the Führerprinzip

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 14:00:31 +0000

In a note in his Truth and Method, H.-G. Gadamer comments,

The notorious statement, “The party (or the Leader) is always right” is not wrong because it claims that a certain leadership is superior, but because it serves to shield the leadership, by a dictatorial decree, from any criticism that might be true. ( 389n22)

Trial versions of Biblical Studies software

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 14:00:51 +0000

Software that supports biblical and theological scholarship can be pricey, but Mark Hoffman has helpfully collected links to trial versions.

Bates, "Salvation by allegiance alone" and some theological forebears

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 14:00:02 +0000

One of the new titles in the recent Baker catalog (due for release this month) is Matthew Bates’s Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King. According to Michael Bird’s blurb,

Matthew Bates argues that faith or believing is not mere assent, not easy believism, but covenantal loyalty to the God who saves his people through the Lord Jesus Christ. Bates forces us to rethink the meaning of faith, the gospel, and works with a view to demonstrating their significance for true Christian discipleship. This will be a controversial book, but perhaps it is the controversy we need!

Hurtado's inaugural lecture

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 14:00:30 +0000

Larry Hurtado has recently uploaded the published version of his inaugural lecture, “New Testament Studies at the Turn of the Millennium: Questions for the Discipline.” For the lecture file, see his “Selected Published Essays etc.” page.

Collections in Logos

Tue, 07 Mar 2017 14:00:35 +0000

My Logos Bible Software homepage recently popped up this helpful overview of the “collections” feature.

An introspective look at not remembering names

Mon, 06 Mar 2017 14:00:51 +0000

Over at Becoming Minimalist, Joshua Becker offers some personal introspection on a paradigmatic case of forgetting a couple’s names. In part, Becker narrates,

I was sad that I wasn’t able to remember something as simple as the names of two people I very much enjoyed meeting.

…

And suddenly it struck me.

I entered the conversation—as I do so often—with the desire to be known rather than to know. I was trying so hard to say something impressive or witty or intelligent that I entirely missed what they were saying on the other side of the conversation.

Empirical Humanist reboot

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 14:00:28 +0000

Kirk Lowery has recently rebooted his blogsite, The Empirical Humanist, with entries thus far on topics including manuscript transcription, Google indexing, and (of course) language.

Free books for March from Faithlife

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 14:00:14 +0000

March’s free and reduced-price companion volumes from Faithlife include:

Logos: Paula Gooder, This Risen Existence: The Spirit of Easter, and for $1.99, Dennis Ngien, Fruit for the Soul: Luther on the Lament Psalms Verbum: Bonaventure, The Life of Saint Francis, and for $0.99, Bonaventure, Mystical Opuscula

Video of the opening of the Copper Scroll

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 14:00:10 +0000

Peter Gurry has recently shared the video recording provided via the Leverhulme Project of the Copper Scroll’s opening.

Qumran Cave 12: Update 3

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:00:36 +0000

Discussion of the recent Qumran-vicinity cave finds since the previous post tracking the story here includes:

Ami Magazine (HT: Lawrence Schiffman): Information about the new cave find with a fuller discussion of matters related to earlier Qumran-vicinity finds. In the cave’s apparently blank parchment fragment, Schiffman also suggests we find evidence for how demonstrably later forgeries could still carbon date to the turn of the eras.
Bible History Daily (HT: Craig Evans and Jim Davila): Discussion of the propriety of designating the new find as “Cave 12,” given that current reports indicate no scrolls have been recovered.
Christian Science Monitor (HT: Craig Evans) and Trinity Western University (HT: Craig Evans): Similar information to that found elsewhere.
National Geographic (HT: Craig Evans): Reports an estimate from Randall Price of “probably another 50 sites that merit investigating in the near future,” as well as comments like those summarized above from Lawrence Schiffman on how recent forgeries might appear on old material. In a humorous turn, Schiffman “shockingly” dispels hope of “find[ing] the diary of the three wise men” in possible further Judean Desert discoveries.
theLAB: Primarily reflections on the significance of previous Dead Sea Scroll finds with a couple comments on the new find similar to those provided elsewhere.

What seems to be shaping up as the key question about the status of this new find’s designation as “Cave 12” is the question “What makes a cave worthy of inclusion inside the numbering?"—actual textual finds tied to the location or simply a strong possibility that ancient texts were once located in the cave? Barring additional news about thus-far undisclosed contents from this cave, the apparently blank parchment showing text under multispectral examination, or known texts’ being re-provenanced to this cave, it seems more in keeping with the criteria applied to derive the existing 11-cave scheme not to include this new cave as a twelfth in that sequence. But, of course, the new find remains quite significant and reopens important questions about possible issues of provenance for texts currently classified as deriving from the standard 11 caves.

Logos celebrates 25 years

Mon, 27 Feb 2017 14:00:41 +0000

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Logos Bible Software, Logos is giving users $25 of credit toward orders at Logos.com before 1 March. Originally, the offer had been limited to credit toward a select number of resources but has since been expanded to “any order on logos.com.”

Position search open

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 14:00:05 +0000

Since September 2013, I’ve had the privilege of serving the Faulkner University community as the director of Faulkner University Online. Over that time, the effort has blossomed, and the university now enrolls about a quarter of its total student body in online degree programs, ranging from associates- to doctorate-level.

Starting sentences with "and" or "but"

Thu, 23 Feb 2017 14:00:35 +0000

The SBLHS blog has a helpful discussion on the use of “and” or “but” at the start of a sentence. And they are permissible. But one should use them sparingly.

For the full and very helpful post, please see the SBLHS blog.

Justin's Dialog with Trypho in Greek (redux)

Wed, 22 Feb 2017 14:00:50 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“175”] Justin Martyr presents a book to the emperor, paper etching, print made by Jacques Callot, published by Israël Henriet, 1632–1635 [ PD-1923][/caption]To date, one of this site’s more popular posts has been this one about W. Trollope’s Greek edition of Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho.

Overlining text in Microsoft Word

Tue, 21 Feb 2017 14:00:36 +0000

Overlining is comparatively straightforward in Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice. But, for Microsoft Word users, overlining still isn’t a default formatting feature, as is its companion underlining.

Sometimes inserting a symbol or special character will work if you can find one that matches the overlined character you need. In other cases, Word’s cache of symbols and special characters simply isn’t large enough to cover everything (e.g., when discussing nomina sacra). Sometimes, creating a character image might work, but inserting an image can create issues with text flow and line spacing.

2017 Stone-Campbell Journal Conference

Mon, 20 Feb 2017 14:00:32 +0000

Registration for the 2017 Stone-Campbell Journal Conference is now open. The 2017 meeting will be hosted by Johnson University in Knoxville, TN, and will focus on the theme of “Communicating the Old Testament.”

This year’s conference marks the meeting’s 20th anniversary. The plenary lineup includes Ellen Davis (Duke Divinity School), Chris Heard (Pepperdine University), and Jason Bembry (Emmanuel Christian Seminary).

St. George's Centre seminars for 2017

Fri, 17 Feb 2017 13:00:43 +0000

Annually, the St. George’s Centre for Biblical and Public Theology sponsors three seminars at SBL: Scripture and Church, Scripture and Doctrine, and Scripture and Hermeneutics (in partnership with the Institute for Biblical Research). Registration is now open for these seminars’ 2017 meetings in Boston, as well as for the accompanying dinner. The lectures and discussion are always quite stimulating.

Gupta introduces 1–2 Thessalonians

Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:00:36 +0000

Nijay Gupta introduces 1–2 Thessalonians via video, with some comments about what new readers can anticipate in his NCCS volume on the letters.

Qumran Cave 12: Update 2

Wed, 15 Feb 2017 14:00:31 +0000

James VanderKam, via University of Notre Dame

In a short interview published by the University of Notre Dame, James VanderKam urges caution about labeling the recent Dead Sea find as “Cave 12.” Comparisons have previously been drawn between the new find and Cave 8, which comes inside the numbering but contained no scrolls.

A Leithart-ed view of writing

Tue, 14 Feb 2017 14:00:35 +0000

In a recent First Things essay, Peter Leithart shares a transparent and good-humored five-stage taxonomy for writing a non-fiction book. Although some elements are tongue-in-cheek, the normalcy of the kinds of feelings about the process as it progresses should be encouraging to those of us with much less writing under our belts.

HT: theLAB

Judaism and Rome project

Mon, 13 Feb 2017 14:00:55 +0000

The new Judaism and Rome project “aims to:

give access to some important sources, providing as much information as possible: images, original text, translation
provide the reader with an original and detailed analysis of each source, a service that is very rarely offered on the internet, and which makes this website comparable to a rich sourcebook
promote interdisciplinary discussion between scholars working on Roman history, Jewish Studies, Epigraphy, Numismatics, Classics, Patristics, History of Christianity, etc.”

Several interesting resources have already been made available with the promise of more to come.

Qumran Cave 12: Update

Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:24:27 +0000

Since my previous post about Qumran Cave 12, a few other noteworthy articles have cropped up, including on:

FoxNews (HT: Jordan Sekulow via Craig Evans),
NPR (HT: Andreas Köstenberger), and
Times of Israel (HT: Douglas Estes).

Much of what is in these articles about the new find is also in other reports. But, the Times piece confirms that

David Allen @EntreLeadership

Fri, 10 Feb 2017 14:00:53 +0000

David Allen, via Twitter

If you’ve never read David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity (Penguin, 2001), a recent episode of the EntreLeadership podcast has a sit-down with Allen and crash course in the fundamentals of what he thinks makes for effective time management self-management in time.

Qumran Cave 12

Thu, 09 Feb 2017 14:00:05 +0000

Working under the auspices of Operation Scroll, archaeologists have discovered what is being numbered as the twelfth scroll cave in the vicinity of Khirbet Qumran.

Work in the new cave has produced no new texts, but both linen (characteristic of scroll wrappers found elsewhere) and blank parchment fragments suggest that texts probably were stored in the cave at some point. Since no [scroll-type] texts were found in this cave, as with cave 8, the new cave’s designation will likely be Q12 rather than 12Q. [Updated 15 February 2017. For explanation of this correction, please see Qumran Cave 12: Update 2.]

A further update on Migne's "Patrologia Latina"

Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:00:13 +0000

SBL Press has clarified its guidance about citing J.-P. Migne’s Patrologia Latina based on the discovery that various year’s printings of certain volumes within Patrologia Latina have differences. Among these differences are variations in the column arrangements for the texts contained in Patrologia Latina. The Press’s initial recommendation was that

authors always check a PL volume title page to ensure that the printing is dated 1865 or earlier. If the publication or printing date is 1868 or later, we encourage authors to find an earlier printing of PL to cite.

PhDs in non-faculty careers

Tue, 07 Feb 2017 09:35:33 +0000

In the Chronicle of Higher Education, Maren Wood suggests that institutions should be more intentional about preparing PhD students for the possibility of non-faculty or non-teaching careers. Maren’s first suggestion is especially salient and recommends, in part,

While there are graduate students who decide that an academic career is not for them, most say their first objective is a faculty career. There is no way to know who will or won’t be successful on the academic job market, so all students should be encouraged or required to take professional courses.

Jesus and the right hand

Mon, 06 Feb 2017 14:00:08 +0000

Some time ago, Larry Hurtado posted some thoughts about how Jesus is characterized as ἐκ δεξιῶν or ἐν δεξιᾷ. Recently, he’s followed up with “another possible factor” for how the language coalesces and a “bonus” post on the importance of being data-driven in developing hypotheses about such phenomena.

Wright, "Following Jesus" for free

Fri, 03 Feb 2017 14:00:11 +0000

This month, Logos Bible Software’s free book is N. T. Wright’s Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Christian Discipleship (SPCK, 1994). The book falls into two parts:

Part one outlines the essential messages of six major New Testament books—Hebrews, Colossians, Matthew, John, Mark, and Revelation. Part two examines six key New Testament themes—resurrection, rebirth, temptation, hell, heaven, and new life—and considers their significance for the lives of present-day disciples.

Greek Prepositions @ Tyndale House

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 14:00:10 +0000

On 30 June–1 July, Tyndale House is set to host a workshop on Greek prepositions that focuses on cognitive linguistics, lexicography, and theology. Registration opens 1 March.

For further discussion and background, see Septuaginta &c.

Migne's "Patrologia Latina": Mystery solved

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 14:00:15 +0000

There’s some fun to be had in hunting up references to and citing instances where volumes from Migne’s Patrologia latina exist in different versions.

The folks at SBL Press have kindly resolved the mystery. Most significantly, SBL Press notes,

According to the Patrologia Latina Database … , PL’s printing history can be divided into two distinct periods. Jacques-Paul Migne initially published the 217 volumes of PL over a twelve-year period, 1844–1855. Migne reprinted volumes as needed for another decade, then sold the rights to the Paris publisher Garnier. Unfortunately, in February 1868 a fire destroyed Migne’s presses and printing plates, which meant that Garnier, which had begun reprinting some PL volumes in 1865, was the only source for future reprints—all of which were produced on plates other than Migne’s originals. These plates differed substantially in some cases and are considered in general “inferior in a number of respects to Migne’s own first editions.”

Vatican Museum

Tue, 31 Jan 2017 08:00:27 +0000

Sometime since I last visited, the Vatican Museum has substantially upgraded its website. The site now features a conveniently static central area to display a high-resolution image of a given piece in the collection.

HT: AWOL

Skills to cultivate for better work

Mon, 30 Jan 2017 08:00:46 +0000

Via the blog of Michael Hyatt, former CEO of Thomas Nelson, John Dumas highlights three skills to develop in order to be more satisfied with what’s gotten done amid everything that has come along in a given day: productivity, discipline, and focus.

SBLHS student supplement and "ibid."

Fri, 27 Jan 2017 19:56:23 +0000

According to SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd ed., §§1, 3, 4.3.6, supports the use of “ibid.” From those descriptions, conventions look to be the same as for the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed., §14.29.

As an easy (and free) reference for students, SBL also provides a Student Supplement to the SBLHS. One of the courses I’ve been teaching has a comparatively heavier emphasis on getting to know the nuts-and-bolts of SBL style. And a keen-eyed student, pointed out that page 4 of the Student Supplement has consecutively numbered footnotes 78 and 79. Both notes are for the same source, but the second (note 79) does not use the “ibid.” notation.

Myers on Morgan, "Roman faith and Christian faith"

Fri, 27 Jan 2017 14:23:08 +0000

The Review of Biblical Literature contains Jason Myers’s helpful and appreciative review of Teresa Morgan’s Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches (OUP, 2015).

Fun with multiple editions of Migne's Patrologia Latina

Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:26:59 +0000

There are a pair of references in Cranfield’s ( affiliate disclosure) and Moo’s ( affiliate disclosure) Romans commentaries to comments by Ambrosiaster about the origin of the Christian community in Rome, and I’ve been curious to give this reference a look. Both authors cite the reference as found in J.-P. Migne’s Patrologia latina, vol. 17, col. 46 (Cranfield, xiii, 17n2; Moo, 4n7).

Free Book of the Month - Logos Bible Software

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 14:19:41 +0000

For December 2016, Logos Bible Software’s free book is Tremper Longman’s How to Read Proverbs (IVP, 2002). The accompanying volume for $1.99 is Longman’s How to Read the Psalms (IVP, 1988).

2017 Stone-Campbell Journal Conference

Mon, 28 Nov 2016 20:01:16 +0000

The 2017 Stone-Campbell Journal Conference is welcoming proposals for papers. The conference will be held 7–8 April at Johnson University, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

TC 21

Fri, 11 Nov 2016 18:56:19 +0000

The newest volume of TC has been released, containing eight book reviews and the following articles:

Gregory R. Lanier, “A Case for the Assimilation of Matthew 21:44 to the Lukan “Crushing Stone” (20:18), with Special Reference to 104”
Aron Pinker, “A New Attempt to Interpret Job 30:24”
Georg Gäbel, The Import of the Versions for the History of the Greek Text: Some Observations from the ECM of Acts
Katie Marcar, “The Quotations of Isaiah in 1 Peter: A Text-Critical Analysis”

HT: New Articles and Reviews in the TC Journal — Evangelical Textual Criticism

Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting

Wed, 02 Nov 2016 19:05:07 +0000

Access to the Journal of the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting is open and available online. JJMJS is:

a peer-reviewed academic open access journal, published electronically (immediate free online availability) in co-operation with Eisenbrauns, with support of McMaster University and Caspari Center….

The journal aims, uniquely, to advance scholarship on this crucial period in the early history of the Jewish and Christian traditions when they developed into what is today known as two world religions, mutually shaping one another as they did so. JJMJS publishes high-quality research on any topic that directly addresses or has implications for the understanding of the inter-relationship and interaction between the Jesus movement and other forms of Judaism, as well as for the processes that led to the formation of Judaism and Christianity as two related but independent religions.

SBL (e)mail badges and tickets

Mon, 31 Oct 2016 17:40:27 +0000

Apparently, name badges and tote bag tickets for this year’s SBL meeting will be distributed by email:

In an effort to cut down on lines for badge reprints at registration, name badges will no longer be sent via postal mail. Instead, check your e-mail in early November for a special link that will allow you to print your name badge and tote bag ticket to bring with you to San Antonio. If you bring these items to the Annual Meeting, you will not need to stand in line for registration.

SBL annual meeting mobile apps

Mon, 31 Oct 2016 08:00:34 +0000

The SBL annual meeting mobile apps are available for both Android and iOS. In each case, after the app installed, I opened it and started looking around for a minute or so before the app pulled in the current conference program version.

Tracking Writing Progress

Sun, 30 Oct 2016 11:09:29 +0000

In How to Write a Lot ( affiliate disclosure), Paul Silvia provides his own progress monitoring system as an example (39–45). Since finishing the book last month, I have been adapting Silvia’s database format to a Google Docs spreadsheet that will track some additional data in addition to the data that he finds helpful. Since it has been helpful thus far, I thought I would make it available with some sample data.

Greenspoon, review of Tov, Text-critical use of the Septuagint

Sat, 29 Oct 2016 08:00:57 +0000

Leonard Greenspoon has a helpful review of the third edition of Emanuel Tov’s Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research (Eisenbrauns, 2015). Particularly useful are Greenspoon’s observations about changes in this edition over against the previous one.

SBL and IVP Academic

Mon, 24 Oct 2016 20:35:59 +0000

In November 2016, InterVarsity Press has posted an interesting clarification to its situation in relation to the Society of Biblical Literature annual meetings. According to the post,

InterVarsity Press Publisher Jeff Crosby has confirmed that the Society of Biblical Literature’s Council, at its next meeting on October 29-30, is taking up the question of IVP Academic’s right to exhibit at the 2017 annual meetings of the jointly-hosted AAR-SBL. That conversation is a part of a larger discussion the SBL Council will have regarding its protocols and standards for exhibitors at its events.

Citations in Footnotes in SBL's Footnote-bibliography Style

Tue, 18 Oct 2016 11:00:00 +0000

SBL Press has some helpful clarifications about citations in the footnote-bibliography, or traditional, style.

Keener on Romans

Sun, 02 Oct 2016 11:07:20 +0000

This month, Logos Bible Software has Craig Keener’s New Covenant Commentary volume on Romans available for free. The companion deep-discount volume is Gordon Fee’s on Revelation, also from the NCC.

Logical Impossibility in ECM

Thu, 14 Jul 2016 11:20:23 +0000

Peter Gurry reflects on the “logical impossibility” criterion that feeds into the Editio Critica Maior’s account of “variants”:

The Editio Critica Maior defines a “variant” as a reading that is both “grammatically correct and logically possible.” If it doesn’t meet these two criteria it is marked with an f for Fehler (= error). Neither criteria is completely objective, but then most of the errors so recorded in the ECM are pretty obvious gibberish. Occasionally, however, one finds cause…

Codex Rossanensis Discussion

Wed, 06 Jul 2016 08:00:55 +0000

Via the ETC blog and Peter Gurry, Elijah Hixson has an informative overview of Codex Rossanensis’s presence in recent news.

The following is a guest post from Elijah Hixson. Elijah is currently writing his doctoral thesis on Codex Rossanensis and two other purple codices at the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of Paul Foster. When I saw last week that Rossenansis had recently be restored I asked Elijah if he would give us a…

Hurtado on (Not) Yahweh's Return to Zion

Wed, 06 Jul 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Larry Hurtado has kindly made available the pre-publication version of his essay “YHWH’s Return to Zion: A New Catalyst for Earliest High Christology?” in the recent God and the Faithfulness of Paul: A Critical Examination of the Pauline Theology of N. T. Wright, edited by Christoph Heilig, Thomas Hewitt, and Michael Bird (WUNT 2/413; Mohr Siebeck, 2016).

BGNT Website

Tue, 05 Jul 2016 11:32:33 +0000

The Center for the Study and Preservation of the Majority Text has a website dedicated to its edition of the Greek New Testament. The website also provides a copy of that edition as a free PDF.

The Byzantine Greek New Testament (BGNT)The Byzantine Greek New Testament (BGNT), is a new scholarly edition of the Greek New Testament. The BGNT base text is compiled from a consensus of readings from the Byzantine Kr or family 35 textform. It will serve as the comparison base text for both our online and future printed edition…

Fitzmyer for Free

Thu, 04 Feb 2016 12:52:13 +0000

This month, Verbum has Joseph Fitzmyer’s Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Paulist, 2009) available for free. The $0.99 companion volume is Fitzmyer’s Interpretation of Scripture: In Defense of the Historical-Critical Method (Paulist, 2008).

Full-height Footnote Numbers in Microsoft Word

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 22:06:10 +0000

Microsoft Word ties footnote anchors in the main text and footnote numbers at the start of footnotes to the same style. Consequently, it’s difficult to get full-height footnote numbers followed by a period (cf. Chicago Manual of Style, SBL Handbook of style).

The process for getting this result discussed at Word MVPs does not seem to work in Word v16. But Word’s InsertFootnoteNow function can be intercepted to add the following macro commands to produce this result:

Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 13:00:05 +0000

Noet has Maimonides’s Guide for the Perplexed free in the month of January. A taste of Maimonides’s ethical reflections is also available for $0.99.

Butler, Lives

Tue, 29 Dec 2015 17:40:05 +0000

The Internet Archive has full-text PDFs of Alban Butler’s twelve-volume set, Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints (Thomas Richardson, 1842–46):

Advent 22 @ Logos

Tue, 22 Dec 2015 13:16:17 +0000

Today, Logos Bible Software has Louis Berkhof’s Introduction to the New Testament for free.

Advent 17 @Logos

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 13:35:29 +0000

Today’s Advent givaway by Logos Bible Software is Geerhardus Vos’s Idea of Biblical Theology as a Science and as a Theological Discipline.

University of Illinois Open Access Classics Dissertations and Theses

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 13:34:13 +0000

Via AWOL, the University of Illinois has a number of open-access theses and dissertations in Classics.

Advent 8 @ Logos

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 13:30:16 +0000

For today’s Advent freebie, Logos Bible Software has volume 2, part 1 of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics ( The Doctrine of God).

Facing Hermeneutics

Sat, 05 Dec 2015 13:08:37 +0000

Craig Keener shares the following humorous diagram:

A Seal Impression from Hezekiah

Thu, 03 Dec 2015 14:46:25 +0000

Jim Davila provides information about a Hezekiah seal impression find.

Advent 3 @Logos

Thu, 03 Dec 2015 14:34:14 +0000

Today’s Advent giveaway at Logos Bible Software is the Cornerstone series commentary on the Pastorals and Hebrews with contributions by Linda Belleville, Jon Laansma, and Ramsey Michaels.

Advent 2 Resource @ Logos

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 14:25:17 +0000

Today’s free resource for Advent at Logos is Henry Cole’s edition of Calvin’s Calvinism (1856–1857) .

Advent @Logos

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 15:10:43 +0000

For Advent, Logos Bible Software is providing an additional and daily free or discounted book and media deal. Today’s book freebie is N. T. Wright’s Scripture and the Authority of God(SPCK, 2005).

Logos's Free Book(s) of the Month for December 2015

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 01:57:15 +0000

Logos Bible Software’s free book of the month for December is now live. The selection is Stephen Fowl’s Ephesians from the New Testament Library series. Also deeply discounted to $1.99 is Luke Timothy Johnson’s Hebrews volume from the same series.

Google Sreetview Tour of Petra

Mon, 30 Nov 2015 12:46:11 +0000

Google Street view has a dedicated tour of Petra.

HT: AWOL.

New Manuscripts @ CSNTM

Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:28:06 +0000

From Dan Wallace:

New manuscripts digitized by the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) have just been added to our searchable collection. These include 10 new manuscripts from the National Library of Greece in Athens, the site of our ongoing digitization project for 2015–16.

CSNTM Website Reboot

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 14:28:55 +0000

From ETC:

Today, the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) launched their new and vastly improved website at CSNTM.org.

For details about the reboot see ETC’s post and the CSNTM website.

Stevens, John 9.38–39a

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 18:23:07 +0000

Chris Stevens has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “John 9.38-39a: A Scribal Interjection for Literary Reinforcement.”

Jachowski, "Herod the Great and the Latin Josephus"

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 19:05:32 +0000

In the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, Raymond Jachowski discusses “The Death of Herod the Great and the Latin Josephus: Re-examining the Twenty-second Year of Tiberius.”

Heiser, "Supernatural"

Tue, 03 Nov 2015 16:35:00 +0000

Heiser, Supernatural

The folks at Lexham Press have kindly sent along a copy of Michael Heiser’s book, Supernatural. Heiser holds a PhD in Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Supernatural is a follow-up to Heiser’s previous volume Unseen Realm (Lexham, 2015; see Supernatural, 9). Both continue following up on themes Heiser previously explored in his doctoral thesis on “The Divine Council in Late Canonical and Non-Canonical Second Temple Jewish Literature” (2004).

Auctor: A Journal for Postgraduates in Classics

Mon, 02 Nov 2015 21:48:17 +0000

From AWOL:

Auctor is the postgraduate journal of the Royal Holloway (University of London) Classics department. Our aim is to provide a high quality peer-reviewed journal, where postgraduates at any stage in their career can publish notes or articles pertaining to the classical world. We do not discriminate and so not only welcome submissions in Classical literature, but also from archaeology to reception, and everything in-between.

November Logos Freebies

Mon, 02 Nov 2015 09:12:50 +0000

November’s freebies at Logos Bible Software include several fine texts:

Lutz, Matthew (Hermeneia, vol. 1)—with vol. 2 coming in at $1.99.
Kuyper, Collected Works in Public Theology (excerpts)
Caesar, Gallic War (Loeb Classical Library)

Update: Verbum now shows November’s free text too: Bernard of Clairvaux’s sermons on Advent and Christmas.

Why Searching Shouldn't Replace Reading

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 16:13:35 +0000

Yes, search, but also read, note, and remember.

Thesis-style Numistmatism Wanted

Tue, 27 Oct 2015 15:45:00 +0000

From AWOL:

The American Numismatic Society has created an Open Access digital library. One purpose is to host unpublished and/or orphaned MA and PhD theses/dissertations that have numismatic content. As a part of this library your thesis will be Open Access, full-text searchable, and http://schema.org properties will help Google relevance. If you (or someone you know) wants their research hosted for free (CC-BY license) alongside other numismatic work, email Andrew Reinhard at areinhard@numismatics.org.

Adler, ed., Great Books of the Western World

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 09:02:17 +0000

The Faithlife platform family (e.g., Logos, Noet) now has Mortimer Adler’s 60-volume Great Books of the Western World (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1990) available for preorder. It seems the information from Adler’s Syntopicon has also been embedded within this digital version of the series.

Sacra Pagina: Revelation

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 19:10:09 +0000

Harrington, Revelation (Sacra Pagina)

Verbum’s free book for October is Wilfrid Harrington’s Sacra Pagina volume on Revelation:

More than any other New Testament writing, the Book of Revelation demands commentary. Its often-bewildering text is easily open to less-than-scholarly interpretation.

Wilfrid Harrington brings his scholarship to the Book of Revelation and conveys its Christian message. He puts the work in its historical and social setting—a first-century CE province of the Roman Empire—and explores its social and religious background and its literary character. Through Harrington we hear clearly the challenge of John, the prophet, to the churches of his time—and to ours—not to compromise the Gospel message.

Advice for Learning Greek

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:12:08 +0000

Advice from Murray Harris:

As for the study habit that has proved most helpful in my academic career, it is this. There is no better way to become proficient in Greek, to gain a “feel” for the language, and to become enriched by the theology of the New Testament than the regular memorization of the Greek text. Paste a photocopy of verses or sections of the text on to cards and carefully reflect on it as you go about your daily exercise.

A New (Very Old) KJV

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:54:18 +0000

On MSN:

The earliest known draft of the King James Bible, regarded as the most widely read work in English, has been unearthed among ancient papers lodged in a Cambridge college.

American scholar Jeffrey Miller announced his year-old discovery in the Times Literary Supplement this week, saying it would help fill in gaps in understanding how the bible, published in 1611, came to be.

Open Journal of Philosophy

Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:52:33 +0000

From the Open Journal of Philosophy mailing list: “We sincerely invite you to submit or recommend original research papers.”

Sacred Texts and Paradigmatic Revolutions in Paperback, Part 2

Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:49:49 +0000

A while ago, I mentioned Sacred Texts and Paradigmatic Revolutions would be coming to paperback. That format is now available at about a fourth or less of the MSRP for the hardback.

Venerable Bede

Thu, 06 Aug 2015 11:35:13 +0000

Treasures recently found:

Explanation of the Apocalypse
Historical Works (including Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation)

Figuring Things Out

Mon, 15 Jun 2015 20:26:25 +0000

The latest issue of the Journal of Faith and the Academy is kindly carrying my article “Figuring Things Out: Lyrical Resourcement for Figural Readings of Biblical Literature in the Contemporary Academy.” The “lyrical” element in the essay is an attempt to think through some of how Nicholas of Lyra might provide a helpful rubric for understanding and pursuing responsibly figural readings of biblical literature within a contemporary, confessional academic context.

Paideia Is Closing

Mon, 11 May 2015 16:16:18 +0000

Sadly, the Paideia Centre for Public Theology is winding down. The Scripture and Hermeneutics and Scripture and Doctrine Seminars will, however, be continuing. Much of the Centre’s other work will also be taken up under the auspices of St. George’s Anglican Church.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (May 7, 2015)

Thu, 07 May 2015 16:31:03 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Markus Bockmuehl and Guy G. Stroumsa, eds., Paradise in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Views, reviewed by Pieter G. R. de Villiers
Tony Burke, ed., Ancient Gospel or Modern Forgery?: The Secret Gospel of Mark in Debate: Proceedings from the 2011 York University Christian Apocrypha Symposium, reviewed by James F. McGrath
Andrew R. Davis, Tel Dan in Its Northern Cultic Context, reviewed by Bob Becking and by Aren M. Maeir
Stephen Finlan, The Family Metaphor in Jesus’ Teaching: Gospel Imagery and Application, reviewed by Joanna Dewey
Kai Kaniuth, Anne Löhnert, Jared L. Miller, Adelheid Otto, Michael Roaf, and Walther Sallaberger, eds., Tempel im Alten Orient, reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow
Emma Loosley, The Architecture and Liturgy of the Bema in Fourth- to-Sixth-Century Syrian Churches, reviewed by Robert Morehouse
Elvira Martín Contreras and Guadalupe Seijas de los Ríos-Zarzosa, Masora: La transmisión de la tradición de la Biblia Hebrea, reviewed by Amparo Alba Cecilia
Halvor Moxnes, Jesus and the Rise of Nationalism: A New Quest for the Nineteenth Century Historical Jesus, reviewed by Craig A. Evans
Pheme Perkins, First Corinthians, reviewed by H. H. Drake Williams III

Wright, The Lord and His Prayer

Wed, 06 May 2015 16:57:16 +0000

For May, Logos Bible Software’s free volume is N. T. Wright’s The Lord and His Prayer(SPCK, 1996). The paired discount volume is Wright’s Paul: Fresh Perspectives (SPCK, 2005).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (May 1, 2015)

Fri, 01 May 2015 16:09:00 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Francis Borchardt, The Torah in 1 Maccabees: A Literary Critical Approach to the Text, reviewed by Thomas Hieke
Cilliers Breytenbach and Jörg Frey, eds., Reflections on the Early Christian History of Religion—Erwägungen zur frühchristlichen Religionsgeschichte, reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus
Walter Dietrich, Die Samuelbücher im deuteronomistischen Geschichtswerk: Studien zu den Geschichtsüberlieferungen des Alten Testaments II, reviewed by Mark W. Hamilton
James D. G. Dunn, The Oral Gospel Tradition, reviewed by David B. Sloan
Paul S. Evans and Tyler F. Williams, eds., Chronicling the Chronicler: The Book of Chronicles and Early Second Temple Historiography, reviewed by Michael D. Matlock
Katharina Galor and Hanswulf Bloedhorn, The Archaeology of Jerusalem: From the Origins to the Ottomans, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
Moshe Garsiel, From Earth to Heaven: A Literary Study of the Eliijah Stories in the Book of Kings, reviewed by Keith Bodner and by David A. Glatt-Gilad
Alison Ruth Gray, Psalm 18 in Words and Pictures: A Reading through Metaphor, reviewed by Leslie C. Allen
Mignon R. Jacobs and Raymond F. Person Jr., eds., Israelite Prophecy and the Deuteronomistic History: Portrait, Reality, and the Formation of a History, reviewed by James M. Bos and by Thomas Wagner
Ronald Jolliffe, Gertraud Harb, Christoph Heil, Anneliese Felber, and Angelika Magnes, Q11: 39a, 42, 39b, 41, 43-44: Woes against the Pharisees, reviewed by Peter J. Judge
W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Creation Myths, reviewed by Michael S. Moore
Daniel C. Matt, trans., The Zohar: Pritzker Edition (vol. 6), reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins
Abera M. Mengestu, God as Father in Paul: Kingship Language and Identity Formation in Early Christianity, reviewed by Inhee C. Berg
Anthony M. Moore, Signs of Salvation: The Theme of Creation in John’s Gospel, reviewed by Brian J. Tabb
Valérie Nicolet-Anderson, Constructing the Self: Thinking with Paul and Michel Foucault, reviewed by Chris L. de Wet
Vernon K. Robbins, Who Do People Say I Am? Rewriting Gospel in Emerging Christianity, reviewed by Michael J. Kok
David S. Vanderhooft and Abraham Winitzer, eds., Literature as Politics, Politics as Literature: Essays on the Ancient Near East in Honor of Peter Machinist, reviewed by Shawn W. Flynn
Ryan Donald Wettlaufer, No Longer Written: The Use of Conjectural Emendation in the Restoration of the Text of the New Testament, the Epistle of James as a Case Study, reviewed by Jeff Cate

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 58, no. 1

Mon, 20 Apr 2015 16:28:22 +0000

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 58, no. 1 contents.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 17, 2015)

Mon, 20 Apr 2015 16:17:00 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Bill T. Arnold, Introduction to the Old Testament, reviewed by David W. Baker and by Anselm C. Hagedorn
Mark A. Chancey, Carol Meyers, and Eric M. Meyers, eds., The Bible in the Public Square: Its Enduring Influence in American Life, reviewed by Randall Balmer
Raymond F. Collins, Accompanied by a Believing Wife: Ministry and Celibacy in the Earliest Christian Communities, reviewed by William R. G. Loader
Andrew Crislip, Thorns in the Flesh: Illness and Sanctity in Late Ancient Christianity, reviewed by John J. Pilch
B. C. Hodge, Revisiting the Days of Genesis: A Study of the Use of Time in Genesis 1–11 in Light of Its Ancient Near Eastern and Literary Context, reviewed by Jeffery M. Leonard
Jey J. Kanagaraj, John, reviewed by Jo-Ann Brant
Laurel W. Koepf-Taylor, Give Me Children or I Shall Die: Children and Communal Survival in Biblical Literature, reviewed by Jason A. Riley
Katherine Low, The Bible, Gender, and Reception History: The Case of Job’s Wife, reviewed by Jordan M. Scheetz
Burton MacDonald, Larry G. Herr, D. Scott Quaintance, Geoffrey A. Clark, and Michael C. A. MacDonald, The Ayl to Ras an-Naqab Archaeological Survey, Southern Jordan 2005–2007, reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins
J. Gordon McConville, Joshua: Crossing Divides, reviewed by Trent C. Butler
Douglas J. Moo, Galatians, reviewed by Richard Manly Adams Jr. and by Roy E. Ciampa
James M. Morgan, Encountering Images of Spiritual Transformation: The Thoroughfare Motif within the Plot of Luke-Acts, reviewed by Jean-François Racine
Reinhard Muller, Juha Pakkala, and Bas ter Haar Romeny, Evidence of Editing: Growth and Change of Texts in the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by John F. Quant
Miguel Pérez Fernández and Olga Ruiz Morell, El Beso de Dios: Midrás de la Muerte de Moisés. Edición bilingüe hebreo-español y comentario, reviewed by Francisco García-Treto
Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms: 42–89, reviewed by Christine Jones
Robert A. Spivey, D. Moody Smith, and C. Clifton Black, Anatomy of the New Testament: A Guide to Its Structure and Meaning, reviewed by Brian C. Small
Jamie Viands, I Will Surely Multiply Your Offspring: An Old Testament Theology of the Blessing of Progeny with Special Attention to the Latter Prophets, reviewed by Marvin A. Sweeney
Julius Wellhausen, Briefe, edited by Rudolf Smend, reviewed by James Alfred Loader

RevQ Articles

Thu, 16 Apr 2015 16:25:53 +0000

Charles Haws notes that Revue de Qumrân now has a website. In commemoration of the website’s launch about a dozen articles have been made openly available.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 10, 2015)

Mon, 13 Apr 2015 17:19:19 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Angelika Berlejung, Jan Dietrich, and Joachim Friedrich Quack, eds., Menschenbilder und Körperkonzepte im Alten Israel, in Ägypten und im Alten Orient, reviewed by Mark W. Hamilton
William P. Brown, Wisdom’s Wonder: Character, Creation, and Crisis in the Bible’s Wisdom Literature, reviewed by James Alfred Loader
Martin J. Buss, Toward Understanding the Hebrew Canon: A Form-Critical Approach, reviewed by Colin Toffelmire
Nuria Calduch-Benages, ed., Wisdom for Life: Essays Offered to Honor Prof. Maurice Gilbert, SJ, on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, reviewed by Katharine Dell
Volkmar Fritz, The Emergence of Israel in the Twelfth and Eleventh Centuries B.C.E., reviewed by Lester L. Grabbe
Hadi Ghantous, The Elijah-Hazael Paradigm and the Kingdom of Israel: The Politics of God in Ancient Syria-Palestine, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
Addison Hodges Hart, Taking Jesus at His Word: What Jesus Really Said in the Sermon on the Mount, reviewed by Joshua Chatraw
Steven L. McKenzie and John Kaltner, eds., New Meanings for Ancient Texts: Recent Approaches to Biblical Criticism and Their Applications, reviewed by Emmanuel Nathan
R. W. L. Moberly, Old Testament Theology: Reading the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture, reviewed by Trent C. Butler and by Wilhelm J. Wessels
Roger Mohrlang, Paul and His Life-Transforming Theology: A Concise Introduction, reviewed by Bas van Os
Francis J. Moloney, The Resurrection of the Messiah: A Narrative Commentary on the Resurrection Accounts in the Four Gospels, reviewed by Richard I. Pervo
Joy A. Schroeder, Deborah’s Daughters: Gender Politics and Biblical Interpretation, reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
Dennis E. Smith and Joseph B. Tyson, eds., Acts and Christian Beginnings: The Acts Seminar Report, reviewed by Susana Funsten
William J. Subash, The Dreams of Matthew 1:18–2:23: Tradition, Form, and Theological Investigation, reviewed by Bart J. Koet

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 3, 2015)

Mon, 06 Apr 2015 16:39:16 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Itzhak Benyamini, Narcissist Universalism: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Paul’s Epistles, reviewed by Kari Syreeni
Wim M. de Bruin, Isaiah 1–12 as Written and Read in Antiquity, reviewed by Ibolya Balla
Trevor J. Burke and Brian S. Rosner, eds., Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology, and Practice, reviewed by Ronald R. Clark
J. Patout Burns Jr., Romans: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators, reviewed by Daniel Patte and by Adam Ployd
Beverly Roberts Gaventa, ed., Apocalyptic Paul: Cosmos and Anthropos in Romans 5–8, reviewed by Timothy Gombis
Barbara Green, Jeremiah and God’s Plans of Well-Being, reviewed by Lissa M. Wray Beal
Richard H. Hiers, Women’s Rights and the Bible: Implications for Christian Ethics and Social Policy, reviewed by L. Juliana Claassens
William S. Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, reviewed by Thomas E. Phillips and by Troy M. Troftgruben
A. James Murphy, Kids and Kingdom: The Precarious Presence of Children in the Synoptic Gospels, reviewed by Marianne Blickenstaff
Ruth Poser, Das Ezechielbuch als Trauma-Literatur, reviewed by Michael S. Moore
Robert M. Price, The Amazing Colossal Apostle: The Search for the Historical Paul, reviewed by Corneliu Constantineanu and by Glenn E. Snyder
Ephraim Stern, The Material Culture of the Northern Sea Peoples in Israel, reviewed by Raz Kletter

Childs, Isaiah

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 21:07:48 +0000

Brevard Childs,

Logos Bible Software has a further excellent resource available for free this month, Brevard Childs’ Old Testament Library volume on Isaiah. With this resource, Leslie Allen’s volume on Jeremiah comes for $0.99.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (March 27, 2015)

Mon, 30 Mar 2015 17:07:03 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Miryam T. Brand, Evil Within and Without: The Source of Sin and Its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature, reviewed by Rodney A. Werline
Ronald E. Clements, Jerusalem and the Nations: Studies in the Book of Isaiah, reviewed by Bo H. Lim
John A. Cook and Robert D. Holmstedt, Beginning Biblical Hebrew: A Grammar and Illustrated Reader, reviewed by Bálint Károly Zabán
Jason von Ehrenkrook, Sculpting Idolatry in Flavian Rome: (An)Iconic Rhetoric in the Writings of Flavius Josephus, reviewed by Patrick McCullough
David A. Fiensy and Ralph K. Hawkins, eds., The Galilean Economy in the Time of Jesus, reviewed by Ulrich Busse and by Sarah E. Rollens
André Gagné and Jean-François Racine, eds., En marge du canon: Études sur les écrits apocryphes juifs et chrétiens, reviewed by Edmon L. Gallagher
Jonathan S. Greer, Dinner at Dan: Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sacred Feasts at Iron Age II Tel Dan and Their Significance, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
Helen R. Jacobus, Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme, and Philippe Guillaume, eds., Studies on Magic and Divination in the Biblical World, reviewed by Craig A. Evans
David Marcus, Scribal Wit: Aramaic Mnemonics in the Leningrad Codex, reviewed by Christopher Dost
Susan Marks, First Came Marriage: The Rabbinic Appropriation of Early Jewish Wedding Ritual, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
David R. Nienhuis and Robert W. Wall, Reading the Epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude as Scripture: The Shaping and Shape of a Canonical Collection, reviewed by John Kloppenborg
John Painter and David A. deSilva, James and Jude, reviewed by Darian Lockett
Luis Sánchez Navarro, Escudriñar las Escrituras: Verbum Domini y la interpretación bíblica, reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow
C. S. Song, In the Beginning Were Stories, Not Texts: Story Theology, reviewed by Michelle J. Morris

Lexham Bible Dictionary Updates

Mon, 30 Mar 2015 15:03:24 +0000

Lexham Bible Dictionary now includes among its entries my contributions on “Aquila,” “Emesa,” “Israel, Place,” and “Law in Second Temple Judaism.”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (March 20, 2015)

Mon, 23 Mar 2015 16:58:16 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Alex Damm, Ancient Rhetoric and the Synoptic Problem: Clarifying Markan Priority, reviewed by C. Clifton Black
Michael Fieger, Jutta Krispenz, and Jörg Lanckau, eds., Wörterbuch alttestamentlicher Motive, reviewed by Trent Butler
John Harrison and James D. Dvorak, eds., The New Testament Church: The Challenge of Developing Ecclesiologies, reviewed by Robert Matthew Calhoun
Knut Martin Heim, Poetic Imagination in Proverbs: Variant Repetitions and the Nature of Poetry, reviewed by Bálint Károly Zabán
Rüdiger Jungbluth, Im Himmel und auf Erden: Dimensionen von Königsherrschaft im Alten Testament, reviewed by Sven Petry
Ian Christopher Levy, Philip D. W. Krey, and Thomas Ryan, eds., The Letter to the Romans, reviewed by Anders Runesson
Herbert Marks, ed., The English Bible, King James Version: The Old Testament, reviewed by David G. Burke
Francis J. Moloney, SDB, Love in the Gospel of John: An Exegetical, Theological, and Literary Study, reviewed by Catrin H. Williams
JoAnn Scurlock and Richard H. Beal, eds., Creation and Chaos: A Reconsideration of Hermann Gunkel’s Chaoskampf Hypothesis, reviewed by Craig W. Tyson
Christopher R. Seitz, The Character of Christian Scripture: The Significance of a Two-Testament Bible, reviewed by Stephen J. Andrews
Anna Rebecca Solevåg, Birthing Salvation: Gender and Class in Early Christian Childbearing Discourse, reviewed by Sarah E. Rollens
Michael D. Swartz, The Signifying Creator: Nontextual Sources of Meaning in Ancient Judaism, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
Abraham Terian, trans., Magnalia Dei: Biblical History in Epic Verse by Grigor Magistros, reviewed by Adam Carter McCollum
Benyamim Tsedaka and Sharon Sullivan, eds., The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah: First English Translation Compared with the Masoretic Version, reviewed by James R. Blankenship
J. Ross Wagner, Reading the Sealed Book: Old Greek Isaiah and the Problem of Septuagint Hermeneutics, reviewed by Johann Cook

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (March 13, 2015)

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 19:55:37 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Robert B. Chisholm Jr., A Commentary on Judges and Ruth, reviewed by Mark E. Biddle
John W. Daniels Jr., Gossiping Jesus: The Oral Processing of Jesus in John’s Gospel, reviewed by Peter J. Judge
John Goldingay, Isaiah 56-66: Introduction, Text, and Commentary, reviewed by Johanna Erzberger
Steven A. Hunt, D. Francois Tolmie, and Ruben Zimmermann, eds., Character Studies in the Fourth Gospel: Narrative Approaches to Seventy Figures in John, reviewed by Craig R. Koester
Demetrios S. Katos, Palladius of Helenopolis: The Origenist Advocate, reviewed by Jon F. Dechow
Phillip J. Long, Jesus the Bridegroom: The Origin of the Eschatological Feast as a Wedding Banquet in the Synoptic Gospels, reviewed by Marianne Blickenstaff
Roberto Martínez, The Question of John the Baptist and Jesus’ Indictment of the Religious Leaders: A Critical Analysis of Luke 7:18–35, reviewed by Brian C. Dennert and by Bart J. Koet
Benjamin J. Segal, A New Psalm: The Psalms as Literature, reviewed by Hallvard Hagelia
N. T. Wright, Pauline Perspectives: Essays on Paul, 1978–2013, reviewed by Russell Morton

Journal of Biblical Literature 134, no. 1

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 19:21:35 +0000

The latest issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature includes:

Athalya Brenner-Idan, “Introduction to the Presidential Address”
Fernando F. Segovia, “Presidential Address: Criticism in Critical Times: Reflections on Vision and Task”
Duane E. Smith, “The Divining Snake: Reading Genesis 3 in the Context of Mesopotamian Ophiomancy”
David E. S. Stein, “A Rejoinder concerning Genesis 3:6 and the NJPS Translation”
Murray H. Lichtenstein, “The Fearsome Sword of Genesis 3:24”
Kerry D. Lee, “Two Translations of HSS V 67 and Their Significance for Genesis 16, 21, and 30”
Ken Brown, “Vengeance and Vindication in Numbers 31”
Orly Keren and Hagit Taragan, “Merab, Saul’s Mute and Muffled Daughter”
Joshua Bermanz, “The Legal Blend in Biblical Narrative (Joshua 20:1–9, Judges 6:25–31, 1 Samuel 15:2, 28:3–25, 2 Kings 4:1–7, Jeremiah 34:12–17, Nehemiah 5:1–12)”
John B. Whitley, “עיפה in Amos 4:13: New Evidence for the Yahwistic Incorporation of Ancient Near Eastern Solar Imagery”
Warren Carter, “Cross-Gendered Romans and Mark’s Jesus: Legion Enters the Pigs (Mark 5:1–20)”
David Lertis Matson, “Pacifist Jesus? The (Mis)Translation of ἐᾶτε ἓως τούτου in Luke 22:51”
Daniel Lynwood Smith, “Interrupted Speech in Luke-Acts”
Ryan S. Schellenberg, “The First Pauline Chronologist? Paul’s Itinerary in the Letters and in Acts”
Jennifer A. Glancy, “The Sexual Use of Slaves: A Response to Kyle Harper on Jewish and Christian Porneia”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (9 March 2015)

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 19:08:05 +0000

The 9 March 2015 newsletter for the Review of Biblical Literature noted reviews of several noteworthy volumes.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 27, 2015)

Fri, 27 Feb 2015 19:40:07 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Angelika Berlejung and Michael P. Streck, eds., Arameans, Chaldeans, and Arabs in Babylonia and Palestine in the First Millennium B.C., reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
Matthew J. Goff, 4QInstruction, reviewed by Kenneth Atkinson and by Jeffrey P. Garcia
T. Michael W. Halcomb, Entering the Fray: A Primer on New Testament Issues for the Church and Academy, reviewed by C. Jason Borders
Andrew T. Lincoln, Born of a Virgin? Reconceiving Jesus in the Bible, Tradition, and Theology, reviewed by Marianne Blickenstaff
Mark McEntire, Portraits of a Mature God: Choices in Old Testament Theology, reviewed by Ginny Brewer-Boydston
Bert Newton, Subversive Wisdom: Sociopolitical Dimensions of John’s Gospel, reviewed by Benjamin Reynolds
Chantal Reynier, Pour lire la lettre de Saint Paul aux Romains, reviewed by Abson Joseph
Thomas Richter and Sarah Lange, Das Archiv des Idadda: Die Keilschrifttexte aus den deutsch-syrischen Ausgrabungen 2001–2003 im Königspalast von Qatna, reviewed by Jan-Wim Wesselius
Frank Williams, trans., The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Books II and III: De Fide, reviewed by Simon Gathercole

Un-Bock-sing the Importance of Backgrounds

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 17:21:35 +0000

The Logos blog has a couple minute and slightly humorous segment from Darrell Bock on the importance of background information for New Testament Studies.

Excerpts from Selby’s Comical Doctrine, Part 2

Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:51:57 +0000

At the end of chapter 1, “Questions of Truth and Epistemology,” in her Comical Doctrine: An Epistemology of New Testament Hermeneutics (Paternoster, 2006), Rosalind Selby summarizes:

If this chapter has concluded with an appropriate understanding of the logical structure of grace and faith as we contemplate how it is that we know God, it must be important to pursue it in terms of the relationship between the individual and the community. The community of the ‘church’—however we define that—is founded by and founds its texts. This is a dialectic which itself rests in the priority of the founding acts of God. The priority over community, individual and the textual conveying of revelation always belongs with God; and the Christian will take that fundamentally seriously. ( 52; emphasis added)

Runge Webinar

Thu, 12 Feb 2015 17:47:29 +0000

On February 18, Steve Runge will be hosting a webinar about the Lexham “high definition” commentaries. For more information and to register, please visit the Logos website.

Excerpts from Selby's Comical Doctrine, Part 1

Wed, 11 Feb 2015 19:05:07 +0000

In her Comical Doctrine: An Epistemology of New Testament Hermeneutics (Paternoster, 2006), Rosalind Selby has several insightful observations. Summarizing the thought of Karl-Otto Apel, Selby comments:

Apel himself proposes a dialectical mediation of objective-scientistic and hermeneutical methods with a critique of ideology. Philosophical hermeneutics is reflexive in as much as the subject must self-objectify in order to be self-critical and avoid any hidden prejudices. ( 36)

Sacred Texts and Paradigmatic Revolutions in Paperback

Tue, 10 Feb 2015 17:52:46 +0000

The kind folks at Bloomsbury (the parent company of the T&T Clark imprint) have recently mentioned that a paperback release is forthcoming for my Sacred Texts and Paradigmatic Revolutions: The Hermeneutical Worlds of the Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts and the Letter to the Romans. Slated for this June, the paperback, at a $29.95 list price, will be a fiscally welcome complement to the current hardback ($120.00) and PDF ($27.99) formats. The paperback is already available for pre-order on Amazon, currently at just under the list price.

Bulletin for Biblical Research 24, no. 4

Mon, 09 Feb 2015 17:09:20 +0000

Bulletin for Biblical Research 24, no. 4 contains five articles on various topics in Biblical Studies.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 6, 2015)

Fri, 06 Feb 2015 17:45:33 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Daniel I. Block, Beyond the River Chebar: Studies in Kingship and Eschatology in the Book of Ezekiel, reviewed by Sven Petry
Reinhard Feldmeier, Power, Service, Humility: A New Testament Ethic, reviewed by David Briones
David G. Firth, 1 and 2 Samuel: A Kingdom Comes, reviewed by Ralph Henson
Martha Himmelfarb, Between Temple and Torah: Essays on Priests, Scribes, and Visionaries in the Second Temple Period and Beyond, reviewed by L. Michael Morales
Cornelia Linde, How to Correct the Sacra Scriptura?: Textual Criticism of the Bible between the Twelfth and Fifteenth Century, reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow
Kim Lan Nguyen, Chorus in the Dark: The Voices of the Book of Lamentations, reviewed by Charles William Miller
Jesse E. Robertson, The Death of Judas: The Characterization of Judas Iscariot in Three Early Christian Accounts of His Death, reviewed by Lee M. Jefferson
Michael Trainor, About Earth’s Child: An Ecological Listening to the Gospel of Luke, reviewed by C. Jason Borders
David Trobisch, A User’s Guide to the Nestle-Aland 28 Greek New Testament, reviewed by Michael W. Holmes and by Jan Krans

Pauline Month @Logos

Tue, 03 Feb 2015 21:27:13 +0000

This month’s free book from Logos Bible Software is Stephen Westerholm’s Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme (Eerdmans, 2013). Those who get this free volume are also eligible to purchase Douglas Campbell’s massive The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul(Eerdmans, 2013) for only $0.99.

TEDification How To

Mon, 02 Feb 2015 18:50:42 +0000

TED curator Chris Anderson has an article in Harvard Business Review (2013) that seeks to digest key presentation advice derived from the past several decades of TED’s work. Perhaps not all Anderson’s advice is appropriate to the genre of the academic conference paper, but doubtless a good many would substantially benefit from a healthy dose of some of the advice he offers.

Lexham Updates

Wed, 28 Jan 2015 21:20:01 +0000

The Lexham Theological Wordbook began shipping late last year and includes my entry on “Forgiveness.”

The Lexham Bible Dictionary has recently been updated with, among other items, my entries on “Haifa” and “Jenin.”

Connections can read these contributions via my LinkedIn page under “Publications.”

Stone-Campbell Journal 17, no. 2

Fri, 23 Jan 2015 15:48:38 +0000

The Stone-Campbell Journal 17, no. 2 is now available to members of the Stone-Campbell Scholars Community. This issue includes the following articles:

John Mark Hicks, “Consensus Tigurinus and a Baptismal Rapprochement between Baptists and Churches of Christ”
Mason Lee, “More Than the ‘Sermon on the Law’: Alexander Campbell and the Old Testament”
Phil Towne, “Spirituality in an Age of Technology”
Paul J. Kissling, “The So-Called ‘Post-Exilic’ Return: Already-But-Not-Yet In Ezra-Nehemiah”
Jon Carmen, “The Falling Star and the Rising Son: Luke 10:17-24 and Second Temple ‘Satan’ Traditions”
Les Hardin, “A Theology of the Hymns in Revelation”

Among this issue’s book reviews (pgs. 297–99) is my review of Jared Wilson’s The Storytelling God: Seeing the Glory of Jesus in His Parables (Crossway, 2014). Connections can read the review via my LinkedIn page under “Publications.”

Milligan on the Papyri

Wed, 01 Oct 2014 19:38:02 +0000

Rob Bradshaw has made available George Milligan’s essay, “The Greek Papyri: With Special Reference to Their Value for New Testament Study,” Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute 44 (1912): 62–78.

Research@StAndrews

Wed, 01 Oct 2014 13:59:03 +0000

Research@StAndrews:FullText is:

[A] digital repository of research output from the University of St Andrews. Since 2006 the University has required theses to be submitted to the repository. . . . The Research@StAndrews Portal provides links to the full text of research publications which are stored in Research@StAndrews:FullText.

From the School of Divinity, 160 theses are available.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (July 14, 2014)

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 20:34:15 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Richard J. Clifford, Wisdom, reviewed by Lawrence M. Wills
David J. A. Clines and J. Cheryl Exum, eds., The Reception of the Hebrew Bible in the Septuagint and the New Testament: Essays in Memory of Aileen Guilding, reviewed by Benjamin J. M. Johnson
Joan E. Cook, Genesis, reviewed by Jonathan L. Huddleston
Avraham Faust, Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period: The Archaeology of Desolation, reviewed by Gert T. M. Prinsloo
James E. Harding, The Love of David and Jonathan: Ideology, Text, Reception, reviewed by Katherine Low
Irene Nowell, Numbers, reviewed by Timothy R. Ashley
Naomi Steinberg, The World of the Child in the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Karin Finsterbusch

New Testament and Cognate Studies

More Online Resources

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 17:38:32 +0000

As a follow up to noting Rob Bradshaw’s additions of Charles Simeon and John Lightfoot’s works in conveniently accessible PDF files, some other possibly helpful resources across which I’ve recently stumbled (sometimes apparently afresh) include:

Keil and Delitzsch’s Old Testament commentary via Internet Archive;
Various helpful texts via University of Pennsylvania’s Online Books Page; and
The overall, searchable list of “Hosted Articles, Monographs, and Books” at BiblicalStudies.org.

Simeon, Works

Mon, 07 Jul 2014 16:55:15 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“100”] Charles Simeon (1759–1836; Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

Along with the works of John Lightfoot, Rob Bradshaw has posted the works of Charles Simeon (ed. Thomas Horne; London: Henry G. Bohn, 1844–1845), courtesy of Tyndale House. The set is available on this page in one PDF file per printed volume.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (July 3, 2014)

Thu, 03 Jul 2014 17:40:52 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Tremper Longman III, Job, reviewed by Richard G. Smith
Donald P. Moffat, Ezra’s Social Drama: Identity Formation, Marriage and Social Conflict in Ezra 9 and 10, reviewed by Hannah K. Harrington
Daniel C. Owens, Portraits of the Righteous in the Psalms: An Exploration of the Ethics of Book I, reviewed by Beat Weber
Franz Sedlmeier, Das Buch Ezechiel: Kapitel 25-48, reviewed by Michael S. Moore
Stefan Seiler, Text-Beziehungen: Zur intertextuellen Interpretation alttestamentlicher Texte am Beispiel ausgewählter Psalmen, reviewed by Gert T. M. Prinsloo

New Testament and Cognate Studies

July's Luther Resources @ Logos

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 21:37:58 +0000

Hans Iwand,

This month, Logos Bible Software is giving away Hans Iwand’s The Righteousness of Faith according to Luther (trans., Randi Lundell; Wipf & Stock, 2008, originally published in 1941). According to the product page, the volume:

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (June 27, 2014)

Fri, 27 Jun 2014 17:57:33 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Peter Enns, The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn’t Say about Human Origins, reviewed by Paul Korchin
Kai Kaniuth et al., eds., Tempel im Alten Orient, reviewed by Jason M. Silverman
Christoph Körner and Hans-Winfried Jüngling, eds., "…denn das ist der ganze Mensch": Jüdische Feste: Kohelet, Ester, Hoheslied, Rut, Klagelieder, reviewed by Andreas Lehnardt
Michael Pietsch, Die Kultreform Josias: Studien zur Religionsgeschichte Israels in der späten Königszeit, reviewed by Peter Porzig

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no. 2

Thu, 26 Jun 2014 18:26:49 +0000

The Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no. 2 includes:

Joram Mayshar, “Who Was the Toshav?”
Amitai Baruchi-Unna, “Two Clearings of Goats (1 Kings 20:27): An Interpretation Supported by an Akkadian Parallel”
Ryan E. Stokes, “Satan, Yhwh’s Executioner”
Saul M. Olyan, “Jehoiakim’s Dehumanizing Interment as a Ritual Act of Reclassification”
John L. McLaughlin, “Is Amos (Still) among the Wise?”
Christine Mitchell, “A Note on the Creation Formula in Zechariah 12:1–8; Isaiah 42:5–6; and Old Persian Inscriptions”
Kristian Larsson, “Intertextual Density, Quantifying Imitation”
J. R. Daniel Kirk and Stephen L. Young, “‘I Will Set His Hand to the Sea’: Psalm 88:26 LXX and Christology in Mark”
Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wasserman, “The Biblical Odes and the Text of the Christian Bible: A Reconsideration of the Impact of Liturgical Singing on the Transmission of the Gospel of Luke”
Brittany E. Wilson, “The Blinding of Paul and the Power of God:Masculinity, Sight, and Self-Control in Acts 9”
Brice C. Jones, “Three New Coptic Papyrus Fragments of 2 Timothy and Titus (P.Mich. inv. 3535b)”
Nicola Denzey Lewis and Justine Ariel Blount, “Rethinking the Origins of the Nag Hammadi Codices”

This issue also introduces the “JBL Forum,” which is intended to provide “an occasional series that will highlight approaches, points of view, and even definitions of ‘biblical scholarship’ that may be outside the usual purview of many of our readers. The format may vary from time to time but will always include an exchange of ideas on the matter at hand” (pg. 421). This issue’s forum includes:

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (June 20, 2014)

Fri, 20 Jun 2014 21:05:35 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

William Goodman, Yearning for You: Psalms and the Song of Songs in Conversation with Rock and Worship Songs, reviewed by T. Michael W. Halcomb
David Weiss Halivni, The Formation of the Babylonian Talmud, reviewed by Joshua Ezra Burns
Isaac Kalimi, ed., Jewish Bible Theology: Perspectives and Case Studies, reviewed by Ginny Brewer-Boydston
Vita Daphna Arbel, Forming Femininity in Antiquity: Eve, Gender, and Ideologies in the Greek Life of Adam and Eve, reviewed by F. Scott Spencer
Víctor Morla, Los manuscritos hebreos de Ben Sira: Traducción y notas, reviewed by Nuria Calduch-Benages
Peter W. Flint, The Dead Sea Scrolls, reviewed by George J. Brooke

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (June 13, 2014)

Thu, 19 Jun 2014 21:17:10 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Jenny R. Labendz, Socratic Torah: Non-Jews in Rabbinic Intellectual Culture, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
Thomas L. Thompson, Biblical Narrative and Palestine’s History: Changing Perspectives 2, reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Duguid, "Is Jesus in the Old Testament?"

Sat, 07 Jun 2014 05:44:25 +0000

Through June 11, the Westminster Bookstore is offering a free PDF download of Iain Duguid’s Is Jesus in the Old Testament? (P&R, 2013). Duguid has been at Grove City College but has recently joined the Westminster Seminary faculty. According to its introduction, Duguid’s essay (the text is a brief 33 pages of prose) has the following major components to its argument:

Perthes, Life of John Chrysostom

Fri, 06 Jun 2014 13:42:34 +0000

This month, Logos Bible Software has Frederic Perthes’ Life of John Chrysostom (John P. Jewett, 1854) available for free. According to Logos’s description,

Based on the investigations of Neander, Böhringer, and others, Life of John Chrysostom details the “golden-mouthed” orator’s influence on Asia Minor. It offers a look into his role as preacher and bishop, his interactions with different sects and notable persons during his life, and an exacting account of his three-year exile.

Witherington, What’s in the Word

Tue, 03 Jun 2014 13:27:48 +0000

Ben Witherington,

Through June 16, Ben Witherington’s What’s in the Word: Rethinking the Socio-Rhetorical Character of the New Testament (Baylor, 2009) is available for free from Logos Bible Software.

In sum, “Expanding on the work in which he has been fruitfully engaged for over a quarter century, Witherington challenges the previously assured results of historical criticism and demonstrates chapter by chapter how the socio-rhetorical study shifts the paradigm.” The volume discusses concerns related to orality and canon, and includes several chapters treating particular texts or phrases within the New Testament.

Brueggeman, Spirituality of the Psalms

Sat, 31 May 2014 10:52:16 +0000

Walter Brueggemann,

The June free book of the month seems already to be live on the Logos Bible Software website. The included text is Walter Brueggemann’s Spirituality of the Psalms (Fortress, 2001). The optional, $0.99 add on is Brueggemmann’s David’s Truth: In Israel’s Imagination and Memory (Fortress, 2002).

Ammon, Biblische Theologie

Tue, 20 May 2014 14:51:27 +0000

Google Books has two volumes of Christoph Friedrich Ammon’s Biblische Theologie (Erlangen: J. J. Palm, 1801) available in various full-text formats ( vol. 1, vol. 2).

Vanhoozer, ed., Theological Interpretation of the New Testament

Fri, 16 May 2014 21:59:56 +0000

Kevin Vanhoozer, ed.,

For this week, Kevin Vanhoozer’s edited volume on the Theological Interpretation of the New Testament is free from Logos Bible Software when users join a Baker-related email list (HT: Tayler Beede). The volume provides a focused selection of the book-specific entries from the larger Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible.

Baird, History of New Testament Research

Wed, 14 May 2014 16:59:31 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“120”] William Baird, History of New Testament Research (3 vols.)[/caption]

With last year’s release of the third volume, From C. H. Dodd to Hans Dieter Betz, William Baird brought his helpful series on the recent history of New Testament Studies to a close. Cliff Kvidahl has an informative review that, despite some criticisms, rightly praises Baird’s work as “informative while remaining entertaining. [Baird] brings the reader through the life and work of each scholar without getting bogged down in too much detail.” Those interested can also find the whole 3-volume set available among Logos Bible Software’s prepublication listings.

Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts Update in Logos

Sat, 10 May 2014 11:07:26 +0000

After having the product available for over 10 years, Logos Bible Software has released a substantive update to their Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts database (ed. Martin Abegg). Most significant among this update’s improvements are that the resource:

Now contains more than 100 scrolls than in the previous version (737 documents are now represented).
Several texts in the previous version have been reorganized to reflect the latest scholarship on their reconstruction.
The database’s morphology has been updated to WHM 4.18.

For more information, please see the Logos blog.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (Catch-up Ed.)

Fri, 09 May 2014 22:30:23 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include those below. In biblioblog time, some of these reviews date back almost to eternity past, but I’m going ahead and posting them here for future reference.

Update (5/13): The following now includes the April 24 listings I’d missed out previously.

March 14

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Alan Appelbaum, The Rabbis’ King-Parables: Midrash from the Third-Century Roman Empire, reviewed by Rachel Adelman
Magnar Kartveit, Rejoice, Dear Zion!: Hebrew Construct Phrases with “Daughter” and “Virgin” as Nomen Regens, reviewed by Peter Bekins
Tyler D. Mayfield, Literary Structure and Setting in Ezekiel, reviewed by Richard G. Smith

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Historical Jesus Audio

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 23:30:28 +0000

Thanks to Anthony Le Donne for noting the availability of LibriVox recordings for D. F. Strauss’s Life of Jesus and Albert Schweitzer’s Quest of the Historical Jesus. LibriVox also has apps available for Android, iOS, and Kindle users, and the iOS version (at least) allows downloading and storage for offline listening.

Select Kistemaker Works

Sat, 15 Feb 2014 01:00:47 +0000

Select Works of Simon Kistemaker

Now garnering interest in Logos Bible Software’s prepublication program are 6 volumes of select works from Simon Kistemaker. The collection mostly contains items related to the Gospels but also includes an edited volume of hermeneutics essays and a survey of Calvinist history and thought.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 13, 2014)

Sat, 15 Feb 2014 00:00:58 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Rainer Albertz and Jakob Wöhrle, eds., Between Cooperation and Hostility: Multiple Identities in Ancient Judaism and the Interaction with Foreign Powers, reviewed by Michael L. Satlow
C. A. Strine, Sworn Enemies: The Divine Oath, the Book of Ezekiel, and the Polemics of Exile, reviewed by John T. Strong
Heath A. Thomas, Jeremy Evans, and Paul Copan, eds., Holy War in the Bible: Christian Morality and an Old Testament Problem, reviewed by Guenther Haas
Amram Tropper, Simeon the Righteous in Rabbinic Literature: A Legend Reinvented, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Sacred Texts and Paradigmatic Revolutions

Fri, 14 Feb 2014 23:30:30 +0000

The latest Bloomsbury Highlights notes the newly available volume 16 in the T&T Clark Jewish and Christian Texts Series. The volume is a revision of my 2011 dissertation at Southeastern Seminary and primarily explores paradigmatic, or presuppositional, aspects of the hermeneutics at play in Romans and some of the Qumran sectarian texts.

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56, no. 3

Tue, 08 Oct 2013 23:39:00 +0000

The latest issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society includes:

Gregory Goswell, “Two Testaments in Parallel: The Influence of the Old Testament on the Structuring of the New Testament Canon”
Michael A. Grisanti, “Recent Archaeological Discoveries that Lend Credence to the Historicity of the Scriptures”
Vern S. Poythress, “Presuppositions and Harmonization: Luke 23:47 as a Test Case”
Martin Pickup, “‘On The Third Day’: The Time Frame of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection”
Andrew B. Spurgeon, “1 Timothy 2:13–15: Paul’s Retelling of Genesis 2:4–4:1”
Eliezer Gonzalez, “Healing in the Pauline Epistles: Why the Silence?”
Stanley E. Porter, “Not Only That (οὐ μόνον), But It Has Been Said Before: A Response to Verlyn Verbrugge, or Why Reading Previous Scholarship Can Avoid Scholarly Misunderstandings”
Verlyn D. Verbrugge, “Response to Stanley E. Porter”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (October 4, 2013)

Sat, 05 Oct 2013 21:36:51 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Ulrich F. Berges, Isaiah: The Prophet and his Book, reviewed by Marvin A. Sweeney
Daniel E. Fleming, The Legacy of Israel in Judah’s Bible: History, Politics, and the Reinscribing of Tradition, reviewed by Matthew Suriano
Theresa V. Lafferty, The Prophetic Critique of the Priority of the Cult: A Study of Amos 5:21–24 and Isaiah 1:10–17, reviewed by Alphonso Groenewald
Matthew Neujahr, Predicting the Past in the Ancient Near East: Mantic Historiography in Ancient Mesopotamia, Judah, and the Mediterranean World, reviewed by Gerhard Karner
Georg A. Walser, Jeremiah: A Commentary based on Ieremias in Codex Vaticanus, reviewed by Michael Graves
Walter Brueggemann, Truth Speaks to Power: The Countercultural Nature of Scripture, reviewed by Gerrie Snyman

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (September 27, 2013)

Sat, 28 Sep 2013 02:00:28 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

John J. Collins, Joel, Obadiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, reviewed by Bradford A. Anderson
Avraham Faust, The Archaeology of Israelite Society in Iron Age II, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
Gary A. Long, Grammatical Concepts 101 for Biblical Hebrew, reviewed by Perry J. Oakes
Chad S. Spigel, Ancient Synagogue Seating Capacities: Methodology, Analysis and Limits, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz

Scripture and Hermeneutics

Journal of Biblical Literature 132, no. 3

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 13:52:59 +0000

The upcoming issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature is set to include the following:

Mark F. Whitters, “Baruch as Ezra in 2 Baruch”
Brian R. Doak, “Ezekiel’s Topography of the (Un-)Heroic Dead in Ezekiel 32:17–32”
Ruth Sheridan, “Issues in the Translation of оἱ ̓Iоυαῖоι in the Fourth Gospel”
Andrew T. Lincoln, “Luke and Jesus’ Conception: A Case of Double Paternity?”
Daniel Frayer-Griggs, “Spittle, Clay, and Creation in John 9:6 and Some Dead Sea Scrolls”
Timothy M. Willis, “The Curious Case of κυριε μоυ κυριε in 2 Kingdoms 7:18–29”
Greg Goswell, “The Eschatology of Malachi after Zechariah 14”
Bennie H. Reynolds, “The Expression המד דין in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Legacy of the Holiness School in Essene Legal Texts”
T. C. Ham, “The Gentle Voice of God in Job 38”
Andrew R. Davis, “The Literary Effect of Gender Discord in the Book of Ruth”
Robert D. Holmstedt, “The Nexus between Textual Criticism and Linguistics: A Case Study from Leviticus”
Naphtali S. Meshel, “Toward a Grammar of Sacrifice: Hierarchic Patterns in the Israelite Sacrificial System”
David G. Horrell, Bradley Arnold, and Travis B. Williams, “Visuality, Vivid Description, and the Message of 1 Peter: The Significance of the Roaring Lion (1 Peter 5:8)”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (September 20, 2013)

Sat, 21 Sep 2013 19:03:26 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Yairah Amit, In Praise of Editing in the Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays in Retrospect, reviewed by Richard G. Smith
Athalya Brenner and Gale A. Yee, eds., Exodus and Deuteronomy, reviewed by Susanne Scholz
Rahel Halabé, Hinneh: Biblical Hebrew the Practical Way, reviewed by John Engle
Isaac Kalimi, New Perspectives on Ezra-Nehemiah: History and Historiography, Text, Literature, and Interpretation, reviewed by Andrew E. Steinmann
Nathan MacDonald, Mark W. Elliott, and Grant Macaskill, eds., Genesis and Christian Theology, reviewed by Christopher B. Ansberry
Johanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos, Reading Samuel: A Literary and Theological Commentary, reviewed by Klaus-Peter Adam

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (September 6, 2013)

Sat, 07 Sep 2013 15:46:28 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Lawrence Boadt, Richard Clifford, and Daniel Harrington, eds., Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction, reviewed by Richard G. Smith
David J. A. Clines and Ellen van Wolde, eds., A Critical Engagement: Essays on the Hebrew Bible in Honour of J. Cheryl Exum, reviewed by George Savran
Walter Groß and Erasmus Gaß, Studien zum Richterbuch und seinen Völkernamen, reviewed by Trent C. Butler
Todd R. Hanneken, The Subversion of the Apocalypses in the Book of Jubilees, reviewed by Robert Foster
Jonathan Kearney, Rashi—Linguist Despite Himself: A Study of the Linguistic Dimension of Rabbi Solomon Yishaqi’s Commentary on Deuteronomy, reviewed by Siam Bhayro
William E. Mierse, Temples and Sanctuaries from the Early Iron Age Levant: Recovery after Collapse, reviewed by Jonathan S. Greer
Jacqueline S. du Toit, Textual Memory: Ancient Archives, Libraries and the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Ingeborg Löwisch
Yair Zakovitch, Jacob: Unexpected Patriarch, reviewed by Ronald Hendel

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Gospel and Testimony

Thu, 05 Sep 2013 16:31:41 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_2129” align=“alignright” width=“87”] Richard Bauckham[/caption]

In his 2006 Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, Richard Bauckham suggests:

that we need to recover the sense in which the Gospels are testimony. This does not mean that they are testimony rather than history. It means that the kind of historiography they are is testimony. An irreducible feature of testimony as a form of human utterance is that it asks to be trusted. This does not mean that it asks to be trusted uncritically, but it does mean that testimony should not be treated as credible only to the extent that it can be independently verified. There can be good reasons for trusting or distrusting a witness, but these are precisely reasons for trusting or distrusting. Trusting testimony is not an irrational act of faith that leaves critical rationality aside; it is, on the contrary, the rationally appropriate way of responding to authentic testimony. . . . It is true that a powerful trend in the modern development of critical historical philosophy and method finds trusting testimony a stumbling-block in the way of the historian’s autonomous access to truth that she or he can verify independently. But it is also a rather neglected fact that all history, like all knowledge, relies on testimony. ( 5; italics original)

New Testament Studies 59, no. 4

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 13:20:01 +0000

New Testament Studies

The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

Helen K. Bond, “Dating the Death of Jesus: Memory and the Religious Imagination”
John K. Goodrich, “Sold under Sin: Echoes of Exile in Romans 7.14–25”
Timothy A. Brookins, “The (In)frequency of the Name ‘Erastus’ in Antiquity: A Literary, Papyrological, and Epigraphical Catalog”
Daniel Frayer-Griggs, “Neither Proof Text nor Proverb: The Instrumental Sense of διά and the Soteriological Function of Fire in 1 Corinthians 3.15”
Jonathan A. Linebaugh, “The Christo-Centrism of Faith in Christ: Martin Luther’s Reading of Galatians 2.16, 19–20”
Thomas J. Kraus, " Hapax legomena: Definition eines terminus technicus und Signifikanz für eine pragmatisch orientierte Sprachanalyse"
Karen L. King, “The Place of the Gospel of Philip in the Context of Early Christian Claims about Jesus’ Marital Status”
Emily Gathergood, “Papyrus 32 (Titus) as a Multi-text Codex: A New Reconstruction”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (August 29, 2013)

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 14:57:40 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Dominique Barthélemy, Studies in the Text of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, reviewed by John Engle
Paul L. Redditt, Zechariah 9–14, reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
Jon D. Levenson, Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, reviewed by Sara Koenig
Barry G. Webb, The Book of Judges, reviewed by Trent C. Butler

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Edmund Clowney @WTSBooks

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 12:18:54 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_4050” align=“alignright” width=“56”] WTS Books[/caption]

Through September 3, the Westminster Bookstore has select Ed Clowney resources available at half-off, including:

As usual, the Bookstore has also included some related, free PDF or multimedia material on these books’ product pages.

Back to School with Kindle

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 13:09:17 +0000

According to Amazon,

Special pricing is available on select Kindle Fire tablets to Amazon Student members with an active Prime account (six months free or $39/year plan). Join Amazon Student or start your discounted Prime membership to take advantage of this discount. The promo codes below will become available 24 hours after activation of your account, through September 1. New members, don’t forget to check your .edu email and verify your account.

Upcoming Logos Resources (August 28, 2013)

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 08:19:50 +0000

Recently, I noted that an English Standard Version audio Bible was freely available with registration at Bible.is. This version’s Old Testament is also still freely available in MP3 format on Amazon.

Fujimura's Illuminated Gospels

Tue, 27 Aug 2013 14:48:03 +0000

To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the King James Version in 2011, Crossway released an edition of the English Standard Version’s Gospels illuminated by Makoto Fujimura ( cloth, leather). A short introduction to the project is available below (HT: Bryant Owens):

WLC and WHM 4.18 Now Available

Thu, 22 Aug 2013 14:00:56 +0000

J. Alan Groves Center

The J. Alan Groves Center has released version 4.18 for the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) and the Westminster Hebrew Morphology (WHM). According to the Center’s notice, this update includes:

41 sets of lemma changes, 85 sets of parsing changes, 16 textual changes with an associated change in bracket notes, the addition of the bracket note “]n” (which designates an unusual or unexpected form) to almost 100 words, 24 other changes to bracket notes, 5 other textual changes, and 5 changes to morphological slashes and/or word divisions. Changes to the text are to make the WHM and the WLC conform to the text of the Hebrew Bible found in the Leningrad Codex.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (August 20, 2013)

Wed, 21 Aug 2013 13:02:29 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Johann Cook and Arie van der Kooij, Law, Prophets, and Wisdom: On the Provenance of Translators and Their Books in the Septuagint Version, reviewed by Sean A. Adams
C. L. Crouch, War and Ethics in the Ancient Near East: Military Violence in Light of Cosmology and History, reviewed by Tyler Mayfield
Richard Hidary, Dispute for the Sake of Heaven: Legal Pluralism in the Talmud, reviewed by Kris Lindbeck
Othmar Keel, Corpus der Stempelsiegel-Amulette aus Palästina/Israel: Von den Anfängen bis zur Perserzeit: Katalog Band IV: Von Tel Gamma bis Chirbet Husche, reviewed by Brent A. Strawn
Sigmund Mowinckel, Religion and Cult: The Old Testament and the Phenomenology of Religion, reviewed by Nicole Ruane
Jonathan Stökl, Prophecy in the Ancient Near East: A Philological and Sociological Comparison, reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (August 8, 2013)

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 06:52:29 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature are detailed in the newsletter dated August 8 but arrived in my inbox only yesterday. These include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Judith Baskin and Kenneth Seeskin, eds., The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture, reviewed by Alan Avery-Peck
Jan Joosten, Collected Studies on the Septuagint: From Language to Interpretation and Beyond, reviewed by Sean A. Adams
Ingrid E. Lilly, Two Books of Ezekiel: Papyrus 967 and the Masoretic Text as Variant Literary Editions, reviewed by John Engle
Marty Alan Michelson, Reconciling Violence and Kingship: A Study of Judges and 1 Samuel, reviewed by Gregory Mobley
Konrad Schmid, The Old Testament: A Literary History, reviewed by Trent C. Butler

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (August 6, 2013)

Wed, 07 Aug 2013 21:36:56 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Christoph Dohmen, Studien zu Bilderverbot und Bildtheologie des Alten Testaments, reviewed by Sven Petry
Jan Joosten, The Verbal System of Biblical Hebrew: A New Synthesis Elaborated on the Basis of Classical Prose, reviewed by Jerome Lund
Granville J. R. Kent, Say It Again, Sam: A Literary and Filmic Study of Narrative Repetition in 1 Samuel 28, reviewed by Andrew Steinmann
Yoo-Ki Kim, The Function of the Tautological Infinitive in Classical Biblical Hebrew, reviewed by Hubert James Keener
R. Reed Lessing, Isaiah 40–55, reviewed by Alphonso Groenewald
Rüdiger Lux, Hiob: Im Räderwerk des Bösen, reviewed by Urmas Nommik
Andrew G. Shead, A Mouth Full of Fire: The Word of God in Jeremiah, reviewed by Hallvard Hagelia

New Testament and Cognate Studies

STEP Beta

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 15:21:58 +0000

Scripture Tools for Every Person

Tyndale House recently announced the beta release of their Scripture Tools for Every Person (STEP) project, headed by David Instone-Brewer. The resource includes a nice selection of original-language texts—apparently including some, like the [Samaritan Pentateuch](http://www.stepbible.org/#!__/0/passage/0/SP/Gen 1/NHV/__/1/singleColumn), not yet listed in the documentation. Later this year, the Tyndale House edition of the Greek New Testament should also appear in STEP.

Review of Biblical Literature (July 29, 2013)

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:31:20 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Bohdan Hrobon, Ethical Dimension of Cult in the Book of Isaiah, reviewed by Wilhelm J. Wessels
Richard A. Norris Jr., trans., Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on the Song of Songs, reviewed by Mark DelCogliano
Melvin K. H. Peters, ed., XIV Congress of the IOSCS, Helsinki, 2010, reviewed by Theo van der Louw
Brian Neil Peterson, Ezekiel in Context: Ezekiel’s Message Understood in Its Historical Setting of Covenant Curses and Ancient Near Eastern Mythological Motifs, reviewed by Christopher Bechtel
Eric A. Seibert, The Violence of Scripture: Overcoming the Old Testament’s Troubling Legacy, reviewed by J. Dwayne Howell
Deuk-il Shin, The Ark of Yahweh in Redemptive History: A Revelatory Instrument of Divine Attributes, reviewed by David G. Firth
Molly M. Zahn, Rethinking Rewritten Scripture: Composition and Exegesis in the 4QReworked Pentateuch Manuscripts, reviewed by Martin G. Abegg Jr.

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Tempting a Hen to Play a Chick(en)

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 02:35:01 +0000

Jesus is both the properly trusting recipient of his Father’s care and the hen that would gather her chicks to protect them.

Get the ESV Free @Faithlife Study Bible

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 07:01:01 +0000

Faithlife ESV Giveaway

The English Standard Version is now free for a limited time with the Faithlife Study Bible ( affiliate disclosure). According to the press release,

Starting July 24, anyone who downloads or signs in to the Faithlife Study Bible app will get the English Standard Version free for life! All Faithlife Study Bible app users will get a full license to the ESV Bible, including offline access when Internet is not available. Users can download their free copy of the Faithlife Study Bible app by visiting the Faithlife/ESV giveaway page anytime 12:00 am [Pacific], July 24–11:59 pm, August 10.

Review of Biblical Literature (July 22, 2013)

Tue, 23 Jul 2013 00:04:50 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

David J. H. Beldman and Craig G. Bartholomew, eds., Hearing the Old Testament: Listening for God’s Address, reviewed by Jeanette Mathews
Mark E. Biddle, Reading Judges: A Literary and Theological Commentary, reviewed by Trent C. Butler
Joachim Conrad, Karl Heinrich Grafs Arbeit am Alten Testament: Studien zu einer wissenschaftlichen Biographie, reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow
Georg Fischer, Dominik Markl, and Simone Paganini, eds., Deuteronomium: Tora für eine neue Generation, reviewed by Mark Christian
Elizabeth Frood, Biographical Texts from Ramessid Egypt, reviewed by Gerald Moers
Dong-Hyuk Kim, Early Biblical Hebrew, Late Biblical Hebrew, and Linguistic Variability: A Sociolinguistic Evaluation of the Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts, reviewed by Frank H. Polak
Peter Thacher Lanfer, Remembering Eden: The Reception History of Genesis 3:22–24, reviewed by L. Michael Morales
David Penchansky, Understanding Wisdom Literature: Conflict and Dissonance in the Hebrew Text, reviewed by Peter Hatton

Miscellaneous

Upcoming Logos Resources

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 17:06:27 +0000

Logos Bible Software

Recently, a number of noteworthy works have come into Logos Bible Software’s prepublication and community pricing programs. On the prepublication program are collections about biblical backgrounds (9 vols.; T. & T. Clark), the Prophets (16 vols.; T. & T. Clark), the Writings (5 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Old Testament literature and linguistics (7 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Hebrew Bible (7 vols.; T. & T. Clark), topics in Old Testament Studies (11 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Old Testament theology (9 vols.; Oxford University), biblical history and historiography (3 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Jewish Studies (6 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Jesus (10 vols.; T. & T. Clark); the Gospels and Acts (18 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Johannine literature (10 vols.; T. & T. Clark), the Pauline Epistles (10 vols.; T. & T. Clark), topics in New Testament Studies (11 vols.; T. & T. Clark), early Christianity (13 vols.; T. & T. Clark), apocrypha and pseudepigrapha (7 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Apostolic Fathers (29 vols.; various publishers), church history (18 vols.; Oxford); biblical interpretation (3 vols.; Pontifical Biblical Commission and 5 vols.; T. & T. Clark), biblical languages (35 vols.; Zondervan), bibliology (7 vols.; T. & T. Clark), the Bible in art (3 vols.; Standard), theological interpretation (4 vols.; T. & T. Clark), and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (3 vols.; T. & T. Clark), as well as the select Loeb Classical Library works by Tertullian and Minucius Felix (2 vols.) and Virgil (4 vols.).

Saul 2.0

Tue, 16 Jul 2013 18:44:24 +0000

Pieter Lasman, ‘The Triumph of Mordechai’ (1624; Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

In 1 Sam 15:3, Samuel commands Saul, the son of Kish, “Go, and strike Amalek, and devote to destruction everything that is his. Do not take pity on him, but kill man and woman, child and infant, ox and lamb, camel and donkey” (לך והכיתה את־עמלק והחרמתם את־כל־אשר־לו ולא תחמל עליו והמתה מאיש עד־אשה מעלל ועד־יונק משור ועד־שה מגמל ועד־חמור).‭ 1 ‬ Unfortunately, Saul’s subsequent engagement with the Amalekites heeded only Samuel’s order to “go and strike Amalek” (לך והכיתה את־עמלק).‭ 2 ‬ Saul “did devote to destruction” (החרים) the Amalekite people but captured alive Agag, the king. 3 Indeed, “Saul and the people had pity on Agag and on the best of the flock and the herd and their choice offspring, on the lambs, and on everything good, and they did not accept devoting them to destruction, but every despised and weak thing they devoted to destruction” (ויחמל שאול והעם על־אגג ועל־מיטב הצאן והבקר והמשנים ועל־הכרים ועל־כל־הטוב ולא אבו החרימם וכל־המלאכה נמבזה ונמס אתה החרימו).‭ 4 ‬ Thus, Saul becomes the object of Samuel’s ire and forfeits the continuation of his kingdom. 5

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (July 11, 2013)

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 18:42:11 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Daniel Epp-Tiessen, Concerning the Prophets: True and False Prophecy in Jeremiah 23:9–29:32, reviewed by Kelvin Friebel
Judith Gärtner, Die Geschichtspsalmen: Eine Studie zu den Psalmen 78, 105, 106, 135 und 136 als hermeneutische Schlüsseltexte im Psalter, reviewed by Susan Gillingham
Cynthia Shafer-Elliott, Food in Ancient Judah: Domestic Cooking in the Time of the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Stephen Reed
C. Richard Wells and Ray Van Neste, eds., Forgotten Songs: Reclaiming the Psalms for Christian Worship, reviewed by Leonard P. Maré
Caroline Vander Stichele and Hugh S. Pyper, eds., Text, Image, and Otherness in Children’s Bibles: What Is in the Picture?, reviewed by Gottfried Adam

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Porter and Ong, "'Standard of Faith' or 'Measure of Trusteeship?'"

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 16:19:37 +0000

Stanley Porter and Hughson Ong have the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Judaism and Christianity: “‘Standard of Faith’ or ‘Measure of Trusteeship’?: A Study in Romans 12.3—A Response.” The article’s opening paragraph explains its responsive character and general argument as follows:

John Goodrich has recently published an article regarding the interpretation of μέτρον πίστεως in Rom. 12.3 in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly. We have tried to respond to his article in that journal, but regrettably, the journal does not publish responses to articles, although we think that Goodrich’s article warrants a response. Goodrich argued ’that μέτρον πίστεως in Rom 12:3 refers to the believer’s charism, addressed shortly and explicitly thereafter in 12:6’ (p. 753). Against the typical view that takes μέτρον πίστεως as ‘standard/measure of faith’, he proposes that this charism should be seen as ‘a trusteeship’ God grants to each believer. Specifically, the genitive construction in μέτρον πίστεως, regarded as appositive, is ‘a measure, namely a trusteeship’ (pp. 769, 772). This old alternative that Goodrich seeks to revive, however, poses some significant problems that can be neither resolved nor sustained by the arguments and evidence he marshals in this article. We assess critically each of these in what follows, followed by our own interpretation of μέτρον πίστεως in Rom. 12.3. (97)

Biblical Theology Bulletin 43, no. 3

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 15:55:57 +0000

Biblical Theology Bulletin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The next issue of the Biblical Theology Bulletin is set to include:

Carey Walsh, “Where Did God Go?: Theophanic Shift in Exodus”
Mark T. Finney, “Servile Supplicium: Shame and the Deuteronomic Curse—Crucifixion in Its Cultural Context”
Dennis C. Duling, “Paul’s Aegean Network: The Strength of Strong Ties”
Lee A. Johnson, “Social Stratification”

Schreiner, The King in His Beauty

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 21:00:49 +0000

Baker and the Stone-Campbell Journal were kind enough to provide a copy of Tom Schreiner’s The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments. According to the publisher’s description, Schreiner:

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (July 3, 2013)

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 16:33:42 +0000

The latest reviews in the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Peter Arzt-Grabner and Christina M. Kreinecker, eds., Light from the East: Papyrologische Kommentare zum Neuen Testament. Akten des internationalen Symposions vom 3.–4. Dezember 2009 am Fachbereich Bibelwissenschaft und Kirchengeschichte der Universität Salzburg, reviewed by Scott Charlesworth
Gary S. Shogren, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, reviewed by Jason Weaver
Christopher W. Skinner and Kelly R. Iverson, eds., Unity and Diversity in the Gospels and Paul: Essays in Honor of Frank J. Matera, reviewed by Lars Kierspel
Jean-Luc Vesco, Le Psautier de Jésus: Les citations des Psaumes dans le Nouveau Testament, reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Cockerill, Hebrews

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 13:59:01 +0000

Gareth Lee Cockerill

Thanks to Eerdmans and the Stone-Campbell Journal, Gareth Lee Cockerill’s New International Commentary on the New Testament volume on Hebrews arrived recently. According to the publisher,

Penguin-Random House Merger

Mon, 01 Jul 2013 15:23:01 +0000

According to the New York Times,

Random House and Penguin completed their planned merger Monday morning, creating the biggest and most powerful book publisher in the world.

The new company, called Penguin Random House, will control more than 25 percent of the trade book market in the United States, giving it unmatched leverage against Amazon.com, a growing force in the industry.

Nicoll, Expositor's Greek Testament (vol. 5) Free @Logos

Mon, 01 Jul 2013 13:03:13 +0000

As their free book of the month, Logos Bible Software is giving away volume 5 of the Expositor’s Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll. Volume 5 includes:

J. H. A. Hart, “The First Epistle General of Peter”
R. H. Strachan, “The Second Epistle General of Peter”
David Smith, “The Epistles of John”
J. B. Mayor, “The General Epistle of Jude”
James Moffatt, “The Revelation of St. John the Divine”

For more information about the text and to download this volume, please see here.

Bulletin for Biblical Research 23, no. 2

Thu, 27 Jun 2013 15:52:56 +0000

The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes:

Joseph Kelly, “The Ethics of Inclusion: The גר and the אזרח in the Passover to Yhwh”
Rahel Schafer, “Rest for the Animals?: Nonhuman Sabbath Repose in Pentateuchal Law”
Amy Peeler, “Desiring God: The Blood of the Covenant in Exodus 24”
Ray Clendenen, “A Passionate Prophet: Reading Emotions in the Book of Malachi”
Maria Pascuzzi, “Reconsidering the Authorship of Colossians”

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56, no. 2

Thu, 27 Jun 2013 15:41:16 +0000

The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56, no. 2 includes the following:

Jason DeRouchie, “The Blessing-Commission, the Promised Offspring, and the Toledot Structure of Genesis”
Jeffrey Niehaus, “God’s Covenant with Abraham”
Douglas Petrovich, “Identifying Nimrod of Genesis 10 with Sargon of Akkad by Exegetical and Archaeological Means”
Todd Scacewater, “Galatians 2:11–21 and the Interpretive Context of ‘Works of the Law’”
Andrew Wilson, “Apostle Apollos?”
Keith Campbell, “The American Evangelical Academy and the World: A Challenge to Practice More Globally”
Gerald McDermott, “The Emerging Divide in Evangelical Theology”
Daniel Strange, “For Their Rock Is Not as Our Rock: The Gospel as the ‘Subversive Fulfillment’ of the Religious Other”

Journal of Biblical Literature 132, no. 2

Wed, 26 Jun 2013 12:57:16 +0000

Google Books as a combined full-text PDF of K. W. Krüger’s Griechische sprachlehre für Schulen (1861). The two tomes make for a combined PDF of just over 1100 pages.

Review of Biblical Literature (June 25, 2013)

Tue, 25 Jun 2013 17:25:38 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets, reviewed by Göran Eidevall
Joanne Clarke, On the Margins of Southwest Asia: Cyprus during the 6th to 4th Millennia BC, reviewed by Allen Kerkeslager
Mark W. Elliott, Engaging Leviticus: Reading Leviticus Theologically with Its Past Interpreters, reviewed by Bálint Károly Zabán
Judy Fentress-Williams, Ruth, reviewed by Peter H. W. Lau
Erhard S. Gerstenberger, Israel in the Persian Period: The Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C.E., reviewed by Jason Silverman
Caryn A. Reeder, The Enemy in the Household: Family Violence in Deuteronomy and Beyond, reviewed by Sung Jin Park

New Testament and Cognate Studies

TDNT Sale @ CBD

Tue, 25 Jun 2013 12:49:39 +0000

Christian Book Distributors now has the 10-volume Theological Dictionary of the New Testament on sale for $99.99. Orders for the product should ship on or after October 1.

The Perseus Catalog 1.0

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:57:55 +0000

According to the Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University:

The Perseus Digital Library is pleased to announce the 1.0 Release of the Perseus Catalog.

2013 IBR Research Group Sessions

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:37:10 +0000

While this year’s SBL program is still in preparation, the contents of the IBR research group sessions are now available via the individual research group links on the call for papers page.

Update: After copying this link yesterday, the call for papers page URL was apparently updated. Such is the Internet; the link above has now been corrected to reflect the current page location (HT: Joseph Kelly, Kirk Lowery).

Review of Biblical Literature (June 13, 2013)

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:13:20 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Mersha Alehegne, The Ethiopian Commentary on the Book of Genesis: Critical Edition and Translation, reviewed by James C. VanderKam
Daniel E. Fleming, The Legacy of Israel in Judah’s Bible: History, Politics, and the Reinscribing of Tradition, reviewed by Yitzhaq Feder and by Frank H. Polak
Mark Leuchter and Jeremy M. Hutton, eds., Levites and Priests in Biblical History and Tradition, reviewed by Pekka Pitkanen
Tremper Longman III, Job, reviewed by Michael Collender
Christian Metzenthin, Jesaja-Auslegung in Qumran, reviewed by Paul Sanders
Mark R. Sneed, The Politics of Pessimism in Ecclesiastes: A Social-Science Perspective, reviewed by Martin A. Shields

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Parker, "Works of the Law"

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:02:46 +0000

Barry F. Parker has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, "‘Works of the Law’ and the Jewish Settlement in Asia Minor." According to the article’s conclusion:

The first recourse for the Anatolian Jews under [social, political, and religious] pressure was not an appeal to ‘legalism’, but to ‘selective works of the law’, as is implied by the phrase ἔργα νόμου. The only appearance of this phrase from that time outside of Paul is found in 4QMMT. The use of ‘works of the law’ there confirms both that Paul is in (indirect) dialogue with those familiar with Essene terminology and that selectivity is in view. Although he speaks to a different audience about a different problem regarding the law in Romans, when Paul uses the phrase ἔργα νόμου in Romans 3, the immediate context is quite similar to what he addresses in Galatians. It is, in both cases, a matter of the righteousness of God, as expressed in the faithfulness of Christ (πίστις Χριστοῦ). This faithfulness of Christ suffices for both Jew and Gentile (pagan), who are equally condemned—in Galatians they are condemned for trying to supplement that faithfulness with a perverted version of the law, and in Romans they are condemned for perverting the law by their very efforts to fulfill it through a selective participation in it ( 96).

New Testament Studies 59, no. 3

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:37:39 +0000

New Testament Studies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

Joel Marcus, “Passover and Last Supper Revisited”
Klaus B. Haacker, “Der Geist und das Reich im Lukanischen Werk: Konkurrenz oder Konvergenz zwischen Pneumatologie und Eschatologie?”
Anthony Le Donne, “The Improper Temple Offering of Ananias and Sapphira”
Richard Last, “The Election of Officers in the Corinthian Christ-Group”
Joel R. White, “‘Peace and Security’ (1 Thessalonians 5.3): Is It Really a Roman Slogan?”
Thomas R. Blanton, “The Benefactor’s Account-book: The Rhetoric of Gift Reciprocation according to Seneca and Paul”
David J. Downs, “Justification, Good Works, and Creation in Clement of Rome’s Appropriation of Romans 5–6”
James A. Kelhoffer, “Reciprocity as Salvation: Christ as Salvific Patron and the Corresponding ‘Payback’ Expected of Christ’s Earthly Clients according to the Second Letter of Clement”
Benjamin R. Wilson, “Taking up and Raising, Fixing and Loosing: A Chiastic Wordplay in Acts 2.23b–24”

Seitz, Christian Scripture (Excerpt)

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 22:08:53 +0000

Baker has kindly provided a substantial PDF excerpt from Christopher Seitz’s The Character of Christian Scripture: The Significance of a Two-Testament Bible (2011). Besides front matter, the excerpt includes the book’s introduction and first chapter, which account for 74 pages of text.

Review of Biblical Literature (June 6, 2013)

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 19:02:48 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Naftali S. Cohn, The Memory of the Temple and the Making of the Rabbis, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
David Emanuel, From Bards to Biblical Exegetes: A Close Reading and Intertextual Analysis of Selected Exodus Psalms, reviewed by David G. Firth
Saul M. Olyan, ed., Social Theory and the Study of Israelite Religion: Essays in Retrospect and Prospects, reviewed by Bob Becking and by Aren M. Maeir
Jacques Vermeylen, Les Prophètes de la Bible et la fin des temps: XXIIIe congrès de l’Asssociation catholique française pour l’étude de la Bible (Lille, 24–27 août 2009), reviewed by Daniel Timmer

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Currents in Biblical Research 11, no. 3

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 16:59:32 +0000

The latest issue of Currents in Biblical Research includes the following:

Serge Frolov, “Sleeping with the Enemy: Recent Scholarship on Sexuality in the Book of Judges”
Jason Hood and Matthew Emerson, “Summaries of Israel’s Story: Reviewing a Compositional Category”
Coleman Baker, “Peter and Paul in Acts and the Construction of Early Christian Identity: A Review of Historical and Literary Approaches”
Bruce Worthington, “Alternative Perspectives beyond the Perspectives: A Summary of Pauline Studies that has Nothing to Do with Piper or Wright”
F. S. Naiden, “Recent Study of Greek Religion in the Archaic through Hellenistic Periods”

Edith Humphrey Interview

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:17:31 +0000

Baker Academic has an interesting, three-part interview with Edith Humphrey about her new book Scripture and Tradition.

Schnabel, Acts (Excerpt)

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 12:38:24 +0000

Zondervan has kindly made available a PDF containing Eckhard Schnabel’s treatment of Acts 25:1–26:32 in his Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament volume (HT: Jesse Hillman).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (May 14, 2013)

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:10:30 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Avraham Faust, Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period: The Archaeology of Desolation, reviewed by Ulrich Berges
Oded Lipschits, Gary N. Knoppers, and Manfred Oeming, eds., Judah and the Judeans in the Achaemenid Period: Negotiating Identity in an International Context, reviewed by Frank H. Polak
Kathleen M. O’Connor, Jeremiah: Pain and Promise, reviewed by Bob Becking
Karin Hedner Zetterholm, Jewish Interpretation of the Bible: Ancient and Contemporary, reviewed by Marianne Grohmann and by Andrea L. Weiss

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 30, 2013)

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:53:42 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Lawrence Boadt, Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction, edited by Richard Clifford and Daniel Harrington, reviewed by Sarah Ward
Yoram Hazony, The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, reviewed by Steven Dunn
Otto Kaiser, Gott, Mensch und Geschichte: Studien zum Verständnis des Menschen und seiner Geschichte in der klassischen, biblischen und nachbiblischen Literatur, reviewed by Hans Dieter Betz
Swift Edgar, ed., The Vulgate Bible, Volume 2: The Historical Books, reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins
Zipora Talshir, ed., Israel and Its Land: Inscriptions and History: Proceedings of a Conference in Honor of Shmuel Ahituv on the Occasion of His Retirement [Hebrew], reviewed by Aren M. Maeir

General Biblical and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 25, 2013)

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:03:24 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Victor H. Matthews, The Hebrew Prophets and Their Social World: An Introduction, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir and by Stewart Moore
Jonathan T. Pennington, Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction, reviewed by Joel B. Green
Iain Provan and Mark J. Boda, eds., Let Us Go Up to Zion: Essays in Honour of H. G. M. Williamson on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday, reviewed by Keith Bodner
David T. Runia and Gregory E. Sterling, eds., Studia Philonica Annual XXIV, 2012, reviewed by Scott Mackie
Philippe Wajdenbaum, Argonauts of the Desert: Structural Analysis of the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Casper J. Labuschagne

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56, no. 1

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:16:41 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The latest issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes the following:

Paul House, “Investing in the Ruins: Jeremiah and Theological Vocation”
Daniel Block, “‘What Do These Stones Mean?’: The Riddle of Deuteronomy 27”
Paul Tanner, “The Cost of Discipleship: Losing One’s Life for Jesus’ Sake”
Greg Rhodea, “Did Matthew Conceive a Virgin?: Isaiah 7:14 and the Birth of Jesus”
Daniel Wallace, “Sharp’s Rule Revisited: A Response to Stanley Porter”
Stanley Porter, “Granville Sharp’s Rule: A Response to Daniel Wallace, Or Why a Critical Book Review Should Be Left Alone”
Daniel Wallace, “Granville Sharp’s Rule: A Rejoinder to Stan Porter”
Walter Schultz, “Jonathan Edwards’s Concept of an Original Ultimate End”
Shawn Bawulski, “Reconciliationism, a Better View of Hell: Reconciliationism and Eternal Punishment”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 15, 2013)

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:16:40 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Gary M. Beckman, Trevor R. Bryce, and Eric H. Cline, The Ahhiyawa Texts, reviewed by Paul Sanders
Walter Brueggemann, David and His Theologian: Literary, Social, and Theological Investigations of the Early Monarchy, reviewed by Andrea Ravasco
James L. Crenshaw, Reading Job: A Literary and Theological Commentary, reviewed by Norman Habel
Jonathan Grossman, Esther: The Outer Narrative and the Hidden Reading, reviewed by Kelly A. Whitcomb
Irene Schulmeister, Israels Befreiung aus Ägypten: Eine Formeluntersuchung zur Theologie des Deuteronomiums, reviewed by Peter Porzig

New Testament and Cognate Studies

On the Web (April 15, 2013)

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:08:11 +0000

On the web:

Logos Bible Software adds select works of C. K. Barrett and the Justification and Variegated Nomism set to their pre-publication program.
Lawrence Schiffman considers Jubilees’ rationale for Torah’s commandments.
J.-L. Simonet comments on what may be some newly-identified lectionary leaves.
Tommy Wasserman notes the forthcoming Biblia Graeca from Eisenbrauns.

Biblical Theology Bulletin 43, no. 2

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:39:33 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The next issue of the Biblical Theology Bulletin includes:

Richard E. DeMaris, “Sacrifice, an Ancient Mediterranean Ritual”
James F. McGrath, “On Hearing (Rather Than Reading) Intertextual Echoes: Christology and Monotheistic Scriptures in an Oral Context”
Madison N. Pierce, “War: Fighting the Enemies of God, not Man”
John J. Pilch, “Exploring Periods of Psychological Development in MENA (Middle East North Africa) Societies: A Tentative Model”

On the Web (April 11, 2013)

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:27:07 +0000

On the web:

Zotero 4.0.4 is now available with some minor improvements over the previous stable version.
Joseph Kelly highlights some good advice about how not to write a thesis or dissertation.
Logos Bible Software has added the Aramaic Bible series to their pre-publication program.

Zotero 4

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:14:59 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

I’ve just now noticed, but a stable release of Zotero 4 became available earlier this week. This release includes a substantial number of updates over previous versions. For highlights, see here, or peruse the whole change log.

Bulletin for Biblical Research 23, no. 1

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:24:46 +0000

The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes:

Joshua Philpot, “Exodus 34:29–35 and Moses’ Shining Face”
Edward Bridge, “The Metaphoric Use of Slave Terms in the Hebrew Bible”
Gregory Goswell, “Joshua and Kingship”
Gregory Wong, “A Farewell to Arms: Goliath’s Death as Rhetoric against Faith in Arms”
David DeSilva, “The Human Ideal, the Problem of Evil, and Moral Responsibility in 4 Maccabees”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (March 31, 2013)

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:42:44 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Philip R. Davies and Diana Vikander Edelman, eds., The Historian and the Bible: Essays in Honour of Lester L. Grabbe, reviewed by George C. Heider
Robert Gnuse, No Tolerance for Tyrants: The Biblical Assault on Kings and Kingship, reviewed by James M. Bos

New Testament and Cognate Studies

S. R. Driver on Google Books

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:12:31 +0000

Reverend Samuel Rolles Driver (1846–1914; Photo credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich)

Google Books has full-text PDFs freely available for the following works by S. R. Driver:

Commentary on Deuteronomy (International Critical Commentary; 1895; repr., 1903)

Danove, "Features of the Conceptualization of Transference"

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:51:45 +0000

Paul Danove has the latest article in Biblical and Ancient Greek Linguistics, “Features of the Conceptualization of Transference in the New Testament”:

This article develops five features that describe the conceptualizations of the event of transference grammaticalized by New Testament verbs, and uses these features to formulate a model of the possible New Testament usages of transference. The discussion resolves all New Testament occurrences of verbs that designate transference into one of eighteen usages with distinct feature descriptions, and considers the usages of transference predicted by the feature model but not realized in the New Testament.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (March 25, 2013)

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:53:26 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

John E. Anderson, Jacob and the Divine Trickster: A Theology of Deception and Yhwh’s Fidelity to the Ancestral Promise in the Jacob Cycle, reviewed by Koog P. Hong
Frank Lothar Hossfeld and Eric Zenger, Psalms 3: A Commentary on Psalms 101–150, reviewed by Leonard P. Maré
Pirjo Lapinkivi, The Neo-Assyrian Myth of Istar’s Descent and Resurrection, reviewed by James R. Getz Jr.
Jordan M. Scheetz, The Concept of Canonical Intertextuality and the Book of Daniel, reviewed by Philippus J. Botha and by Don Collett
Janet Smith, Dust or Dew: Immortality in the Ancient Near East and in Psalm 49, reviewed by Ilaria L. E. Ramelli

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Journal of Biblical Literature 132, no. 1

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:26:06 +0000

The latest issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature includes:

John Dominic Crossan, “A Vision of Divine Justice: The Resurrection of Jesus in Eastern Christian Iconography”
Jill Hicks-Keeton, “Already/Not Yet: Eschatological Tension in the Book of Tobit”
Shane Berg, “Ben Sira, the Genesis Creation Accounts, and the Knowledge of God’s Will”
Seth Bledsoe, “Can Ahiqar Tell Us Anything about Personified Wisdom?”
Richard Steiner, “Four Inner-Biblical Interpretations of Genesis 49:10: On the Lexical and Syntactic Ambiguities of עַד as Reflected in the Prophecies of Nathan, Ahijah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah”
Richard Hicks, “Markan Discipleship according to Malachi: The Significance of μὴ ἀποστερήσῃς in the Story of the Rich Man (Mark 10:17-22)”
David Moffitt and Jacob Butera, “P. Duk. inv. 727r: New Evidence for the Meaning and Provenance of the Word Προσήλυτος”
Ronald Troxel, “The Problem of Time in Joel”
Jonathan Stökl, “The מתנבאות in Ezekiel 13 Reconsidered”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (March 16, 2013)

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:39:23 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Keith Bodner, Jeroboam’s Royal Drama, reviewed by Mark McEntire
Erhard S. Gerstenberger, Israel in the Persian Period: The Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C.E., reviewed by John Engle
Edwin M. Good, Genesis 1–11: Tales of the Earliest World, reviewed by Brian D. Russell
Michelle J. Levine, Nahmanides on Genesis: The Art of Biblical Portraiture, reviewed by George Savran
Emily Teeter, Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt, reviewed by Michael B. Hundley

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Google Reader RIP

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:19:36 +0000

Though it has apparently been on the chopping block for some time, Google Reader was a very useful tool. Even so, it has apparently come to the end of the road:

Google Reader will be retired on July 1, 2013. If you’d like to download a copy of all your Reader data before then, you can do so through Google Takeout. You’ll receive your subscription data in an XML file, and the following information will be downloaded as JSON files:

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (March 8, 2013)

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 12:47:01 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Ulrich Berges, Jesaja: Der Prophet und Das Buch, reviewed by Francis Landy
William G. Dever, The Lives of Ordinary People in Ancient Israel: Where Archaeology and the Bible Intersect, reviewed by Diana Edelman and by Aren M. Maeir
Siegfried Kreuzer, Martin Meiser, and Marcus Sigismund, eds., Die Septuaginta: Entstehung, Sprache, Geschichte. 3. Internationale Fachtagung veranstaltet von Septuaginta Deutsch (LXX.D), Wuppertal 22.-25. Juli 2010, reviewed by Hans Förster
Lisa M. Wolfe, Ruth, Esther, Song of Songs, and Judith, reviewed by L. Juliana Claassens

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Vos's Reformed Dogmatics in English

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 02:03:51 +0000

Logos Bible Software is currently preparing the first English translation of Geerhardus Vos’s Reformed Dogmatics. By way of background regarding Vos:

[T]he “father of Reformed biblical theology,” was born 151 years ago this month. Vos, a professor of biblical theology at Princeton, lectured alongside many famous theologians, including J. Gresham Machen, B. B. Warfield, and Abraham Kuyper. So great was Vos’ academic insight that Kuyper offered him the chair of Old Testament studies at the Free University of Amsterdam when Vos was just 24.

The Biblioblog Reference Library

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:26:27 +0000

Unfortunate news from the Biblioblog Reference Library:

Our webhost, GoDaddy, decided to change the rules on us and has deleted the entire Biblioblog Reference Library database.

Beforehand we had enough space to keep the database working and pruned down to a size that was feasible, but in the course of the last few months, they decided to halve the allowable database size which made it impossible to house all of the data and indices. What’s worse is that after requests for a full backup of the database were made, they refused to provide anything but a corrupted partial backup. We tried very hard to make the chunked backups necessary to put the entire database into a format that we could move, but in the midst of it (moving millions of records only tens of thousands at a time) they pulled the plug.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 26, 2013)

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:07:00 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Melissa A. Jackson, Comedy and Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible: A Subversive Collaboration, reviewed by Kathryn D. Blanchard
Tremper Longman III, Introducing the Old Testament: A Short Guide to Its History and Message, reviewed by Trent Butler
James D. Nogalski, The Book of the Twelve: Hosea–Jonah, reviewed by Beth Stovell
Kathleen M. Rochester, Prophetic Ministry in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, reviewed by Wilhelm J. Wessels

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 20, 2013)

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:33:54 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Yoram Cohen, The Scribes and Scholars of the City of Emar in the Late Bronze Age, reviewed by Bryan C. Babcock
Urmas Nømmik, Die Freundesreden des ursprünglichen Hiobdialogs: Eine form- und traditionsgeschichtliche Studie, reviewed by Kyle C. Dunham
Kathleen M. O’Connor, Jeremiah: Pain and Promise, reviewed by Wilhelm J. Wessels
Moshe Simon-Shoshan, Stories of the Law: Narrative Discourse and the Construction of Authority in the Mishnah, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
Assaf Yasur-Landau, Jennie R. Ebeling, and Laura B. Mazow, eds., Household Archaeology in Ancient Israel and Beyond, reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Funk, Beginning-Intermediate Grammar

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:51:47 +0000

Robert Funk

A single-volume edition Robert Funk’s Beginning-Intermediate Grammar of Hellenistic Greek is due out in April and is now available for pre-order from Polebridge. According to the publisher’s description,

Originally published in three volumes in 1973, Robert Funk’s classic Beginning-Intermediate Grammar of Hellenistic Greek utilizes the insights of modern linguistics in its presentation of the basic features of ancient Greek grammar. Now redesigned and reformatted for ease of use, this single-volume third edition makes Funk’s ground-breaking work available once more.

Pope Benedict XVI to Resign on February 28

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:30:48 +0000

After about an 8-year term, Pope Benedict XVI is apparently set to resign on February 28, citing health difficulties. For more information and the NBC report from earlier this morning, see here.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 9, 2013)

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:19:17 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Martin Bauspieß, Geschichte und Erkenntnis im lukanischen Doppelwerk: Eine exegetische Untersuchung zu einer christlichen Perspektive auf Geschichte, reviewed by Nils Neumann
Darrell L. Bock, A Theology of Luke and Acts: God’s Promised Program, Realized for All Nations, reviewed by Ulrich Busse
Daniel Durken, ed., The New Collegeville Bible Commentary: New Testament, reviewed by Ernest Van Eck
Lars Hartman, Mark for the Nations: A Text- and Reader-Oriented Commentary, reviewed by Robert M. Fowler
Rainer Metzner, Kaiphas: Der Hohepriester jenes Jahres: Geschichte und Deutung, reviewed by Thomas Bergholz

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

On the Web (February 9, 2013)

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 13:38:19 +0000

On the web:

The SBL website now has a page with links to a number of program unit and seminar papers (HT: Charles Jones).
Ohio State University has a special online exhibition about the King James Version (HT: Bill Warren).
Zotero has seen a significant and a couple more minor updates over the past few days. The SBL citation style is also newly updated as of January 29.
The W3 Consortium has a list of fraktur characters (e.g., for cases where they are used as text-critical siglia) and their corresponding Unicode character assignments. Among other fonts, Gentium Plus natively includes 1D510 (Majority Text) and 1D513 (Papyrus).

On the Web (February 8, 2013)

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:33:46 +0000

On the web:

Rod Decker shares an update on his forthcoming Greek grammar.
Logos Bible Software is wishing everyone a happy International Septuagint Day today with a substantial sale on their release of the Göttingen Septuagint (HT: Brian Davidson, Abram K-J).
Jim Davila excerpts a Cambridge News story about funding that Cambridge and Oxford are seeking to keep together the Lewis-Gibson Genizah Collection at Westminster College.

On the Web (February 7, 2013)

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:07:54 +0000

On the web:

Larry Hurtado comments on Alan Mugridge’s PhD thesis, “Stages of Development in Scribal Professionalism in Early Christian Circles,” which is currently under revision for publication.
Nathan Eubank enters the biblioblogosphere (HT: Stephen Carlson).
Baker is now releasing the “Teach the Text” commentary series. Currently available is Marvin Pate’s volume on Romans, and Robert Chisholm’s volume on Samuel is available for preorder (HT: M. Miller).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 3, 2013)

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:42:31 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Francis Landy, Hosea, reviewed by Gert T. M. Prinsloo
Angela R. Roskop, The Wilderness Itineraries: Genre, Geography, and the Growth of Torah, reviewed by Nathan MacDonald
Mark R. Sneed, The Politics of Pessimism in Ecclesiastes: A Social-Science Perspective, reviewed by Robert Williamson Jr.

New Testament and Cognate Studies

NA28 @Logos

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:36:28 +0000

Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th ed.

The 28th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, including the critical apparatus, is now available on Logos Bible Software’s prepublication program. For Peter Williams’ review of the edition earlier this week, see here.

On the Web (January 26, 2013)

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 14:32:16 +0000

On the Web:

Phil Gons digests Tony Reinke’s suggestions for reading more.
Logos Bible Software has added the 12-volume Clarendon edition of Aristotle’s works (1908–1952) to their community pricing offerings.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (January 25, 2013)

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 12:54:34 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Michael Avioz, “I Sat Alone”: Jeremiah among the Prophets, reviewed by Wilhelm Wessels
Steed Vernyl Davidson, Empire and Exile: Postcolonial Readings of the Book of Jeremiah, reviewed by Bob Becking
Joëlle Ferry, Isaïe: “Comme les mots d’un livre scellé”, reviewed by Wilson de Angelo Cunha
Jean-Daniel Macchi, Christophe Nihan, Thomas Römer, and Jan Rückl, eds., Les recueils prophétiques de la Bible: Origines, milieux, et contexte proche-oriental, reviewed by James M. Bos
Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, reviewed by Roy E. Gane
Deborah W. Rooke, Handel’s Israelite Oratorio Libretti: Sacred Drama and Biblical Exegesis, reviewed by Helen Leneman
Robb Andrew Young, Hezekiah in History and Tradition, reviewed by Ibolya Balla

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Get Codex Bezae for Free in Logos

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 10:09:46 +0000

Codex Bezae with text Luke 23:47–24:1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Logos Bible Software is now taking $0.00 pre-orders for their upcoming edition of Codex Bezae. Among the manuscript’s noteworthy characteristics,

It is the oldest-known manuscript containing the story of the adulterous woman found in John 7–8, as well as a longer ending of the Gospel of Mark. There are also several apparent additions, including a story found nowhere else of Jesus addressing a man found working on the Sabbath.

On the Web (January 23, 2013)

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:34:15 +0000

On the web:

Nijay Gupta provides the table of contents for the latest issue of the Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters.
Robert Woods reflects on significance and dissonance in Great Books.
Abram K-J discusses the Göttingen Septuagint ( 1, 2, HT: Tommy Wasserman).

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 55, no. 4

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:55:56 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The latest issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in today’s mail and includes the following:

Matthew Akers, “What’s in a Name?: An Examination of the Usage of the Term ‘Hebrew’ in the Old Testament”
G. K. Beale, “The Use of Hosea 11:1 in Matthew 2:15: One More Time”
Joseph Greene, “The Spirit in the Temple: Bridging the Gap between Old Testament Absence and New Testament Assumption”
Moyer Hubbard, “Kept Safe through Childbearing: Maternal Mortality, Justification by Faith, and the Social Setting of 1 Timothy 2:15”
Peter Davids, “What Glasses Are You Wearing?: Reading Hebrew Narratives through Second Temple Lenses”
Bryan Litfin, “Eusebius on Constantine: Truth and Hagiography at the Milvian Bridge”
Steven Cowan, “Does 1 Corinthians 10:13 Imply Libertarian Freedom?: A Reply to Paul A. Himes”
Paul Himes, “First Corinthians 10:13: A Rejoinder to Steven Cowan”
Luke Van Horn, “On Incorporating Middle Knowledge into Calvinism: A Theological/Metaphysical Muddle?”

On the Web (January 18, 2013)

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:53:37 +0000

On the web:

Mark Hoffman notes that Google Maps’ street view now includes several additional locations of significance around Israel.
Charles Jones identifies several publicly accessible dissertations from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dirk Jongkind reflects on Acts 17:3 in connection with the two latest Nestle-Aland texts.

Biblical Theology Bulletin 43, no. 1

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:44:18 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The next issue of the Biblical Theology Bulletin includes:

David M. Bossman, “Politicization of Theological Claims Is (Still) Local”
Victor H. Matthews, “Taking Calculated Risks: The Story of the Cannibal Mothers (2 Kings 6:24–7:20)”
Brian Schmisek, “The Body of His Glory Resurrection Imagery in Philippians 3:20–21” Simon J. Joseph, “‘Love Your Enemies’: The Adamic Wisdom of Q 6:27–28, 35c–d”
Matthew Y. Emerson, “Arbitrary Allegory, Typical Typology, or Intertextual Interpretation? Paul’s Use of the Pentateuch in Galatians 4:21–31”

Google Drive and Office 97–2003

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:33:14 +0000

Google Drive’s Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps are scheduled to cease supporting exports to Microsoft’s older Office 97–2003 formats at the end of the month. According to the Google Apps blog,

In September, we added the ability to export Google documents to the newer Microsoft Office formats that rely on open standards (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx). . . . As we announced in October, after January 31, 2013, users will not be able to export files to the older Office 97-2003 formats [e.g., .doc, .xls, .ppt]. For users who still use Office 97-2003, we recommend installing the free compatibility plugin from Microsoft, which will allow them to open the modern Office file types.

Syntax Queries in Perseus

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:36:21 +0000

Bridget Almas notes the availability of a new syntax search utility that presently covers about 400,000 words of Perseus’s Greek and Latin texts (HT: Charles Jones).

Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:15:01 +0000

As Anthony Le Donne and Michael Bird have already noted, N. T. Wright’s much-anticipated fourth volume in the Christian Origins and the Question of God Series, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, has now become three installments. Besides the series’ first three volumes, all three installments of the new fourth part are now available for pre-order via Logos Bible Software. The three individual installments’ contents are outlined there as follows:

New Testament Interpretation Has Moved

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 19:52:06 +0000

After several years’ blogging at jdavidstark.com, the site has now moved into its own domain at jdavidstark.com. All of the site’s links and RSS feeds should redirect automatically. But, you may see somewhat faster service by coming directly to jdavidstark.com or subscribing directly to jdavidstark.com/feed/rss/.

Baker Academic Enters the Blogosphere

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:14:21 +0000

Apparently, Baker Academic has now entered the blogosphere (HT: The Jesus Blog). Besides the initial announcement, the blog is kicking off with an interview with Craig Keener about his Miracles (2011).

Morgan and Peterson, The Kingdom of God

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:32:23 +0000

Christopher Morgan and Robert Peterson, eds.

Crossway has recently released The Kingdom of God, co-edited by Christopher Morgan of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, and Robert Peterson, of Covenant Theological Seminary. According to Crossway’s description:

The kingdom of God is a very large biblical category indeed. Accordingly, a comprehensive understanding of the kingdom would illuminate many aspects of theology. With this in mind, Bruce Waltke, Robert Yarbrough, Gerald Bray, Clinton Arnold, Gregg Allison, Stephen Nichols, and Anthony Bradley have collaborated to articulate a full view of the kingdom of God across multiple disciplines. One of the most important books on the kingdom since G. E. Ladd, this volume offers a robust theology and is corroborated by the very series in which it stands. Fourth in the noted Theology in Community series, The Kingdom of God establishes the significance of the kingdom from the perspectives of biblical theology, systematic theology, history, pastoral application, missiology, and cultural analysis.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (January 14, 2013)

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:05:59 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Katharine J. Dell, Brian A. Mastin, and James K. Aitken, eds., On Stone and Scroll: Essays in Honour of Graham Ivor Davies, reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
Matthew R. Schlimm, From Fratricide to Forgiveness: The Language and Ethics of Anger in Genesis, reviewed by Phillip Sherman

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (January 5, 2013)

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 22:26:01 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Eberhard Bons and Jans Joosten, eds., Septuagint Vocabulary: Pre-history, Usage, Reception, reviewed by Francis Dalrymple-Hamilton and by Daniel M. O’Hare
Deborah O’Daniel Cantrell, The Horsemen of Israel: Horses and Chariotry in Monarchic Israel, reviewed by Raz Kletter
Peter Enns, Ecclesiastes, reviewed by Gert T. M. Prinsloo

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Edwards, Religious Affections

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:27:47 +0000

Courtesy of Logos Bible Software, Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections is available for free this month:

http://twitter.com/Logos/status/286528925717393408

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (December 22, 2012)

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 03:38:14 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Georg Fischer and Dominik Markl, Das Buch Exodus, reviewed by Paul Sanders
Peter Hon Wan Lau, Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth: A Social Identity Approach, reviewed by Timothy Stone
Nancy C. Lee, Lyrics of Lament: From Tragedy to Transformation, reviewed by Ulrich Berges and by Leonard Mare
John H. Sailhamer, The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation, reviewed by Andrew Steinmann
Simon P. Stocks, The Form and Function of the Tricolon in the Psalms of Ascents: Introducing a New Paradigm for Hebrew Poetic Line-form, reviewed by Gert T. M. Prinsloo

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (December 15, 2012)

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:16:41 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Moshe Bar-Asher and Devorah Dimant, eds., Meghillot [Hebrew]: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, VIII-IX, reviewed by George Brooke
Abigail Pelham, Contested Creations in the Book of Job: The-World-as-It-Ought- and-Ought-Not-to-Be, reviewed by Norman Habel
Beat Weber, Werkbuch Psalmen III: Theologie und Spiritualität des Psalters und seiner Psalmen, reviewed by Mark Elliott
Ina Willi-Plein, Das Buch Genesis: Kapitel 12-50, reviewed by Wolfgang Zwickel

New Testament and Cognate Studies

New Testament Studies 59, no. 1

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 13:28:25 +0000

New Testament Studies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In addition to John Barclay’s tribute to Friedrich Avemarie, the latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

Kelly R. Iverson, “Incongruity, Humor, and Mark: Performance and the Use of Laughter in the Second Gospel (Mark 8.14–21)”
Izaak J. de Hulster, “The Two Angels in John 20.12: An Egyptian Icon of Resurrection”
Isaac W. Oliver, “Simon Peter Meets Simon the Tanner: The Ritual Insignificance of Tanning in Ancient Judaism”
Andrzej Gieniusz, “‘Debtors to the Spirit’ in Romans 8.12?: Reasons for the Silence”
L. L. Welborn, “‘That There May Be Equality’: The Contexts and Consequences of a Pauline Ideal”
Sigurd Grindheim, “Not Salvation History, but Salvation Territory: The Main Subject Matter of Galatians”
Andreas Dettwiler, “La lettre aux Colossiens: une théologie de la mémoire”
Régis Burnet, “Pour une Wirkungsgeschichtedes lieux: l’exemple d’Haceldama”
Gyula Vattamány, “Kann das Salz verderben? Philologische Erwägungen zum Salz-Gleichnis Jesu”

Journal of Biblical Literature 131, no. 4

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:37:56 +0000

The latest issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature includes:

Jonathan Kaplan, “1 Samuel 8:11-18 as ‘A Mirror for Princes’”
Nizzim Amzallag and Mikhal Avriel, “The Cryptic Meaning of the Isaiah 14 Māšāl”
Mark Hamilton, “Isaiah 32 as Literature and Political Meditation”
Mark Awabdy, “Yhwh Exegetes Torah: How Ezekiel 44:7–9 Bars Foreigners from the Sanctuary”
Christian Stadel, “A Septuagint Translation Tradition and the Samaritan Targum to Genesis 41:43”
John Meier, “The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds (Matthew 13:24–30): Is Thomas’s Version (Logion 57) Independent?”
Andrew Simmonds, “Mark’s and Matthew’s Sub Rosa Message in the Scene of Pilate and the Crowd”
Matthew Rindge, “Reconfiguring the Akedah and Recasting God: Lament and Divine Abandonment in Mark”
Benjamin Lappenga, “Misdirected Emulation and Paradoxical Zeal: Paul’s Redefinition of ‘The Good’ as Object of ζῆλος in Galatians 4:12–20”
Callie Callon, “Secondary Characters Furthering Characterization: The Depiction of Slaves in the Acts of Peter”

Circumcision (Clearly) Uncircumscribed in Germany

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:21:10 +0000

Jim Davila notes a report of a new German bill that explicitly permits the continued practice of infant male circumcision on religious grounds. The legality of the practice in Germany had been thrown into question by a related decision by the Cologne court earlier this year.

If You Are an SBL Member . . .

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:39:13 +0000

And you haven’t completed your optional profile information, you should. Apparently, doing so makes you eligible for a random monthly selection of two members to receive a year’s free membership dues.

The Pope on Twitter

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:07:51 +0000

Apparently, the Pope now has his own Twitter account from which he sent the following earlier this morning:

https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/278808536404852736

For a great deal more than 140 characters on the Pope’s tweet, see here.

Patristics @Logos

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:26:20 +0000

J. P. Migne’s two massive compilations of Patristic literature have now made their way onto Logos Bible Software’s community pricing platform ( Greek, Latin). Also appearing there now is some of René Graffin, Francois Nau, and Max de Saxe’s compilation of other Patristic texts not included in Migne’s anthologies.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (December 7, 2012)

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:07:09 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

John Barton, The Theology of the Book of Amos, reviewed by Tyler Mayfield and by Heinz-Dieter Neef
Keith Bodner, Jeroboam’s Royal Drama, reviewed by Matthew Suriano
Michael D. Coogan and Mark S. Smith, eds., Stories from Ancient Canaan (2nd ed.), reviewed by Henk Potgieter
Frank Lothar Hossfeld and Eric Zenger, A Commentary on Psalms 101–150 (Psalms, vol. 3), reviewed by Thomas Kraus
Alice L. Laffey, First and Second Kings, reviewed by Ginny Brewer-Boydston

New Testament and Cognate Studies

PhD Studentships at Aberdeen

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 15:20:57 +0000

Christian Askeland highlights four PhD studentships available at the University of Aberdeen set to engage the topic of “Authority and Texts: Concepts and Use,” considering questions like:

What constitutes authority and provides authenticity to texts and what is the role of textual criticism? How should authoritative texts (including religious, legal, and other texts), be used and interpreted, and how is this issue determined? Is investigation of the contextual meaning of texts at their time of composition necessary to understanding and respecting their authority, or do different criteria exist which influence readings of texts?

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (November 30, 2012)

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:35:51 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

A. Graeme Auld, First and Second Samuel: A Commentary, reviewed by Phillip G. Camp
Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Margarete van Ess, and Joachim Marzahn, eds., Babylon: Wissenskultur in Orient und Okzident, reviewed by Michael S. Moore
Alan T. Levenson, The Making of the Modern Jewish Bible: How Scholars in Germany, Israel, and America Transformed an Ancient Text, reviewed by George Savran
Hans-Peter Mathys, Das Astarte-Quadrat, reviewed by Sven Petry
Vincent Sénéchal, Rétribution et intercession dans le Deutéronome, reviewed by Paul Sanders
Marvin A. Sweeney, Tanak: A Theological and Critical Introduction to the Jewish Bible, reviewed by Jason M. Silverman

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Edit Spreadsheets on Google Drive for Mobile

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 02:09:02 +0000

The Google Drive mobile apps for Android and iOS now allows users to create and view spreadsheets:

Photo credit: Google Drive Blog

Previous versions had allowed creating and editing of documents but only viewing of spreadsheets created elsewhere. For more information and links to download the appropriate apps, see here.

Attaching Drive Items in Gmail

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:48:40 +0000

For Gmail and at least certain Google Apps Mail users who have opted into the “new compose” experience, Google is now rolling out the ability to attach Google Drive items to email messages:

Photo credit: Gmail Blog

Because these items are stored in and shared via Drive, email attachment size limitations don’t apply, and any updates to the attached item(s) will automatically be available to the message’s recipients. For more information about this update, please see here.

Green Collection Romans Fragment

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:20:49 +0000

Dan Wallace digests the SBL meeting discussion of the recently announced Romans fragment in the Green collection.

Zotero 3.0.11.1

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 15:48:08 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

Zotero 3.0.11 and 3.0.11.1 have just been released with some additional bug fixes. For change logs, see here, and for basic introductory material to the platform, see here.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (November 23, 2012)

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 02:26:31 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Giovanni Garbini, Letteratura e politica nell’Israele antico, reviewed by Dempsey Rosales Acosta
Benno Jacob, The First Book of the Bible: Genesis (augmented edition), edited by Ernest Jacob and Walter Jacob, reviewed by Joel S. Baden
Dale Launderville, Celibacy in the Ancient World: Its Ideal and Practice in Pre-Hellenistic Israel, Mesopotamia, and Greece, reviewed by Pancratius C. Beentjes
Erle Leichty, The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC), reviewed by Paul Sanders
Lauren A. S. Monroe, Josiah’s Reform and the Dynamics of Defilement: Israelite Rites of Violence and the Making of a Biblical Text, reviewed by Ovidiu Creanga
Randall Heskett and Brian P. Irwin, eds., The Bible as a Human Witness to Divine Revelation: Hearing the Word of God through Historically Dissimilar Traditions, reviewed by S. D. Giere

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Zotero 3.0.10

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:12:04 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

Zotero 3.0.9 and 3.0.10 have recently been released with a number of bug fixes. For change logs, see here, and for basic introductory material to the platform, see here.

Ratzinger, The Infancy Narratives

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:27:00 +0000

Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)

Today, the Pope’s new book on the Gospels’ infancy narratives goes on sale. The volume is the third of a three-part series. The two earlier volumes have respectively discussed the narratives from Jesus’ baptism to his transfiguration (2007) and the final entrance into Jerusalem to the resurrection (2011). The present volume:

Bird, ed., Four Views on the Apostle Paul

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:28:24 +0000

Michael Bird, ed.

The folks at Zondervan sponsored this year’s Institute for Biblical Research meeting reception. In addition to the deserts there, they very kindly provided attending members with a copy of the recent (2012) Counterpoints volume on Paul, edited by Michael Bird. According to the publisher’s description:

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (November 15, 2012)

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:09:42 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Ancient Near East and Second Temple Judaism

Phillip R. Callaway, The Dead Sea Scrolls for a New Millennium, reviewed by Stephen Reed
Benedikt Eckhardt, ed., Jewish Identity and Politics between the Maccabees and Bar Kokhba: Groups, Normativity, and Rituals, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
Oded Lipschits and David S. Vanderhooft, The Yehud Stamp Impressions: A Corpus of Inscribed Impressions from the Persian and Hellenistic Periods in Judah, reviewed by Aren Maeir
Annick Payne, Hieroglyphic Luwian: An Introduction with Original Texts, reviewed by Robert Holmstedt

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Aristotle's Works in Greek and English at Archive.org

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 04:25:32 +0000

Portrait of Aristoteles. Pentelic marble, copy…

Ah, so much the better:

Bekker’s Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of the complete works of Aristotle at Archive.org: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, volume 4, volume 5

Aristotle's Organon on LibriVox

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 03:37:27 +0000

Using Owen’s translation, LibriVox recordings have also been made available for Categories, Interpretation, Prior Analytics, and Posterior Analytics.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (November 9, 2012)

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 02:28:39 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Victor P. Hamilton, Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary, reviewed by Brian D. Russell
Matthias Henze, ed., A Companion to Biblical Interpretation in Early Judaism, reviewed by Lester Grabbe
Sara M. Koenig, Isn’t This Bathsheba? A Study in Characterization, reviewed by Rachelle Gilmour
Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Z. Brettler, The Jewish Annotated New Testament, reviewed by Zev Garber

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Sinaiticus Facsimile Sale

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:19:46 +0000

Codex Sinaiticus Facsimile

It’s still on the pricey side, but CBD currently has the Hendrickson facsimile of Codex Sinaiticus on sale for $499, $300 off the normal retail price. According to CBD’s product page,

Hendrickson Publishers, in conjunction with the British Library, is now releasing a limited number of full color facsimiles of the entire Codex Sinaiticus. This edition includes both the Old and New Testaments, represented by “life size” pages (13.5" x 16.5").

In the Mail: Driver, Brevard Childs

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:27:35 +0000

Daniel Driver

In yesterday’s mail arrived Daniel Driver’s Brevard Childs, Biblical Theologian: For the Church’s One Bible (Baker). The volume is a corrected, North American edition of Driver’s previous volume under the same title from Mohr Siebeck (2010; ix), which was itself a “thorough revision and updating” of Driver’s PhD thesis ( Brevard Childs: The Logic of Scripture’s Textual Authority in the Mystery of Christ, St. Andrews, 2008; xi). This North American edition was just released in August, and Baker’s description of it is as follows:

In the Mail: Tigay, Deuteronomy

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:57:00 +0000

The volume has been available for quite some time, but in yesterday’s mail arrived Jeffrey Tigay’s Deutronomy (The JPS Torah Commentary, 1996). According to the publisher,

The JPS Torah Commentary series guides readers through the words and ideas of the Torah. Each volume is the work of a scholar who stands at the pinnacle of his field.

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 03:22:25 +0000

Ben Dunson and I were at Westminster together for a bit before his Durham days, and it’s wonderful to see that this volume is now available. For those who want to take a look at the original thesis, Durham has it archived here.

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:48:50 +0000

I hadn’t noticed until today, but among the volumes available at Loebolus is Aristotle’s Rhetoric (vol. 193; ed. J. H. Freese, 1926).

In-Browser Office Suites

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 15:00:46 +0000

Similar to rollApp, which debuted earlier this year, InstallFree is offering a no-cost web-based version of LibreOffice that can be run inside a browser and that integrate with various online storage platforms like Box, Dropbox, and Google Drive. For free, users can also use InstallFree’s Microsoft Office application to view Microsoft Office file formats with full fidelity. Native editing privileges for Microsoft Office formats are available in InstallFree, after the initial 60-day trial, starting at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year for academic users. For more information about InstallFree, please see the videos below or visit the website.

Porter, "Early Apocryphal Non-Gospel Literature"

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:29:25 +0000

Stanley Porter has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “Early Apocryphal Non-Gospel Literature and the New Testament Text.” Porter concludes:

There are several observations to make regarding the text of the Greek New Testament in the apocryphal non-Gospel literature. (1) The evidence for the Greek New Testament in the apocryphal non-Gospel literature is not as great as one might expect, and this includes the apocryphal Acts, Epistles (for which there is no text early enough or in Greek for consideration) and Apocalypses. . . . (2) The Acts and apocalyptic apocryphal literature is relatively sparse in its use of the Greek New Testament, and is virtually nothing compared to that of the apocryphal Gospels. . . . (3) The evidence from the apocryphal non-Gospel literature is the same as that for the apocryphal Gospels—in other words, that the text of the Greek New Testament was relatively well established and fixed by the time of the second and third centuries. (197–98)

Great Books-Based Distance PhD

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:41:16 +0000

Earlier today, the program director, Robert Woods, announced that the Christian Institute for the Study of Liberal Arts would begin offering a SACS-accredited, fully distance-based PhD program:

This PhD is literally one-of-a-kind in that it is fully accredited (SACS), offered fully distance with the dissertation being defended via conference call with a designated Research Fellow, and the student’s full committee having guided the research. This PhD is uniquely interdisciplinary in structure and practice. A number of the highly qualified faculty are generalists and encourage the kind of readings, research, and writing that reflects an interdisciplinary drive.

Zondervan to LiveStream 2012 ETS Plenaries

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:07:24 +0000

From the latest Zondervan academic update:

If you can’t make it to ETS, however, there is now a next-best option. We are sponsoring live webcasts of all plenary speakers, including E. Calvin Beisner, Russell Moore, Richard Bauckham, and Douglas Moo. Visit www.LiveStream.com/ZondervanAcademic to RSVP and get reminders.

Logos 5

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 01:32:31 +0000

Logos Bible Software is now shipping version 5. For an overview of the new version, see the playlist below:

&feature=autoplay&list=PLXkjd_l1xkSQAozD4PNGZALI6GolOqTas

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (October 31, 2012)

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 01:54:15 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Jo-Ann A. Brant, John, reviewed by Matthew Gordley
Bart B. Bruehler, A Public and Political Christ: The Social-Spatial Characteristics of Luke 18:35–19:43 and the Gospel as a Whole in Its Ancient Context, reviewed by John Cowan
Jaime Clark-Soles, Engaging the Word: The New Testament and the Christian Believer, reviewed by Ronald Witherup
Gerald J. Donker, The Text of the Apostolos in Athanasius of Alexandria, reviewed by Justin A. Mihoc
Craig A. Evans, Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence, reviewed by Panayotis Coutsoumpos
Charles W. Hedrick, Unlocking the Secrets of the Gospel according to Thomas: A Radical Faith for a New Age, reviewed by William Arnal
Josep Rius-Camps and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, The Message of Acts in Codex Bezae: A Comparison with the Alexandrian Tradition, Volume 4: Acts 18.24–28.31: Rome, reviewed by Vaughn CroweTipton
Christopher D. Stanley, ed., The Colonized Apostle: Paul in Postcolonial Eyes, reviewed by Steed Davidson

Second Temple Judaism

Puckett, Apologetics of Joy

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:01:04 +0000

Joe Puckett

One of our recent MLitt graduates through the Christian Institute for the Study of Liberal Arts, Joe Puckett, completed his thesis earlier this year, and it has now come to press with Wipf and Stock under the title, The Apologetics of Joy: A Case for the Existence of God from C. S. Lewis’s Argument from Desire. The title should soon also be available through other booksellers.

On the Web (October 27, 2012)

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 16:32:54 +0000

On the web:

David Pao’s Colossians and Philemon, latest volume in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, is now available at CBD (HT: Matthew Miller).
ACU Press works toward releasing all its texts in various ebook formats.
Lawrence Schiffman reproduces his recent Discovery Times Square interview.

Runge, "Relative Saliency and Information Structure in Mark's Parable of the Sower"

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:51:43 +0000

Steven Runge has the latest article in Biblical and Ancient Greek Linguistics: “Relative Saliency and Information Structure in Mark’s Parable of the Sower.” According to the abstract:

This study applies the cognitive model of Chafe and Givón, and the information-structure model of Lambrecht as applied by Levinsohn and Runge to the Markan explanation of the Parable of the Sower (4:14–20). The primary objective is to identify and analyze other linguistic devices, besides demonstratives, which might clarify the apparent prominence given to the unfruitful scatterings in Mark’s account. This study provides the necessary framework for comparing Mark’s pragmatic weighting of saliency to that found in Matthew and Luke’s accounts in order to determine whether Mark’s version is consistent with or divergent from the other traditions.

New Drive Apps for Chrome

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:52:58 +0000

The Chrome Web Store now includes individual Chrome web apps for Docs, Sheets, and Slides:

To make it even easier for you to create stuff quickly, Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations–now called Docs, Sheets, and Slides–are available as apps in the Chrome Web Store. Once installed, shortcuts to these apps will appear when you open a new tab in Chrome.

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 55, no. 3

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:30:11 +0000

The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 55, no. 3 includes several articles of interest.

Open-Access JETS Archive

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:21:51 +0000

If I had noticed it before, it had since slipped my mind. But, the PDF archive for the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society is largely open-access. The open-access portion of the archive contains all the Journal’s volumes except those from the past two full years, which are accessible to subscribers. The archive also contains the first four volumes of the older Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society.

On the Web (October 19, 2012)

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:07:23 +0000

On the web:

Jim Davila and Hershel Shanks, among others, pay tribute to the fallen titan, Frank Moore Cross.
Michael Bird joins Joel Watts in reflecting on Justin Martyr, Xenophon, and the Gospels.
The Cornell University Library has a collection of Eleusinian inscription images available (HT: Charles Jones).

Currents in Biblical Research 11, no. 1

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:41:49 +0000

The latest issue of Currents in Biblical Research includes:

Kristin De Troyer, “The Seventy-two and their Many Grandchildren: A Review of Septuagint Studies from 1997 Onward”
Nicholas Perrin and Christopher W. Skinner, “Recent Trends in Gospel of Thomas Research (1989–2011): Part II: Genre, Theology and Relationship to the Gospel of John”
Timo S. Paananen, “From Stalemate to Deadlock: Clement’s Letter to Theodore in Recent Scholarship”
Jonathan S. Milgram, “Then and Now: A Summary of Developments in the Field of Talmudic Literature through Contributions to the First and Second Editions of the Encyclopaedia Judaica”

On the Web (October 17, 2012)

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:27:08 +0000

On the web:

Charles Jones notes the open-access availability of some of the Journal of Roman Studies.
Brian LePort completes a two-part reflective digest of Amy-Jill Levine’s recent San Antonio lectures on Jewish-Christian relations ( part 1, part 2).

Baxter, The Reformed Pastor

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:21:32 +0000

Richard Baxter (1615–1691; photo credit: Wikipedia)

For today’s “Pastor Appreciation Month” sale, Logos Bible Software is offering volume 14 of their series of Richard Baxter’s practical works for free. The volume includes Baxter’s classic The Reformed Pastor (1655) and his Confirmation and Restauration (1658).

Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 13:51:02 +0000

Graeme Goldsworthy

New out earlier this year was Graeme Goldsworthy’s Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles (InterVarsity). On the volume’s product page, the folks at the Westminster Bookstore have made available a PDF containing the volume’s first chapter, “Biblical Theology: Lame Duck or Eagles’ Wings?” (19–37).

NETS Online

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 09:26:00 +0000

The University of Pennsylvania has made available online a series of PDFs containing the New English Translation of the Septuagint (Oxford, 2009). In keeping with the NETS’s printed text, the beginning of each file also contains a good introduction to the translation that it provides (HT: Charles Jones).

The Imaging Papyri Project

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:13:20 +0000

University of Oxford (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Oxford University Classics Faculty’s PINAX “is a digital library comprised of collections of displayed papyrus images and texts at Oxford.” Texts include papyri from Antinoopolis, Herculaneum, and Oxyrhynchus, as well as magical texts (HT: Charles Jones).

Biblical-theological Preaching at the Westminster Bookstore

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:48:45 +0000

In acknowledgement of Westminster Seminary’s Preaching Conference later this month, the Westminster Bookstore is running a half (or more)-off special on Edmund Clowney’s Preaching and Biblical Theology, Graeme Goldsworthy’s Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, as well as a number of other resources.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (October 5, 2012)

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 20:41:37 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Reinhard G. Kratz and Hermann Spieckermann, eds., One God-One Cult-One Nation: Archaeological and Biblical Perspectives, reviewed by Aren Maeir
Matthew Morgenstern, Studies in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Based upon Early Eastern Manuscripts, reviewed by Aaron Koller
T. Muraoka, A Grammar of Qumran Aramaic, reviewed by Adam McCollum
Bezalel Porten, The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change, reviewed by Jeremy Hutton and by Jerome A. Lund
Seth D. Postell, Adam as Israel: Genesis 1–3 as the Introduction to the Torah and Tanakh, reviewed by L. Michael Morales
Gordon J. Wenham, Psalms as Torah: Reading Biblical Song Ethically, reviewed by Joseph R. Kelly

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Journal of Theological Studies 63, no. 2

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:46:24 +0000

The Journal of Theological Studies 63, no. 2 includes several articles of note.

Hasselbach and Pat-El, eds., Language and Nature

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:59:25 +0000

The University of Chicago is making the new Festschrift for John Huehnergard available for free in PDF format (HT: Charles Jones).

Göttingen Septuagint Sigla Chart

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:02:55 +0000

Further thanks to Jonathan Kiel (via Brian Davidson) for passing along Miles Van Pelt’s Göttingen Septuagint sigla chart PDF.

Biblical Theology Bulletin 42, no. 4

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:55:43 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The next issue of the Biblical Theology Bulletin includes:

David M. Bossman, “The Ebb and Flow of Biblical Interpretation”
Joel Edmund Anderson, “Jonah in Mark and Matthew: Creation, Covenant, Christ, and the Kingdom of God”
Peter Admirand, “Millstones, Stumbling Blocks, and Dog Scraps: Children in the Gospels”
Zeba A. Crook, “Memory and the Historical Jesus”
John W. Daniels, Jr., “Gossip in the New Testament”

Review of Biblical Literature (September 30, 2012)

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:25:24 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Steven Fassberg, The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Challa, reviewed by Aaron Koller
Lisbeth S. Fried, ed., Was 1 Esdras First?: An Investigation into the Priority and Nature of 1 Esdras, reviewed by Andrew Steinmann
Detlef Jericke, Regionaler Kult und lokaler Kult: Studien zur Kult- und Religionsgeschichte Israels und Judas im 9. und 8. Jahrhundert v. Chr., reviewed by John Engle
Vadim Jigoulov, The Social History of Achaemenid Phoenicia: Being a Phoenician, Negotiating Empires, reviewed by S. Rebecca Martin
Joel S. Kaminsky and Joel N. Lohr, The Torah: A Beginner’s Guide, reviewed by Rachel S. Mikva
William Loader, The Pseudepigrapha on Sexuality: Attitudes towards Sexuality in Apocalypses, Testaments, Legends, Wisdom, and Related Literature, reviewed by Françoise Mirguet

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Carrier, "Thallus and the Darkness at Christ's Death"

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 12:29:21 +0000

In the latest contribution to the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, Richard Carrier discusses “Thallus and the Darkness at Christ’s Death”:

It is commonly claimed that a chronologer named Thallus, writing shortly after 52 CE, mentioned the crucifixion of Jesus and the noontime darkness surrounding it (which reportedly eclipsed the whole world for three hours), and attempted to explain it as an ordinary solar eclipse. But this is not a credible interpretation of the evidence. A stronger case can be made that we actually have a direct quotation of what Thallus said, and it does not mention Jesus. (185)

Kindling Cave 4?

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:33:00 +0000

Amazon’s selection of texts available for the Kindle platform occasionally includes some interesting oddities. For instance, those who really want to do so can apparently read the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert volumes 10 (4QMMT) and 16 (cave 4 calendrical texts) on Kindle for a mere $239.20 and $254.34 respectively, without print-equivalent page numbers. Or, used hard covers are available for just under $180. ;-)

Review of Biblical Literature (September 21, 2012)

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 12:48:04 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Anselm Hagedorn and Henrik Pfeiffer, eds., Die Erzväter in der biblischen Tradition: Festschrift für Matthias Köckert, reviewed by Cynthia Edenburg
Adrian Schenker, Anfänge der Textgeschichte des Alten Testaments: Studien zu Entstehung und Verhältnis der frühesten Textformen, reviewed by Marjo C. A. Korpel

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Journal of Biblical Literature 131, no. 3

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:07:17 +0000

The latest issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature includes:

Serge Frolov, “Judah Comes to Shiloh: Genesis 49:10bα, One More Time”
Philip Y. Yoo, “The Four Moses Death Accounts”
Brian P. Irwin, “Not Just Any King: Abimelech, the Northern Monarchy, and the Final Form of Judges”
Benjamin J. M. Johnson, “The Heart of YHWH’s Chosen One in 1 Samuel”
Martien A. Halvorson-Taylor, “Secrets and Lies: Secrecy Notices (Esther 2:10, 20) and Diasporic Identity in the Book of Esther”
Ryan M. Armstrong, “Psalms Dwelling Together in Unity: The Placement of Psalms 133 and 134 in Two Different Psalms Collections”
Ryan P. Bonfiglio, “Archer Imagery in Zechariah 9:11-17 in Light of Achaemenid Iconography”
Robert K. McIver, “Eyewitnesses as Guarantors of the Accuracy of the Gospel Traditions in the Light of Psychological Research”
Joshua W. Jipp, “Paul’s Areopagus Speech of Acts 17:16-34 as Both Critique and Propaganda”
John K. Goodrich, “Voluntary Debt Remission and the Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1-13)”
Curtis Hutt, “‘Be Ye Approved Money Changers!’: Reexamining the Social Contexts of the Saying and Its Interpretation”

New Testament Studies 58, no. 4

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 18:26:52 +0000

New Testament Studies

The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

Markus Lau, “Geweißte Grabmäler. Motivkritische Anmerkungen zu Mt 23.27–28”
Matthias Adrian, “Der Blick durch die enge Tür: Lk 13.22–30 im architekturgeschichtlichen Kontext der städtischen domus”
Jonathan Bourgel, “Les récits synoptiques de la Passion préservent-ils une couche narrative composée à la veille de la Grande Révolte Juive?”
George H. van Kooten, “’Εκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ: The ‘Church of God’ and the Civic Assemblies (ἐκκλησίαι) of the Greek Cities in the Roman Empire: A Response to Paul Trebilco and Richard A. Horsley”
Alexander N. Kirk, “Building with the Corinthians: Human Persons as the Building Materials of 1 Corinthians 3.12 and the ‘Work’ of 3.13–15”
Michael Bachmann, “Identität bei Paulus: Beobachtungen am Galaterbrief”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (September 7, 2012)

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:06:06 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Richard S. Briggs and Joel N. Lohr, eds., A Theological Introduction to the Pentateuch: Interpreting the Torah as Christian Scripture, reviewed by Thomas Dozeman
Roger Good, The Septuagint’s Translation of the Hebrew Verbal System in Chronicles, reviewed by Francis Dalrymple-Hamilton
Norman K. Gottwald; ed. Rebecca J. Kruger Gaudino, The Hebrew Bible: A Brief Socio-Literary Introduction, reviewed by Steven L. McKenzie

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (August 31, 2012)

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:47:33 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Thomas W. Mann, The Book of the Former Prophets, reviewed by David G. Firth
N. Verbin, Divinely Abused: A Philosophical Perspective on Job and His Kin, reviewed by F. Rachel Magdalene

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (August 24, 2012)

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:25:54 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

S. Bar, D. Kahn, and J. J. Shirley, eds., Egypt, Canaan and Israel: History, Imperialism, Ideology and Literature, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
Scott W. Hahn, The Kingdom of God as Liturgical Empire: A Theological Commentary on 1–2 Chronicles, reviewed by Mark Mcentire
Roy L. Heller, Conversations with Scripture: The Book of Judges, reviewed by Klaas Spronk
Robin Routledge, Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach, reviewed by Hubert James Keener
Erich Zenger, Einleitung in das Alte Testament, edited by Christian Frevel, reviewed by Trent C. Butler and by Jordan M. Scheetz

Miscellaneous

Review of Biblical Literature (August 17, 2012)

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 20:31:53 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Reinhard Achenbach, Rainer Albertz, and Jakob Wöhrle, eds., The Foreigner and the Law: Perspectives from the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East, reviewed by Bradford A. Anderson
Georg Fischer, Die Anfänge der Bibel: Studien zu Genesis und Exodus, reviewed by Frank H. Polak
John Goldingay, Key Questions about Biblical Interpretation: Old Testament Answers, reviewed by John E. Anderson
Feidhlimidh T. Magennis, First and Second Samuel, reviewed by William L. Lyons
James D. Nogalski, The Book of the Twelve, reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Baur's Paul(us) on Google Books

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 16:52:31 +0000

Ferdinand Christian Baur.

Google Books has available two full PDF copies ( 1, 2) of the original German of F. C. Baur’s Paulus, der Apostel Jesu Christi (1845). Also available are the first and second volumes of second edition of the English translation produced by Eduard Zeller ( Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, 2 vols., 1873–1875). In addition, the book’s second, posthumously produced German edition (2 vols., 1866–1867) from which Zeller translated the English version is available in a single, combined PDF that contains both of its volumes.

Praying with Jesus

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 03:01:22 +0000

To demonstrate the superiority of Jesus’ sacrifice to those previously offered under the Torah, the writer to the Hebrews quotes a version of Ps 40:6–8 (Eng; 40:7–9 HB; 39:7–9 OG; Heb 10:5–9). 1 In so doing, Hebrews fairly clearly situates its rendition of this psalm’s words as Jesus’ own (cf. Heb 10:10). 2 If one were to read the entire psalm in this direction however, 3 problems would seemingly arise (e.g., vv. 12–17 Eng). 4

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (August 9, 2012)

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:36:40 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Stéphanie Anthonioz, « À qui me comparerez-vous ? » (Is 40,25): La polémique contre l’idolâtrie dans le Deutéro-Isaïe, reviewed by Sven Petry
Jason Bembry, Yahweh’s Coming of Age, reviewed by Johannes de Moor
Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Land of Our Fathers: The Roles of Ancestor Veneration in Biblical Land Claims, reviewed by Bob Becking
Michael P. Streck, Altbabylonisches Lehrbuch, reviewed by Gerhard Karner

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:22:48 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“80”] John Walton, Victor Matthews, and Mark Chavalas[/caption]

Ahead of class this fall, the folks at InterVarsity have kindly forwarded John Walton, Victor Matthews, and Mark Chavalas’s Old Testament backgrounds commentary (2000). According to the publisher’s description,

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 55, no. 2

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 11:54:48 +0000

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

The latest issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes the following:

David Chapman and Andreas Köstenberger, “Jewish Intertestamental and Early Rabbinic Literature: An Annotated Bibliographic Resource Updated (Part 1)”
Armin Baum, “A Theological Justification for the Canonical Status of Literary Forgeries: Jacob’s Deceit (Genesis 27) and Petr Pokorný’s Sola Gratia Argument”
Walter Kaiser Jr., “Is It the Case that Christ is the Same Object of Faith in the Old Testament? (Genesis 15:1–6)”
Josh Chatraw, “Balancing Out (W)Right: Jesus’ Theology of Individual and Corporate Repentance and Forgiveness in the Gospel of Luke”
Stanley Porter and Bryan Dyer, “Oral Texts?: A Reassessment of the Oral and Rhetorical Nature of Paul’s Letters in Light of Recent Studies”
Adam Hensley, “Σιγάω, λαλέω, and ὑποτάσσω in 1 Corinthians 14:34 in Their Literary and Rhetorical Context”
Victor Rhee, “The Author of Hebrews as a Leader of the Faith Community”
Russell Moore, “The Kingdom of God in the Social Ethics of Carl F. H. Henry: A Twenty-first Century Evangelical Reappraisal”

My Glory

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 02:30:53 +0000

David between Wisdom and Prophecy

Psalm 7 is an individual lament, 1 and the superscript situates it as “concerning the words of Cush, the Benjaminite” ( Ps 7:1 HB; על־דברי־כושׁ בן־ימיני‎). 2 This situation is rather difficult to pinpoint precisely in the biblical narratives of David’s life. 3 The OG reading Χουσί is reflected in Augustine’s text and leads him to relate Ps 7 to 2 Sam 15:32–37. 4 Yet, this rendering seems as though it may suggest a different Vorlage than is available in the MT. 5

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (August 3, 2012)

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 16:56:15 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature includes the following discussions of texts in New Testament and cognate studies:

Ann W. Astell and Sandor Goodhart, eds., Sacrifice, Scripture, and Substitution: Readings in Ancient Judaism and Christianity, reviewed by John Dunnill
Daniel Boyarin, The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ, reviewed by F. Stanley Jones
Jeffrey Brodd and Jonathan L. Reed, eds., Rome and Religion: A Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on the Imperial Cult, reviewed by John Kloppenborg
Gonzalo Haya-Prats, Empowered Believers: The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts, reviewed by Nils Neumann
Larry W. Hurtado and Paul L. Owen, eds., ‘Who Is This Son of Man?’: The Latest Scholarship on a Puzzling Expression of the Historical Jesus, reviewed by Christopher Tuckett
Yung Suk Kim, A Theological Introduction to Paul’s Letters: Exploring a Threefold Theology of Paul, reviewed by Jason Weaver
Stefanos Mihalios, The Danielic Eschatological Hour in the Johannine Literature, reviewed by Dirk van der Merwe
Klaus Wachtel and Michael W. Holmes, eds., The Textual History of the Greek New Testament: Changing Views in Contemporary Research, reviewed by Jean-François Racine
James P. Ware, Paul and the Mission of the Church: Philippians in Ancient Jewish Context, reviewed by Angela Standhartinger
John Morgan-Wynne, The Cross in the Johannine Writings, reviewed by David Crump

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (July 26, 2012)

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:37:15 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

John Choi, Traditions at Odds: The Reception of the Pentateuch in Biblical and Second Temple Period Literature, reviewed by John Engle
Scott C. Jones, Rumors of Wisdom: Job 28 as Poetry, reviewed by Edward L. Greenstein
Michael E. W. Thompson, Where Is the God of Justice?: The Old Testament and Suffering, reviewed by Pekka Pitkanen
Julie Woods, Jeremiah 48 as Christian Scripture, reviewed by Frederik Poulsen

New Testament and Cognate Studies

On the Web (July 24, 2012)

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:44:19 +0000

On the web:

Tommy Wasserman notes a new iOS app for New Testament manuscripts.
E. K. McFall has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism: “Are Dionysos and Oedipus Name Variatnios for Satan and Antichrist?”
Dan Wallace recounts an experience of reading a manuscript that “doesn’t exist.”
Alin Suciu highlights Lorenzo Perrone’s lecture on recently-discovered texts of Origen’s homilies on the Psalms. For a selection of previous background posts, see here.

A Westminster Bookstore Blog Partner Program Automatic Link Builder for Firefox

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:47:56 +0000

Tommy Keene notes the revival of an automatic link builder for Firefox and the Westminster Bookstore’s blog partner program. Tommy’s earlier Firefox search bar add-on for the Westminster Bookstore is also a very helpful tool.

Rasmussen, Zondervan Atlas of the Bible

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:05:57 +0000

Rasmussen, Atlas of the Bible

Ahead of class this fall, the folks at Zondervan have kindly forwarded Carl Rasmussen’s Atlas of the Bible (2010). According to the publisher’s description,

This thoroughly revised edition of the Gold Medallion Award-winning Zondervan NIV Atlas of the Bible uses innovative 3D imaging technology and over one hundred images to bring the biblical world to life with unprecedented clarity. Plus, over one hundred full-color, multidimensional maps trace the progression of Old and New Testament history, providing you with an accessible and accurate resource—a treasure trove of insights for students of the Bible.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (July 19, 2012)

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 13:01:36 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Leslie C. Allen, A Liturgy of Grief: A Pastoral Commentary on Lamentations, reviewed by Elizabeth Boase
Edwin M. Good, Genesis 1–11: Tales of the Earliest World, reviewed by George Savran
R. B. Salters, Lamentations: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary, reviewed by Eleuterio Ruiz

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Slaves at Home

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:54:31 +0000

Ezra and Nehemiah each provide their own distinct reports of the Jews’ return from Babylonian exile. Even if the portrayal of this return as a “second exodus” is not a particular, literary concern in these books, 1 the narrative’s inclusion of elements like captivity, release, land resettlement, and covenant establishment certainly echo important features in the narrative of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. 2 Even so, Ezra and Nehemiah include in their portraits of the people’s experience of some “reviving” (מחיה) a stroke in which the people also found themselves still to be slaves ( Ezra 9:8–9; cf. Neh 9:36). 3

Tov, Scribal Practices and Approaches

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:21:43 +0000

Emmanuel Tov has made available the full text of his 2009 monograph Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in the Judean Desert in two PDF files in the “Publications” section of his website. Excepting certain “minute changes,” these files are substantially identical to the printed versions.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (July 11, 2012)

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 13:19:15 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Stephen J. Bennett, Ecclesiastes/Lamentations: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition, reviewed by Russell L. Meek
Alicia Suskin Ostriker, For the Love of God: The Bible as an Open Book, reviewed by Barbara Green

New Testament and Cognate Studies

On the Web (July 22, 2012)

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 17:35:20 +0000

On the web:

Tokens makes available the final part of their interview with Walter Brueggemann.
Theological Studies has back issues from 5 years ago and beyond freely available online (HT: Charles Jones).
Michael Halcomb reflects on some of Albert Schweitzer’s comments on Christian scholars.
Tommy Keene highlights BibleArc.
Archive.org has Gordon Fee’s PhD thesis available online (HT: Larry Hurtado).
Bavarian authorities are commissioning annotated editions of Mein Kampf in hopes of further defusing the work’s value for extremists’ use as it comes into the public domain.
Joel Willitts reflects on some of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s comments on “self forgiveness.”

The Resurrection of the Son of God

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 03:57:05 +0000

In Acts 13:16–41, Paul addresses the Pisidian synagogue. In this discourse’s context, Paul asserts “we preach to you the good news concerning the promise that had come to the fathers—that this promise God has fulfilled for us their children by raising Jesus” ( Acts 13:32–33; ἡμεῖς ὑμᾶς εὐαγγελιζόμεθα τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ἐπαγγελίαν γενομένην, ὅτι ταύτην ὁ θεὸς ἐκπεπλήρωκεν τοῖς τέκνοις [αὐτῶν] ἡμῖν ἀναστήσας Ἰησοῦν). From here, the following quotation of Ps 2:7 confirms Jesus’ resurrection by Yahweh’s hand (cf. Acts 13:37). 1 This resurrection in incorruption situates Jesus as the means by which the ancestral promise becomes actualized ( Acts 13:34–37) because it situates him as the recipient and mediator of the things vouchsafed to David ( Acts 13:34)—namely, an everlasting covenant in which the wandering return and receive forgiveness from Yahweh ( Isa 55; cf. Deut 30). 2

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (July 6, 2012)

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:46:18 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Milton Eng, The Days of Our Years: A Lexical Semantic Study of the Life Cycle in Biblical Israel, reviewed by Paul Korchin
Kristen H. Lindbeck, Elijah and the Rabbis: Story and Theology, reviewed by Sonya S. Cronin
Hayim Tadmor; ed. Mordechai Cogan, “With My Many Chariots I Have Gone Up the Heights of the Mountains”: Historical and Literary Studies on Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel, reviewed by R. Russell Mack
Leigh M. Trevaskis, Holiness, Ethics and Ritual in Leviticus, reviewed by James W. Watts

New Testament and Cognate Studies

David, the Man of God

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 03:48:23 +0000

In contemporary English parlance, to call someone a “man” or “woman of God” substantially means that individual is “godly” or “pious.” As such, the phrase is a descriptor of a person’s moral or religious standing in relation to some perceived measure.

In the Hebrew Bible, however, אישׁ (ה)אלהים ([the] man of God) regularly designates a “prophet.” To be sure, these prophets were often “godly” or “pious,” but even here, there were occasional exceptions to this behavior (e.g., 1 Kgs 13). Rather, when the Hebrew Bible applies this same phrase to David, it fits him into the framework of the broader tradition of the prophet as Yahweh’s representative ( Neh 12:24, 36; 2 Chron 8:14). In these particular texts, David’s status as an אישׁ אלהים (man of God) revolves around his plans for the temple’s administration. Even so, scarcely can at least the Davidic psalms be separated from vocation as a royal אישׁ אלהים (man of God). 1

NA28 Is on Its Way

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 22:46:15 +0000

Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, 28th ed

The 28th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament is set to be available around the end of the year. The new edition features a revised and more user-friendly critical apparatus, readings for Papyrii 117–127, somewhat more than 30 changes to the main text, and additional checking of scriptural cross references (HT: Brian Davidson).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (June28, 2012)

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 02:44:03 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scripture and Cognate Studies

Christopher B. Ansberry, Be Wise, My Son, and Make My Heart Glad: An Exploration of the Courtly Nature of the Book of Proverbs, reviewed by Anne W. Stewart
Beate Pongratz-Leisten, ed., Reconsidering the Concept of Revolutionary Monotheism, reviewed by Michael B. Hundley
Hanne von Weissenberg, Juha Pakkala, and Marko Marttila, eds., Changes in Scripture: Rewriting and Interpreting Authoritative Traditions in the Second Temple Period, reviewed by Ian Young

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Cologne Court Circumscribes Circumcision

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 13:17:07 +0000

ABC News (HT: Michael Bird) and the AFP (HT: Jim Davila) are reporting that the regional court in Cologne, Germany, has rendered a verdict that makes involuntary circumcision on religious grounds illegal, although the practice remains permissible if done for medical reasons. The decision follows on the treatment of a four-year-old Muslim boy for post-operative bleeding and the prosecution of the doctor who had performed the procedure.

Free BASOR Issue and Classics Teaching Resources

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:27:04 +0000

Charles Jones notes that the May issue of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research is available for free online through July 31 and that ClassicsTeaching.com contains some valuable resources for teachers of classics, compiled by Steven Hunt (Cambridge) and Aisha Khan-Evans (University of London).

New Logos Collections

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:42:22 +0000

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 (June 25, 2012)

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:03:45 +0000

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.

Biblical Theology Bulletin 42, no. 2

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 14:53:06 +0000

Image:BTB vol 40 no 1.gif

The latest issue of the Biblical Theology Bulletin includes: Article

Callia Rulmu, “Stumbling Words for a Determined Young Lady: Notes on Ruth 2:7b”
David H. Wenkel, “When the Apostles Became Kings: Ruling and Judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel in the Book of Acts”
Coleman A. Baker, “Social Identity Theory and Biblical Interpretation”
Eric C. Stewart, “New Testament Space/Spatiality”

The Christ of His Christ

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 23:33:55 +0000

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:

Augustine on Varro on the Naming of Athens

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 19:15:36 +0000

[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 (June 23, 2012)

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:21:21 +0000

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.

Congratulations, Dr. Copenhaver!

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 11:50:18 +0000

Via Michael Bird:

I’m glad to announce that my Ph.D padwan Adam Copenhaver has passed his doctoral viva. His thesis was: “The Colossian Heresy? An Investigation of the Christological Polemics and Socio-Cultural Background in Colossians.” Adam boldly argued for M.D. Hooker’s position that there was no specific “heresy” or “heretics” in Colossae, and Colossians was written as a general exhortation against a variety of possible religious encroachments against a cluster of house churches in the interior of the Lycus Valley.

Origen on the Web (June 22, 2012)

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 19:23:45 +0000

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.

Bock, Theology of Luke and Acts

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:07:35 +0000

[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

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:32:15 +0000

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.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (June 21, 2012)

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:30:59 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Robert B. Coote and Keith W. Whitelam, The Emergence of Early Israel in Historical Perspective, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Ruth, reviewed by Peter H. W. Lau
John Kampen, Wisdom Literature, reviewed by Devorah Dimant
Cotton Mather; ed. Reiner Smolinski, Genesis (Biblia Americana 1), reviewed by Mark Elliott

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Bauckham, Living with Other Creatures

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 20:01:35 +0000

Bauckham, ‘Living with Other Creatures’

Courtesy of Baylor University Press and the Stone-Campbell Journal, Richard Bauckham’s Living with Other Creatures: Green Exegesis and Theology (2011). According to the publisher’s description:

The Bible and Christian tradition have, at best, offered an ambiguous word in response to Earth’s environmental difficulties. At worst, a complex, often one-sided history of interpretation has left the Bible’s voice silent. Aiming to bridge these gaps, Richard Bauckham mines scripture and theology, discovering a firm command for Christians to care for all of God’s creation and then discusses the generations of theologians who have sought to live out this biblical mandate. Going beyond Old Testament human dominion, Living with Other Creatures consults scripture in its entirety and includes Jesus’ perspectives on creation, novel approaches to reading the gospels, and some of the most well-known “ecologists” throughout Christian history. The result is an innovative and enriching treatise that reminds readers of Gods whole creation—and humanity’s place within it.

Pillar Commentaries at WTSBooks

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:12:20 +0000

[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:

Currents in Biblical Research 10, no. 3

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:17:55 +0000

The latest issue of Currents in Biblical Research includes:

J. Kenneth Kuntz, “Continuing the Engagement: Psalms Research Since the Early 1990s”
Joel R. White, “Recent Challenges to the communis opinio on 1 Corinthians 15.29”
Dan Batovici, “The Second-Century Reception of John: A Survey of Methodologies”
Benjamin Edsall, " Kerygma, Catechesis and Other Things We Used to Find: Twentieth-Century Research on Early Christian Teaching since Alfred"
Simon Lasair, “Current Trends in Targum Research”

An Unfriendly Bodyguard

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 15:54:50 +0000

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).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (June 15, 2012)

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 11:47:15 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Brian Britt, Biblical Curses and the Displacement of Tradition, reviewed by Brian Doak
David M. Carr, The Formation of the Hebrew Bible: A New Reconstruction, reviewed by Christoph Berner
Marjo Korpel and Johannes de Moor, The Silent God, reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
Janet Smith, Dust or Dew: Immortality in the Ancient Near East and in Psalm 49, reviewed by Philippus J. Botha

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Journal of Biblical Literature 131, no. 2

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:31:28 +0000

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

Books on the Web (June 14, 2011)

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:22:00 +0000

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 (June 13, 2012)

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:39:54 +0000

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.

For and Against Calvinisim

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:20:40 +0000

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,

Academic Stimulants?

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 20:01:59 +0000

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.

Like Father, Like Son—Only More So

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 20:53:15 +0000

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).

New Testament Studies 58, no. 3

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 12:12:38 +0000

New Testament Studies

The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

Luc Devillers, “Le prologue du quatrième évangile, clé de voûte de la littérature johannique”
Jeffrey A. D. Weima, " ‘Peace and Security’ (1 Thess 5.3): Prophetic Warning or Political Propaganda?"
Julien M. Ogereau, “The Jerusalem Collection as Κοινωνία: Paul’s Global Politics of Socio-Economic Equality and Solidarity”
Michael W. Martin and Jason A. Whitlark, “Choosing What Is Advantageous: The Relationship between Epideictic and Deliberative Syncrisis in Hebrews”
Philip Maertens, " ‘Vos pères’ ou ’nos pères’: la question de l’appartenance ethnique dans le texte grec du livre des Actes du Codex Bezae (D 05)"
Lukas Bormann, " ‘Auch unter politischen Gesichtspunkten sehr sorgfältig ausgewählt’: Die ersten deutschen Mitglieder der Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas"
Tjitze Baarda, " ‘And they thought that the time of his decease…had come’ [TA XXIV:5–6]"

On the Web (June 7, 2012)

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:37:13 +0000

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.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (June 6, 2012)

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:27:44 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Katell Berthelot and Thierry Legrand, eds., Torah: Exode, Lévitique, Nombres, reviewed by Eibert Tigchelaar
Antonios Finitsis, Visions and Eschatology: A Socio-Historical Analysis of Zechariah 1–6, reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
Lester L. Grabbe, ed., Israel in Transition 2: From Late Bronze II to Iron IIA (c. 1250–850 BCE): The Texts, reviewed by Aren Maier
Timothy Jay Johnson, Now My Eye Sees You: Unveiling an Apocalyptic Job, reviewed by Michael S. Moore

New Testament and Cognate Studies

On the Web (June 5, 2012)

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:06:50 +0000

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).

Loebolus

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:45:24 +0000

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.

Timing Blindness

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:43:09 +0000

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).

Volf to Lecture at Lipscomb

Thu, 31 May 2012 15:22:02 +0000

Amid a program with a number of other engaging-looking sessions, Miroslav Volf, founder and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture will be lecturing next week at Lipscomb University’s Christian Scholars Conference. Further details about the lecture are as follows:

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (May 30, 2012)

Thu, 31 May 2012 11:02:03 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Barbara M. Leung Lai, Through the ‘I’-Window: The Inner Life of Characters in the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Frank H. Polak
John Van Seters, Studies in the History, Literature and Religion of Biblical Israel (Changing Perspectives 1), reviewed by Diana Edelman
Michael Weigl, Die aramäischen Achikar-Sprüche aus Elephantine und die alttestamentliche Weisheitsliteratur, reviewed by Mark W. Hamilton

New Testament and Cognate Studies

On the Web (May 30, 2012)

Wed, 30 May 2012 12:51:44 +0000

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.

Performance Improvements with LibreOffice 3.5.4

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:31:01 +0000

English: logo(type) of LibreOffice Deutsch: Lo…

From the Document Foundation Blog:

The Document Foundation announces LibreOffice 3.5.4, the fifth version of the free office suite’s 3.5 family. LibreOffice 3.5.4 offers significant performance improvements over the previous versions of the product, which are the combined result of the many code optimizations executed during the last months and the bug and regression chasing activity performed regularly by volunteers and developers. As a result, LibreOffice 3.5.4 is the fastest version of the best free office suite ever, with up to 100% performance gains when opening large files (depending on operating system, hardware configuration and file contents).

On the Web (May 29, 2012)

Tue, 29 May 2012 12:00:51 +0000

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 (May 28, 2012)

Mon, 28 May 2012 12:17:16 +0000

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.

Finding Faith in Samaria

Sat, 26 May 2012 20:33:47 +0000

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

Another Note on Upgrading to and Installing Logos 4 on Ubuntu

Sat, 26 May 2012 07:59:25 +0000

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,

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (May 25, 2012)

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:02:55 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Yitzhaq Feder, Blood Expiation in Hittite and Biblical Ritual: Origins, Context, and Meaning, reviewed by Pekka Pitkänen
David Frankel, The Land of Canaan and the Destiny of Israel: Theologies of Territory in the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Phillip Sherman
Lisbeth S. Fried, ed., Was 1 Esdras First? An Investigation into the Priority and Nature of 1 Esdras, reviewed by Erik Eynikel

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Books on the Web (May 25, 2012)

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:52:23 +0000

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 (May 24, 2012)

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:15:11 +0000

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.

Metaxas Lecture on Bonhoeffer

Wed, 23 May 2012 19:17:02 +0000

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 (May 22, 2011)

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:11:12 +0000

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).

More Princeton Dead Sea Scrolls Sales at CBD

Sun, 20 May 2012 22:51:35 +0000

In addition to the sale at Christian Book Distributors on volumes 1 and 2 of the Princeton Dead Sea Scrolls series that Tod Bolen previously noted, the following volumes are also currently selling there at sharply reduced prices:

Volume 3: Damascus Document Fragments, Some Works of the Torah, Related Documents, $29.99 (85% off) + free shipping
Volume 4a: Pseudepigraphic and Non-Masoretic Psalms and Prayers, $22.99 (80% off)

Origin, Identity, and Mission

Sat, 19 May 2012 21:29:55 +0000

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).

rollApp = OpenDocument Support for iOS

Sat, 19 May 2012 12:03:39 +0000

Image representing rollApp as depicted in Crun…

For iOS users, rollApp has now graduated into public Beta and is offering iOS-compatible versions of OpenOffice.org (now Apache OpenOffice) and LibreOffice. The LibreOffice app seems to have a bit of difficulty opening files stored on Dropbox, but my own tests thus far with the OpenOffice.org app seem to have worked quite well. Although these apps run entirely on rollApp’s servers, and so require a fairly decent Internet connection to function, they do offer extended support for additional file formats (like ODT) not natively readable in iOS.

Dan Wallace Comments on Recent Manuscript Discoveries

Sat, 19 May 2012 03:27:29 +0000

Via Michael Bird:

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (May 17, 2012)

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:56:38 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Philip F. Esler, Sex, Wives, and Warriors: Reading Biblical Narrative with Its Ancient Audience, reviewed by Brian Peterson
Tammi J. Schneider, An Introduction to Ancient Mesopotamian Religion, reviewed by Andrew Riley
Andrew E. Steinmann, Ezra and Nehemiah, reviewed by Antje Labahn

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Hurtado on Jesus' Ascension

Thu, 17 May 2012 12:22:23 +0000

From Larry Hurtado:

[A]nother dreadful “thought for today” on Radio 4 this a.m., this one ostensibly taking as its pre-text (and I use the word advisedly) that today is Ascension Day, and opining that Jesus’ Ascension (portrayed solely in Luke-Acts in the NT) means that Jesus has deaked out and we’re on our own! So, children, the moral lesson is that we should just face up to it and learn to cope. Hmm. Well, just goes to show you what the exegetical equivalent of a drive-by-shooting can produce!

Homer and the Papyri

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:31:38 +0000

Homer was also called Melesigenes (son of Mele…

Charles Jones notes that

Homer and the Papyri, first created by Professor Dana Sutton of the University of California, Irvine, is . . . published [online] in a second electronic edition. The new edition consists of a fully searchable relational database of Homeric papyri.

Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:13:15 +0000

It seems like I’ve seen the site before, but Gideon Burton at Brigham Young University has digested a good deal of information about classical and Renaissance rhetoric at Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric. The site “is intended to help beginners, as well as experts, make sense of rhetoric, both on the small scale (definitions and examples of specific terms) and on the large scale (the purposes of rhetoric, the patterns into which it has fallen historically as it has been taught and practiced for 2000+ years).”

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 55, no. 1

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:59:49 +0000

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

The latest issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes the following:

Clinton Arnold, “Sceva, Solomon, and Shamanism: The Jewish Roots of the Problem at Colossae”
Nicholas Lunn, “Allusions to the Joseph Narrative in the Synoptic Gospels and Acts: Foundations of Biblical Type”
Daniel Hays, " ‘Sell Everything You Have and Give to the Poor’: The Old Testament Prophetic Theme of Justice as the Connecting Motif of Luke 18:1–19:10"
Paul Tanner, “James’s Quotation of Amos 9 to Settle the Jerusalem Council Debate in Acts 15”
Jonathan Lunde and John Dunne, “Paul’s Creative and Contextual Use of Isaiah in Ephesians 5:14”
Emmitt Cornelius, “St. Irenaeus and Robert W. Jenson on Jesus in the Trinity”
Michael Bräutigam, “Good Will Hunting: Adolf Schlatter on Organic Volitional Sanctification”

More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

Tue, 08 May 2012 17:35:54 +0000

Bauckham, Davila, and Panayotov< ‘Old Testament Pseudepigrapha’

From Nijay Gupta,

The time is soon-coming for the release of the long-anticipated Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures edited by Bauckham, Davila, and Panayotov (Eerdmans, Nov 2012). . . .

At more than 800 pages (in 2 volumes), it will certainly be substantive. The attempt was made by the editors to collect non-canonical texts that pre-date the rise of Islam. (underlining for original italics)

iPad App for Greek Literature

Tue, 08 May 2012 17:11:14 +0000

There is now

an iPad app for introductory and intermediate Greek readers. Its name is Attikos and it includes a selection of familiar texts, including morphological information. The author is Josh Day, himself recently an intermediate Greek student.

Link to the app store page:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/attikos/id522497233?mt=8

. . .

Texts include the Iliad, some Lysias and Plato, and the Antigone. Some texts have been parsed completely; no translations are included, however.

On Neighborliness

Wed, 02 May 2012 15:22:44 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“200” caption=“Domenico Fetti, “Parable of the Good Samaritan” (c. 1610–1623; photo credit: Wikipedia)”] [/caption]

The parable of the Good Samaritan ( Luke 10:30–35) is unique to Luke and contributes to the third Gospel’s general emphasis on socially marginalized characters and groups. 1 Introducing the parable proper is an exchange between Jesus and a νομικός (lawyer), which the lawyer begins by inquiring τί ποιήσας ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσω; ( Luke 10:25b; what shall I do to inherit eternal life?). Both this question and the exchange that follows resemble some later rabbinic texts, not least in the lawyer’s concern to define proper Torah obedience. 2

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 30, 2012)

Tue, 01 May 2012 19:04:30 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Bob Becking and Susan Hennecke, eds., Out of Paradise: Eve and Adam and Their Interpreters, reviewed by Robert C. Kashow
Tchavdar S. Hadjiev, The Composition and Redaction of the Book of Amos, reviewed by Beth Stovell
Jack R. Lundbom, The Hebrew Prophets: An Introduction, reviewed by Göran Eidevall
Marty Alan Michelson, Reconciling Violence and Kingship: A Study of Judges and 1 Samuel, reviewed by Klaas Spronk
Seth D. Postell, Adam as Israel: Genesis 1–3 as the Introduction to the Torah and Tanakh. reviewed by John E. Anderson

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 26, 2012)

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:07:36 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Brian J. Abasciano, Paul’s Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9.10-18: An Intertextual and Theological Exegesis, reviewed by Stephen Moyise
Ron Cameron and Merrill P. Miller, eds., Redescribing Paul and the Corinthians, reviewed by Antoinette Clark Wire
Rob Dalrymple, Revelation and the Two Witnesses: The Implications for Understanding John’s Depiction of the People of God and His Hortatory Intent, reviewed by Russell Morton
Christopher Zoccali, Whom God Has Called: The Relationship of Church and Israel in Pauline Interpretation, 1920 to the Present, reviewed by James D. G. Dunn

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Thousands and Ten Thousands

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 11:39:55 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“250” caption=“15th-c. Illumination (Photo credit: Wikipedia)”] [/caption]

First Samuel 18:6 describes David’s return after killing Goliath ( 1 Sam 17:41–58). Precisely how this event sits chronologically in relationship to the surrounding narrative is difficult to establish. 1 One good way of reading the narrative, however, involves treating 1 Sam 18:1–5 as an extended parenthesis, which includes some foreshadowing, and understanding 1 Sam 18:6 to be bringing the reader back to the main plot line that had temporarily paused with 1 Sam 17:58. 2 In this context, it begins to be said הכה שׁאול֙ באלפו ודוד ברבבתיו ‎( 1 Sam 18:7; Saul has slain by his thousands and David by his ten thousands; see also 1 Sam 21:11; 29:5). 3 Yet, thus far, David has specifically been reported to have killed only one person (Goliath) and some animals ( 1 Sam 17:34–37)—not רבבת (ten thousands). 4 Rather, the women’s song quantitatively represents the qualitative value of David’s victory over Goliath as it relates to Saul’s previous exploits. 5 On hearing this song, then, Saul becomes enraged and starts looking and acting to do David harm ( 1 Sam 18:8–9).

Biblical Theology Bulletin 42, no. 2

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:25:02 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“75” caption=“Image via Wikipedia”] [/caption]

The latest issue of the Biblical Theology Bulletin includes:

David M. Bossman, “Contextual Meanings”
Robert K. Gnuse, “The Elohist: A 7th-Century BCE Theological Tradition”
Edward A. Beckstrom, “The Mystery of Jesus’ Teaching about ‘The Son of Man’”
Prosper Grech, “Further Reflections on Biblical Inspiration and Truth”
Carolyn Osiek, “The Women in Paul’s Life”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 18, 2012)

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:02:38 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Douglas A. Knight, Law, Power, and Justice in Ancient Israel, reviewed by Markus Witte
Gary D. Martin, Multiple Originals: New Approaches to Hebrew Bible Textual Criticism, reviewed by Johann Cook
Robert D. Miller II, Oral Tradition in Ancient Israel, reviewed by Raymond F. Person Jr.
Jonathan A. Moo, Creation, Nature and Hope in 4 Ezra, reviewed by Karina Martin Hogan
Miles V. Van Pelt, English Grammar to Ace Biblical Hebrew, reviewed by Hubert Keener

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (April 13, 2012)

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:15:39 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Jeffrey Burns; David Bers and Stephen Tree, eds., The Music of Psalms, Proverbs and Job in the Hebrew Bible: A Revised Theory of Musical Accents in the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Rebecca A. Mitchell and Matthew W. Mitchell
Martin Leuenberger, Segen und Segenstheologien im alten Israel: Untersuchungen zu ihren religions- und theologiegeschichtlichen Konstellationen und Transformationen, reviewed by William P. Brown
Stuart Macwilliam, Queer Theory and the Prophetic Marriage Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Christine Mitchell
Kent Aaron Reynolds, Torah as Teacher: The Exemplary Torah Student in Psalm 119, reviewed by Steven Dunn
Thomas Römer, Dieu obscur: Cruauté, sexe et violence dans l’Ancien Testament, reviewed by Delia Klingler
Jonathan Y. Rowe, Michal’s Moral Dilemma: A Literary, Anthropological and Ethical Interpretation, reviewed by Susanne Scholz

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Prayer Prayers

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:00:52 +0000

Luke 11:1–4 recounts Jesus’ teaching his disciples how to pray. The substance of the prayer much resembles the parallel account in Matt 6:9–13. Yet, Luke’s version is considerably shorter than Matthew’s at a couple points. Also, rather than coming in the context of a longer discourse, Jesus’ teaching in Luke 11:2–4 responds to a specific request from one of the disciples that he teach them to pray, just as John had done with his own disciples ( Luke 11:1).((Darrell L. Bock, Jesus according to Scripture: Restoring the Portrait from the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 141.))

Journal of Theological Studies 63, no. 1

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:07:50 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“100” caption=“The Journal of Theological Studies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)”] [/caption]

The latest issue of the Journal of Theological Studies includes:

Joanna Collicutt, “Bringing the Academic Discipline of Psychology to Bear on the Study of the Bible”
Charlotte Hempel, “Who Is Making Dinner at Qumran?”
Jonathan Knight, “The Origin and Significance of the Angelomorphic Christology in the Ascension of Isaiah”
Suzanne Watts Henderson, “Discipleship after the Resurrection: Scribal Hermeneutics in the Longer Ending of Mark”
P. Lorraine Buck, “Voluntary Martyrdom Revisited”
Geoffrey D. Dunn, “Innocent I’s Letter to Lawrence: Photinians, Bonosians, and the Defensores Ecclesiae”
Markus Vinzent, “Questions on the Attributes (of God): Four Rediscovered Parisian Questions of Meister Eckhart”
Andrew Ter Ern Loke, “Sanday’s Christology Revisited”

Messiah, Our Passover

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 20:30:56 +0000

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As יהוה was delivering Israel from Egypt, he commanded his people spread lamb’s blood on their doorposts and lintels ( Exod 12:7). In view of this blood, יהוה passed over his people and judged only the Egyptians’ firstborn and their gods ( Exod 12:12–13), for יהוה had provided that the Israelites should redeem their firstborn with lamb’s blood ( Exod 13:15; cf. Exod 34:18–20). He delivered them mightily, he brought them through the sea, he made a covenant with them, and he settled them in Canaan ( Exod 12:29– Judges 1:26). Nevertheless, even those who entered the land did not fully enter יהוה’s rest ( Heb 4:8–11), and year by year, they offered sacrifices for sins ( Lev 16:1–34; 23:26–32; Num 29:7–11; Heb 9:6–10; 10:1–4).

International Journal of the Platonic Tradition

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:06:54 +0000

Starting this year, the International Journal of the Platonic Tradition has become fully and openly accessible online (HT: Charles Jones).

Michael Kruger Is Blogging

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:00:46 +0000

Apparently, Michael Kruger, Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, is now blogging at Canon Fodder and tweeting @michaeljkruger (HT: Lane Keister).

Busiest Months to Date

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:51:55 +0000

Although it’s a bit belated, I just noticed this morning that February and March have been the busiest months at New Testament Interpretation to date. Thanks so much to all of you who have been interested in visiting.

Audio Hebrew Bible

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 05:55:05 +0000

The Leningrad Codex

At the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting in San Francisco, I and a number of other folks picked up John Schwandt’s audio version of the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th ed.; affiliate disclosure).

New Aquinas Translations

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:44:22 +0000

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Through their pre-publication program, Logos Bible Software is now offering English translations of Thomas Aquinas’s commentaries on Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Aquinas’s Summa Theologica and Summa Contra Gentiles have been available in English for some time, but once enough pre-publication orders have accumulated, Logos’s texts of these three commentaries will be the first time they have been available in English.

Passing the Piazza

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:12:17 +0000

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In his article Sunday in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Jeffrey Young comments:

[Pooja] Sankar, a recent graduate of Stanford University’s M.B.A. program, leads a start-up focused on finding a better way for college students to ask questions about course materials and assignments online. Her company, Piazza, has built an online study hall where professors and teaching assistants can easily monitor questions and encourage students who understand the material to help their peers.

Wright Bests Carson

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:36:24 +0000

Logos Bible Software’s March Madness final between D. A. Carson and N. T. Wright was certainly an ironic pairing, but the results are in, and Wright’s victory leaves users with a 75% discount on select texts, including New Testament and the People of God and Jesus and the Victory of God. A pair of runner-up Carson’s texts are also available at a 60% discount. For more information, please see here.

Bray's God Is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:15:58 +0000

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Fresh off the presses at Crossway this past month is Gerald Bray’s God Is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology. According to the publisher,

While there is no substitute for personal, faithful, and careful Bible reading and prayer, the Bible’s vast size and diversity can make distilling its truth a daunting task. Thus most Christians benefit from supplemental resources to help learn and apply what Scripture teaches. . . .

Frightful Fishing and Forgiven Catching

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:03:15 +0000

Although the calling of Simon Peter appears in all three synoptic Gospels ( Matt 4:18–20; Mark 1:16–18; Luke 5:1–11; cf. John 1:35–51; 21:1–11), Luke’s narrative develops the pericope in much greater detail than Matthew’s or Mark’s. Luke 5:3 indicates that Jesus did some teaching from Simon’s boat. After concluding, Jesus instructs Simon to take the boat into the λίμνη (lake), and set out the nets for a catch ( Luke 5:4). Although incredulous, Simon acquiesces ( Luke 5:5–6a, 8–10a).((Jon L. Berquist, “Luke 5:1–11,” Int 58, no. 1 (2004): 62; Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (New International Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 232.)) Then, to his surprise, not only do they catch fish, but their catch is of such quantity that it nearly nearly tears the nets and sinks both their boat and another called to help ( Luke 5:6b–7). Observing this situation, Simon προσέπεσεν τοῖς γόνασιν Ἰησοῦ λέγων· ἔξελθε ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ, ὅτι ἀνὴρ ἁμαρτωλός εἰμι, κύριε. θάμβος γὰρ περιέσχεν αὐτὸν καὶ πάντας τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τῇ ἄγρᾳ τῶν ἰχθύων ὧν συνέλαβον ( Luke 5:8–9; fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord.” For, astonishment at the catch of fish that they had enclosed had come upon him and all those who were with him).((Or, if Ἰησοῦ is a dative, προσέπεσεν τοῖς γόνασιν Ἰησοῦ may be “he fell on [his own] knees before Jesus” (I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke [New International Greek Testament Commentary; Exeter: Paternoster, 1995], 204).))

Bulletin for Biblical Research 22.1

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:17:04 +0000

The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research includes:

Edward Glenny, “The Septuagint and Apostolic Hermeneutics: Amos 9 and Acts 15”
Joel Willitts, “Matthew and Psalms of Solomon’s Messianism: A Comparative Study in First-Century Messianology”
Preston Massey, “Disagreement in the Greco-Roman Literary Tradition and the Implications for Gospel Research”
Nijay Gupta, “What ‘Mercies of God’?: Oiktirmos in Romans 12:1 against Its Septuagintal Background”
Aaron Sherwood, “Paul’s Imprisonment as the Glory of the Ethnē: A Discourse Analysis of Ephesians 3:1–13”

Bonhoeffer's Works

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:39:38 +0000

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Fifteen print volumes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s works are now available as a single set via Logos Bible Software’s pre-publication program. According to the product page:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the most influential Christian martyrs in history, bequeathed to humanity a legacy of theological creativity and spirituality that continues to inspire people from a variety of backgrounds. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (15 vols.) offers a fresh, critical translation of Bonhoeffer’s writings, with extensive introductions, annotations, and interpretation.

Faithful Rahab

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:14:24 +0000

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After assuming leadership over Israel ( Josh 1:10–18), Joshua commissions two men to survey Jericho and the surrounding area ( Josh 2:1a). Rather tersely, then, the menוילכו ויבאו בית־אשׁה זונה ושׁמה רחב וישׁכבו־שׁמה ( Josh 2:1b; went and entered the house of a prostitute, whose name was Rahab, and they lodged there). For onlookers, such an action might not have been unusual in itself, 1 but by some means or other, the king became aware of these Israelite’s intent to survey Jericho ahead of some forthcoming military action ( Josh 2:3).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (March 23, 2012)

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 02:44:11 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Anthony Heacock, Jonathan Loved David: Manly Love in the Bible and the Hermeneutics of Sex, reviewed by John Barclay Burns
Maynard Paul Maidman, Nuzi Texts and Their Uses as Historical Evidence, reviewed by Ronan Head
Thomas W. Mann, The Book of the Former Prophets, reviewed by Trent C. Butler
David Miano, Shadow on the Steps: Time Measurement in Ancient Israel, reviewed by Spencer L. Allen
Anathea E. Portier-Young, Apocalypse against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism, reviewed by Benjamin E. Reynolds and Joshua Schwartz

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Logos Bible Software on YouTube

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:37:31 +0000

I hadn’t noticed it until now, but Logos Bible Software has a very nicely developed YouTube Channel with a number of helpful videos both about individual resources that they offer and about using the Logos 4 engine (HT: Josh Burdick).

2012 Oxford Society of Scholars Conference

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:13:55 +0000

This summer:

The Oxford Graduate School Society of Scholars is calling for papers related to the following theme: The Three Cultures: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and the Humanities in the 21st Century, based on the book of the same title by Jerome Kagan. Papers should specifically relate the role of religion and theology to the scope of the Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities.

For more information and to propose a paper, please see here.

So Then You Also Were Made to Die

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:36:08 +0000

In Rom 7:1–6, Paul appears to draw on Num 5:11–31 as a metaphorical way of characterizing the Christian community’s history. 1 While her husband lives, the wife’s involvement with another man would make her liable to the charge of adultery from her current husband. From this charge, the wife would also become liable to the ritual of Num 5:11–31, and the serious consequences that it would entail if she had indeed committed adultery ( Num 5:21–22, 24, 27–28).2

LibreOffice 3.5.1 Is Available

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:36:14 +0000

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LibreOffice 3.5.1 was released earlier this week. The version includes a number of important bug fixes ( RC1 change log, RC2 change log). Enabling experimental features in the 3.5 series, however, can apparently still cause difficulties with Zotero integration.

Journal of Biblical Literature 131.1

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:22:31 +0000

The latest issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature includes:

Carol Newsom, “Models of the Moral Self: Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism”
Jonathann Vroom, “Recasting Mišpātîm: Legal Innovation in Leviticus 24:10-23”
Suzanne Boorer, “The Place of Numbers 13–14 and Numbers 20:2–12 in the Priestly Narrative (Pg)”
Israel Finkelstein, “The Historical Reality behind the Genealogical Lists in 1 Chronicles”
Francis Landy, “I and Eye in Isaiah, or Gazing at the Invisible”
Jacob Wright and Michael Chan, “King and Eunuch: Isaiah 56:1-8 in Light of Honorific Royal Burial Practices”
Alec Lucas, “Reorienting the Structural Paradigm and Social Significance of Romans 1:18–32”
David Downs, “Faith(fulness) in Christ Jesus in 2 Timothy 3:15”
Jason Whitlark, " ‘Here We Do Not Have a City That Remains’: A Figured Critique of Roman Imperial Propaganda in Hebrews 13:14"
Matthias Henze, “4 Ezra and 2 Baruch: Literary Composition and Oral Performance in First-Century Apocalyptic Literature”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (March 14, 2012)

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:58:09 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Peter Altmann, Festive Meals in Ancient Israel: Deuteronomy’s Identity Politics in Their Ancient Near Eastern Context, reviewed by Stephen A. Reed
Martin Hallaschka, Haggai und Sacharja 1–8: Eine redaktionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung, reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
Tod Linafelt, Claudia V. Camp, and Timothy Beal, eds., The Fate of King David: The Past and Present of a Biblical Icon, reviewed by Ilse Muellner

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Library Additions (March 14, 2012)

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:39:25 +0000

Thanks to wonderful readers and the excellent folks at the Westminster Bookstore, the following have arrived at the door recently:

David Aune, Apocalypticism, Prophecy, and Magic in Early Christianity
Greg Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New
Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity
Harvie Conn, ed., Inerrancy and Hermeneutic
Gordon Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God
Gordon Fee, Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-theological Study
Richard Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics
Anthony Thiselton, The Hermeneutics of Doctrine
Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-linguistic Approach to Christian Theology

Currents in Biblical Research 10.2

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:53:04 +0000

The latest issue of Currents in Biblical Research includes:

Charles Trimm, “Recent Research on Warfare in the Old Testament”
Judy Diehl, “Empire and Epistles: Anti-Roman Rhetoric in the New Testament Epistles”
Hellen Mardaga, " Hapax Legomena: A Neglected Field in Biblical Studies"
Travis B. Williams, “Suffering from a Critical Oversight: The Persecutions of 1 Peter within Modern Scholarship”
David M. Miller, “Ethnicity Comes of Age: An Overview of Twentieth-Century Terms for Ioudaios”

The (Hermeneutical) Rule of Love

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 06:31:39 +0000

Mark 12:28–30 reports Jesus’ citation of Deut 6:4–5 as Torah’s preeminent commandment and of Lev 19:18 as the commandment of next greatest standing (cf. Matt 22:34–40; Luke 10:25–28). Jesus’ expansion of Deuteronomy’s בכל־מאדך ( Deut 6:5; ἐξ ὅλης τῆς δυνάμεώς σου; with all your might) into ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος σου ( Mark 12:30; with all your mind and with all your strength) 1 is in step with Deuteronomy’s original formulation (cf. Mark 12:33a) but perhaps stresses still further יהוה’s comprehensive claim on the affections of the command’s addressees. 2 Not surprisingly, these commands’ importance also provides further, mutually-reinforcing suggestions about readings of Israel’s scriptures, including ones that privilege the love of יהוה and even of one’s potentially disagreeable neighbor over any burnt offering or sacrifice ( Mark 12:32–34). 3

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (March 8, 2012)

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:59:33 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

John Goldingay, Israel’s Life (Old Testament Theology, vol. 3), reviewed by Ovidiu Creanga
Michaėl N. van der Meer, Percy van Keulen, Wido van Peursen, Bas Ter Haar Romeny, eds., Isaiah in Context: Studies in Honour of Arie van der Kooij on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday, reviewed by Mayer Gruber

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Select Kindle History and Biography Texts for $1

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:37:23 +0000

Through the end of the day tomorrow, Kindle with Special Offers users or Kindle users who have turned on the Special Offers feature are able to take advantage of a promotion that Amazon is running to “Buy one of 50 biography and history titles for $1.” A list of eligible titles is available here. Among the eligible titles of particular interest here are:

New Testament Studies 58, no. 2

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:27:45 +0000

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The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

Armand Puig i Tàrrech, “The Glory on the Mountain: The Episode of the Transfiguration of Jesus”
Richard Last, “Communities That Write: Christ-Groups, Associations, and Gospel Communities”
Candida R. Moss and Joel S. Baden, “1 Thessalonians 4.13–18 in Rabbinic Perspective”
Margaret M. Mitchell, “Peter’s ‘Hypocrisy’ and Paul’s: Two ‘Hypocrites’ at the Foundation of Earliest Christianity?”
Rikard Roitto, “Practices of Confession, Intercession, and Forgiveness in 1 John 1.9; 5.16”
Michael J. Kruger, “The Date and Content of P. Antinoopolis 12 (0232)”

Being and Knowing in Messianic Space

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:01:04 +0000

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The story of Jesus’ raising Jairus’s daughter appears in all three synoptics ( Matt 9:18–19, 23–26; Mark 5:21–24, 35–43; Luke 8:41–42, 49–56), but only Mark and Luke report a closing admonition about the event’s further dissemination ( Mark 5:43; Luke 8:56). In Luke 8:56, Jesus instruction focuses on the fact that the witnesses, perhaps especially the parents, should not themselves engage in describing what happened. By contrast, in Mark 5:43, Jesus warns those around him ἵνα μηδεὶς γνοῖ τοῦτο (so that no one would know this*).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 29, 2012)

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:31:12 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Katharine Dell, ed., Ethical and Unethical in the Old Testament: God and Humans in Dialogue, reviewed by Walter Brueggemann
Georg Fischer, Der Prophet wie Mose: Studien zum Jeremiabuch, reviewed by Bob Becking
Thomas Richard Kämmerer, ed., Studien zu Ritual und Sozialgeschichte im Alten Orient/Studies on Rituals and Society in the Ancient Near East: Tartuer Symposien 1998–2004, reviewed by Gerhard Karner
Jennifer L. Koosed, Gleaning Ruth: A Biblical Heroine and Her Afterlives, reviewed by Helen Leneman

New Testament and Cognate Fields

How to Use Zotero

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:28:24 +0000

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After yesterday’s post about a couple important updates to Zotero’s SBL style support, John Harris suggested that some kind of Zotero tutorial or “how to” post might be useful. Since this information might be beneficial to others also, the Learning Commons has a pretty good YouTube playlist (48:57) assembled, which should provide some good introductory material about Zotero.

SBL Style Updates for Zotero

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:48:33 +0000

This month, a couple significant updates have come through the pipe for Zotero’s SBL style. First, footnoted citations containing parentheses will, if placed within parentheses themselves in the citation editor, now automatically change the inner parentheses to square brackets in compliance with the SBL handbook’s deference to Chicago Manual of Style (e.g., 15th ed., §6.102) on this point. Second, the style now more accurately handles citations of titled sections within works.

Worthy of More Glory

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 21:10:29 +0000

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In Num 12:1, Miriam and Aaron confront Moses because of his marriage to a Cushite woman, and in so doing, they attempt to claim equal prophetic status with Moses ( Num 12:2a). Apparently, on this occasion, Moses’ meekness constrains him from responding ( Num 12:3; cf. Rom 12:19; 1 Clem. 17 [ANF 9:234]; Socrates, Hist. eccl., 7.42 [NPNF2 2:176]), but יהוה hears the conversation and summons all three siblings to the tent of meeting ( Num 12:2b, 4). יהוה then summons Aaron and Miriam for a special rebuke ( Num 12:5): however high may be their claim to apparently equal prophetic status with Moses, Moses own status still surpasses that of prophet ( Num 12:6–9). The status that Aaron and Miriam claim for themselves gets them only so far—only to dreams and visions ( Num 12:6). By contrast, Moses is not limited to dreams and visions, but פה אל־פה אדבר־בו ומראה ולא בחידת ותמנת יהוה יביט ( Num 12:8a; with him, I [יהוה] speak mouth to mouth, plainly, and not in riddles, and he looks upon the form of יהוה). More than a prophet, Moses is a faithful servant in all יהוה’s house ( Num 12:7; Heb 3:5).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 23, 2012)

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:31:25 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Reinhard Achenbach and Martin Arneth, eds., »Gerechtigkeit und Recht zu üben« (Gen 18,19): Studien zur altorientalischen und biblischen Rechtsgeschichte, zur Religionsgeschichte Israels und zur Religionssoziologie: Festschrift für Eckart Otto zum 65. Geburtstag, reviewed by John Engle
Blane Conklin, Oath Formulas in Biblical Hebrew, reviewed by Yael Ziegler
Esther J. Hamori, “When Gods Were Men”: The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature, reviewed by Michael B. Hundley
André LaCocque, The Captivity of Innocence: Babel and the Yahwist, reviewed by Richard S. Briggs
Jonathan Wyn Schofer, Confronting Vulnerability: The Body and the Divine in Rabbinic Ethics, reviewed by Phillip Sherman

New Testament and Cognate Studies

They Pressed Him into Service

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:58:53 +0000

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Mark 15:21 describes Simon of Cyrene as having been “pressed into service” (ἀγγαρεύουσιν . . . Σίμωνα Κυρηναῖον) to carry Jesus’ cross, and Matt 27:32 uses the same language (ἄνθρωπον Κυρηναῖον ὀνόματι Σίμωνα . . . ἠγγάρευσαν). Only Matthew’s narrative, however, has Jesus previously instructing his disciples, saying, ὅστις σε ἀγγαρεύσει μίλιον ἕν, ὕπαγε μετʼ αὐτοῦ δύο ( Matt 5:41; whoever will press you into service for one mile, go with him for two; cf. Bruce, “Synoptic Gospels,” 328; Gundry, Matthew, 94; Keener, Matthew, 199). Matthew does not identify how far Simon of Cyrene carried Jesus’ cross, but the accompanying soldiers at least press him into service not to carry his own cross, as would have been anticipated, but someone else’s ( Matt 27:27–32; France, Matthew, 221–22, 1064–65; cf. Keener, Matthew, 199–200; Lightfoot, Commentary, 2:132–33; Schürer, Jewish People, 2.2.231). At this juncture, Jesus’ own disciples are not to be “found,” and in their stead is only one Cyrenean who appears only here in the synoptic tradition ( Matt 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26). Although certainly not explicitly included among the audience for Jesus’ earlier instruction in Matt 5:41, Simon here serves, where others fail to do so, as a model of the kind of discipleship that Jesus has described. In this way, Simon has a share in Jesus’ cross, albeit still only to a limited extent (Allison, “Anticipating the Passion,” CBQ 56.4 [1994]: 704–5; cf. Luke 9:23; 14:27; 23:26; Rom 6:5; Phil 3:8–11; Augustine, Cons., 3.37 [NPNF1 6:196]; Origen, Comm. Matt., 12.24 [ANF 9:464]; [Pseudo-]Tertullian, Haer., 9.1 [ANF 3:650]*; Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, 95–104, 161; Keener, Matthew, 673).

Sanday and Headlam, "Romans"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:30 +0000

Google Books has available the full text of Sanday and Headlam’s commentary on Romans in the International Critical Commentary (5th ed.; 1899).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 14, 2012)

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:33:04 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Craig L. Blomberg, with Jennifer Foutz Markley, A Handbook of New Testament Exegesis, reviewed by Jan G. van der Watt
Gregg Gardner and Kevin L. Osterloh, eds., Antiquity in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Pasts in the Greco-Roman World, reviewed by Douglas Estes
Kevin B. McCruden, Solidarity Perfected: Beneficent Christology in the Epistle to the Hebrews, reviewed by Craig R. Koester
Gert J. Steyn and Dirk J. Human, eds., Psalms and Hebrews: Studies in Reception, reviewed by Scott D. Mackie

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Zotero 3.0.2

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:56:53 +0000

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Zotero 3.0.2 is now available. The update includes a number of bug fixes, including several word-processor integration improvements. For the change log, see here.

The Anointed One

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:49:19 +0000

von Carolsfeld, Jésus est oint à Béthanie

In his Dialog with Trypho, 86, Justin Martyr suggests that οἱ βασελεῖς πάντες καὶ οἱ χριστοὶ ἀπὸ τούτου μετέσχον καὶ βασιλεῖς καλεῖσθαι καὶ χριστοί (all the kings and messiahs had, by this one [= Messiah Jesus], a share in being called both kings and messiahs [i.e., anointed ones]). Yet, Matt 26:6–13 (cf. Mark 14:3–9; Lk 7:37–39; John 12:1–8) seems to ask its readers to connect Jesus to messiahship via a rather surprising route—namely, by an un named female character (France, Matthew, 361; Keener, Matthew, 618; Thiemann, “The Unnamed Woman,” ThTo 44.2 [1987]: 183–86; cf. John 12:1–8; Barrett, John, 2nd ed., 409; Gundry, Matthew, 522; Köstenberger, Theology, 232–32; Lightfoot, Commentary, 2:341; Platt, “Ministry,” ThTo 32.1 [1977]: 30–32). Irrespective of whether this unnamed woman understands the full significance of her action, including how Jesus connects it to his upcoming burial ( Matt 26:12),

* Jesus’ response to the disciples’ objection ( Matt 26:8–13) clearly vindicates the woman’s actions also in connection with the proclamation of τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦτο ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ ( Matt 26:13; this gospel in the whole world; Coakley, “The Anointing at Bethany,” JBL 107.2 [1988]: 243, 249, 255; Ford, “Matthew 26:6–13,” Int 59.4 [2005]: 401; Thiemann, “The Unnamed Woman,” ThTo 44.2 [1987]: 183–86; cf. Matt 24:14; 28:18–20). Jesus thus sets the woman’s memorial in the context of her fitting, if perhaps dimly anticipatory, recognition of his soon-coming death and all of the messianic significance with which he himself viewed that sacrifice ( Matt 16:13–28; Ephraim, On Our Lord, 47 [NPNF2 13:326–27]; Keener, Matthew, 618).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (February 9, 2012)

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:18:55 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Michael Avioz, “I Sat Alone”: Jeremiah among the Prophets, reviewed by Jerry Hwang
Anthony J. Frendo, Pre-exilic Israel, the Hebrew Bible, and Archaeology: Integrating Text and Artefact, reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins
Giovanni Garbini, Introduzione all’ epigrafia semitica, reviewed by André Lemaire
Manfred Görg, Mythos und Mythologie: Studien zur Religionsgeschichte und Theologie, reviewed by Mark W. Hamilton
Paul M. Joyce and Andrew Mein, eds., After Ezekiel: Essays on the Reception of a Difficult Prophet, reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
Megan Bishop Moore and Brad E. Kelle, Biblical History and Israel’s Past: The Changing Study of the Bible and History, reviewed by Bob Becking
Marti J. Steussy, Samuel and His God, reviewed by Johannes Klein

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Harvard Conference on Learning and Teaching

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:11:57 +0000

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In an article this past Sunday in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Dan Berrett digests the results of a recent conference at Harvard University about learning and teaching. The article contains several insightful observations, but in one key paragraph of his article, Berrett summarizes:

Biblical Theology Bulletin 42, no. 1

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:24:08 +0000

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The latest issue of the Biblical Theology Bulletin includes:

David M. Bossman, “Presenting the Issue: Canonical Undercurrents”
Joel Edmund Anderson, “Yhwh’s Surprising Covenant Hesed in Jonah”
Carey Walsh, “Theological Trace in Qoheleth”
Victor H. Matthews, “Making Your Point: The Use of Gestures in Ancient Israel”
Tim Hegedus, “Midrash and Papias of Hierapolis”

Zotero 3.0.1

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:25:07 +0000

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Zotero 3.0.1 is now available. The update includes several bug fixes and some important performance enhancements for LibreOffice integration. For the change log, see here.

My Angel Joshua

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:41:37 +0000

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Within the narrative of Exodus, identifying the referent of the term מלאך (angel, messenger) in Exod 23:20 is somewhat nettlesome (Ausloos, “The ‘Angel of YHWH,’” VT 58, no. 1 [2008]: 7–10; Enns, Exodus, 473–74), but one reasonable reading is to understand this term as a reference to Joshua (Augustine, Faust., 16.19 [NPNF1 4:226]; Justin, Dial., 75 [ANF 1:236]; Tertullian, Adv. Jud., 9 [ANF 3:163]; Tertullian, Marc., 3.16 [ANF 3:335]; see also Ausloos, “The ‘Angel of YHWH,’” 9n43; cf. Exod 33:12; Gowan, Theology in Exodus, 227–28; Stuart, Exodus, 542–43). Yet, this Joshua does not pardon sins because the name of the God of Abraham is only in him ( Exod 23:21; i.e., he acknowledges this God’s renown; cf. 1 Kgs 5:11 [Eng.: 4:31]; see also Mal 1:11; Ps 8:2 [Eng.: v. 1]; 1 Chron 14:17; 2 Chron 20:9). Rather, such forgiveness comes by him who has received this God’s name as his own ( Mark 2:1–12; Luke 5:17–26; John 17:11–12; Phil 2:9–11; cf. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, 272–74, 631–45) and in whom Abraham’s offspring inherit not one region only by conquest ( Exod 23:24, 31) but the whole world by meekness and rest ( Matt 5:5; Rom 4:13; Heb 4:8–10; see also Pao and Schnabel, “Luke,” 300–3).

Frederick Danker Passes Away

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:10:32 +0000

Sadly, Frederick Danker passed away earlier today (HT: Peter Williams, Rod Decker). Danker’s contribution to contemporary New Testament Studies can hardly be overstated; the field will continue to be in his debt.

On the Web (February 2, 2011)

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:52:52 +0000

On the web:

Andrew Criddle comments on an excerpt from Ephrem about the Gospels’ composition.
Justin Milhoc reviews Andrew Cain’s The Letters of Jerome: Asceticism, Biblical Exegesis, and the Construction of Christian Authority in Late Antiquity (Oxford, 2009).
Charles Jones notes the Roman Provincial Coinage Online database.
Eric Sowell highlights the availability of much of J.-P. Migne’s Patrologia graeca online.
Jim Davila mentions a list of biblical verses cited in the Talmud, an update about the Afghanistan manuscripts, Devorah Dimant’s recently released Dead Sea Scrolls in Scholarly Perspective, Lina Broydo’s discussion of the Dead Sea Scrolls online and in Israel.
Nijay Gupta briefly reviews Joel Green’s Practicing Theological Interpretation.

Logos Notes

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:24:50 +0000

Logos 4.5 (SR3) is now available with a couple minor bug fixes. For the change log, see here. Also, February’s free resource is now available: The Works of B. B. Warfield (Vol. 1: Revelation and Inspiration).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (January 31, 2011)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:09:41 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

J. Andrew Dearman, The Book of Hosea, reviewed by Heinz-Dieter Neef
Károly Dániel Dobos and Miklós Köszeghy, eds., With Wisdom as a Robe: Qumran and Other Jewish Studies in Honour of Ida Fröhlich, reviewed by Korinna Zamfir
Bruce Louden, Homer’s Odyssey and the Near East, reviewed by Charles L. Echols
Jason Radine, The Book of Amos in Emergent Judah, reviewed by Daniel C. Timmer
Shemaryahu Talmon, Text and Canon of the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by August H. Konkel
William A. Tooman and Michael A. Lyons, eds., Transforming Visions: Transformations of Text, Tradition, and Theology in Ezekiel, reviewed by William R. Osborne

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Zahn on Romans and Galatians

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:16:04 +0000

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Theodor Zahn’s Kommentar zum Neuen Testament volume on Romans (1910) is available freely in several formats from Internet Archive, and his volume on Galatians (1905) is available freely in PDF format from Google Books. The bibliographic information for both is available here (BibTeX).

Zotero 3.0 Stable

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:27:24 +0000

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The stable release of Zotero 3.0 is now available:

Zotero 3.0 marks a major departure from previous versions, most notably with the new ability run outside the Firefox browser. Available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, this standalone version of Zotero contains all the great functionality of the old Firefox-based Zotero but now enables users to integrate Zotero into browsers other than Firefox like Google Chrome and Apple Safari. To all you Firefox lovers out there, no need to worry! Zotero continues to work within Firefox, and even if you choose to run the standalone version, it will talk to Firefox, too.

Not up to Seven Times

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:37:17 +0000

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The interchange in Matt 18:21–22 looks back to Jesus’ immediately preceding comments on handling a community member (ἀδελφός) who sins ( Matt 18:15–20; Chrysostom, Hom. Matt., 61.1 [NPNF1 10:357]; cf. Matt 18:21; 19:1). Read within this context, Peter’s question ποσάκις ἁμαρτήσει εἰς ἐμὲ ὁ ἀδελφός μου καὶ ἀφήσω αὐτῷ; ( Matt 18:21a; How many times* shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?) addresses a very plausible ambiguity in Jesus’ preceding comments. Judging from this question, Peter presumably thinks it inappropriate for a community member endlessly to sin and repent, but as long as some repentance was involved, Jesus’ instructions could seem never to allow further action to be taken. As many times as the community member would sin and repent, this member would also be restored ( Matt 18:15b; Chrysostom, Hom. Matt., 61.1 [NPNF1 10:357]).

On the Web (January 28, 2011)

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:24:36 +0000

On the Web:

Alin Suciu provides a PDF of the now public-domain R. Draguet, Julien d’Halicarnasse et sa controverse avec Sévère d’Antioche sur l’incorruptibilité du corps du Christ(Louvain: Smeesters, 1924). The bibliographic entry is available here (BibTeX).
Google Books has Adolf Deissman’s Bible Studies(trans. Alexander Grieve; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1903) available for download in PDF format. The bibliographic entry is available here (BibTeX).
Logos 4.5 (SR1) is available with some minor bug fixes, and Evernote for Windows gets a major update for its PDF handling.
Jim Davila notes a couple updates about recent stories of Jewish manuscript finds in Afghanistan ( 1, 2), as does John Byron.
John Byron reflects on a selection from Thomas à Kempis and lectures on rewritten Bible.
Marc Cortez discusses “How to Reject a Rejection Letter,” announces a series on the value of blogging, and begins this series by considering how blogging can improve writing.
Richard Hays delivers lectures on “Torah Reconfigured: Reading Scripture with Matthew” and “The One Who Redeems Israel: Reading Scripture with Luke” (HT: Kerry Lee).
Matthew Montonini notes some new Durham University dissertations that are available and collects links to audio resources by Rikk Watts.
Charles Jones mentions the website of the Berliner Papyrusdatenbank, which includes some papyrus images.
Robert Woods discusses C. S. Lewis’s “Reading of Old Books.” For links to the essay’s full text, please see here.
Larry Hurtado considers “Bousset and ‘Early High Christology.’”
Brian LePort notes an interview with Peter Williams on the Gospels’ reliability.
Greg Goswell has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “An Early Commentary on the Pauline Corpus: The Capitulation of Codex Vaticanus.” For the full text of the article, please see the JGRChJ’s current volume page.

Logos 4.5

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:51:31 +0000

Despite what was apparently some earlier confusion about the timing of the release, Logos 4.5 is now shipping. This significant update mainly introduces improvements in highlighting and note taking, but it contains several other improvements also. For the full release notes, see here.

Master of the Sea, Son of God

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:48:18 +0000

English: Walk on the water Deutsch: Rettung de…

Matthew 14:22–33 narrates Jesus’ walking on water. Yet, unlike the parallel accounts in Mark 6:45–52; John 6:15–21, Matt 14:33 reports that the disciples’ conclusion, at the end of this episode, was ἀληθῶς θεοῦ υἱὸς εἶ (truly, you are the son of God). Apparently thinking along the lines similar to Heb 3:5–6, Archelaus, Disputation with Manes, 44 ( ANF 6:220; affiliate disclosure), relates this text to Jesus’ superiority to Moses. Perhaps more to the point here, however, is a chaos-versus-creation motif (Boring, “Matthew,” NIB 8, 327; affiliate disclosure) in which Jesus subjects the surrounding disorder (Graves, “Followed by the Sun,” RevExp 99, no. 1 [2002]: 92; Ladd, Theology of the New Testament, rev.ed., 163 [ affiliate disclosure]; Verseput, “The Faith of the Reader,” JSNT 46 [1992]: 14–16; cf. Augustine, Serm., 25.6 [ NPNF1 6:338; affiliate disclosure]; Jerome, Epist., 30 [ NPNF2 6:45; affiliate disclosure]). He does so, first, by walking on the sea himself and then all the more by causing Peter to do the same (Chrysostom, Hom. Matt., 50.2 [ NPNF1 10:311–12; affiliate disclosure]). In this framework, then, if Israel’s God is master of the seas (e.g., Job 9:8; Ps 89:9, 19–37; Hab 3:8, 15; cf. Gen 1:2 [LXX; LSJ, s.v. ἐπιφέρω, §§2–3PIFERW#lexicon)])—a kind of mastery not otherwise within the realm of human experience—Jesus’ walking on the sea is an eminently good reason for identifying Jesus as θεοῦ υἱός (son of God) and worshiping him as such (see Matt 14:33; Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, 6.51 [ NPNF2 9:117; affiliate disclosure]; cf. Mark 6:51–52; John 6:21; Aristotle, Poetics, 5.6, 6.2 [ affiliate disclosure]).

On the Web (January 20, 2011)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:40:28 +0000

On the web:

Duane Smith repeats Jim Davila’s recent excerpt about the availability of the Babylonian Talmud online ( English, Hebrew-Aramaic). The basic bibliographic entry for the Soncino version is available here ( BibTeX).
Jim Davila notes the completion of Sheffield’s Dictionary of Classical Hebrew.
Daniel Roth highlights five articles about SOPA, including John Gaudiosi’s report of the White House’s disapproval of the bill as it stands.

Hays, "Unexpected Echoes"

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:46:22 +0000

Kerry Lee digests Richard Hays’ lecture, “Unexpected Echoes: Reading Scripture with Mark,” from Tuesday, January 17. Kerry’s previous lecture summary and comment are here.

New Romans Fragment

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:32:09 +0000

New within the past few days in Hobby Lobby’s collection of biblical antiquities is a small fragment from Rom 9– 10 (HT: Peter Williams). For the fragment’s brief spot on CNN, see here. The fragment’s proposed date is the mid-second century. The side displayed in the CNN footage contains five lines. The image quality isn’t fantastic, but the last letters on the fragment look like they could be ΕΚΤΟΥ, which could seem to put that part of the fragment at Rom 9:12 or 21. If line 3 begins ΚΡΙ and line 4 ends ΗΣ*ΣΟΥ, could we then be looking at Rom 9:20–21 here?

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 54, no. 4

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:48:02 +0000

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The latest issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes the following:

Al Wolters, “An Early Parallel of αὐθεντεῖν in 1 Tim 2:12”
Michael Harbin, “Jubilee and Social Justice”
Gary Smith, “Isaiah 40–55: Which Audience Was Addressed?”
Don Garlington, " ‘Salt of the Earth’ in Covenantal Perspective"
Gavin Ortlund, “Resurrected as Messiah: The Risen Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King”
Eric Johnson, “Rewording the Justification/Sanctification Relation with Some Help from Speech Act Theory”
Jason Sexton, “The State of the Evangelical Trinitarian Resurgence”
Bruce Davidson, “Glorious Damnation: Hell as an Essential Element in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards”

והיתה בריתי בבשׂרכם לברית עולם

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 08:47:14 +0000

Abraham

In Gen 17:13, God tells Abraham that his whole household was to be circumcised והיתה בריתי בבשׂרכם לברית עולם (and my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant). Yet, Paul strongly opposes Gentiles’ submitting to circumcision in connection with their membership in the Christian community (Galatians) and asserts that ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος, καὶ {ὅτι} περιτομὴ καρδίας ἐν πνεύματι οὐ γράμματι ( Rom 2:29; the Jew is one who is such inwardly, and [that] circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter). What then becomes of the בבשׂרכם []ברית עולם ( Gen 17:13; everlasting covenant in your [= Abraham’s household’s] flesh)? It is precisely there because of the circumcision of Abraham’s messianic seed ( Gal 3:16), ἐν ᾧ καὶ περιετμήθητε περιτομῇ ἀχειροποιήτῳ ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ σώματος τῆς σαρκός, ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ( Col 2:11; in whom you also were circumcised with an unhandmade circumcision in the removal of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Messiah; cf. Gal 3:23–29; Bede, Genesis, 284 [ affiliate disclosure]; Chrysostom, Hom. Col. 6 [ NPNF1 13:285; affiliate disclosure]; Cyril of Alexandria, Catena on Genesis[ ACCOT 2:56; affiliate disclosure]; Theodore of Mopsuestia, Colossians [ ACCNT 9:32; affiliate disclosure]).

2012 Faith and the Academy Conference

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:04:17 +0000

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This year’s Faith and the Academy conference program is now available. The conference is hosted annually by Faulkner University. This year’s theme is “Money, Morals, and Missions,” and the plenary sessions will feature Shawn Ritenour of Grove City College and Monty Lynn of Abilene Christian University. In the last morning session, I am also privileged to be giving a paper on “Physical Humanities and Lettered Sciences: Thomas Kuhn’s Significance for Contextualizing Biblical Studies.” For more information about the conference and to register, please see here.

Sample Keener's Miracles

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:19:11 +0000

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Ever helpful, the folks at the Westminster Bookstore have made available a PDF sample from Craig Keener’s Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts(2 vols.; Baker, 2011) on the book’s product page. The sample contains the work’s table of contents, introduction, and first chapter.

Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole und Glaubensregeln der Apostolisch-katholischen Kirche

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:44:04 +0000

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Google Books has available a full-text PDF of August Hahn’s Bibliothek der Symbole und Glaubensregeln der Apostolisch-katholischen Kirche(Breslau: Grass und Barth, 1842).

Viewing Nonprinting Characters in LibreOffice

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:33:36 +0000

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Apparently, recent versions of LibreOffice have a slightly different defaults for what nonprinting characters will display in a document. Instructions for customizing these settings are available here.

A Free Book Each Month in 2012

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:10:55 +0000

The folks at Logos Bible Software have started a monthly free book giveaway for 2012. This month’s title is volume 6 from their collection of the Works of John Owen.

Melchizedek's Bread and Wine

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:18:16 +0000

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As Abram returns from rescuing Lot ( Gen 14:1–16), Melchizedek brings out bread and wine ( Gen 14:18), and so, fittingly does the priest do the same whom David says has been appointed in Melchizedek’s order ( Ps 110:4; Heb 7:1–26; Augustine, Civ., 16.22 [NPNF1, 2:323]; Augustine, Doctr. chr., 4.21 [NPNF1, 2:590]; Bede, Genesis, 269; Cyprian, Epistles, 62.4 [ANF, 5:359]). Melchizedek is without genealogy ( Heb 7:3), and his bread and wine are also without origin. Yet, he brings them to Abram and, in a way, to Abram’s seed ( Gal 3:15–29; Heb 7:9–10; cf. Bede, Genesis, 269; Cyprian, Epistles, 62.4 [ANF, 5:359]). The messianic seed, however, brings bread and wine as from himself, and he brings them to those also who are in himself as Abram’s other offspring ( Matt 26:26–29; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:14–20; Gal 3:15–29; Heb 2:10–18).

On the Web (January 7, 2011)

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:26:43 +0000

On the web:

Andrew McGowan interacts with N. T. Wright about the nature of the narratives of Jesus’ birth, especially in Matthew.
Robert Woods reflects on Desiderius Erasmus and Eva Brann’s Logos of Heraclitus.
Chris Brady and Bob Cargill startup “Sacred Techs.”
Chris Brady uploads a discussion of footnotes and endnotes.
Tim Gombis considers Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together.
Mark Goodacre notes that The Star of Bethlehem (1912) is available online.
Rich Brannan mentions the availability of the Cascadia series’ Syntactic Analysis of the Septuagint on Logos Bible Software’s prepublication program.
Joel Willitts comments on “Jewish Identity Markers in the Pre-exilic Period.”
Michael Bird ponders the timing of Gal 1:4.
John Byron and Jim Davila ( 1, 2) comment on some recent manuscript and archaeological discoveries.
Matthew Montonini notes the possibility of a free Ephesians ebook commentary offering on Monday.

BHS with WHM 4.2 (Logos ed.): An Erratum

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:44:21 +0000

Online, things change. In the current version of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia with Westminster 4.2 Morphology in Logos 4, the “Text” section of the Preface refers readers to http://www.wts.edu/hebrew/whm.html for Al Groves’ “Supplement to the Code Manual for the Michigan Old Testament” (last rev. June 7, 1989). As of this writing, this URL redirects to Westminster Seminary’s homepage, but Groves’ supplement is presently still available here.

Kristeva's Website

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:46:27 +0000

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With a hat tips to Carolyn Sharp’s Wrestling with the Word, 32n20, and Phillip Camp’s review of the book in the most recent RBL newsletter, Julia Kristeva has a website on which she has made available a number of resources, mostly in French and English.

Review of Biblical Literature (December 31, 2011)

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:12:46 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Daniel Bodi, The Demise of the Warlord: A New Look at the David Story, reviewed by Jeremy Hutton
Hemchand Gossai, Power and Marginality in the Abraham Narrative, reviewed by Thomas Hieke
André Lemaire, ed., Congress Volume: Ljubljana 2007, reviewed by Siegfried Kreuzer
Herbert Migsch, Studien zum Jeremiabuch und andere Beiträge zum Alten Testament, reviewed by Hannes Bezzel
Carolyn J. Sharp, Wrestling the Word: The Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Believer, reviewed by Phillip G. Camp
Matthew A. Thomas, These Are the Generations: Identity, Covenant, and the ’toledot’ Formula, reviewed by Mark McEntire
Eugene Ulrich and Peter W. Flint, Qumran Cave 1.II: The Isaiah Scrolls, reviewed by Eibert Tigchelaar

New Testament and Cognate Fields

On the Web (December 28, 2011)

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:43:02 +0000

On the web:

Nijay Gupta excerpts Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Advent.
Robert Woods reflects on Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Bonaventure, and their relevance for liberal arts education.
Jim Davila notes an announcement from the Israel Antiquities Authority about the recent discovery of a Second Temple era purity “voucher,” and John Byron picks up the same story from the Israel National News.
Larry Hurtado discusses the dating of early Christian manuscripts.
Tony Burke notes a couple recent 60 Minutes specials on Mount Athos and the Vatican Library.
Jim Davila notes the availability of a new Talmud index. The index is currently available by subject in both Hebrew and English.
Matthew Emadi discusses Augustine’s hermeneutic.

Changing Zotero Standalone's Default PDF Viewer in Ubuntu

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:38:46 +0000

Apparently, the Gnome desktop environment for Linux systems has an issue with handling some user-specified default application choices. When using Zotero in Ubuntu, therefore, it may be necessary to edit /etc/gnome/defaults.list manually in order to have Zotero default to a PDF viewer besides Evince (e.g., Okular). Changing the “application/pdf=evince.desktop” line in this file to reflect the desired PDF viewer default (e.g., “application/pdf=kde4-okularApplication_pdf.desktop”) seems to do the trick, however. For more information, please see Zotero’s help forums and knowledge base.

Gadamer on Prejudicial Frameworks

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 07:37:14 +0000

Philosophical Hermeneutics

According to Hans-Georg Gadamer,

Prejudices [i.e., prejudgments] are not necessarily unjustified and erroneous, so that they inevitably distort the truth. In fact, the historicity of our existence entails that prejudices, in the literal sense of the word [i.e., prejudgments], constitute the directedness of our whole ability to experience. Prejudices are biases of our openness to the world. They are simply conditions whereby we experience something—whereby what we encounter says something to us.((Gadamer, Philosophical Hermeneutics ( affiliate disclosure), 9.))

Bulletin for Biblical Research 21.4

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:57:31 +0000

The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research includes:

H. Daniel Zacharias, “Old Greek Daniel 7:13–14 and Matthew’s Son of Man”
Robert S. Snow, “Let the Reader Understand: Mark’s Use of Jeremiah 7 in Mark 13:14”
Steven M. Bryan, “Consumed by Zeal: John’s Use of Psalm 69:9 and the Action in the Temple”
Brian J. Tabb, “Johannine Fulfillment of Scripture: Continuity and Escalation”
Timothy Wiarda, “The Portrayal of Peter and Atonement Theology in the Gospel of John”

Among the books reviewed in this issue also is Doug Green’s “I Undertook Great Works”: The Ideology of Domestic Achievements in West Semitic Royal Inscriptions (Mohr Siebeck, 2010). Doug is an excellent fellow, and I very much appreciate the opportunity, albeit limited, to have had him as an instructor a few years ago.

On the Web (December 22, 2011)

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:30:12 +0000

On the web:

John Byron passes along some advice for seminary from a graduating seminarian.
N. T. Wright reviews Benedict, Casey, and Fisk’s recent works on Jesus (HT: Michael Bird).
Dove Booksellers has available, as of this writing, 133 volumes from Richard Longenecker’s library (HT: Michael Bird).
Dirk Jongkind comments on Vaticanus’s regular preference for reading “Christ Jesus” rather than “Jesus Christ” in the Pauline letters.
Google Books now supports offline reading in Google Chrome.
Logos Bible Software adds online resource previews.
Robert Woods reflects on Hugh of St. Victor’s Didascalicon.
ARTStor makes images of Dura-Europos documents available online (HT: Jim Davila).
Marc Cortez reflects on Augustine’s comments on “monsters.”
Joseph Kelly digests the Hebrew Bible’s references to “extra-biblical literary sources.”
Mark Goodacre discusses the Protevangelium of James.

Journal of Biblical Literature 130.4

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:24:11 +0000

The latest issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature includes:

Esther J. Hamori, “Echoes of Gilgamesh in the Jacob Story”
Joel S. Baden and Candida R. Moss, “The Origin and Interpretation of ṣāra’at in Leviticus 13–14”
Scott C. Jones, “Lions, Serpents, and Lion-Serpents in Job 28:8 and Beyond”
Noam Mizrahi, “The History and Linguistic Background of Two Hebrew Titles for the High Priest”
Jeramy Townsley, “Paul, the Goddess Religions, and Queer Sects: Romans 1:23–28”
Jeffrey R. Asher, “An Unworthy Foe: Heroic “Eθη, Trickery, and an Insult in Ephesians 6:11”
Joseph A. Marchal, “The Usefulness of an Onesimus: The Sexual Use of Slaves and Paul’s Letter to Philemon”
Eyal Regev, “Were the Early Christians Sectarians?”
Stephen J. Patterson, “Apocalypticism or Prophecy and the Problem of Polyvalence: Lessons from the Gospel of Thomas”

The Great Books Honors College

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:00:08 +0000

I’m pleased to say that the new website for the Great Books Honors College at Faulkner University is out of beta. The site has been a work in progress for a while but has, at this point, come together fairly nicely and completely. Of particular interest here is the College’s Christian Institute for the Study of Liberal Arts. At present, the Institute offers an innovative Master of Letters program that heavily utilizes Google Apps for Education and other distance education media to help form students and faculty into a virtual learning community. In coming years, the Institute looks forward to adding Bachelor and Doctor of Letters programs also.

Logos Resources

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:23:34 +0000

To complement the earlier pre-publication release of its Hebrew Bible counterpart, Logos Bible Software now has the first six volumes of the Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament Series available for order through its pre-publication program. Also noteworthy are the 12 Days of Logos promotions on Calvin’s Commentaries and the Pillar New Testament Commentary.

Osborne's Hermeneutical Spiral (12 Days of Logos)

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:40:32 +0000

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Today, the second edition of Grant Osborne’s Hermeneutical Spiral for Logos Bible Software has come on sale. According to Osborne,

hermeneutics is a spiral from text to context–a movement between the horizon of the text and the horizon of the reader that spirals nearer and nearer toward the intended meaning of the text and its significance for today.

BHHB on Pre-pub at Logos

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:49:26 +0000

The first four volumes of the Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible Series are now available for order from Logos Bible Software via their pre-publication program. In general,

Rather than devote space to the type of theological and exegetical comments found in most commentaries, this series instead focuses on the Hebrew text and its related issues, syntactic and otherwise. The volumes in the series serve as prequels to commentary proper, providing guides to understanding the linguistic characteristics of the texts from which the messages of the texts may then be derived.

Logos 4.3 (SR7)

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:02:08 +0000

Logos 4.3 (SR7) is available and includes a couple bug fixes. For the release’s details, please see here.

Brookins, "Dispute with Stoicism"

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:19:14 +0000

Tim Brookins has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “Dispute with Stoicism in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.” According to Brookins,

It is not my aim to continue discussion regarding the criterion for the rich man’s judgment. But I propose that there is more to be said about the meaning of the parable in light of a Greco-Roman milieu. . . . I shall take up [Ronald] Hock’s wider net and cast it once again in the direction of Hellenistic philosophy. It will be argued that, while the parable may share a Cynic viewpoint on the issue of wealth, it also conveys pronounced resistance to certain Stoic ideas on this issue. As a supporting argument it will further be suggested that the parable reflects elements of rhetorical ‘declamation’ (declamatio), which was in certain circles closely associated with Stoic philosophy. With these substantive and formal features taken together, we shall see that the parable means to interact with Stoicism, though in a way that is subversive to the Stoic ideas evoked (35–36; underlining for original italics).

Themelios 36.3

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:48:59 +0000

The latest issue of Themelios includes the following articles:

Rodney J. Decker, “An Evaluation of the 2011 Edition of the New International Version”
Andrew Moody, “That All May Honour the Son: Holding Out For A Deeper Christocentrism”
Jonathan Gibson, “Jonathan Edwards: A Missionary?”
Melvin Tinker, “Friends: The One With Jesus, Martha, And Mary: An Answer to Kierkegaard”

Currents in Biblical Research 10.1

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:42:50 +0000

The latest issue of Currents in Biblical Research includes:

Judy Diehl, “Anti-Imperial Rhetoric in the New Testament,” 9–52
John W. Olley, “Trajectories of Ezekiel (Part 2): Beyond the Book,” 53–80
B. J. Oropeza, “The Warning Passages in Hebrews: Revised Theologies and New Methods of Interpretation,” 81–100
Robert R. Cargill, “The State of the Archaeological Debate at Qumran,” 101–18
Eileen M. Schuller, “Recent Scholarship on the Hodayot 1993–2010,” 119–62

On the Web (November 17, 2011)

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:35:04 +0000

On the web:

Logos Bible Software is developing their edition of Meyer’s New Testament commentary under development, and releases several plugins for Biblia.com.
Robert Holmstedt and John Cook discusses “Genesis 1.1 and Topic-fronting before a Wayyiqtol.”
Robert Woods discusses Stratford Caldecott’s Beauty for Truth’s Sake.
Larry Hurtado highlights Ragnar Leivestad’s “Exit the Apocalyptic Son of Man,” New Testament Studies 18 (1971), 243–67.
Tommy Wasserman discusses the new Parallel Pericopes of the Synoptic Gospels volume in the Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior series.
Mary Crane and Thomas Chiles consider “Why the Liberal Arts Need the Sciences (and Vice Versa).”

Review of Biblical Literature (November 12, 2011)

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 18:20:34 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Joseph Blenkinsopp, Creation, Un-creation, Re-creation: A Discursive Commentary on Genesis 1–11, reviewed by John E. Anderson
Yoram Cohen, Amir Gilan, and Jared L. Miller, eds., Pax Hethitica: Studies on the Hittites and Their Neighbours in Honour of Itamar Singer, reviewed by Paul Sanders
Ronald Hendel, ed., Reading Genesis: Ten Methods, reviewed by Frank H. Polak
Amanda H. Podany, Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East, reviewed by Bertrand Lafont
Hayim Tawil, An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew: Etymological-Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalents with Supplement on Biblical Aramaic, reviewed by Aaron D. Rubin

New Testament and Cognate Fields

On the Web (November 11, 2011)

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:30:30 +0000

On the Web:

Cliff Johnson reproduces, with permission, C. S. Lewis’s keen essay “Meditation in a Toolshed.”
The Society of Biblical Literature releases Klaus Wachtel and Michael Holmes, ed., The Textual History of the Greek New Testament: Changing Views in Contemporary Research, about which Tommy Wasserman provides some additional information and links.
Andy provides the tables of contents for this year’s Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters ( spring, fall).
Courtesy of Broadman and Holman, the Evangelical Theological Society now has its own program apps available in the App Store and Android Market.
The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts has released a DVD of the recent Ehrman-Wallace debate (HT: Tommy Wasserman).
Jim Davila comments on a recent article about the Digital Dead Sea Scrolls Project.

On the Web (November 10, 2011)

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:30:06 +0000

On the web:

Larry Hurtado discusses historical Jesus research.
Brian LePort notes that Kevin Vanhoozer has returned to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Jim Davila highlights a Jerusalem Post article on the significance of the Talmud for liberal arts education.
The bibliobloggers decide on a time and place to meet for dinner during the SBL Annual Meeting.
Through November 16, the Westminster Bookstore is offering Köstenberger and Patterson’s new Invitation to Biblical Interpretation(Kregel, 2011) for 50% off. A sample PDF containing, the endorsements, the table of contents, the first chapter, and part of the second chapter are available from the book’s product page.

On the Web (October 27, 2011)

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:51:53 +0000

On the web:

David Croteau compiles a recent Liberty University symposium on Bible translation, featuring Ray Clendenen (HCSB), Wayne Grudem (ESV), and Douglas Moo (NIV; HT: Rod Decker).
Michael Kruger discusses the Gospels’ authorship (HT: Brian LePort).
Tim Henderson highlights a new German edition of Hennecke-Schneemelcher’s Christian Apocrypha.
Charles Jones reflects on the first year of Ancient World Online.

Online Education in the Chronicle

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:51:43 +0000

Yesterday’s review of the Chronicle of Higher Education collects several interesting articles about distance learning. Among the open-access articles listed are:

Robert Mendenhall, “How Technology Can Improve Online Learning—and Learning in General”
Shai Reshef, “No Tuition? No Problem.”
Burck Smith, “Let’s Deregulate Online Learning”
Derek Bruff, “A Social Network Can Be a Learning Network”
Ari Kohen, “From Homeric Writings to Cellphone Forensics, Some Favorite Online Resources”

Although potential gains need to be weighed especially carefully in relation to potential losses in some of the applications Bruff describes (e.g., “Back channels”), from this list, Bruff’s thoughts about employing collaborative technologies seemed especially intriguing.

News from the Society of Biblical Literature

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:39:47 +0000

Earlier today, the Society of Biblical Literature announced that (1) Adele Reinhartz has succeeded James VanderKam’s two-term tenure as the General Editor for the Journal of Biblical Literature and (2) the Annual Meeting app (AM11AAR&SBL) is now available via the App Store and Android Market and will allow attendees “to create and customize their own schedule, make notes about sessions, and share information and their schedule with colleagues and friends via built-in social networking.”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (October 28, 2011)

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:12:47 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

William P. Brown, Psalms, reviewed by Harry P. Nasuti
A. R. Pete Diamond and Louis Stulman, eds., Jeremiah (Dis)Placed: New Directions in Writing/Reading Jeremiah, reviewed by Michael Avioz
Rolf A. Jacobson, ed., Soundings in the Theology of Psalms: Perspectives and Methods in Contemporary Scholarship, reviewed by Jeffery M. Leonard
J. Randall Short, The Surprising Election and Confirmation of King David, reviewed by David G. Firth

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Logos 4.3 (SR6)

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:55:04 +0000

Logos 4.3 (SR6) is available and includes a few bug fixes. For details, see here.

Flint, Duhaime, and Baek, eds., Celebrating the Dead Sea Scrolls

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:51:48 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“85” caption=“Peter Flint, John Duhaime, and Kyung Baek”] [/caption]

Newly available from the Society of Biblical Literature is Celebrating the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Canadian Collection, edited by Peter Flint, John Duhaime, and Kyung Baek:

This volume celebrates the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, their contents, the community that wrote and preserved them, and new scientific issues that arise from Scrolls studies. The essays, in four sections, explore the origins and text of scripture, the interpretation of scripture in Second Temple Judaism, the identity and practices of the movement associated with Qumran and the Scrolls, and the extensive contributions of Canadian projects and scholarship.

On the Web (October 25, 2011)

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:30:43 +0000

On the web:

The Nomad Podcast interviews N. T. Wright (HT: Brian LePort).
Michael Halcomb discusses “‘Appealing To The Greek’ or ‘How (Not) To Do A Word Study.’”
Tommy Wasserman considers Bart Ehrman and intrinsic evidence.
Michael Bird highlights a performance of Hebrews.
Robert Holmstedt comments on biblical Hebrew diachrony.
Charles Jones notes papyri images online at the University of Groningen.

Review of Biblical Literature (October 22, 2011)

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:39:24 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Adina Moshavi, Word Order in the Biblical Hebrew Finite Clause, reviewed by Hubert James Keener
Louis Stulman and Hyun Chul Paul Kim, You Are My People: An Introduction to Prophetic Literature, reviewed by Steed Vernyl Davidson

Contextual Studies

Brueggemann, "Preaching and Paradigmatic Creation"

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:55:34 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“100” caption=“Walter Brueggemann”][/caption]

According to Lipscomb University’s website,

Walter Brueggemann, will be the keynote speaker at Lipscomb University’s annual Preaching Workshop, Oct. 24-26. His keynote speech, “Preaching & Paradigmatic Creation,” is free and open to the public at 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 24, in Shamblin Theatre.

For more details, see here.

On the Web (October 18, 2011)

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:30:16 +0000

On the web:

Matthew Montonini locates an archive of C. K. Barrett lectures at Asbury Seminary.
Robert Woods responds to Paul Gottfried, supplementing Jason Jewell’s earlier response.
Tommy Wasserman argues for the originality of the phrase υἱοῦ θεοῦ (son of God) in Mark 1:1 (HT: Mark Batluck).
Tim Gombis comments on Rom 3:27 as presenting different interpretive options for Torah and follows up by considering how Rom 3:21–31 relates God’s supremacy to the church’s unity.
Larry Hurtado freshly commends James Barr’s Semantics of Biblical Language in its 50th anniversary year.

Bulletin for Biblical Research 21.3

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:30:31 +0000

The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes:

Andrew Malone, “Distinguishing the Angel of the Lord”
Richard Hess, “The Seventy Sevens of Daniel 9: A Timetable for the Future?”
Craig Keener, " Otho: A Targeted Comparison of Suetonius’s Biography and Tacitus’s History, with Implications for the Gospels’ Historical Reliability"
Jason Hood, “The Temple and the Thorn: 2 Corinthians 12 and Paul’s Heavenly Ecclesiology”
Everett Ferguson, “Angels of the Churches in Revelation 1–3: Status Quaestionis and Another Proposal”

On the Web (October 15, 2011)

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:18:59 +0000

On the web:

Larry Hurtado discusses the “staurogram.”
Jason Jewell considers Paul Gottfried’s recent article on the “Death of the Classics.”
Rod Decker notes an erratum in BDF.
Mike Aubrey survey’s G. B. Winer’s Greek Grammar (English trans., 1825).
LibreOffice announces a prototype web application version.
Amazon releases some key updates for how Kindle 3 and 4 handle personal documents.
Matthew Montonini considers some comments from Epictetus on the proper treatment of slaves.

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (October 12, 2011)

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:15:13 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Katharine Dell, ed., Ethical and Unethical in the Old Testament: God and Humans in Dialogue, reviewed by Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
Bo Isaksson, ed., Circumstantial Qualifiers in Semitic: The Case of Arabic and Hebrew, reviewed by John Kaltner
Robin A. Parry, Lamentations, reviewed by Timothy J. Stone
Géza G. Xeravits and József Zsengellér, eds., Studies in the Book of Wisdom, reviewed by Erik Eynikel

New Testament and Cognate Studies

On the Web (October 12, 2011)

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:54:44 +0000

On the web:

Michael Bird and Marc Cortez discuss comments from D. A. Carson and Tim Keller about confessionalism.
Mark Goodacre discusses “The Walking, Talking Cross in the Gospel of Peter.”
Brian LePort identifies some favorite scholar-bloggers and solicits thoughts about other academics who might be engaging to have in the biblioblogosphere.
Tim Gombis comments on an excerpt from N. T. Wright’s 1978 Tyndale lecture.

Learning a Proverb from a Pagan

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:43:16 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_8406” align=“alignright” width=“200” caption=“Image via Communio”] [/caption]

Earlier this semester in Exploring Religion, we discussed Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods, and one paragraph particularly struck me as an apt illustration of Qoheleth’s advice that עת לחשות ועת לדבר ( Eccl 3:7b; there is a time to be silent, and there is a time to speak):

Journal of Theological Studies 62.2

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 11:07:42 +0000

The latest issue of the Journal of Theological Studies includes:

Anselm C. Hagedorn, “When Did Zephaniah Become a Supporter of Josiah’s Reform?”
Markus Bockmuehl, “The Son of David and his Mother”
Brian J. Wright and Tim Ricchuiti, “From ‘God’ (ΘΕΟΣ) to ‘God’ (ΝΟΥΤΕ): A New Discussion and Proposal Regarding John 1:1C and the Sahidic Coptic Version of the New Testament”
James P. Ware, “Law, Christ, and Covenant: Paul’s Theology of the Law in Romans 3:19–20”
Bradly S. Billings, “From House Church to Tenement Church: Domestic Space and the Development of Early Urban Christianity—The Example of Ephesus”
Stephen J. Shoemaker, “Mary at the Cross, East and West: Maternal Compassion and Affective Piety in the Earliest Life of the Virgin and the High Middle Ages”
T. L. Holtzen, “Sacramental Causality in Hooker’s Eucharistic Theology”

On the Web (October 7, 2011)

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:30:43 +0000

On the web:

Larry Hurtado discusses scholarly amnesia in Pauline Studies.
Charles Jones mentions Poorly Attested Words in Ancient Greek, the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations, and Digital Medievalist.
The Biblical Archaeology Review has launched a new website about the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Dead Sea Scrolls and Why They Matter (HT: Jim Davila).
The British Library’s Digitised Manuscripts site now has ten new 13th–17th century manuscripts (HT: Julian Harrison).

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (October 6, 2011)

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:09:38 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

John Gray, The Book of Job, reviewed by Norman Habel
Robert J. V. Hiebert, “Translation Is Required”: The Septuagint in Retrospect and Prospect, reviewed by Karen Jobes
Harald Knobloch, Die nachexilische Prophetentheorie des Jeremiabuches, reviewed by Christl M. Maier
Hindy Najman, Past Renewals: Interpretative Authority, Renewed Revelation and the Quest for Perfection in Jewish Antiquity, reviewed by Marius Nel

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Perseus Collections in Logos 4

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:33:11 +0000

As they have for some others already, most of my Perseus collection downloads for Logos have recently been processed. Below are a few particularly anticipated texts from these collections:

[caption id=“attachment_8343” align=“aligncenter” width=“497” caption=“Click for the full-size image.”] [/caption]

Logos 4.3 (SR5)

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:45:45 +0000

Logos 4.3 (SR5) is now available. For the release notes, see here.

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 54.3

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:53:23 +0000

The latest issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes the following:

Josh Chatraw, “Disunity and Diversity: The Biblical Theology of Bart Ehrman”
Paul Wegner, “How Many Virgin Births Are in the Bible? (Isaiah 7:14): A Prophetic Pattern Approach”
Jason Parry, “Desolation of the Temple and Messianic Enthronement in Daniel 11:36–12:3”
Abraham Kuruvilla, “The Naked Runaway and the Enrobed Reporter of Mark 14 and 16: What Is the Author Doing with What He Is Saying?”
Mark Brighton, “The Sicarii in Acts: A New Perspective”
Veryln Verbrugge, “The Grammatical Internal Evidence for ἜΧΟΜΕΝ in Romans 5:1”
Jerry Hwang, “Turning the Tables on Idol Feasts: Paul’s Use of Exodus 32:6 in 1 Corinthians 10:7”
Michael Allen and Scott Swain, “In Defense of Proof-Texting”

Biblical Theology Bulletin 41.4

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:27:10 +0000

The latest issue of the Biblical Theology Bulletin includes:

David M. Bossman, “Presenting the Issue: What Becomes a Memory?”
Joel Edmund Anderson, “Jonah’s Peculiar Re-Creation”
Ritva Williams, “BTB Readers’ Guide: Social Memory”
Ernest van Eck, “Social Memory and Identity: Luke 19:12b—24 and 27”
S. Brian Pounds, “Romans 4:1—8 as a Test Case for the New Perspective on Paul”

RBL Newsletter (September 30, 2011)

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:49:16 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scripture and Cognate Fields

Jacob Howland, Plato and the Talmud, reviewed by Alan Avery-Peck
Jeremy M. Hutton, The Transjordanian Palimpsest: The Overwritten Texts of Personal Exile and Transformation in the Deuteronomistic History, reviewed by Walter Dietrich
Thomas Kazen, Issues of Impurity in Early Judaism, reviewed by John W. Fadden
Eric D. Reymond, New Idioms within Old: Poetry and Parallelism in the Non-Masoretic Poems of 11Q5 (=11QPsa), reviewed by John Engle and James A. Sanders

New Testament and Cognate Fields

On the Web (September 30, 2011)

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:04:13 +0000

On the web:

Charles Jones notes two good resources for Greco-Roman numismatics: Roman Imperial Coin Hoards and the NUMIDAT.
Christian Book Distributors Academic blog features Miles Van Pelt’s new Basics of Biblical Aramaic grammar (Zondervan, 2011).

Saving Scholarship—One File at a Time

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:46:54 +0000

After recently transitioning to Ubuntu, I found that my previous online backup solution had some issues running in Linux, even via a Windows XP virtual machine in VirtualBox. With some additional research, however, I came across Digital Lifeboat:

Logos 4.3 (SR4)

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:30:34 +0000

Logos 4.3 (SR4) is now available and mainly includes a bug fix for right-to-left languages in personal books.

Reengineering Higher Education

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:16:57 +0000

Over at the Chronicle of Higher Education, Jeffrey Selingo discusses what might change in higher education if engineers were assigned to reinvent it from the ground up. Some points that emerged at a recent kick-off event for Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities were:

Move over Light Speed . . . ?

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:11:10 +0000

BBC and MSNBC have both reported that European scientists may have clocked neutrinos moving faster than the speed of light. The scientists involved are, however, being cautious while their test results are verified, and Bob Cargill considers this kind of caution in relation to the lack of it in certain instances in archaeological finds.

Cicero on the Earth as Sphere

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:25:36 +0000

The Flammarion woodcut is an enigmatic wood en…

Jim Davila has picked up a discussion about ancient testimony to the earth’s spherical shape. Cicero also, by way of his Stoic character Balbus, comments to this effect, saying,

[T]he sea, which is above the earth, tends still toward the earth’s centre, and so is itself shaped in conformity to the globe of the earth and nowhere spills or overflows. ( 171; affiliate disclosure; italics added)

On the Web (September 22, 2011)

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:20:18 +0000

On the web:

Peter Williams picks up Alin Suciu’s story about the British Library’s Coptic leaf that corresponds to the text of Jer. 21:14–22:20 (LXX).
Charles Jones notes the Latin texts and database that the Packard Humanities Institute has newly made available.
Michael Bird includes about a 47-minute lecture of N. T. Wright “giv[ing] a C. S. Lewis-style apologetic of a Christian society filled with good Christians as being one of the best apologetics there are.”
Daniel Streett compares Greek curriculum requirements for MDiv students with modern language requirements for area majors at two other sample institutions.
Today sees the release of Seth Ehorn’s Philemon commentary in the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary series.

RBL Newsletter (September 15, 2011)

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:44:04 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scripture and Cognate Fields

David A. Bernat, Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Priestly Tradition, reviewed by Ulrich Zimmermann
Job Y. Jindo, Biblical Metaphor Reconsidered: A Cognitive Approach to Poetic Prophecy in Jeremiah 1–24, reviewed by Colin Toffelmire
Yelena Kolyada, A Compendium of Musical Instruments and Instrumental Terminology in the Bible, reviewed by Helen Leneman
T. M. Lemos, Marriage Gifts and Social Change in Ancient Palestine: 1200 BCE to 200 CE, reviewed by Marianne Blickenstaff
Anwar Tjen, On Conditionals in the Greek Pentateuch: A Study of Translation Syntax, reviewed by Randall Gauthier

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Resources from Tyndale House

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 05:46:04 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“175” caption=“Image via Wikipedia”] [/caption]

Tyndale House has done some wonderful work making very helpful resources available online, but today, I stumbled upon the following that I had forgotten or not noticed before:

The Tyndale Bulletin is available in full-text from volume 1 forward, excepting the last three years’ issues.
The Tyndale House library catalog will return search results that include works available online in full-text.
The library’s periodicals section also contains a number of links to journals with full-text articles available online.

Logos 4.3 (SR3)

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:44:49 +0000

Logos 4.3 (SR3) is available. For the release notes, see here.

Logos Bible Software and the Perseus Project

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:39:30 +0000

As noted earlier, Logos Bible Software is working on releasing over 3000 texts from the Perseus Project for free to Logos 4 users. Included here is Perseus’s substantive collection of Greek and Latin classics and their translations. This collection also offers access to Perseus’s dictionaries and lexica and integrated searching with the rest of a user’s Logos library. For further details, see here.

On the Web (September 13, 2011)

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:25:49 +0000

On the web:

Mel Gibson is apparently planning a movie about Judas Maccabee (HT: John Byron).
Google Docs adds a comment-only permission option for document sharing.
Alan Bandy discusses the phrase ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν in Rom 1:17 and Augustine’s eschatology.

On the Web (September 10, 2011)

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 20:20:43 +0000

On the web:

Daniel Streett comments on Gen 5:21–24.
Logos Bible Software will continue Logos 4 upgrade discounts only through the end of this month.
Jason Jewell comments on the open-source mindset and the virtue of charity.
Larry Hurtado discusses PhD studies in North America and the United Kingdom.
Holly pays tribute to Michael Hart, the founder of Project Gutenberg, who passed away this week.
Cynthia Nielsen continues discussing Dialectic of Enlightenment and its proposal about the relationship between demythologization and remythologization.

RBL Newsletter (September 9, 2011)

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:15:07 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

A. Graeme Auld and Erik Eynikel, eds., For and against David: Story and History in the Books of Samuel, reviewed by Frank H. Polak
Christa Schäfer-Lichtenberger, ed., Die Samuelbücher und die Deuteronomisten, reviewed by Graeme Auld

New Testament and Cognate Studies

On the Web (September 9, 2011)

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:45:30 +0000

On the web:

Mike Aubrey notes Daniel Streett’s new blog and his comments on reading Greek, and Daniel comments on this question also.
Charles Jones notes that Scripture Bulletin is openly accessible online.
Rod Decker ponders Mark 14:37.

More from Snodgrass on "A Hermeneutic of Identity"

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:36:22 +0000

Apparently, the article that Brian Tucker recently mentioned is part of a series of articles appearing in Bibliotheca Sacra this year, which look like they are providing the written corollaries to Klyne Snodgrass’s earlier lecture series at Dallas Theological Seminary.

On the Web (September 7, 2011)

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:12:15 +0000

On the web:

Bob Cargill highlights Eric Kansa, Sarah Kansa, and Ethan Watrall, eds., Archaeology 2.0: New Approaches to Communication & Collaboration, which is now freely available online through the University of California.
Steve Runge discusses discourse continuity and cohesion.
Evernote maintains its existing maximum attachment sizes but lifts file type restrictions from their free accounts.

Carson and Moo, Introducing the New Testament, ed. Naselli

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:55:23 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_8056” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“D. A. Carson and Douglas Moo, ed. Andrew Naselli”] [/caption]

A while back, the kind folks at Zondervan forwarded a survey about their Textbook Plus website, and in return for some feedback there, D. A. Carson and Douglas Moo, Introducing the New Testament, edited by Andrew Naselli (2010), arrived in yesterday’s mail. The text is “a condensation of [the] longer and more detailed . . . An Introduction to the New Testament(D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo [2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005]) ( 7).

New Testament Studies 57.4

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:55:32 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Image via Wikipedia”] [/caption]

The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

John Moles, “Luke’s Preface: The Greek Decree, Classical Historiography and Christian Redefinitions”
David Mealand, “Is there Stylometric Evidence for Q?”
John Ashton, “The Johannine Son of Man: A New Proposal”
Alan Bale, “The Ambiguous Oracle: Narrative Configuration in Acts”
L. L. Welborn, “Paul and Pain: Paul’s Emotional Therapy in 2 Corinthians 1.1–2.13; 7.5–16 in the Context of Ancient Psychagogic Literature”
Don Barker, “The Dating of New Testament Papyri”
John Goodrich, “Erastus of Corinth (Romans 16.23): Responding to Recent Proposals on his Rank, Status, and Faith”
Wally Cirafesi and Gerald Peterman, “Πίστις and Christ in Hippolytus’s De Christo et Antichristo: A Response to Michael F. Bird and Michael R. Whitenton”

Reading Genesis 1–2 at Bryan College

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:51:21 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“125” caption=“Image via Wikipedia”] [/caption]

Bryan College announces an upcoming conference on Genesis 1–2 that will feature the following speakers and perspectives:

John Walton, Wheaton College and Graduate School, “cosmic temple” approach
Tremper Longman III, Westmont College, theistic evolution
Richard Averbeck, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, “literary/intertextual” approach
John Collins, Covenant Theological Seminary, “analogical days” approach
Todd Beall, Capital Bible Seminary, literal/”recent creationist” approach

For further information, see here.

Metaxas, Bonhoeffer on Sale

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:52:27 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“90” caption=“Cover via Amazon”] [/caption]

Today, Amazon has the Kindle edition of Eric Metaxas’s Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy on sale for $1.99.

On the Web (September 6, 2011)

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:46:36 +0000

On the web:

Charles Jones notes that Exemplaria Classica, a journal for classical textual criticism and codicology, is open access online for all but the most recent volume.
Cynthia Nielsen discussess Dialectic of Enlightenment and its proposal about the relationship between demythologization and remythologization.
Robert Woods reflects on some selections from Heraclitus.
Steve Caruso highlights Tom Verenna’s video about the Jordanian lead codices.
The Center for the Study of Christian Origins has some links to new Roman-era finds near Edinburgh, some of which are relevant to the study of Mithraism in Britain ( part 1, part 2).
Brice Jones has the newest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism: “The Bodmer ‘Miscellaneous’ Codex and the Crosby-Schøyen Codex MS 193: A New Proposal.”

RBL Newsletter (September 2, 2011)

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:54:44 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

David Brakke, The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity, reviewed by James F. McGrath
Mark Andrew Brighton, The Sicarii in Josephus’s Judean War: Rhetorical Analysis and Historical Observations, reviewed by Catherine Jones
Jean Delorme and Isabelle Donegani, L’Apocalypse de Jean: Révélation pour le temps de la violence et du désir, reviewed by Nils Neumann and Stephan Witetschek
Ian J. Elmer, Paul, Jerusalem and the Judaisers: The Galatian Crisis in Its Broadest Historical Context, reviewed by Davina C. Lopez
André Myre, Pour l’avenir du monde: La résurrection revisitée, reviewed by Jeffrey F. Cayzer
Randall W. Reed, A Clash of Ideologies: Marxism, Liberation Theology, and Apocalypticism in New Testament Studies, reviewed by Leif E. Vaage
Hal Taussig, In the Beginning Was the Meal: Social Experimentation and Early Christian Identity, reviewed by Pieter J. J. Botha

General Biblical Studies

On NT Blog

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:45:50 +0000

NT Blog turns eight today, and Mark Goodacre also notes that the German Bible Society has made the main texts of BHS, Septuaginta (ed. Hanhart), and NA27 available online.

Textual Research on the Bible

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:01:51 +0000

Through its Academic Bible website’s homepage, the German Bible Society is offering a free download of the brochure Textual Research on the Bible: Introductions to the Scholarly Editions of the German Bible Society. The Society envisions that the brochure will

provide insight into this fascinating field of research. We have particularly in mind the interests of first-year students, who might benefit from a basic introduction like this. Thus we invite lecturers of exegesis and textual criticism to make use of this brochure in their classrooms. (Letter from the German Bible Society and Nida Institute)

Lectures on Solomon

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:05:14 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“125” caption=“Image via Wikipedia”] [/caption]

According to Todd Bolen,

The Memory and Identity Working Group, University of California, Berkeley is hosting a lecture entitled “Mining for Solomon” by Professor Steven Weitzman (Stanford University) on Tuesday, September 6, 2011.

For more information, see here.

Journal of Biblical Literature 130.3

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:57:31 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Image via Wikipedia”] [/caption]

The fall issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature includes:

James Watts, “Aaron and the Golden Calf in the Rhetoric of the Pentateuch”
Mark Leuchter, “The Ambiguous Details in the Blasphemer Narrative: Sources and Redaction in Leviticus 24:10–23”
Serge Frolov and Allen Wright, “Homeric and Ancient Near Eastern Intertextuality in 1 Samuel 17”
C. L. Crouch, “Ezekiel’s Oracles against the Nations in Light of a Royal Ideology of Warfare”
Ted Erho, “Historical-Allusional Dating and the Similitudes of Enoch”
David Sick, “The Architriklinos at Cana”
Roy Ciampa, “‘Examined the Scriptures’? The Meaning of α̉ναϰρíνoντες τὰς γραϕάς in Acts 17:11”
Tzvi Novick, “Peddling Scents: Merchandise and Meaning in 2 Corinthians 2:14–17”
Jennifer Glancy and Stephen Moore, “How Typical a Roman Prostitute Is Revelation’s ‘Great Whore’?”
Stephen Barton, “Eschatology and the Emotions in Early Christianity”
Theodore Bergren, “Gentile Christians, Exile, and Return in 5 Ezra 1:35–40”

On Sinaiticus's New Testament

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 20:00:00 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“200” caption=“Image via Wikipedia”] [/caption]

Peter Head responds to the recent, British Library blog post about Sinaiticus’s New Testament.

On the Web (September 1, 2011)

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:03:51 +0000

On the web:

Google Docs can now display page numbers in documents themselves and not just on a printed or PDF copy.
Google Chrome Frame now has a beta version that does not require administrative privileges to install.
The third edition of Emmanuel Tov’s Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible should be available around November 1 (HT: Peter Williams).
Ben Witherington’s Is There a Doctor in the House? is apparently now available on Kindle (HT: Mark Stevens), although the printed text from Amazon is still forthcoming.
Steve Caruso continues discussing the Jordanian lead codices.
Zotero releases some significant updates to their 3.0 beta.
Peter Head reports that the Green Collection at Bethel University has acquired a new 1 Corinthians manuscript in addition to the Hebrews manuscript that had already been announced.
Logos Bible Software adds The Babylonian Talmud: Original Text, Edited, Corrected, Formulated and Translated into English (19 vols.) to their community pricing program.

A New Offline Gmail Web App

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:53:39 +0000

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Today, Google has released an Offline Gmail web app, which uses HTML5 in place of the now-deprecated Google Gears. Similar offline access for the Calendar and Docs apps is available through these apps’ settings, but offline editing in Docs is apparently still in the works.

On the Web (August 30, 2011)

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:04:26 +0000

On the web:

Steve Caruso connects one of the recently-discovered Jordanian codices to a coin from the era of John Hyrcanus I (HT: Jim Davila)
Brian LePort surveys interpretations of ἡ κτίσις in Rom 8:19–22.
John Byron notes a “music video” that particularly appeals to doctoral students.
Dirk Jongkind considers Margaret Sim’s Marking Thought and Talk in New Testament Greek: New Light from Linguistics on the Particles ἵνα and ὅτι.
Klyne Snodgrass has an article in Bibliotheca Sacra where he re-presents some of the issues he discussed in his 2010 lecture series at Dallas Seminary (HT: Brian Tucker).

On the Web (August 29, 2011)

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:46:22 +0000

On the web:

Stirling Bartholomew considers Ezek 37:1b.
Yonatan Adler lectures on “The Tefillin of Qumran: Archeology and Halacha” this Friday (HT: Jim Davila).

RBL Newsletter (August 27, 2011)

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:39:21 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

James W. Hardin, Lahav II: Households and the Use of Domestic Space at Iron II Tell Halif: An Archaeology of Destruction, reviewed by Raz Kletter

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Michael R. Cosby, Apostle on the Edge: An Inductive Approach to Paul, reviewed by James M. Howard
Jeffrey A. Gibbs, Matthew 11:2–20:34, reviewed by Warren Carter
Scot McKnight, The Letter of James, reviewed by Alicia J. Batten
David F. Watson, Honor among Christians: The Cultural Key to the Messianic Secret, reviewed by Adam Winn

General Biblical Studies and Cognate Fields

C. K. Barrett Passes Away

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:47:30 +0000

In yet another loss to the field of Biblical Studies, C. K. Barrett passes away (HT: Michael Halcomb).

Roads to Rome (and Elsewhere) for Digital Classicists

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:12:41 +0000

Alison Babeu has a new ebook freely available in PDF format: “Rome Wasn’t Digitized in a Day”: Building a Cyberinfrastructure for Digital Classicists (Washington, D. C.: Council on Library and Information Resources, 2011). According to the publisher,

The author provides a summative and recent overview of the use of digital technologies in classical studies, focusing on classical Greece, Rome, and the ancient Middle and Near East, and generally on the period up to about 600 AD [ sic]. The report explores what projects exist and how they are used, examines the infrastructure that currently exists to support digital classics as a discipline, and investigates larger humanities cyberinfrastructure projects and existing tools or services that might be repurposed for the digital classics.

(N)evernote

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 08:53:20 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

Yesterday, I stumbled upon Nevernote, built especially for Linux users as an open source clone of Evernote. Despite what are, perhaps, the slightly ominous connotations of Nevernote’s name, the software seems to working reasonably well. It successfully downloaded all the notes in my Evernote account, and it allows searching and change syncing from a desktop client. The software seems like it can be a bit slow and memory intensive, but this performance issue may simply be a function of the size of one’s Evernote account. Also, nevernote doesn’t appear to have a built-in screen clipping tool, but there are several other methods of accomplishing this task.

New SBL Publications (August 26, 2011)

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:51:20 +0000

The latest publications from the Society of Biblical Literature include:

Yitzhaq Feder, Blood Expiation in Hittite and Biblical Ritual: Origins, Context, and Meaning
Itamar Singer, The Calm before the Storm: Selected Writings of Itamar Singer on the End of the Late Bronze Age in Anatolia and the Levant
Alan Lenzi, ed., Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction

On the Web (August 25, 2011)

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:43:57 +0000

On the web:

James McGrath reflects on the value of liberal arts education.
Emily Runde comments on the British Library’s ongoing exhibition of “illuminated” manuscripts from the “Dark” Ages, providing several stunningly vibrant page scans.

Nida Passes Away

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:24:23 +0000

Eugene Nida has passed away. For the official press release from the United Bible Societies, see here (HT: N ijay Gupta).

A New Medieval Historical Theology Collection

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:59:15 +0000

Logos releases a new collection for medieval historical theology, which includes:

Aidan Nichols, Discovering Aquinas: An Introduction to His Life, Work, and Invluence and
Lawrence Cunningham, Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel of Life.

For more information, please see the product page.

Logos 4.3 (SR2)

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:22:51 +0000

Logos 4.3 (SR2) is available. The release notes contain details for the update.

Et tu, Brute . . . Facts

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:53:39 +0000

Van Til’s perspective resembles Kuhn’s. One major difference is that, where Kuhn has mutable paradigms, Van Til has a reality-constituting mind of God.

On the Web (August 24, 2011)

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:23:43 +0000

On the web:

Alan Bandy discusses faith and scholarship.
Tim Henderson discusses the possibility that σωτήρ was a late-developing nomen sacrum ( part 1, part 2).
Dirk Jongkind highlights some of Philip Davies’ recent comments on the Jordanian lead codices.
Robert Woods reflects on reading Cicero’s On Old Age with college freshmen.

Codex Sinaiticus Facsimile Sale

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:12:00 +0000

Christian Book Distributors now has Hendrickson’s facsimile edition of Codex Sinaiticus on sale for $499.00. For more information, see the the product page.

Memory, Textual Variation, and the Septuagint

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:37:40 +0000

James Tucker considers Timothy McLay’s comments regarding memory and textual variation in the use of Septuagintal texts, particularly 2 Kgdms 7; Amos 9:11 in conjunction with Acts 15:16.

On Academic Humility

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:58:17 +0000

James Garland has an insightful article, “The Value of Humility in Academe (No Kidding)” at the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Zotero 3.0 Beta

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 06:03:09 +0000

The Zotero 3.0 beta is now available. This beta release represents an exciting step forward in the Zotero Everywhere project. Included in this release are:

Zotero 3.0b1 for Firefox,
Zotero Standalone 3.0b1 for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and
Zotero Connector Betas for Chrome and Safari.

For more details, see the original announcement and the change log.

Whence Comes Contrast?

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:01:37 +0000

Steve Runge has a good introduction to the question of contrast and conjunctions’ relationship to it. Overall, conjunctions “do not create contrast that wasn’t already there, they simply amplify it. If there is no contrast present, using a contrastive conjunction is infelicitous as the linguists say. It comes across as wrong.” For more, see Steve’s original post.

On the Web (August 19, 2011)

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:05:38 +0000

Recently, on the web:

The Centre for Public Christianity has a three-part interview with Lynn Cohick about women in the Greco-Roman world (HT: Michael Bird, John Byron).
Brian LePort discusses the future of seminary education.
Tim Henderson comments on a selection from Justin Martyr’s Dialog with Trypho.
Joel Willitts discusses elegance in writing.

RBL Newsletter (August 18, 2011)

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:25:12 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Joshua Blau, Phonology and Morphology of Biblical Hebrew: An Introduction, reviewed by Jeremy M. Hutton
Daniel C. Snell, Religions of the Ancient Near East, reviewed by Gert T. M. Prinsloo

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Lewis, "On the Reading of Old Books"

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:36:49 +0000

C. S. Lewis’s introduction to Athanasius’s On the Incarnation has since been reprinted under the title “On the Reading of Old Books” as, for instance, in Walter Hooper’s edited collection of Lewis miscellanies, God in the Dock. This introduction’s text is, however, also available at Silouan in HTML format (HT: Michael Hyatt).

A Major InscriptiFact Update

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:46:31 +0000

According to Ancient World Online, InscriptiFact has just added “approximately 5700 new images of 296 new texts from the Persepolis Fortification Archive. The majority of Aramaic texts from the archive are now available.” From this archive, the InscriptiFact database also includes several anepigraphic and Elamite tablets.

On the Web (August 18, 2011)

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:08:54 +0000

Recently, on the web:

Tim Henderson discusses what information Celsus provides about heresy and orthodoxy in early Christianity.
Libby Nelson summarizes the state of financial aid after the removal of federal student loan subsidy for graduate students.

The Key Problem(s) in Cicero's Preamble to The Nature of the Gods

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:22:31 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_7680” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Marcus Tullius Cicero”] [/caption]

In his classic on The Nature of the Gods, Cicero identifies the key problem facing him as being “the question whether the gods do nothing, care for nothing, and take their ease detached from all concern with the care and government of the world: or whether on the contrary all things have been created and formed by them from the dawn of time, and will be ruled and governed by them to all eternity” ( 69–70).

Logos 4.3 (SR1)

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:34:08 +0000

Logos 4.3 (SR1) is available. For details about the release, see here.

Free Kindle Writing Resources

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 07:07:41 +0000

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Now at number 8 on the list of Amazon’s top 100 free Kindle books is Anne Stilman’s Grammatically Correct: The Essential Guide to Spelling, Style, Usage, Grammar, and Punctuation (2nd ed.; Writers Digest, 2010). According to the publisher, “this guide covers four essential aspects of good writing:

Major Zotero Updates Forthcoming

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:25:13 +0000

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Over the next couple weeks, Zotero users will see some major updates and new tools released, including:

A new, read-write enabled website,
Beta versions of Zotero standalone and its browser connectors, and
A redesigned interface for integration Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org.

For more details, please see the Zotero Blog.

Upgrading to and Installing Logos 4 on Ubuntu

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:22:17 +0000

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Since May 2007, there has been a pretty healthy discussion among Ubuntu Linux users about installing and operating Logos Bible Software under that operating system. About a month ago now, I finally switched from Windows XP (SP3) to Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty), and since then, I’d been running Logos 3 (Libronix) inside a virtualized Windows XP machine using VirtualBox.

The AP on Hebrew Bible Textual Criticism

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:53:00 +0000

Christian Askeland briefly responds to today’s Associated Press piece on Hebrew Bible textual criticism.

RBL Newsletter (August 11, 2011)

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:34:21 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Ehud Ben Zvi and Diana V. Edelman, eds., The Production of Prophecy: Constructing Prophecy and Prophets in Yehud, reviewed by Bob Becking
Joel M. LeMon, Yahweh’s Winged Form in the Psalms: Exploring Congruent Iconography and Texts, reviewed by Jeremy M. Hutton
Daniel O’Hare, “Have You Seen, Son of Man?”: A Study of the Translation and Vorlage of LXX Ezekiel 40–48, reviewed by Francis Dalrymple-Hamilton

New Testament and Cognate Studies

New Patristics Bibliography

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:17:33 +0000

Ancient World Online has added La Base d’Information Bibliographique en Patristique to its listings.

RBL Newsletter (August 4, 2011)

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:07:12 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Cornelis Bennema, Encountering Jesus: Character Studies in the Gospel of John, reviewed by Nijay K. Gupta
Troels Engberg-Pedersen, Cosmology and Self in the Apostle Paul: The Material Spirit, reviewed by Kevin McCruden
John Paul Heil, Colossians: Encouragement to Walk in All Wisdom as Holy Ones in Christ, reviewed by Rodrigo J. Morales
Heikki Räisänen, The Rise of Christian Beliefs: The Thought World of Early Christians, reviewed by Gosnell Yorke
Robert Titley, A Poetic Discontent: Austin Farrer and the Gospel of Mark, reviewed by Mark A. Matson

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

RBL Newsletter (July 28, 2011)

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:25:00 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Scott A. Ellington, Risking Truth: Reshaping the World through Prayers of Lament, reviewed by Philip E. Satterthwaite
Andreas Hahn, Canon Hebraeorum-Canon Ecclesiae: Zur deuterokanonischen Frage im Rahmen der Begründung alttestamentlicher Schriftkanonizität in neuerer römisch-katholischer Dogmatik, reviewed by Mark Elliott
Michael G. Wechsler, ed., The Arabic Translation and Commentary of Yefet ben ‘Eli the Karaite on the Book of Esther: Edition, Translation, and Introduction, reviewed by John Kaltner
Timothy M. Willis, Leviticus, reviewed by Christophe Nihan

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Translation and Rewriting

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:09:29 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_7680” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Marcus Tullius Cicero”] [/caption]

In his translator’s comments on Cicero’s Nature of the Gods, H. C. P. McGregor makes the following observation about the task of translation:

One can . . . choose verbal accuracy at any price, translate each sentence word for word, and so produce a safe bud deadly crib. In an opposite extreme, one may throw all scholarly impedimenta overboard, let vocabulary and syntax go, seeking only to preserve in English dress the sense and argument of the original. . . . A third method goes beyond translation altogether and creates a new work in the image of the old, as Pope and Chapman did with Iliad and Odyssey. ( 64)

The Christian Institute for the Study of Liberal Arts

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:39:36 +0000

Edzell Castle, Angus, Scotland

Last fall, the Great Books Honors College at Faulkner University launched the Christian Institute for the Study of Liberal Arts and welcomed the Institute’s first class of Master of Letters students. The Institute will also soon add Bachelor and Doctor of Letters programs. These highly interactive and integrative programs are entirely online and powered by Google Apps for Education, in conjunction with Skype and Blackboard.

Donnerstag Digest (June 16, 2011)

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:30:29 +0000

Recently, in cyberspace:

Princeton Seminary announces that it will host “Creation, Conflict, and Cosmos,” a conference on Rom 5–8, May 2–5, 2012.
The British Library adds 24 new manuscripts to its online collection.
Robert Woods reflects on some of Mortimer Adler’s comments on education.
Mark Bauerlein discusses Stanley Fish.
Peter Williams reviews the SBL Greek New Testament.
Brian LePort posts a brief video clip of N. T. Wright pondering sacrifice.
Jim Davila notes the online availability of Jared Calaway’s dissertation, “Heavenly Sabbath, Heavenly Sanctuary: The Transformation of Priestly Sacred Space and Sacred Time in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Epistle to the Hebrews” and mentions the online availability of Frederick Field’s 1875 edition of the then-extant portions of Origen’s Hexapla.
Tim Gombis starts blogging (HT: Joel Watts).
Zotero releases its own plugin for WordPress.org users.

Biblical Theology Bulletin 41.3

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:30:50 +0000

The latest issue of the Biblical Theology Bulletin includes:

Gary Stansell, “David and His Friends: Social-Scientific Perspectives on the David-Jonathan Friendship,” 115–31
Santiago Guijarro and Ana Rodríguez, “The ‘Messianic’ Anointing of Jesus (Mark 14:3–9),” 132–43
Melanie Baffes, “Christology and Discipleship in John 7:37–38,” 144–50
Pieter F. Craffert, “Shamanism and the Shamanic Complex,” 151–61

Among this issue’s book reviews is also my review of Mark Given, ed., Paul Unbound: Other Perspectives on the Apostle (166–67).

Donnerstag Digest (June 9, 2011)

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:30:40 +0000

Recently in the biblioblogosphere:

Brian LePort discusses the value of the humanities.
Jim Davila notes some new Rabbinic Studies resources by Tyndale Tech.
The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (re)discovers four New Testament manuscripts (HT: Tommy Wasserman).
Matthew Malcolm notes a free article by Anthony Thiselton, “Wisdom in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures: Wisdom in the New Testament.”
Matt Emerson, another Southeastern spring PhD graduate, has freshly started blogging at Intertextual Interpretation.

New Testament Studies 57.3

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:10:29 +0000

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The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

Simon Joseph, “‘Blessed is Whoever is Not Offended by Me’: The Subversive Appropriation of (Royal) Messianic Ideology in Q 3–7”
Douglas Campbell, “Galatians 5.11: Evidence of an Early Law-observant Mission by Paul?”
Stefan Nordgaard, “Paul’s Appropriation of Philo’s Theory of ‘Two Men’ in 1 Corinthians 15.45–49”
Christine Gerber, “Leben allein aus Gnade. Eph 2.1-10 und die paulinische Rechtfertigungsbotschaft”
Peter Arzt-Grabner, “Gott als verlässlicher Käufer: Einige Papyrologische Anmerkungen und bibeltheologische Schlussfolgerungen zum Gottesbild der Paulusbriefe”
Michael Martin and Jason Whitlark, “The Encomiastic Topics of Syncrisis as the Key to the Structure and Argument of Hebrews”
Paul Trebilco, “Why Did the Early Christians Call Themselves ?”

Zotero 2.1.7

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 19:42:03 +0000

Zotero 2.1.7 is now available with a number of performance improvements and bug fixes over the previous stable version. The current version is available from the Zotero homepage.

Donnerstag Digest (June 2, 2011)

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 21:00:30 +0000

Recently in cyberspace:

Logos Bible Software is nearly ready to produce an electronic edition of the Eerdmans Biblical Resources Series.
Todd Bolen finds an ancient “Lego” from Cos.
Logos Bible Software launches a new trade ebook app, Vyrso, and expects to offer 25,000 ebooks through this app by the end of the year. Through June 3, Logos also has the Chesterton Collection on sale (60% off).
Cynthia Nielsen discusses the Confessions as “An Augustinian Improvisation on Bakhtin’s Two Categories of Discourse.”
Roger Pearse discusses “Greek text critical marks as described by Diogenes Laertius” (HT: Tommy Wasserman).
Charles Jones digests some recent news from the Perseus Project.
B-Greek has moved (HT: Stephen Carlson).
Mark Stevens relaunches his blog as the Parson’s Patch.
Leonard Kish discusses “Socrates, social media and the new dialectic.”

May 2011 Biblioblog Review and Top Student Biblioblogs

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:38:39 +0000

Joel Watts has up May’s “unsettled” biblioblog carnival, and last month, Joel Watts et al. unseated Jim West in the Alexa biblioblog ranking. Among this past months top 50 biblioblogs by Alexa rank, the top 10 student biblioblogs are:

Currents in Biblical Research 9.3

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:00:34 +0000

The latest issue of Currents in Biblical Research includes:

Geoffrey D. Miller, “Intertextuality in Old Testament Research,” 283–309
Paul Foster, “The Gospel of Peter: Directions and Issues in Contemporary Research,” 310–38
Mark Batluck, “Religious Experience in New Testament Research,” 339–63
Daniel Johansson, “The Identity of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark: Past and Present Proposals,” 364–93
C.D. Elledge, “Future Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism: Social Dynamics, Contested Evidence,” 394–421

RBL Newsletter (May 31, 2011)

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:38:49 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Alejandro F. Botta, The Aramaic and Egyptian Legal Traditions at Elephantine: An Egyptological Approach, reviewed by Aaron Koller
Eric M. Meyers and Paul V. M. Flesher, eds., Aramaic in Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity: Papers from the 2004 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar at Duke University, reviewed by John Engle
Dvora E. Weisberg, Levirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient Judaism, reviewed by Obiorah Mary Jerome

New Testament and Cognate Studies

In the Mail: Blomberg with Markley, Handbook of New Testament Exegesis

Mon, 30 May 2011 17:03:29 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_7519” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Craig Blomberg with Jennifer Markley”] [/caption]

In Saturday’s mail arrived Craig Blomberg’s Handbook of New Testament Exegesis, with Jennifer Markley (Baker, 2010), which I’ll be reviewing this summer for the Stone-Campbell Journal. The text is just over 300 pages, and the back cover includes recommendations from Thomas Schreiner, Jeannine Brown, Grant Osborne, and Mark Strauss. At first brush, this introductory text also includes some discussions that should push its readers in a more technical direction. So, I’ll certainly be interested in working through the book in detail in the coming weeks.

Churgin, Targum Jonathan to the Prophets

Mon, 30 May 2011 15:07:17 +0000

Courtesy of Stanford University, Google Books has available the full text Pinkhos Churgin’s Targum Jonathan to the Prophets(Yale, 1907; Google eBook; PDF).

Zotero at the Chronicle of Higher Education

Fri, 27 May 2011 06:40:59 +0000

On Tuesday, Brian Croxall compared Zotero and EndNote. At least until a stable release of Zotero standalone arrives, the review has the two platforms standing fairly on equal terms. Recent updates to Zotero’s SBL citation style have included some additional issues, but hopefully, those problems will soon be remedied also.

RBL Newsletter (May 26, 2011)

Thu, 26 May 2011 20:51:14 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy, eds., The Historical Jesus: Five Views, reviewed by Pieter F. Craffert
Jeremy Corley, ed., New Perspectives on the Nativity, reviewed by Mark R. C. Grundeken
Laura Nasrallah and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, eds., Prejudice and Christian Beginnings: Investigating Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Early Christianity, reviewed by Hal Taussig

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

New Zotero Styles and Updates for Biblical and Theological Studies

Thu, 26 May 2011 16:30:59 +0000

The Society of Biblical Literature style for Zotero has recently been updated (8:16 pm, May 11, 2011). Since I had last visited the style repository, development versions of the following styles have also been added:

Currents in Biblical Research
INTER. Romanian Institute for Inter-Orthodox, Inter-Confessional and Inter-Religious Studies
Universidad Evangélica del Paraguay
Wheaton College PhD BITH

For some time Zotero, had only supported SBL style, but the addition of CurrBR as another major field journal format is certainly positive.

Donnerstag Digest (May 26, 2011)

Thu, 26 May 2011 13:30:50 +0000

Recently in cyberspace:

Sofiya Melnykova notes that Open Culture is collecting lists of free ebooks and audiobooks.
Matthew writes that Amazon is preparing to release its own line of Kindle tablet devices.
Uniting Church Theological College (Melbourne, Australia) seeks a Professor of Old Testament (HT: Tyndale House).
Jeremy notes the availability a Hebrew Bible, according to the Westminster Leningrad Codex, for Kindle ( part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4).
Tommy Wasserman reports that Evangelical Textual Criticism is now on Facebook.
Stephen Carlson lists errata for Swanson’s collation of G and 1735 in Galatians and discusses “The Position of με in Acts 20:23”
Georgia State University seeks a Visiting Instructor of Hebrew.
Logos Bible Software has released a free Czech Study Bible, is almost ready to ship the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary, and for a limited time, they are also offering the Baker Theology Collection (11 vols.) for about 31% off with the coupon code “AEBTC9621.”
John Meade reflects on recent funding issues for humanities and Biblical Studies projects.
Nijay Gupta highly recommends Croy’s Prima Scriptura and discusses “The Question of Coherence in Philo’s Cultic Imagery: A Socio-literary Approach” in the current issue of the Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha.
Evernote’s extension for Google Chrome gets a substantial update: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFOiCOmgXmc&w=450]
Cynthia Nielsen considers Augustine and non-modern autobiographical confession ( part 1, part 2, part 3).
Rob Bradshaw (May 4, 2011) posts George Mavrodes, “The Inspiration of Autographs,” Evangelical Quarterly 41.1 (1969): 19–29 (HT: Peter Head).
Trevin Wax reproduces and reflects on some of N. T. Wright’s comments about Rob Bell’s Love Wins (HT: John Byron), and Josh Graves posts the original video of Wright’s comments (HT: Matt Dabbs).
Concordia University seeks an Assistant Professor of Theology (Old Testament, Hebrew Scriptures, or Hebrew Language Emphasis).

Moore, Who Is My Neighbor

Tue, 24 May 2011 13:44:43 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_7423” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Steve Moore”] [/caption]

Amazon currently has the Kindle edition of Steve Moore’s Who Is My Neighbor?: Being a Good Samaritan in a Connected World ( NavPress, 2011) available for free.

RBL Newsletter (May 12, 2011)

Thu, 12 May 2011 22:18:44 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

John J. Ahn and Stephen L. Cook, eds., Thus Says the Lord: Essays on the Former and Latter Prophets in Honor of Robert R. Wilson, reviewed by Edgar W. Conrad
Scott N. Callaham, Modality and the Biblical Hebrew Infinitive Absolute, reviewed by Brian L. Webster
Jurrien Mol, Collective and Individual Responsibility: A Description of Corporate Personality in Ezekiel 18 and 20, reviewed by Karin Schöpflin
Susanne Scholz, Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Eve Levavi Feinstein and Agnethe Siquans
J. Randall Short, The Surprising Election and Confirmation of King David, reviewed by Steven L. McKenzie

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Donnerstag Digest (May 10, 2011)

Thu, 12 May 2011 13:30:14 +0000

Recently in cyberspace:

Logos Bible Software adds the Major Works of Justin Martyr in Greek to their pre-publication program and the Desiderius Erasmus Collection to their community pricing program.
Brian LePort celebrates six years of blogging.
Walmart begins selling Amazon’s Kindle 3G+WiFi and Kindle with Special Offers (HT: Matthew).
James McGrath reviews Earl Doherty’s Jesus: Neither God Nor Man.
Ben Myers lectures on Augustine’s De Trinitate (HT: Brian LePort).
Larry Hurtado discusses monotheism and worship.
Exploring Our Matrix and Euangelion are moving to Patheos.com.
Michael Bird discusses the Johannine purpose statement ( part 1, part 2).
Marybeth Gasman identifies some “Roadblocks to Doctoral Success.”
Kathleen Fitzpatrick discusses Digital Humanities.

Themelios 36.1

Wed, 04 May 2011 17:47:20 +0000

The latest issue of Themelios includes the following:

Carl Trueman, “Minority Report: Know Your Limits: The Key Secret of Theological Controversy”
Keith E. Johnson, “Trinitarian Agency and the Eternal Subordination of the Son: An Augustinian Perspective”
Uche Anizor, “A Spirited Humanity: The Trinitarian Ecclesiology of Colin Gunton”
Stephen Dempster, “Review Article: Magnum Opus and Magna Carta: The Meaning of the Pentateuch”
Robert H. Gundry, “Pastoral Pensées: The Hopelessness of the Unevangelized”

Digital Images of Nag Hammadi Codices

Wed, 04 May 2011 16:41:16 +0000

April DeConick points out that the Clairmont Colleges Digital Library has put online a number of images of the Nag Hammadi codices.

On Being Ph(inishe)D, On Finished Being

Wed, 04 May 2011 11:20:16 +0000

On Friday, Southeastern Seminary’s Graduate Studies faculty accepted my dissertation, “The Hermeneutical Roles of the Teacher of Righteousness and of Jesus of Nazareth in the Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts and in the Epistle to the Romans” ( abstract). This acceptance followed Wednesday’s oral defense where the committee had passed my project with minor revisions (i.e., correcting some remaining errata, describing a few further implications). The Southeastern committee members included Andreas Köstenberger and Benjamin Merkle, and I was also privileged to have James Charlesworth as the project’s external reader.

An NEH Grant for a New SBL Website

Tue, 03 May 2011 20:58:03 +0000

The Society of Biblical Literature has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to produce a new website that will “invite[] general audiences to engage with biblical scholarship.” The website is currently scheduled for a full launch in 2013. For the full SBL press release, see here.

Donnerstag Digest (April 21, 2011)

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:30:21 +0000

This week in the cyberspace:

Robert Woods discusses “Christian humanism.”
Jeremy Thompson passes his oral dissertation examination. Congratulations!
Mark Stevens points out that a new book on Jesus and a new translation of the New Testament are forthcoming from N. T. Wright.
Jim Davila reminds us about the upcoming Metz conference on Paul and Qumran.
Joel Watts and Matthew note Amazon’s announcement of a library lending service for Kindle.
David Perry provides a major update to the Cardo font (1.04).
The Connecticut House of Representatives approves a certificate program in Talmudic Studies (HT: Jim Davila).
Ron Kubsch notes Amazon’s creation of a German Kindle store.

RBL Newsletter (April 20, 2011)

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:32:28 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Ehud Ben Zvi and James D. Nogalski, Two Sides of a Coin: Juxtaposing Views on Interpreting the Book of the Twelve/the Twelve Prophetic Books, reviewed by Marvin A. Sweeney
Katell Berthelot, Thierry Legrand, and André Paul, eds., Torah: Genèse, reviewed by Kristin De Troyer
Paul D. Korchin, Markedness in Canaanite and Hebrew Verbs, reviewed by John Lubbe
Jürg Luchsinger, Poetik der alttestamentlichen Spruchweisheit, reviewed by James Alfred Loader

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 54.1

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:45:48 +0000

The spring issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in the mail late last week and includes the following:

Eugene Merrill, “Old Testament Scholarship and the Man in the Street: Whence and Whither?,” 5–17
Thomas Schreiner, “The Saving Righteousness of God in Christ,” 19–34
Frank Thielman, “God’s Righteousness as God’s Fairness in Romans 1:17: An Ancient Perspective on a Significant Phrase,” 35–48
N. T. Wright, “Justification: Yesterday, Today, and Forever,” 49–63
John Rhoads, “Josephus Misdated the Census of Quirinius,” 65–87
Mark Saucy, " Regnum Spiriti: The Role of the Spirit in the Social Ethics of the Kingdom," 89–108
William Dennison, “The Christian Academy: Antithesis, Common Grace, and Plato’s View of the Soul,” 109–131

The essays from Schreiner, Theilman, and Wright are versions of their plenary addresses at this past November’s annual Evangelical Theological Society meeting. So, those who were interested in hearing these addresses but were unable to attend the meeting may find these three articles particularly interesting.

Donnerstag Digest (April 14, 2010)

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:30:56 +0000

This week in cyberspace:

Tommy Wasserman mentions the discovery of a new, early papyrus fragment of Hebrews.
James McGrath comments on Loren Stuckenbruck’s presentation at the recent Stone-Campbell Journal Conference.
Amazon announces that an advertisement-sponsored Kindle WiFi is available for pre-ordering.
Logos Bible Software releases a specifically academic training DVD set.

Bulletin for Biblical Research 21.1

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:53:18 +0000

This year’s first issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research arrived in the mail last week and includes the following:

Michael Graves, “Scholar and Advocate: The Stories of Moses in Midrash Exodus Rabbah,” 1–22
John Lawlor, “The ‘At-Sinai Narrative’: Exodus 18–Numbers 10,” 23–42
David Lincicum, “Philo on Phinehas and the Levites: Observing an Exegetical Connection,” 43–50
Mark Matthews, “The Genre of 2 Peter: A Comparison with Jewish and Early Christian Testaments,” 51–64
Armin Baum, “Revelatory Experience and Pseudepigraphical Attribution in Early Jewish Apocalypses,” 65–92

In addition, among the other book reviews in this issue is my review of G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians(Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009) on pages 129–31.

A Selective Summary of Fields, "The Dead Sea Scrolls Today"

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:03:32 +0000

Last evening, I was privileged to attend the second annual Prentice Meador Lecture at Lipscomb University. There, Weston Fields, the Executive Director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation, addressed what seemed very nearly to be a full house on the topic “The Dead Sea Scrolls Today.”

Kindling Aristotelian Poetic Penguins

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:26:18 +0000

At least for the present, Amazon has available two Kindle versions of Penguin’s edition of Aristotle’s Poetics, page numbering included. The difference between the two seems mainly to be the difference between an older and a newer cover, with the version that has the newer cover retailing for $1.90.

Donnerstag Digest (April 7, 2011)

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:30:46 +0000

The past week in the biblioblogosphere:

Jim Davila notes the sad news of Ben Zion Wacholder’s passing.
Larry Hurtado comments on lengths of book usage in the Greco-Roman world.
A. D. Riddle and Ferrell Jenkins report the beginning of new excavations at Carchemish.
Nijay Gupta notes one freely available chapter from each of two Companion to Religion Series volumes from Wiley-Blackwell ( Aune, “The World of Roman Hellenism”; Riesner, “Pauline Chronology”; 44 pgs. total). The other series volumes also appear normally to have similar samples.
Recently at Trinity Western University, N. T. Wright discussed “Being Human” (HT: Brian LePort).

Thank You re:March

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:24:32 +0000

Although we are nearing the end of the first week of April, I just noticed that those who visited New Testament Interpretation last month made that month the busiest month here so far. So, thank you for your interest, everyone! :)

Zotero Updates

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:51:14 +0000

Zotero 2.1.3, 2.1.4, and 2.1.5 have rolled out with several minor updates. The Microsoft Word plugin has also been updated, but details about this update are still forthcoming from the plugin change log page.

March 2011 Biblioblog Review

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:41:02 +0000

Having been away this past weekend, I have just gotten to pull March’s top student biblioblogs. March’s top 10 by Alexa rank are:

StudentOverallAuthor(s)Blog12Joel WattsUnsettled Christianity26Brian LePort, JohnDave Medina, Joshua Smith, Mark StevensNear Emmaus: Christ and Text313Amanda Mac, Rodney Thomas, Chad PressleyPolitical Jesus417Matthew CroweA Fistful of Farthings527Jeremy ThompsonFree Old Testament Audio Website Blog628Phillip LongReading Acts729Scott BaileyScotteriology831Mitchell PowellFont Words936Gavin RumneyOtagosh1038Bob Hayton, Jason Skipper, Damien Garofalo, Will Dudding, Erik DiVietro, and Phil DearmoreKJV Only Debate

On the Humanities and Their Coherence

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 19:30:16 +0000

Recently, at the first, annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Louis Menand, Professor of American Studies at Harvard University, addressed attendees regarding “[w]hy the case for liberal education is so hard to make”:

Nowadays, everyone believes that “it’s good for people to be introduced to the humanities,” said Dr. Menand, but he highlighted a paradox: one of the difficulties in trying to make the case for the humanities is that the work of academics isn’t literature, art and music—rather, it is research about these works. Hermeneutics is hard to study and, because every interpretation is provisional, it is hard to defend.

New Innovations from Google

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:05:44 +0000

Never failing to amaze, Google introduces several du jour innovations:

I particularly like the new protocol for creating a Google Docs Drawing (pictured here) and think it may make Google Docs much more useful for biblical studies. ;)

Zotero 2.1.2

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 01:11:38 +0000

A new Zotero update is now available. The update mainly contains bug fixes, but it also allows Zotero to “[r]ecognize .csl.txt files as CSL files.”

RBL Newsletter (March 31, 2011)

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:05:22 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Jeffrey Boss, Human Consciousness of God in the Book of Job: A Theological and Psychological Commentary, reviewed by William J. Kynes
Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes: Foundations for Expository Sermons, reviewed by Jordan M. Scheetz
T. M. Lemos, Marriage Gifts and Social Change in Ancient Palestine: 1200 BCE to 200 CE, reviewed by Anselm C. Hagedorn
Horst Seebass, Genesis I: Urgeschichte (1,1–11,26), reviewed by John Engle
N. Wyatt, The Archaeology of Myth: Papers on Old Testament Tradition, reviewed by Uwe F. W. Bauer

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Donnerstag Digest (March 31, 2011)

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:30:41 +0000

Recently in cyberspace:

Southern Seminary provides a set of recent lectures by Richard Bauckham (HT: Tim Henderson).
Jeremy quotes Henri De Lubac “on the dangers of learning our catechism against someone.”
The Center for the Study of Christian Origins provides a lecture and question and answer session by Larry Hurtado.
Reports begin circulating about several lead codices that are supposed to contain stories about Jesus’ later life.
Early Christianity makes available a full issue for free download (HT: Nijay Gupta).
Larry Hurtado advocates additional caution vis-à-vis the recent discovery of a number of ancient lead codices, James McGrath condenses several other recent discussions about them, and Jim Davila (HT: Stephen Carlson) adds his own presently-skeptical perspective on the codices’ genuineness.
Amazon launches its own cloud drive service with 5 GB of free space.
The Internet Archive makes available Mark Goodacre’s Synoptic Problem: A Way through the Maze for free download (HT: James McGrath).
Dictionary.com discusses a few word-choice updates in the new editions of the NIV and NAB.
Google Maps adds street views of “historic sites in Italy and France.”
The Center for New Testament Textual Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is featured in a NOLA.com article (HT: James Leonard).
The Elaborated makes available a set of composite RSS feeds based on the Biblioblog Top 50.

New and Forthcoming Resources from Logos Bible Software

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 13:30:23 +0000

Logos Bible Software has recently released or will soon release several noteworthy resources:

James, The Gospel of Ruth

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:25:23 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_7151” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Carolyn Custis James”] [/caption]

Now at number 3 on Amazon’s top free Kindle book list is Carolyn Curtis James’s The Gospel of Ruth: Loving God Enough to Break the Rules (Zondervan, 2008), and Zondervan presently has the EPUB edition for free also. The book boasts favorable blurbs from Robert Gundry, Timothy George, and Karen Jobes. According to the Amazon product page, what James describes

Free Logos Resource: Warfield, The Canon of the New Testament

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:30:04 +0000

If you’re a Facebook friend of Logos Bible Software, like their fan page, and you can download their edition of B. B. Warfield’s Canon of the New Testament: How and When Formed for free.

Thielen, What's the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:40:13 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_7158” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Martin Thielen”] [/caption] Now at number 9 on Amazon’s top free Kindle book list is Martin Thielen’s What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?: A Guide to What Matters Most (Westminster/John Knox, 2011). According to the product page, Thielen is a United Methodist minister from Lebanon, Tennessee, and in the book, Thielen

Healing Theoden (a.k.a. Submitting One's Dissertation)

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:02:32 +0000

For some reason, this clip, particularly Theoden’s last utterance under Saruman’s influence, seems oddly parallel to the process of concluding a dissertation. ;-) The oral defense is slated for later next month. For a brief abstract of my particular project, see here.

RBL Newsletter (March 24, 2011)

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:36:56 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Daphna Arbel, J. R. C. Cousland, and Dietmar Neufeld, “And So They Went Out”: The Lives of Adam and Eve as Cultural Transformative Story, reviewed by Deborah Rooke
Ehud Ben Zvi, Diana Edelman, and Frank Polak, eds., A Palimpsest: Rhetoric, Ideology, Stylistics, and Language Relating to Persian Israel, reviewed by Bob Becking
Horace D. Hummel, Ezekiel 21–48, reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins
Dermot Anthony Nestor, Cognitive Perspectives on Israelite Identity, reviewed by Frank H. Polak
Marco Nobile, Saggi su Ezechiele, reviewed by Donatella Scaiola
Horst Seebass, Numeri: Kapitel 22,2-36,13, reviewed by John Engle

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Zotero 2.1 Is Live

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 08:15:04 +0000

Zotero 2.1 is now available with a number of enhancements over the previous stable version. You may download the latest version from the Zotero homepage.

Donnerstag Digest (March 10, 2011)

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:00:37 +0000

This week in the blogosphere:

Kirk Lowery discusses “Strongs Numbers & the Problem of a Universal Index,” particularly for Biblical Hebrew morphology and lexicography.
Robert Woods reviews Henry Petroski’s Book on the Bookshelf.
Chris Allen and D. A. Carson discuss the Westminster Catechism via rap (HT: John Byron).
The SBL Greek New Testament is now available in CROSS format.
Mark Goodacre ponders the possible correlations between writing big books and having clean houses.
James McGrath highlights a how-to article about reading scholarly journals.

Letting Paul Be Paul

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:30:09 +0000

In his Romans commentary, F. F. Bruce gives the following, sound advice for those who want to understand Paul better:

We may agree or disagree with Paul, but we must do him the justice of letting him hold and teach his own beliefs, and not distort his beliefs into conformity with what we should prefer him to have said ( 136).

RBL Newsletter (March 3, 2011)

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 13:31:28 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Cornelis Bennema, Encountering Jesus: Character Studies in the Gospel of John, reviewed by Francis J. Moloney, S.D.B.
Steven Fine, Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
Ernst Käsemann, On Being a Disciple of the Crucified Nazarene: Unpublished Lectures and Sermons, reviewed by Wayne Coppins
Andreas J. Köstenberger, A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters: The Word, the Christ, the Son of God, reviewed by Craig R. Koester
Luis Sanchez Navarro, ed., Pablo y Cristo.: La centralidad de Cristo en el Pensamiento de san Pablo, reviewed by Rodrigo Morales
Mark Allan Powell, Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey, reviewed by Peter J. Judge
Carl N. Toney, Paul’s Inclusive Ethic: Resolving Community Conflicts and Promoting Mission in Romans 14–15, reviewed by James R. Harrison

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Donnerstag Digest (March 3, 2011)

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:24:19 +0000

This week in the blogosphere:

Rod Decker highlights The Illustrated Guide to a PhD.
Archaeologists begin excavating an Abrahamic-era water tunnel (HT: Joel Watts).
The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae has released a version of the Liddell-Scott-Jones lexicon tagged to their textual database (HT: Tommy Wasserman).
The E-corpus Digital Library has added 344 Georgian, Arabic, and Syrian manuscripts from St. Catherine’s Monastery (HT: Charles Jones).
The Cardo font receives an italic companion.
Seth Rodriquez collects a list of free Kindle edition books relevant for biblical studies. Others are also available at Project Gutenberg.
Charles Halton provides a slideshow about the “Theology of Genesis 32 through Contemporary Art.”
Peter Head provides an essay on “Textual Criticism and the Synoptic Problem.”

February 2011 Biblioblog Review

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:22:34 +0000

Matthew Crowe has February’s Biblical Studies Carnival. In February’s biblioblog rankings, Jim West and Joel Watts again top the Biblioblog Top 50 Alexa chart, and James McGrath and Daniel Kirk top the vote-based rankings.

By Alexa rank, then, February’s Student Biblioblog Top 10 lines up as follows:

StudentOverallAuthor(s)Blog12Joel L. WattsUnsettled Christianity23Brian LePort, JohnDave Medina, Joshua Smith, and Mark StevensNear Emmaus: Christ and Text314Thomas VerennaThe Musings of Thomas Verenna418Daniel O. McClellanDaniel O. McClellan523Matthew CroweA Fistful of Farthings625Jeremy ThompsonFree Old Testament Audio Website Blog726Bob Hayton, Jason Skipper, Damien Garofalo, Will Dudding, Erik DiVietro, and Phil DearmoreKJV Only Debate836Phillip LongReading Acts939Gavin RumneyOtagosh1044Mitchell PowellFont Words

RBL Newsletter (February 24, 2011)

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:18:51 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Matthew E. Carlton, Translator’s Reference Translation of the Gospel of Luke, reviewed by Sylvie Raquel
Werner H. Kelber and Samuel Byrskog, eds., Jesus in Memory: Traditions in Oral and Scribal Perspectives, reviewed by Stephan Witetschek
Adrian Long, Paul and Human Rights: A Dialogue with the Father of the Corinthian Community, reviewed by Ronald R. Clark
Mark Allan Powell, ed., Methods for Matthew, reviewed by InHee Cho
Gerd Theißen, Erleben und Verhalten der ersten Christen: Eine Psychologie des Urchristentums, reviewed by Wayne Coppins

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Donnerstag Digest (February 24, 2011)

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:38:10 +0000

This week in the biblioblogosphere:

Dirk Jongkind discusses the colophons of the miniscule manuscripts 223 and 1305.
The Center for the Study of Christian Origins now has recordings of the recent James Dunn and N. T. Wright lecture day at the University of Edinburgh (HT: Larry Hurtado).
Brian LePort highlights a snippet from Eugene Peterson on the storied nature of human experience and Christian ministry, begins pondering Brevard Childs’ thoughts about New Testament canon, and collects Richard Hays’ recent lecture series “Reading Scripture Alongside the Gospel Writers.”
Cynthia Nielsen discusses “Fanon and Foucault on Humanism and Rejecting the ‘Blackmail’ of the Enlightenment” ( pt. 1; pt. 2).
James McGrath collects several YouTube clips about the Mandaeans and highlights a video series about oral tradition.
Seth Rodriquez discusses ancient slinging techniques.
John Cook and Robert Holmstedt advocate the relevance of diachronic linguistics for dating biblical texts, and Ian Young responds to the contrary (HT: Charles Halton).

RBL Newsletter (February 18, 2011)

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:12:32 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Qumran and Cognate Studies

John J. Collins, Beyond the Qumran Community: The Sectarian Movement of the Dead Sea Scrolls, reviewed by Philip R. Davies
Jason Kalman and Jaqueline S. du Toit, Canada’s Big Biblical Bargain: How McGill University Bought the Dead Sea Scrolls, reviewed by Matthew A. Collins
Daniel A. Machiela, The Dead Sea Genesis Apocryphon: A New Text and Translation with Introduction and Special Treatment of Columns 13–17, reviewed by Benjamin Ziemer
Lawrence H. Schiffman, Qumran and Jerusalem: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism, reviewed by Sidnie White Crawford

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Donnerstag Digest (February 17, 2011)

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:49:58 +0000

This week in the blogosphere:

The Oriental Institute continues making additional titles available online as free PDF downloads (HT: Todd Bolen).
Rod Decker makes available a conversion chart for the old and new reference systems for the Shepherd of Hermas.
Tim highlights some forthcoming books in Pauline Studies.
Karen Radner has several essays online about the Neo-Assyrian period (HT: Charles Halton).
Logos releases the NIV 2011 for free “to everyone who has a Logos 4 base package that includes the old NIV.”
Ancient Faith Radio is podcasting C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia (HT: Brian LePort).

RBL Newsletter (February 10, 2011)

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:46:32 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Studies

Kevin R. Brine, Elena Ciletti, and Henrike Lähnemann, eds., The Sword of Judith: Judith Studies across the Disciplines, reviewed by Lawrence M. Wills
Matthijs J. de Jong, Isaiah among the Ancient Near Eastern Prophets: A Comparative Study of the Earliest Stages of the Isaiah Tradition and the Neo-Assyrian Prophecies, reviewed by Hallvard Hagelia

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Kindle Gets Real Page Numbers

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:40:13 +0000

In the preview release of the latest Kindle software update (3.1), Amazon is beginning to allow Kindle edition readers to access the same page numbers that their print edition-reading counterparts can see:

Our customers have told us they want real page numbers that match the page numbers in print books so they can easily reference and cite passages, and read alongside others in a book club or class. We’ve already added real page numbers to tens of thousands of Kindle books, including the top 100 bestselling books in the Kindle Store that have matching print editions and thousands more of the most popular books. Page numbers will also be available on our free “Buy Once, Read Everywhere” Kindle apps in the coming months. If a Kindle book includes page numbers, press the Menu key in an open Kindle book to display page numbers ( [Amazon](//www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_top_kindlelg?nodeId=200529700" target="_blank">)).

New Testament Resources from India

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:30:05 +0000

In their continuing effort to integrate Eastern and Western New Testament scholarship, the New Testament Scholarship Worldwide group on Facebook has added links to seven resources from and about Indian New Testament scholarship.

The Stumbling Stone of Rom 9:32–33 as Torah and Jesus

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:12:15 +0000

In a 2003 article, Morna Hooker makes the following, insightful argument about the referent(s) of the λίθος ( stone) language in Rom 9:32–33:

Is Paul affirming here that Israel’s problem is simply that she has failed to believe in Christ? The majority of commentators accept this interpretation, but the possibility supported by some scholars that the stumbling-block is the law should not be too easily dismissed. It should be noted after all that Christ has not been mentioned since 9:1–5 and that the two subjects under discussion in Rom 9:30–31 are the law and righteousness. Moreover, what Paul has just stated is that Israel has misunderstood the function of the law. Perhaps then the stumbling-block over which Israel has fallen is the law.

Zotero Standalone Alpha

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:38:37 +0000

In the fairly short time since the initial notice, the alpha version of a browser-independent Zotero has now become available. A fully stable release is likely some time away yet, but the noticeable and rapid progress on the initiative is encouraging.

RBL Newsletter (January 19, 2010)

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:08:49 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Elie Assis, Flashes of Fire: A Literary Analysis of the Song of Songs, reviewed by Francis Landy
Chris Franke and Julia M. O’Brien, eds., Aesthetics of Violence in the Prophets, reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
A. R. George, Babylonian Literary Texts in the Schoyen Collection, reviewed by Alan Lenzi
Harry A. Hoffner Jr., Letters from the Hittite Kingdom, reviewed by Ludek Vacín
Reinhard G. Kratz and Hermann Spieckermann, eds., Divine Wrath and Divine Mercy in the World of Antiquity, reviewed by Michael S. Moore
J. Gordon McConville and Stephen Williams, Joshua, reviewed by Ernst Axel Knauf
Eckart Otto, Die Tora: Studien zum Pentateuch: Gesammelte Schriften, reviewed by Reinhard Achenbach
Thomas Römer, Jean-Daniel Macchi, and Christophe Nihan, eds., Introduction à l’Ancien Testament, reviewed by John Engle
Eugene Ulrich, ed., The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants, reviewed by Aaron D. Rubin

Hermeneutics

Donnerstag Digest (January 20, 2011)

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:52:03 +0000

This week in the blogosphere:

Bob Cargill notes, courtesy of Jim West, the discovery of a new manuscript of Ben Sira.
Kirk Lowery highlights a list of resources for linguistic research.
Phil Gons compiles a good deal of recent “Bonhoeffer Buzz.”
Joe McGarry reviews Eric Metaxas’s Bonhoeffer for Christianbook.com Academics.
Charles Ellwood notes open access to select theses and dissertations through ProQuest’s UMI Dissertation Publishing.

Qumran Biblical Scrolls Database to Ship Soon

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:55:56 +0000

What wonderful news just came through from Logos:

We are about to begin processing Pre-Pub orders for Qumran Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls Database.

For a description of the resource, see here. Oh, happy day. :)

Licona on Paul's View of Believers' Possible Fates

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 21:20:31 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_6870” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Michael Licona”] [/caption]In his new monograph, The Resurrection of Jesus, Michael Licona summarizes as follows how he sees Paul conceiving of believers’ possible ends:

Paul sees two options before believers. Some believers will die prior to the parousia and will become disembodied until the general resurrection, while believers alive at the parousia will have their earthly bodies clothed with their new resurrection body made by God. Paul certainly prefers to avoid the former. But his faith gives him confidence that, if he dies prior to the parousia, he will be with the Lord, although in a disembodied state, which he prefers over present life in the earthly body. And being with Christ is what matters most to Paul ( 435–36).

Donnerstag Digest (December 16, 2010)

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:52:12 +0000

This week in the blogosphere:

To Do: Dissertation highlights a series of time management tips.
Matt Evans returns from his blogging hiatus.
Deane Galbraith and Joseph Kelly discuss new policies for students’ involvement at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.
Matthew Montonini notes a video interview with Douglas Campbell.
Matthew Miller excerpts Miroslav Volf’s new book Captive to the Word of God.
Brian Tucker discusses You Belong to Christ on the Paul Edwards Program.
Matthew reports that Borders has filed intent-to-purchase paperwork for Barnes and Noble.
Carlos Alonso reflects on the commodification of graduate education.
Timothy Beal discusses American Evangelicalism.
Mike Aubrey begins digesting the deponency panel session at the annual SBL meeting.
James McGrath quotes Daniel Kirk on “rule-proving exceptions,” notes a new “top 50” list of blogs by “theology professors,” recommends Brad Matthies’ post “Academic Blogging?” and highlights a free PDF version of Kató Lomb’s Polyglot.
Milo Medin discusses the progress of Google’s developing fiber network.
Brian LePort gets congratulations as he counts down.
Scott Bailey reports on the winter weather’s “archaeological expedition” on Israel’s coast.
Pat McCullough urges participation in the SBL Student Advisory Board’s survey for student members.
Charles Jones adds a number of publication preprints to the Ancient World Online feed.

Donnerstag Digest (December 9, 2010)

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:50:58 +0000

This week in the blogosphere:

Chris Brady highlights the Maccabeats.
Firefox gets two new representatives.
Michael Holmes begins a new blog.
Joel Watts notes the launch of SAGE Open on January 1, 2011 and highlights, ultimately via Everett Ferguson, a few inscriptions relevant to the discussion of infant baptism.

Themelios 35.3

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:49:01 +0000

The latest issue of Themelios includes the following:

D. A. Carson, “Editorial: Contrarian Reflections on Individualism”
Carl Trueman, “Minority Report: Terrible Beauty, Beauty, and the Plain Terrible”
Daniel Estes, “Fiction and Truth in the Old Testament Wisdom Literature”
Daniel Brendsel, “Plots, Themes, and Responsibilities: The Search for a Center of Biblical Theology Reexamined”
Stephen Garrett, “The Dazzling Darkness of God’s Triune Love: Introducing Evangelicals to the Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar”
Philip Graham Ryken, “Pastoral Pensées A World Servant in Christian Liberal Arts Education”

Twelve Free NookBook Classics from Barnes and Noble

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 23:00:15 +0000

As an incentive to download and install NookStudy, Barnes and Noble is offering registered users the opportunity to download up to twelve NookBook classics for free. Among these texts are Dante’s Inferno and Plato’s Republic.

Now on Logos Pre-pub: Eerdmans Biblical Resources Series

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:27:25 +0000

Through its pre-publication program, Logos Bible Software is now offering the fourteen-volume Eerdmans Biblical Resources Series. Series titles include:

Adele Berlin, The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism
Richard Burridge, What Are the Gospels
John Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination
John Collins, Between Athens and Jerusalem
Frank Moore Cross, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry
Joseph Fitzmyer, To Advance the Gospel
Hermann Gunkel, Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton
Richard Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ
Colin Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia
Anthony Saldarini, Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees in Palestinian Society
Anthony Saldarini, The Semitic Background of the New Testament (vols. 1–2)
Mark Smith, The Early History of God
Samuel Terrien, Till the Heart Sings

The Google eBookstore is Live

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:16:26 +0000

The Google eBookstore is now live and offering more than 3 million ebooks with an accompanying web-based ebook reader.

Bookshelf Additions from Atlanta

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:59:30 +0000

At this year’s Friday meeting of the Institute for Biblical Research, the folks from InterVarsity Press kindly distributed to Institute members copies of Anthony Thisleton’s The Living Paul: An Introduction to the Apostle’s Life and Thought. Then, in the book room at SBL, the folks from Wipf and Stock and Zondervan graciously passed along desk copies for a couple of next semester’s textbooks: Michael Bird’s The Saving Righteousness of God: Studies on Paul, Justification, and the New Perspective and Marvin Pate’s edited Four Views on the Book of Revelation(with contributions by Kenneth Gentry, Sam Hamstra, Marvin Pate, and Robert Thomas). Finally, before the end of SBL, two additional, biblical texts had made their way into the suitcase: The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition and Biblia Sacra Hebraica et Graeca.

Donnerstag Digest (December 2, 2010)

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:04:46 +0000

This week in the biblioblogosphere:

Bob Cargill notes that, on December 11, the National Geographic Channel will re-air its special on “Writing the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
Brian LePort hypertextually ponders Derridean non-extra-textuality and deconstruction, and he notes twenty-nine doctoral theses that the University of Durham has recently made available.
Michael Bird shows how to benefit most from the new SBL Greek New Testament and notes that the new Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters now has its own blog.
Google Editions are poised to hit the e-book market later this month and allow fee-based full access to copyrighted titles. For some additional details and thoughts, see Blog Kindle and Google Books Help.

Student Biblioblog Top 10 (November, 2010)

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:08:37 +0000

Jim West and Joel Watts again top out this month’s Biblioblog Top 50. Among these entries, the top 10 student biblioblogs for the month are:

StudentOverallAuthor(s)BlogAlexa Score12Joel WattsUnsettled Christianity112762210Jeremy ThompsonFree Old Testament Audio Website Blog247561311Scott BaileyScotteriology254643413Jonathan Robinsonξένος331840514Thomas VerennaThe Musings of Thomas Verenna337137617Mark StevensScripture, Ministry, and the People of God372159722Brian LePort, JohnDave Medina, and Robert JimenezNear Emmaus: Christ and Text412289824Phillip LongReading Acts441701930Stephen SmutsBiblical Paths4840941033Gavin RumneyOtagosh514808

Biblical Studies Carnival נז (November, 2010)

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:01:53 +0000

Deane Galbraith has November’s Biblical Studies Carnival available and organized into the following topics: (1) “Academy, Biblioblogging and Handy Hints”; (2) “Christian Origins”; (3) “Emerging Judaism”; (4) “Language, Text and Translation”; (5) “Reception History”; (6) “Humor and Gossip”; and (7) “Biblioblog [Qualitative] Top 30.”

HT: Marc Cortez

Paul in Acts and the Letters

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:37:51 +0000

While expressing doubts about the correctness of the “New Perspective(s) on Paul,” Stan Porter makes the following, interesting observation about the New Perspective(s) vis-à-vis the question of continuity between the portraits of Paul in Acts and the letters:

If this new perspective is correct, then it would appear that the Jewish elements that typify the account in Acts, such as Paul’s beginning much of his local preaching with a visit to the synagogue . . . , his agreeing to participate in the ritual in Jerusalem ( Acts 21:17–26 . . . ), and his defenses focusing upon his continuity with Judaism, all point toward continuity between the Paul of Acts and of the Letters. Thus, the new perspective on Paul would appear to render this criticism of [E.] Haenchen [that Luke is unaware of Paul’s answer to the question of the law and the Gentile mission] no longer valid ( 191).

SBL Blogger and Online Publication Podcasts

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 12:39:23 +0000

Thanks to Chris Brady for making available a series of podcasts with the papers from this year’s SBL Blogger and Online Publication Section:

James Davila, University of St. Andrews, “What Just Happened: The Rise of ‘Biblioblogging’ in the First Decade of the Twenty-first Century”
Christian Brady, Pennsylvania State University, “Online Biblical Studies: Past, Present, Promise, and Peril”
Michael Barber, John Paul the Great Catholic University, “Weblogs and the Academy: The Benefits and Challenges of Biblioblogging”
James McGrath, Butler University, “The Blogging Revolution: New Technologies and Their Impact on How We Do Scholarship”
Robert Cargill, University of California-Los Angeles, “Instruction, Research, and the Future of Online Educational Technologies”

Having unfortunately been unable to attend this particular session, I am very much looking forward to catching up on the presentations there through these podcasts. Thanks, again, Chris!

New ZECNT Volumes

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:16:30 +0000

Zondervan has recently added the following volumes to the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series:

Grant Osborne, Matthew;
Thomas Schreiner, Galatians; and
Chilton Arnold, Ephesians.

According to Zondervan,

Ecclesia Reformanda 2.2

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:45:59 +0000

This year’s second issue of Ecclesia Reformanda includes:

John Frame, “Review of Michael Horton, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church, Part 2”
Simon Wakeling, “The Minor Prophets as a Unity Developing Theodicy”
Neil Jeffers, “Reformed Defences of God’s Righteousness in Ordaining the Fall”

Thiselton, 1 and 2 Thessalonians through the Centuries

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:09:18 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_6620” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Anthony Thiselton”] [/caption]Anthony Thiselton’s volume on the Thessalonian correspondence is the latest in the Blackwell Bible Commentaries series and is due to be released this December. A sample chapter is, however, available from the product page on the publisher’s website, and other previews are also available from Google and Amazon. As a whole, the Blackwell series is devoted primarily to reception-historical commentary, and for each pericope in the Thessalonian letters, Thiselton’s commentary divides this task among:

Groves Festschrift

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 18:45:26 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_6600” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Peter Enns, Douglas Green, and Michael Kelly”] [/caption]Now in the rolling queue on the Westminster Bookstore’s home page is a freshly published festschrift for the late Al Groves. I never had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Groves, but I am certainly and often thankful for his work and the personal blessing that he was in the lives of so many others.

Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:03:14 +0000

Michael Bird announces a new, semiannual journal dedicated to Pauline studies and that is chiefly edited by himself in association with Nijay Gupta.

New Thoughts from Tyndale Tech

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:31:15 +0000

Yesterday, Tyndale Tech released the following series of helpful posts:

Future Developments Preview at the Document Foundation

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:54:03 +0000

Just a bit ago, on the Document Foundation’s listserv, the following press release came out:

“The Document Foundation is about documents and the associated software is pivotal to create, exchange, modify, share and print documents”, says Thorsten Behrens, a software developer and a member of TDF Steering Committee. “LibreOffice 3.3 is the first flavour of this long term strategy, but the journey has just begun, and the enormous advantages of our developer-embracing environment are not yet fully reflected in the upcoming software release”.

Emanuel Tov Online

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:58:33 +0000

Emanuel Tov has posted a number of his publications online in openly-accessible, PDF format. Hearty thanks to Dr. Tov for this contribution to digital scholarship in biblical studies.

HT: Tommy Wasserman.

Lightfoot, "Colossians and Philemon"

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:00:36 +0000

In working on the phrase εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ in Col 2:2 ( NA27 punctuation), I stumbled upon J. B. Lightfoot’s commentary on Colossians in full view, PDF format on Google Books. According to Lightfoot ( 239),

New Ancient World Bibliographic Resource

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:59:49 +0000

Over at Academia.edu, Charles Jones, Head Librarian at New York University, has requested suggestions for additions to a new list of “Ancient World Open Bibliographies.” Of course, as it develops, the bibliography should certainly list New Testament Gateway. Maintainers of ancient world bibliographic resources can note additions on Academia.edu or the bibliography page itself.

SBL Contingent Faculty Survey

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:49:18 +0000

In conjunction with the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, the Society of Biblical Literature is conducting a survey about contingent faculty, and the survey has already garnered more than 20,000 responses. To continue making the survey results as complete and informative as possible, this afternoon, SBL has written the membership’s current survey respondents to request help in attracting additional participation from contingent faculty members.

Biblioblog Top 50 (October, 2010)

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:18:01 +0000

This post is a bit late, but among the top 50 biblioblogs for October, 2010, the top 10 student biblioblogs are:

StudentOverallAuthor(s)BlogAlexa Score12Joel L. WattsUnsettled Christianity9552128Scott BaileyScotteriology212042312Jeremy ThompsonFree Old Testament Audio Website Blog294803415Jonathan RobinsonXenos300343518Brian LePort, JohnDave Medina, and Robert JimenezNear Emmaus: Christ and Text382933621Mark StevensScripture, Ministry, and the People of God420079722Phillip LongReading Acts431256825S. DemmlerYou Can’t Mean That!503362926Gavin RumneyOtagosh5039271029Bacho BordjadzeReading Isaiah533766

Get Metzger's Manuscripts of the Greek Bible on Kindle

Sat, 30 Oct 2010 12:21:24 +0000

Among the growing body of scholarly resources available on Kindle ( sans page numbers, unfortunately), is Bruce Metzger’s Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Palaeography. Sounds like a good thing to read electronically in bright sunlight to me. :-)

The SBL Greek New Testament on Logos 3

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 20:50:43 +0000

Along with Logos 4 users, Libronix users may now download and install the SBL Greek New Testament and its apparatus.

HT: Logos.

Biblioblog Top 50 (September, 2010)

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:33:42 +0000

September’s Biblioblog Top 50 is available. Despite Joel Watt’s slippage to third in the overall rankings, his blog continues to hold the lead among the top ten student biblioblogs:

StudentOverallAuthor(s)BlogAlexa Score13Joel L. WattsThe Church of Jesus Christ12848525Scott BaileyScotteriology173966311Jeremy ThompsonFree Old Testament Audio Website Blog271870416Stephen SmutsBiblical Paths319523517Mark StevensScripture, Ministry, and the People of God333878619Justin AllisonOld Testament and Ecology404624720Jonathan RobinsonXenos426276823Brian LePort, JohnDave Medina, and Robert JimenezNear Emmaus: Christ and Text536573924Phillip LongReading Acts5421871029Gavin RumneyOtagosh620744

Zotero Here, Zotero There, Zotero Everywhere

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 09:38:39 +0000

Earlier today, the Zotero Project announced concrete plans to release a stand-alone, browser-independent version of their open-source, bibliographic management system. Since its inception, Zotero has been tied to Mozilla Firefox as a support for its underlying architecture. Yet, as the members of the Zotero Project recognize, “not all researchers can or want to use” Firefox. In addition to maintaining Zotero’s compatibility with Firefox, this “major new initiative” for a stand-alone version of Zotero will “soon” allow users of “Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Internet Explorer” to use Zotero with whichever of these browsers they choose. This move will extend Zotero’s availability to approximately 98% of internet users.

RBL Newsletter (September 17, 2010)

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 23:30:05 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Luísa Maria Varela Almendra, Um debate sobre o conhecimento de Deus: Composição e interpretação de Jb 32–37, reviewed by Gilbert Lozano
G. P. F. Broekman, R. J. Demaree, and O. E. Kaper, eds., The Libyan Period in Egypt: Historical and Cultural Studies into the 21st–24th Dynasties: Proceedings of a Conference at Leiden University, 25–27 October 2007, reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
Ruth A. Clements and Daniel R. Schwartz, eds., Text, Thought, and Practice in Qumran and Early Christianity: Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, Jointly Sponsored by the Hebrew University Center for the Study of Christianity, 11–13 January, 2004, reviewed by John Kampen
Thomas B. Dozeman, Exodus, reviewed by Frank H. Polak
Magnar Kartveit, The Origin of the Samaritans, reviewed by Thomas Hieke
Ernst Axel Knauf, Josua: Zürcher Bibelkommentare AT(Band 6), reviewed by Marvin A. Sweeney
Wolfgang Oswald, Staatstheorie im Alten Israel: Der politische Diskurs im Pentateuch und in den Geschichtsbüchern des Alten Testaments, reviewed by Klaus-Peter Adam
Nicholas Postgate, The Land of Assur and the Yoke of Assur: Studies on Assyria 1971–2005, reviewed by Carly Crouch
Andrzej S. Turkanik, Of Kings and Reigns: A Study of Translation Technique in the Gamma/Gamma Section of 3 Reigns (1 Kings), reviewed by Johann Cook

Biblical Theology and Cognate Fields

New Testament Studies 56.4

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:26:07 +0000

The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

Michael Peppard, “The Eagle and the Dove: Roman Imperial Sonship and the Baptism of Jesus (Mark 1.9–11),” 431–51
Eve-Marie Becker, “Die markinischen Summarien—ein literarischer und theologischer Schlüssel zu Mark 1–6,” 452–74
Lee A. Johnson and Robert C. Tannehill, “Lilies Do Not Spin: A Challenge to Female Social Norms,” 475–90
Friedrich Gustav Lang, “Abraham geschworen – uns gegeben. Syntax und Sinn im Benediktus (Lukas 1.68–79),” 491–512
Jane Heath, “‘Some were saying, “He is good”’ (John 7.12b): ‘Good’ Christology in John’s Gospel?,” 513–35
David Briones, “Mutual Brokers of Grace: A Study in 2 Corinthians 1.3–11,” 536–56
Joshua W. Jipp, “The Son’s Entrance into the Heavenly World: The Soteriological Necessity of the Scriptural Catena in Hebrews 1.5–14,” 557–75
Alexander Weiss, “Keine Quästoren in Korinth: Zu Goodrichs (und Theißens) These über das Amt des Erastos (Röm 16.23),” 576–81

Lawson, The Expository Genius of John Calvin

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 20:28:49 +0000

Brian LePort notes the availability, as an Amazonian “Deal of the Day,” of a free Kindle edition of Steven Lawson’s Expository Genius of John Calvin (Reformed Trust, 2007).

Zotero 2.0.7–8

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 02:44:20 +0000

Another set of Zotero updates is available that remedies some stability issues and brings us up through 2.0.7 to 2.0.8.

RBL Newsletter (September 10, 2010)

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 22:16:45 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Craig L. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, reviewed by Robert H. Gundry
Craig S. Keener, The Historical Jesus of the Gospels, reviewed by Craig L. Blomberg
Lloyd Kim, Polemic in the Book of Hebrews: Anti-Judaism, Anti-Semitism, Supersessionism?, reviewed by Lars Kierspel
Maarten J. J. Menken and Steve Moyise, eds., The Minor Prophets in the New Testament, reviewed by Matthew Mitchell
Romano Penna, Paolo e la Chiesa di Roma, reviewed by Sean Martin

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Journal of Biblical Literature 129.3

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:32:14 +0000

The fall issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature includes:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Jonathan Burnside, “Flight of the Fugitives: Rethinking the Relationship between Biblical Law (Exodus 21:12–14) and the Davidic Succession Narrative (1 Kings 1-2),” 418–31
Michael Carasik, “Why Did Hannah Ask for ‘Seed of Men’?,” 433–36 Steven L. McKenzie, “Elaborated Evidence for the Priority of 1 Samuel 26,” 437–44
Richard Whitekettle, “When More Leads to Less: Overstatement, Incrementum, and the Question in Job 4:17a,” 445–48
Brian J. Alderman and Brent A. Strawn, “A Note on Peshitta Job 28:23,” 449–56
Shalom E. Holtz, “A Comparative Note on the Demand for Witnesses in Isaiah 43:9,” 457–61
Benjamin Edidin Scolnic, “Mattathias and the Jewish Man of Modein,” 463–83
Randall D. Chesnutt, " Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 2069 and the Compositional History of 1 Enoch," 485–505

New Testament and Cognate Fields

And I Was Just Getting Used to the 15th Edition

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:51:31 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_6353” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“University of Chicago”] [/caption]

The 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style is, however, now available. Among other updates, this edition boasts Chicago’s first explicit guidelines for citing Kindle editions and publications (§§14.166; A.38). Although I have yet to be able to examine this new edition first-hand, on a cursory perusal, these guidelines appear mainly to be an additional application of the instructions for citing electronic books in Chicago’s 15th edition (§§17.142–47). More information on this new edition of Chicago is available at Chicago Manual of Style Online.

Zotero 2.0.4–6

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:29:25 +0000

This past week, along with several bug fixes, Zotero got some substantive updates to its syncing and word-processor integration features. As usual, the Zotero website has change logs for the main new release, 2.0.4, as well as what are, thus far, the two additional, supplementary ones ( 2.0.5, 2.0.6).

Forthcoming in BBR: "Rewriting Prophets in the Corinthian Correspondence"

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:19:57 +0000

The folks at the Bulletin for Biblical Research have very kindly agreed to publish a revised version of my presentation from the November, 2009 meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society: “Rewriting Prophets in the Corinthian Correspondence: A Window on Paul’s Hermeneutic.” To provide just a bit fuller picture of the essay’s argument:

In the broadest sense of the phrase, any use of Jewish scripture by a later author(s) could be understood to constitute a form of ‘rewritten Bible’. The phrase ‘rewritten Bible’ has, however, come to have a technical meaning whereby it designates a certain body of ancient, Jewish literature. The precise shape of this body of literature continues to be debated, but even with consensus on this specific point as far away as it is, ‘rewritten Bible’ can contribute valuable information to the study of Paul’s use of scripture. In particular, ‘rewritten Bible’ provides a useful foil for the study of Paul’s citations in 1 Cor 1:31 and 2 Cor 10:17 and the hermeneutical paradigm upon which these citations’ validity implicitly rests. In this case, Paul’s connections with ‘rewritten Bible’ literature especially help suggest the constitutive, hermeneutical role that Jesus played as Paul interpreted scripture for the Corinthian church within the broader context of some of the hermeneutical traditions of his near contemporaries.

Biblioblog Top 50 (August, 2010)

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:12:11 +0000

Jeremy Thompson has August’s Biblioblog Top 50 available. Jim West remains in the top seat this month, despite Jeremy’s temporary coup d’état that had crowned Joel Watts. Still, Joel’s matriculation to United Theological Seminary earns him the top slot on August’s list of the top ten student biblioblogs. The full top-ten list is as follows:

StudentOverallAuthor(s)BlogAlexa Score12Joel L. WattsThe Church of Jesus Christ10893727Stephen SmutsBiblical Paths210494311Mark StevensScripture, Ministry, and the People of God299339415Scott BaileyScotteriology332160518Brian LePort, JohnDave Medina, and Robert JimenezNear Emmaus: Christ and Text373283619Jeremy ThompsonFree Old Testament Audio Website Blog436755722Gavin RumneyOtagosh462138823Bob Hayton, Jason Skipper, Damien Garofalo, Will Dudding, Erik DiVietro, and Phil DearmoreKJV Only Debate465858933Jonathan RobinsonXenos6773451038Rick MansfieldThis Lamp768595

Biblical Studies Carnival (August, 2010)

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:00:21 +0000

Jim West has August’s Biblical Studies Carnival available. This month’s carnival has six “rides” from which readers can choose: Old Testament, New Testament, Church History, Systematic Theology, Archaeology/Dead Sea Scrolls, and Uncategorized.

Putnam, A New Grammar of Biblical Hebrew

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:21:51 +0000

Grammar of Biblical Hebrew

Fred Putnam’s New Grammar of Biblical Hebrew is now out ( affiliate disclosure). According to the publisher,

This is a Hebrew grammar with a difference, being the first truly discourse-based grammar. Its goal is for students to understand Biblical Hebrew as a language, seeing its forms and conjugations as a coherent linguistic system, appreciating why and how the text means what it says—rather than learning Hebrew as a set of random rules and apparently arbitrary meanings.

Blog (Revival) Notice: Beginning with Moses

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:28:02 +0000

Beginning with Moses has been substantially refreshed, and the site is scheduled to have regular updates begin again on September 1. If you like, you can also follow Beginning with Moses on Twitter and Facebook.

The Biblical Theology Briefings have carried over from the old site, and the site’s principal editor, Mark Owens, invites fresh contributions for this section.

RBL Newsletter (August 27, 2010)

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:19:59 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Walter Brueggemann, An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible, reviewed by Eric A. Seibert
Erasmus Gaß, Die Moabiter: Geschichte und Kultur eines ostjordanischen Volkes im 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr., reviewed by Sven Petry
Sarah Lebhar Hall, Conquering Character: The Characterization of Joshua in Joshua 1-11, reviewed by Anton Cuffari
Michaela Hallermayer, Text und Überlieferung des Buches Tobit, reviewed by Bradley Gregory

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Göttingen May Be Fairly Close After All

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:00:42 +0000

A while back, when I finally decided to preorder the Göttingen Septuagint from Logos before the initial, pre-publication special ended, and when I did so, I was quite prepared to wait several years before this resource actually went through and came out of development. Yet, earlier today, I happened to stumble across this on the Logos website: So, rather than a couple years, the Logos edition of the Göttingen Septuagint is apparently just over a couple months away (!).

It's Here, Albeit in Beta

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:37:23 +0000

Earlier this morning, Logos Bible Software announced the release of the beta version of Biblia.com. To all visitors, Biblia.com offers access to slightly more than forty resources, including various Bible translations and a few more dated Greek New Testament texts. Free registration at Biblia.com allows users to access still other resources.

Donnerstag Digest (August 26, 2010)

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:46:44 +0000

This week in the biblioblogosphere:

Mark Goodacre finds and makes available a PDF version of Wilhelm Wrede’s Paul.
Daniel and Tonya draw attention to Alex Andrason’s recent article on the use of yiqtol in Biblical Hebrew (via Uri Hurwitz) and Randall Buth’s response to the article.
Via Ekaterini Tsalampouni, Holger Szesnat mentions the availability of the new Journal of Ancient Judaism.
Christian Askeland notes the availability of a stable, Unicode-compliant Coptic font.
At BioLogos, Peter Enns interviews N. T. Wright about Jesus’ humanity.
Kirk Lowery ponders current developments in the peer review process for scholarly publications.
Scot McKnight prepares his readers for a change of blogging address.
Larry Hurtado uploads an essay on Martin Hengel’s impact on English-speaking, New Testament scholarship.
Charles Halton considers cartographic hermeneutics and some of their implications for readers of biblical texts.

National Geographic's Recent Special on "Writing the Dead Sea Scrolls"

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:09:02 +0000

For those who may have missed the original special or who might just want to relive it, the National Geographic Channel’s recent documentary on “Writing the Dead Sea Scrolls,” hosted by primarily by Robert Cargill, is available here.

RBL Newsletter (August 21, 2010)

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:35:16 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

Biblical Theology and Cognate Fields

Hector Avalos, Sarah Melcher, and Jeremy Schipper, eds., This Abled Body: Rethinking Disabilities in Biblical Studies, reviewed by William R. G. Loader
Roland Boer, Political Myth: On the Use and Abuse of Biblical Themes, reviewed by Gilbert Lozano
Joel S. Kaminsky, Yet I Loved Jacob: Reclaiming the Biblical Concept of Election, reviewed by Hallvard Hagelia
Robin Routledge, Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach, reviewed by Don Collett

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Donnerstag Digest (August 19, 2010)

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:03:05 +0000

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.

Blog Notice: Biblical Exegesis and Interpretation

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:47:18 +0000

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.

Second Temple Literature as a "Cultural Script"

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:00:00 +0000

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).

Themelios 35.2

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:55:55 +0000

The mid-year issue of Themelios is now available, and it includes:

Advice for Academic Blogging

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:00:39 +0000

Although the post is now comparatively a bit dated, Corey Tomsons still has some very good advice about academic blogging (HT: Kirk Lowery via Facebook).

http://thoughtcapital.wordpress.com/2007/03/11/how-to-write-an-academic-blog/

How Many Books Are There?

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:02:54 +0000

According to Google, the world contains about 129,864,880 books. Google calculated this number by combining duplicate entries from a data base of nearly one billion raw, bibliographic records and by eliminating about an additional 16.5 million non-books that had records in Google’s raw data base.

Biblioblog Top 50 (July, 2010)

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:13:32 +0000

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

Library Addition (August 13, 2010)

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:26:19 +0000

[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.

RBL Newsletter (August 13, 2010)

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 04:43:38 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Steven L. Bridge, Getting the Old Testament: What It Meant to Them, What It Means for Us, reviewed by Robert Wallace
Robert R. Cargill, Qumran through (Real) Time: A Virtual Reconstruction of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, reviewed by Eibert Tigchelaar
Greg Schmidt Goering, Wisdom’s Root Revealed: Ben Sira and the Election of Israel, reviewed by Ibolya Balla
Bernd Janowski, Bernhard Greiner, and Hermann Lichtenberger, eds., Opfere deinen Sohn! Das ‘Isaak-Opfer’ in Judentum, Christentum und Islam, reviewed by Paul Sanders
Edith Lubetski and Meir Lubetski, eds., The Book of Esther: A Classified Bibliography, reviewed by Mayer I. Gruber
Nathan MacDonald, What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat? Diet in Biblical Times, reviewed by Raz Kletter
Mark S. Smith and Wayne T. Pitard, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle: Volume 2: Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU/CAT 1.3–1.4, reviewed by Frank H. Polak
Roger E. Van Harn and Brent A. Strawn, Psalms for Preaching and Worship: A Lectionary Commentary, reviewed by Hallvard Hagelia

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Donnerstag Digest (August 12, 2010)

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:53:51 +0000

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.

Waving Goodbye

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:49:23 +0000

In the past few weeks, I had thought of what might be a pedagogically helpful application for Google Wave. I had all but decided to experiment with it in a course assignment, but on Wednesday, Google announced that it would not “continue developing Wave as a standalone product” but would, over time, “extend the technology for use in other Google projects.” So, apparently, it is time to “wave” goodbye and wait to see what the next iteration of the technology holds.

Dearman, Hosea (NICOT)

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:35:21 +0000

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:

Donnerstag Digest (August 5, 2010)

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:51:01 +0000

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.

Biblical Studies Carnival (July, 2010)

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:13:09 +0000

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

HT: Mark Goodacre.

Bulletin for Biblical Research 20.2

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:47:42 +0000

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

Hansen on Christian Community and Obedience

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:06:17 +0000

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).

Bauckham on the Gospels as Historical Sources

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:36:55 +0000

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]

Hello, World!—ΕΚ ΣΤΟΜΑΤΟΣ ΝΗΠΙΩΝ

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:49:10 +0000

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]

Bromine, Chlorine, and the Temple Scroll

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:33:10 +0000

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.”

Computing Ugaritic

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:38:31 +0000

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,

RBL Newsletter (July 21, 2010)

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:30:33 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Paul Barnett, Finding the Historical Christ: After Jesus, Volume 3, reviewed by Matthew Recla
David W. Chapman, Ancient Jewish and Christian Perceptions of Crucifixion, reviewed by John T. Carroll
Gordon D. Fee, The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians, reviewed by James W. Aageson
Edna Johnson, A Semantic and Structural Analysis of Ephesians, reviewed by Timothy Gombis
Brigitte Kahl, Galatians Re-imagined: Reading with the Eyes of the Vanquished, reviewed by Vernon K. Robbins

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Another Hat Tip to Paul Silvia

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:32:59 +0000

[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.

History and Collective Memory

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:45:26 +0000

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.

Oxyrhynchus Papyri on Logos

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:40:23 +0000

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.

Mburu, Qumran and the Origins of Johannine Language and Symbolism

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:00:24 +0000

[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.

Oh, Yes, They Are

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:00:48 +0000

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.

Koninklijke Bibliotheek on Google Books

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:00:20 +0000

According to Google’s blog, the National Library of the Netherlands will soon start making over 160,000 public-domain volumes available through Google Books. Works targeted for digitization “constitute nearly the library’s entire collection of out-of-copyright books, written during the 18th and 19th centuries.” Among the authors whose works this post explicitly notes as being included within this group is Abraham Kuyper (at least via a direct link to his Wikipedia page), the Dutch Reformed theologian, philosopher, and politician.

Library Additions (July 15, 2010)

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:43:02 +0000

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.

Centre for the Study of Christian Origins

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:57:21 +0000

Larry Hurtado announces that the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins now has a blog from which readers may expect posts by " the several [scholars] who make up CSCO."

RBL Newsletter (July 14, 2010)

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:13:13 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Willis Barnstone, The Restored New Testament: A New Translation with Commentary, Including the Gnostic Gospels Thomas, Mary, and Judas, reviewed by Sean Kealy
James G. Crossley, Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century, reviewed by William Arnal
Richard A. Horsley, Wisdom and Spiritual Transcendence at Corinth: Studies in First Corinthians, reviewed by L. L. Welborn
Jerome H. Neyrey, The Gospel of John in Cultural and Rhetorical Perspective, reviewed by Steven Hunt

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Meerson, “One God Supreme”

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:47:23 +0000

Michael Meerson has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “One God Supreme: A Case Study of Religious Tolerance and Survival.” In this article, Meerson “attempt[s] to combine the consideration of both [θεὸς ὕψιστος and εἷς θεός]” as these titles are found in a sundial inscription from Mount Gerizim (32). For, although

Canonical Development*

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:16:51 +0000

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.

RBL Newsletter (March 25, 2010)

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:39:50 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Kenneth E. Bailey, The Cross and the Prodigal: Luke 15 through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants, reviewed by Robert O’Toole
Brendan Byrne, A Costly Freedom: A Theological Reading of Mark’s Gospel, reviewed by Sean Kealy
Stanley E. Porter and Mark J. Boda, eds., Translating the New Testament: Text, Translation, Theology, reviewed by Douglas Moo

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

RBL Newsletter (March 19, 2009)

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:32:58 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Elizabeth Boase, The Fulfilment of Doom? The Dialogic Interaction between the Book of Lamentations and the Pre-exilic/Early Exilic Prophetic Literature, reviewed by Charles Miller
Jo Carruthers, Esther through the Centuries, reviewed by Linda Day and reviewed by Timothy Laniak
Mark K. George, Israel’s Tabernacle as Social Space, reviewed by Gert Prinsloo
John Oswalt, The Bible among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature?, reviewed by Claude Mariottini
Tessa Rajak, Translation and Survival: The Greek Bible and the Ancient Jewish Diaspora, reviewed by Christopher Beetham

Hermeneutics

"But What about Israel?"

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:08:15 +0000

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:

Library Additions (March 16, 2010)

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:44:30 +0000

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]

RBL Newsletter (March 10, 2010)

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:05:08 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (Twentieth Anniversary Edition with a New Introduction), reviewed by Richard Valantasis
Kate Cooper and Julia Hillner, eds., Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300–900, reviewed by Ilaria Ramelli
April D. DeConick, The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation: With a Commentary and New English Translation of the Complete Gospel , reviewed by Stephen Patterson
David A. deSilva, Seeing Things John’s Way: The Rhetoric of the Book of Revelation, reviewed by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
Terence L. Donaldson, Judaism and the Gentiles: Jewish Patterns of Universalism (to 135 CE) , reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
Michael Philip Penn, Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church,reviewed by Candida Moss
Stanley E. Porter, ed., Paul: Jew, Greek, and Roman, reviewed by Christoph Stenschke
Turid Karlsen Seim and Jorunn Økland, eds., Metamorphoses: Resurrection, Body and Transformative Practices in Early Christianity , reviewed by V. Henry Nguyen
Magnus Zetterholm, Approaches to Paul: A Student’s Guide to Recent Scholarship, reviewed by Nijay Gupta

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Help Choose Manuscripts

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:08:33 +0000

Over at the British Library’s Digitised Manuscripts Blog, Juan Garcés requests suggestions about “which particular Greek manuscripts held by the British Library . . . you [would] like to see digitised and why?” To add your suggestions to the growing list of requests that the Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project will consider, head over to Digitised Manuscripts and post your preferences.

Fuel for Biblical Studies: Italian Entrée Edition

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:06:36 +0000

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.

RBL Newsletter (March 6, 2010)

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:38:21 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

François Bovon, L’Evangile selon saint Luc 19,28–24,53, reviewed by Richard I. Pervo
Jean-Marie van Cangh, Les sources Judaïques du nouveau testament: Recueil d’essais, reviewed by Peter Tomson
Pamela Eisenbaum, Paul Was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle, reviewed by Yung Suk Kim
Lee Martin McDonald, Forgotten Scriptures: The Selection and Rejection of Early Religious Writings, reviewed by Francis Dalrymple-Hamilton
Paul Middleton, Angus Paddison, and Karen Wenell, eds., Paul, Grace and Freedom: Essays in Honour of John K. Riches, reviewed by Michael J. Lakey
Mogens Müller, The Expression ‘Son of Man’ and the Development of Christology: A History of Interpretation, reviewed by Rollin Kearns
C. Kavin Rowe, World Upside Down: Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age, reviewed by V. Henry Nguyen
Alexander Tsutserov, Glory, Grace, and Truth: Ratification of the Sinaitic Covenant according to the Gospel of John, reviewed by Christopher W. Skinner

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

February Biblioblog Top 50

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:14:32 +0000

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.

Matthew D. Larsen's NT Studies Blog

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:41:07 +0000

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.

Biblical Studies Carnival LI

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:27:53 +0000

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.

Jewish Scriptures as Christian Memory

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:19:47 +0000

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

Today's Dead Sea Scrolls Today

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:14:19 +0000

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):

Ubiquity Search Command for Evernote Web

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:42:19 +0000

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.

New Manuscripts, New Blog

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:20:10 +0000

This morning, Tommy Wasserman introduces the new “Digitised Manuscripts Blog,” which will “report on various issues related to the current digitisation projects at the British Library, in particularly the Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.” Wasserman especially draws attention to Juan Garcés’s post from yesterday. There, Garcés notes that “[t]he first phase of the Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project, funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, will include no less than one majuscule from the 7th century, 33 minuscules from the 10th–14th centuries, and 16 lectionaries from the 11th–14th centuries,” and he mentions plans to “post on a selection of these over the following weeks,” a series that will surely prove interesting.

Torah as Interpreted Torah

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:57:53 +0000

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).

Snodgrass on a "Hermeneutics of Identity"

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:07:22 +0000

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

RBL Newsletter (February 20, 2010)

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:44:55 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

John Fleter Tipei, The Laying on of Hands in the New Testament: Its Significance, Techniques, and Effects, reviewed by Everett Ferguson
Chris A. Vlachos, The Law and the Knowledge of Good and Evil: The Edenic Background of the Catalytic Operation of the Law in Paul, reviewed by James M. Howard
Magnus Zetterholm, Approaches to Paul: A Student’s Guide to Recent Scholarship, reviewed by David G. Horrell

Hermeneutics

Mid-February Biblioblog Top 50

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:55:58 +0000

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.

Zotero 2.0 Final Release

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:28:51 +0000

The final release of Zotero 2.0 is now available. For a list of changes since 2.0rc5, see here, or check this page for upgrade instructions and a list of new features in Zotero 2.0.

Bonhoeffer Visits Oklahoma Baptist University

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:28:01 +0000

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&]

Defining "Theological Interpretation"

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:46:56 +0000

This morning, Scot McKnight has an engaging post that addresses some ambiguities present in descriptions of “theological interpretation.” To move toward decreasing these ambiguities, McKnight proposes his own description of what interpreting scripture theologically should mean—namely, “read[ing] individual passages in the Bible through the lens of one’s orthodox, community-shaped, and confessional theology” (italics original). Read the whole post, particularly the concluding paragraphs, for some other, very good reflections on the interrelationships between theology and hermeneutics.

The Nature of Scientific Revolutions

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:03:36 +0000

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).

A Blog of Biblical Proportions

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:07:46 +0000

The folks over at a Blog of Biblical Proportions have compiled lists of the Top 50 Biblical History Blogs and the Top 50 Blogs for Online Scripture Study and have kindly included New Testament Interpretation among them. For the complete lists, please see Biblical Proportions.

Crisis Resolution and Scientific Revolution

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:40:01 +0000

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).

Creation in Second Temple Judaism

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:31:49 +0000

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.

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].”

Payne on Vaticanus's Distigmai

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:12:40 +0000

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.

A composite PDF is forthcoming, as is Head’s revised argument that incorporates Payne’s critiques.

RBL Newsletter (February 9, 2010)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:22:45 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Michael F. Bird, Introducing Paul: The Man, His Mission and His Message, reviewed by Tony Costa
Delbert Burkett, The Unity and Plurality of Q (Rethinking the Gospel Sources, Volume 2), reviewed by Tobias Hagerland
Greg Carey, Sinners: Jesus and His Earliest Followers, reviewed by Burgert De Wet
Andrie Du Toit, edited by Cilliers Breytenbach and David S. Du Toit, Focusing on Paul: Persuasion and Theological Design in Romans and Galatians, reviewed by Sheila E. McGinn
Carole R. Fontaine, With Eyes of Flesh: The Bible, Gender and Human Rights, reviewed by Robin Gallaher Branch
J. R. Daniel Kirk, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God, reviewed by Jens Herzer
Kenneth L. Schenck, Cosmology and Eschatology in Hebrews: The Settings of the Sacrifice, reviewed by Thomas Kraus
Gerhard Sellin, Der Brief an die Epheser, reviewed by Angela Standhartinger
Edna Ullmann-Margalit, Out of the Cave: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Dead Sea Scrolls Research, reviewed by Samuel Thomas

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Online Research in Biblical Studies

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:39:18 +0000

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.

Logos Partners with Baker

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:18:50 +0000

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:

RBL Newsletter (February 4, 2010)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:02:37 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Jonathan Knight, Christian Origins, reviewed by Markus Oehler
Kasper Bro Larsen, Recognizing the Stranger: Recognition Scenes in the Gospel of John, reviewed by Dorothy Lee
Ramsay MacMullen, The Second Church: Popular Christianity A.D. 200–400, reviewed by Charles Bobertz
John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (Volume 4: Law and Love), reviewed by Susan Graham
Stanley E. Porter and Wendy J. Porter, eds., New Testament Greek Papyri and Parchments: New Editions: Texts and Plates, reviewed by Thomas Kraus
Loren Stuckenbruck, 1 Enoch 91–108, reviewed by Archie T. Wright
Jerry L. Sumney, Colossians: A Commentary, reviewed by Angela Standhartinger

Jewish Scriptures and Cognate Fields

Create Your Own Feed for DaveBlackOnline

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:19:25 +0000

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.

Zotero 2.0 RC 3–4

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:11:56 +0000

Zotero 2.0 release candidates three and four have been released with several improvements, including upgrades and fixes for the synchronization and indexing functionality. As always, new Zotero users can download the latest version from the Zotero homepage. For those who may be interested, although composed for Zotero 1.5, the screencast below still highlights the main features of Zotero 2.0.

The Power of Private Presuppositions

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:06:51 +0000

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).

Edwards on Faith and Justification

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:19:06 +0000

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:

ΖΩΗ ΕΚ ΝΕΚΡΩΝ (Romans 11:15)

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:32:23 +0000

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:

Donaldson, "Explicit References to New Testament Variant Readings"

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:16:06 +0000

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.

Marcos and Watson, "Septuagint in Context"

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:14:22 +0000

[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

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:47:31 +0000

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

Tradition and Method

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:12:56 +0000

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).

PhD Opening at Groningen

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:45:03 +0000

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’.

Biblioblog Rankings (January, 2010)

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:29:03 +0000

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.

2010 ETS Call for Papers

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:20:55 +0000

The call for papers for the 2010 annual Evangelical Theological Society meeting is available. Proposals are due by March 31. This year’s theme will be “Justification by Faith” with plenary addresses by John Piper, N. T. Wright, and Frank Thielman, a lineup that promises to be highly engaging. Moreover, this year’s program will also include, on Friday morning, a two-hour panel discussion with the plenary speakers.

Ferguson Symposium at Lipscomb University

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:24:09 +0000

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).

Zotero 2.0 Release Candidates

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:38:08 +0000

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.

RBL Newsletter (January 22, 2010)

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:58:15 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Roger S. Bagnall, Early Christian Books in Egypt, reviewed by Larry Hurtado
Adam H. Becker and Annette Yoshiko Reed, eds., The Ways That Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, reviewed by Chad Spigel
James H. Charlesworth, The Earliest Christian Hymnbook: The Odes of Solomon, reviewed by Michael Lattke
Robert Goldenberg, The Origins of Judaism: From Canaan to the Rise of Islam, reviewed by Lester L. Grabbe
Michael J. Gorman, Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul’s Narrative Soteriology, reviewed by Sigurd Grindheim
Larry R. Helyer, The Witness of Jesus, Paul and John: An Exploration in Biblical Theology, reviewed by Petrus Grabe
James Allen Hewett, New Testament Greek: A Beginning and Intermediate Grammar, reviewed by Laurence Vance
Konrad Huber and Boris Repschinski, eds., Im Geist und in der Wahrheit: Studien zum Johannesevangelium und zur Offenbarung des Johannes sowie andere Beiträge. Festschrift für Martin Hasitschka SJ zum 65. Geburtstag, reviewed by Michael Labahn
Adam Kamesar, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Philo, reviewed by Torrey Seland
Robert Kugler and Patrick Hartin, An Introduction to the Bible, reviewed by Pieter Venter
Hermann von Lips, Timotheus und Titus: Unterwegs für Paulus, reviewed by Korinna Zamfir
Eduard Lohse, Das Urchristentum: Ein Rückblick auf die Anfänge, reviewed by Markus Oehler
Stuart L. Love, Jesus and Marginal Women: The Gospel of Matthew in Social-Scientific Perspective, reviewed by Esther A. de Boer
Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, reviewed by Christopher Beetham
Osvaldo Padilla, The Speeches of Outsiders in Acts: Poetics, Theology and Historiography, reviewed by Deborah Thompson Prince
Chantal Reynier, Saint Paul sur les routes du monde romain: Infrastructures, logistique, itinéraires, reviewed by Michel Gourgues
Tom Thatcher, Greater than Caesar: Christology and Empire in the Fourth Gospel, reviewed by Benjamin Reynolds
Fabian Udoh, ed., Redefining First-Century Jewish and Christian Identities: Essays in Honor of Ed Parish Sanders, reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
Tor Vegge, Paulus und das antike Schulwesen: Schule und Bildung des Paulus, reviewed by Jens Herzer
N. T. Wright, Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision, reviewed by V. George Shillington

Hermeneutics and Cognate Fields

Want to Help SBL?

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:26:20 +0000

Take this survey about a new website that the Society of Biblical Literature is developing with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. According to today’s email announcement from the Society, the site is generally intended to function as a medium for making biblical scholarship more widely available and encouraging interaction with the biblical literature. So, if you might be interested in using such a site, head over to Survey Monkey, and give the Society your input.

Keener Interview (Part 2) Posted

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:35:32 +0000

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 Biblioblogs

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:22:27 +0000

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.

Interpretive Methods: Historical, Literary, or Ideological?

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:20:16 +0000

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).

Jesus as Paul’s Hermeneutical Key

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:12:04 +0000

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).

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 52.4

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:45:55 +0000

The winter issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in the mail today and includes the following:

New Testament

Al Wolters, “ΑΥΘΕΝΤΗΣ and Its Cognates in Biblical Greek” 719–29
Nicholas Lunn, “Jesus, the Ark, and the Day of Atonement: Intertextual Echoes in John 19:38–20:18” 731–46
David Huttar, “Did Paul Call Andronicus an Apostle in Romans 16:7?” 747–78
Joseph Hellerman, “ΜΟΡΦΗ ΘΕΟΥ as a Signifier of Social Status in Philippians 2:6” 779–97

Jewish Scripture

Jim West Is Back

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:55:33 +0000

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 Science and the Role of Crises

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:07:16 +0000

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).

Two New Dead Sea Scrolls Resources from Brill

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:31:25 +0000

Brill recently released the following two new resources for Dead Sea Scroll studies:

Biblical Texts from Qumran and Other Sites (Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance, Volume 3) [caption id=“attachment_4394” align=“alignright” width=“90” caption=“Martin Abegg Jr.”] [/caption] According to the publisher,

For decades a concordance of all the Dead Sea Scrolls has been a major desideratum for scholarship. The Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance covers all the Qumran material as published in the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series, as well as the major texts from caves 1 and 11, which appeared elsewhere.

Judges as Shepherds

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:22:09 +0000

In an essay on “Jesus, John, and the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Craig Evans observes that

Jesus’s appointment of the twelve ( Mark 3:14; 6:7) is an extension of John [the Baptist]’s typology. The Jordan River has been crossed, and now representatives of the restored tribes have reentered the promised land, announcing the rule of God. If the nation repents, restoration will take place. It will be a time when the twelve apostles will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, judging not in a condemning sense but in an administrative, even shepherding sense ( Evans 60; emphasis added).

The Commonality of Communication

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:07:41 +0000

In an introductory essay for his edited volume Modelling Early Christianity: Social-Scientific Studies of the New Testament in Its Context, Phillip Esler observes that

All human groups, however diverse, are capable of communicating with one another. Merely to entertain the possibility of one culture seeking to understand or even translate another presupposes the necessary foundations in human nature and human sociality which transcend ethnographic particularity ( Esler 6).

Was the Teacher of Righteousness Considered to Be a Messiah?

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:00:15 +0000

John Collins rightly argues that the possibility of a positive answer to this question depends heavily on what one means by משיח (messiah).

Epi-strauss-ium

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:48:22 +0000

The following poem, “Epi-strauss-ium,” by Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861) playfully draws attention to D. F. Strauss’s then recently published Das Leben Jesu, kritisch bearbeitet ( Life of Jesus Critically Examined; NAEL 2:1452 n. 1).

Matthew and Mark and Luke and holy John Evanished all and gone! Yea, he that erst, his dusky curtains quitting, Through Eastern pictured panes his level beams transmitting, With gorgeous portraits blent, On them his glories intercepted spent, Southwestering now, through windows plainly glassed, On the inside face his radiance keen hath cast, And in the luster lost, invisible, and gone, Are, say you, Matthew, Mark, and Luke and holy John? Lost, is it? lost, to be recovered never? However, The place of worship the meantime with light Is, if less richly, more sincerely bright, And in blue skies the Orb is manifest to sight.

"Blessed Be the Ties that Bind"

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:38:09 +0000

Cynthia Westfall has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “Blessed Be the Ties that Bind: Semantic Domains and Cohesive Chains in Hebrews 1.1–2.4 and 12.5–8.” Based on her investigation, Westfall concludes,

[A]n analysis of semantic domains provides a vital lens through which we can view every text. At times, it seems that the [Louw-Nida] lexicon does not do enough, and it is easy to find what appear to be shortcomings in the failure to place some words in certain semantic domains. For instance, the truncated classification of προφήτης under ‘Religious Activities’ does not remotely begin to describe the features that ‘prophet’ shares with other lexical items. In this case, the authors did not follow one of their guiding principles that a derivative (e.g. προφήτης) should be placed as close as possible to its semantic basis (e.g. προφητεύω). However, when the theory is understood, the reader realizes that the entries and glosses are suggestive, and the referential (meaning) range of any lexical unit can only be determined by a careful and, above all, a coherent reading of the surrounding context (216).

RBL Newsletter (December 31, 2009)

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:39:15 +0000

The latest, New Year’s Eve, reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

Christopher A. Beetham, Echoes of Scripture in the Letter of Paul to the Colossians, reviewed by Maarten J. J. Menken
Craig L. Blomberg and Mariam J. Kamell, James, reviewed by Wesley Wachob
Renate Banschbach Eggen, Gleichnis, Allegorie, Metapher: Zur Theorie und Praxis der Gleichnisauslegung, reviewed by John S. Kloppenborg
Gabriella Gelardini, “Verhärtet eure Herzen nicht”: Der Hebräer, eine Synagogenhomilie zu Tischa be-Aw, reviewed by Carl Mosser
François Genuyt, L’Épître aux Romains: L’instauration du sujet-Lecture sémiotique, reviewed by Jean-Paul Michaud
Christopher Gilbert, A Complete Introduction to the Bible, reviewed by Dirk G. van der Merwe
Judith Hartenstein, Charakterisierung im Dialog: Maria Magdalena, Petrus, Thomas und die Mutter Jesu im Johannesevangelium im Kontext anderer frühchristlicher Darstellungen, reviewed by Ismo Dunderberg
Adam Kamesar, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Philo, reviewed by Gregory Sterling
Patricia Walters, The Assumed Authorial Unity of Luke and Acts: A Reassessment of the Evidence, reviewed by Joel B. Green and Richard I. Pervo

Hermeneutics and Translation

Normal Science and Rules

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:42:17 +0000

While normal science does not necessarily require a full set of rules to function ( Kuhn 44), normal scientific investigation can continue without rules “only so long as the relevant scientific community accepts without question the particular problem-solutions already achieved. Rules . . . therefore become important and the characteristic unconcern about them . . . vanish[es] whenever paradigms or models are felt to be insecure” ( Kuhn 47). Debates about rules frequently occur in the pre-paradigm period, but they also typically recur when reigning paradigms come under attack from suggested inadequacies and proposed changes ( Kuhn 47–48). When a paradigm reigns unchallenged, however, the scientific community that it constitutes need not attempt to rationalize the paradigm ( Kuhn 49). Moreover, any apparent difficulties with the paradigm that cannot be resolved are typically held to result from the inadequacy of the research conducted rather than the inadequacy of the paradigm that suggests the difficulties ( Kuhn 80).

Independent Biblioblog Ranking Compilation (December 2009)

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:52:41 +0000

With the Biblioblog Top 50 moving to a semi-annual cycle, Joseph Kelly over at כל־האדם has independently compiled a chart of December’s individual Alexa rankings to finish out 2009. Jim West (a.k.a. Zwinglius Redivivus) continues to fill the top slot, and the big movers among the top 50 this month include John Hobbins ( Ancient Hebrew Poetry, up 15 spaces to number 16); Jason ( εις δοξαν, up 18 spaces to number 40); Michael Barber, Brant Pitre, and John Bergsma ( The Sacred Page, up 25 spaces to number 48); and Joel Hoffman ( God Didn’t Say That: Bible Translations and Mistranslations, up 33 spaces to number 49). New Testament Interpretation stands this month at number 213.

"Understanding ΚΛΗΣΙΣ in the New Testament"

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:27:03 +0000

Lois Dow has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “Understanding κλῆσις in the New Testament.” In this article, Dow argues that:

First, the meaning position or condition in the sense of life situation or occupation for κλῆσις in the New Testament is unwarranted. Secondly, the meaning often includes the result of the call as well as the action of calling. It can mean a status of being a called person, with its concomitant responsibilities, privileges and expectations. In this use it is linked through passages about being called (named) by new appellations or designations to the idea of having a new identity or name (198; italics original).

Paradigms and Rules

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:30:10 +0000

Assuming a paradigm’s community desires consistency, their general paradigm will dictate specific rules for the community’s research (i.e., means for investigation and standards for evaluation; Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 43, 48, 94; cf. Achinstein 413; Thiselton 711). Yet, these rules do not themselves provide coherence to a given tradition of normal science ( Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 44). Rather, these rules are interpretations of an antecedent paradigm that causes a given, normal-scientific tradition to cohere ( Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 43–44, 46). 1

"Normal" Science

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:52:41 +0000

Within a given, normal-scientific tradition, the reigning paradigm directs research by suggesting which experiments and data are relevant to resolving a given problem and which are irrelevant ( Kuhn 18, 24, 34). The paradigm also guides new and more specific theory articulation, and the paradigm permits practitioners in a given field to dispense with rearticulating the field’s foundations in each new work they produce ( Kuhn 18–20, 23, 34). Thus, a paradigm entails promises about problems that it will resolve and new achievements that it will enable, and normal science, the process in which most scientists work for most of their careers, demonstrates how these promises actually operate ( Kuhn 23–24, 30, 35–42). In all cases, however, the paradigm of a given, normal-scientific tradition definitively determines the research that is performed within that paradigm—“to desert the paradigm is to cease practicing the science it defines” ( Kuhn 34, 46). Yet, a paradigm is susceptible to various articulations as long as these diversions self-confessedly work from and toward what the paradigm’s community considers to be sufficient common ground ( Kuhn 46–47, 73; cf. Hung 62–70; see also Carson 88–89).

"Heavenly Mindedness and Earthly Good"

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:00:02 +0000

Craig Keener has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “Heavenly Mindedness and Earthly Good: Contemplating Matters Above in Colossians 3.1–2.”

This article traces in turn ancient philosophy’s contemplation of heavenly matters; evocations of such language in other early Jewish and Christian sources; the significance of our author’s christocentric [ sic] focus in his adaptation of the language in 3.1; the behavioral implications the author draws from this christocentric [ sic] focus; the intelligibility of those implications in light of ancient philosophy; and how the immediate context shapes eschatological implications in the author’s evocation of heaven. [The] focus and primary contribution [is] elaborating how ancient hearers would have received the passage, especially in view of ancient philosophy. [That is, f]or philosophers, the pure and heavenly deity was abstract and transcendent; for Colossians, the heavenly focus is Christ, fitting the christocentric [ sic] emphasis of this letter. For Colossians, contemplating Christ also leads naturally to Christlike character, in contrast to the pursuit of earthly passions (175, 190).

RBL Newsletter (December 24, 2009)

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:48:17 +0000

The latest, Christmas Eve, reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Margaret P. Aymer, First Pure, Then Peaceable: Frederick Douglass Reads James, reviewed by Wesley Wachob
Michael F. Bird and James G. Crossley, How Did Christianity Begin? A Believer and Non-believer Examine the Evidence, reviewed by Leif Vaage
John Byron, Recent Research on Paul and Slavery, reviewed by Lars Kierspel
Carl P. Cosaert, The Text of the Gospels in Clement of Alexandria, reviewed by Michael Bird
Jesús Luzarraga, El Evangelio de Juan en las versiones siríacas, reviewed by Ilaria L. E. Ramelli
James F. McGrath, The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context, reviewed by Lori Baron

Hermeneutics and Cognate Fields

Theological Writing Handout 0.8.4, Beta

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:24:53 +0000

The Theological Writing Handout has been updated. For the minor changes since the previously announced update, please see the 0.8.1 to 0.8.2, 0.8.2 to 0.8.3, and 0.8.3 to 0.8.4 change logs. The current version can be viewed and downloaded below or from Scribd.

2010 SECSOR Presentation

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:26:16 +0000

A few weeks ago, I received confirmation that my paper, “‫ מורה הצדק‬ as a Hermeneutical Functionary in the Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts,” has been accepted for presentation at the 2010 meeting of the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion. Here is a brief abstract:

Although a good deal of work has been done on the hermeneutical method(s) found at Qumran, to date, insufficient attention has been given to the presuppositional matrix that allowed these methods to function at Qumran as they did. For, after all, considered in themselves, theses and interpretations appear valid not primarily because of the method by which they were derived but because of the perceived fit between a given thesis and an accepted worldview paradigm. Therefore, this paper will seek to show: (1) that ‫מורה הצדק‬ ( the teacher of righteousness) himself definitively determined the Qumran community’s hermeneutical matrix in certain, specific respects and (2) that these specific determinations helped the Qumran community understand their scriptures in conjunction with what they knew to be their own, special position in ‫’יהוה‬s plan for Israel.

"Early Readers of the Gospels"

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:03:51 +0000

Greg Goswell has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “Early Readers of the Gospels: The Kephalaia and Titloi of Codex Alexandrinus.” Goswell observes that “there is substantial variation among the codices [Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, and Sinaiticus] with regard to where [chapter] divisions are placed” (135) and argues that

A survey of the kephalaia in the four Gospels [of Alexandrinus] indicates that their placement is not haphazard but reflects an evaluation of the flow of the narratives and shows insight into the meaning of the story. Some breaks are close together, but others are widely separated. There are considerable differences in the length of the sections, reflecting a perception of the nature of the text by those responsible for the sectioning. Even a glance at the headings assigned to the kephalaia reveal the large element of commonality between the four Gospels (e.g. the headings of Mt. A6, Mk A4 and Lk. A12 that all read ‘Concerning the leper’), but they also bring to light, at times, what is distinctive about particular Gospels (e.g. the differing themes of the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke). . . . The function of a textual break in separating or joining material has at times provided . . . exegetical insights. One clear trend within all four Gospels is the highlighting of the element of the miraculous in the ministry of Jesus and (the reverse side of this) the downplaying of his teaching. The headings usually focus on the fact of controversy between Jesus and the religious leaders rather than what issues were controverted. The lack of attention given to dominical passion predictions and the paucity of divisions within the passion narrative itself suggest that there is little focus upon the suffering and atoning death of Jesus. Instead the divisions in the passion narratives reflect a homiletical tradition (or liturgical usage) in which there is a moralistic focus on positive and negative ethical examples (172–74).

RBL Newsletter (November 30, 2009)

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:23:56 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Susan R. Garrett, No Ordinary Angel: Celestial Spirits and Christian Claims about Jesus, reviewed by Tobias Nicklas
Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Our Mother Saint Paul, reviewed by Pamela Eisenbaum
James M. Howard, Paul, the Community, and Progressive Sanctification: An Exploration into Community-Based Transformation within Pauline Theology, reviewed by Ron Clark
Jeremy F. Hultin, The Ethics of Obscene Speech in Early Christianity and Its Environment, reviewed by Stephan Witetschek
Christine E. Joynes, ed., Perspectives on the Passion: Encountering the Bible through the Arts, reviewed by Christopher Rowland
Steve Mason, Josephus, Judea, and Christian Origins: Methods and Categories, reviewed by Sean Freyne
Tim Newton, The Forgotten Gospels: Life and Teachings of Jesus Supplementary to the New Testament: A New Translation, reviewed by Thomas Bergholz
Maria-Zoe Petropoulou, Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, and Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200, reviewed by Adele Reinhartz
John F. A. Sawyer, A Concise Dictionary of the Bible and Its Reception, reviewed by C. L. Seow
Gerhard H. Visscher, Romans 4 and the New Perspective on Paul: Faith Embraces the Promise, reviewed by Don Garlington
Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, Preaching the Gospel of Mark: Proclaiming the Power of God, reviewed by Antipas L. Harris

Jewish Scripture and Cognate Studies

This Year's IBR Giveaway

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:27:02 +0000

At the Friday night meeting of the Institute for Biblical Research, there is traditionally a book giveaway of some kind. At my first IBR last year, attendees received M. Daniel Carroll R.’s Christians at the Border and either Theological Interpretation of the New Testament (ed. Kevin Vanhoozer, Daniel Treier, and N. T. Wright) or Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament (ed. Kevin Vanhoozer, Craig Bartholomew, and Daniel Treier).

Biblical Studies Carnival 48

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:00:31 +0000

Clayboy has this month’s Biblical Studies Carnival organized mostly into straight, topical lists and hopes to provide subsequently some additional reflections “on whither the [ballooning] Carnival might go in future years.”

An Introduction to Gadamer

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:00:12 +0000

Over at Per Caritatem, Cynthia Nielsen has begun an introduction to the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer. For as many as I have read, Cynthia’s posts are perennially interesting and clearly conceived. Not surprisingly, this series’ beginning very much continues that pattern, and I am sure this series’ future posts will also be quite worthwhile reading.

Biblioblog Top 50 (November 2009)

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:46:22 +0000

Despite a self-enforced blogging hiatus to complete an ETS paper that was almost itself three things that were never satisfied and four that never said enough (cf. Prov 30:15b), New Testament Interpretation rose 17 spaces in November to slot 134 from the drop to 151 that it had seen the previous month at the front of the hiatus. Thanks to everyone for their interest even during the break. I trust this post will constitute a return to a more active NTI.

Bookshelf Updates

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:18:26 +0000

Subheadings have now come to the bookshelf. Some of the lists of works under main headings had become quite long and unwieldy, but the subheadings should help minimize the length of the individual lists.

While additional subsections will certainly be required as the bookshelf grows, the sections presently large enough to demand subheadings include Gospels ( Jesus, parables) and hermeneutics ( biblical interpretation, general hermeneutics, methodology).

RBL Newsletter (October 17, 2009)

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:50:55 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Brevard Childs, The Church’s Guide for Reading Paul: The Canonical Shaping of the Pauline Corpus, reviewed by Paul E. Trainor
Desta Heliso, Pistis and the Righteous One: A Study of Romans 1:17 against the Background of Scripture and Second Temple Jewish Literature, reviewed by Lars Kierspel
Martin Mosse, The Three Gospels: New Testament History Introduced by the Synoptic Problem, reviewed by Pheme Perkins
Charles Puskas, The Conclusion of Luke-Acts: The Significance of Acts 28:16–31, reviewed by Deborah Thompson Prince
Huub van de Sandt and Jürgen Zangenberg, eds., Matthew, James, and Didache: Three Related Documents in Their Jewish and Christian Settings, reviewed by William Varner
Robert Stein, Mark, reviewed by Joel F. Williams
Alan Thompson, One Lord, One People: The Unity of the Church in Acts in Its Literary Setting, reviewed by Bobby Kelly

Jewish Scripture and Cognate Studies

Maturing Scientific Communities

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:20:34 +0000

As young scientists routinely obtain, through education, their introduction into mature, scientific communities, young scientific communities may require some time to mature and develop their communities’ paradigms ( Kuhn 11). During this early phase, nascent scientific communities typically involve different schools of thought that seek “relevant” facts somewhat individualistically according to whatever paradigms they find most influential from other areas of thought ( Kuhn 15–17). Typically, one of these “pre-paradigm schools” will triumph over the others at some point and usher in a community’s paradigmatic period ( Kuhn 17–18). The precise point of transition from nascent to mature scientific community is seldom easily identifiable, but neither is this transition completely obscured because of the notable advances achieved in the move from the pre-paradigm period into the paradigm period. Instead, a general, historical period can typically be identified in which this transition occurred for any given, mature field (cf. Kuhn 21–22).

Better News for Biblical Studies at Sheffield

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:07:32 +0000

The Facebook group “Don’t Shut down Biblical Studies at Sheffield” has reported to its 1100+ members that “[t]he Biblical Studies Department is essentially back from the dead.”

Jim West has the university’s memo to this effect posted on his blog.

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 52.3

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:32:20 +0000

The fall issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in the mail yesterday and includes the following:

New Testament

Kevin W. McFadden, “The Fulfillment of the Law’s Dikaiōma: Another Look at Romans 8:1–4,” pgs. 483–97

Jewish Scriptures

Greg Goswell, “The Order of the Books in the Greek Old Testament,” pgs. 449–66
Chee-Chiew Lee, “גים in Genesis 35:11 and the Abrahamic Promise of Blessings for the Nations,” pgs. 467–82
Andrew S. Malone, “God the Illeist: Third-Person Self-References and Trinitarian Hints in the Old Testament,” pgs. 499–518

Systematic Theology

Good News for Biblical Studies at Sheffield

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:49:31 +0000

Biblical studies students at Sheffield apparently now have some good news. According to Christianity Today,

Following student protests, the University of Sheffield in England decided to not close the department of biblical studies. A review by the pro-vice-chancellor had recommended shutting down the department down after current and 2009-2010 students completed their degrees, citing the loss of staff and declining student demand. At 8 a.m. today, 1,064 members had joined the Facebook group “Don’t shut down Biblical Studies at Sheffield” and a website was created to send the vice chancellor petition letters, several of which were posted on the website. . . . “The number of [student] entries last year were capped at eight, but this year’s graduates and level three students represent all-time high figures,” Hurrell said in an e-mail. “While five senior lecturers have left over the last 2 years, the university has not allowed the department permanent staff to replace them for a variety of reasons.” The university senate was supposed to vote on the department’s future on October 7, but after students heard through the students’ union and protested, the decision was postponed. . . . Taylor said that the the faculty will draw up plans for the department, including new staff appointments.

מורה הצדק and Qumran Hermeneutics

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:45:13 +0000

In working through some bibliography recently for a conference paper proposal about מורה הצדק ( the teacher of righteousness), I came across the following:

Der Lehrer [der Gerechtigkeit] ist von Gott autorisiert, die Geheimnisse der Prophetenworte zu enträtseln, denn die Worte der Propheten sind Geheimnisse (רזים [pHab] 7,5), die man ohne Auslegung des Lehrers nicht verstehen kann. Der Lehrer tritt also mit seiner Verkündigung nicht neben die Schrift, sondern er basiert auf der Schrift. Er allein hat von Gott das rechte Verständnis offenbart bekommen. Darum kann er und mit ihm seine Gemeinde nach dem Willen Gottes leben ( Jeremias 141).

Hermeneutics and “the Near”

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:37:30 +0000

Concerning interpreters’ obligation to look beyond themselves, Hans-Georg Gadamer observes the following:

We are always affected, in hope and fear, by what is nearest to us, and hence we approach the testimony of the past under its influence. Thus it is constantly necessary to guard against overhastily assimilating the past to our own expectations of meaning. Only then can we listen to tradition in a way that permits it to make its own meaning heard ( Gadamer 304).

Paradigms and Communities

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:04:01 +0000

In Thomas Kuhn’s analysis, new paradigms attract adherents from older alternatives by producing sufficiently unprecedented achievements, but these new paradigms still leave work to be done because of the new problems that they create or the new issues they suggest ( Kuhn 10, 17–18, 80). Yet, the community that accepts a given paradigm implicitly judges the problems that the paradigm introduces to be less severe than those that it resolves ( Kuhn 23).

Supporting Sheffield's Students

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:39:14 +0000

Biblical Studies students at the University of Sheffield have a new website with a list of ways that others can show support for the Biblical Studies Department there as it faces the possibility of closure.

HT: Mark Goodacre, Jim West

RBL Newsletter (October 4, 2009)

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:29:54 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Lars Aejmelaeus and Antti Mustakallio, eds., The Nordic Paul: Finnish Approaches to Pauline Theology, reviewed by Erik Heen
Dietrich-Alex Koch, Hellenistisches Christentum: Schriftverständnis-Ekklesiologie-Geschichte, reviewed by Friedrich Reiterer
M. Sydney Park, Submission within the Godhead and the Church in the Epistle to the Philippians: An Exegetical and Theological Examination of the Concept of Submission in Philippians 2 and 3, reviewed by Mark A. Jennings
Jonathan T. Pennington and Sean M. McDonough, Cosmology and New Testament Theology, reviewed by Michael J. Lakey
Enno Edzard Popkes, Die Theologie der Liebe Gottes in den johanneischen Schriften: Zur Semantik der Liebe und zum Motivkreis des Dualismus, reviewed by Jan G. van der Watt
Jens Schröter, Von Jesus zum Neuen Testament: Studien zur urchristlichen Theologiegeschichte und zur Entstehung des neutestamentlichen Kanons, reviewed by Nils Neumann
David Sim and Boris Repschinski, eds., Matthew and His Christian Contemporaries, reviewed by Glenna Jackson
Lawrence M. Wills, Not God’s People: Insiders and Outsiders in the Biblical World, reviewed by Lara van der Zee-Hanssen

Other Fields

Kuhn and Popper

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:54:19 +0000

Thomas Kuhn acknowledges that Sir Karl Popper’s work earlier in the twentieth century somewhat anticipated his own view of science (Kuhn, Essential Tension 267). Nevertheless, Kuhn also identifies two meaningful distinctions that his work has vis-à-vis Popper’s ( Worrall 66–71). First, Kuhn perceives favorably deep commitments to normal scientific traditions because these traditions (1) encourage substantive study of very specific issues and (2) prepare the way for scientific revolutions (Kuhn, Essential Tension 268; cf. Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 28, 65). Second, Kuhn prefers to consider paradigmatic revolutions in terms of a process of competition rather than falsification as the newly accepted paradigm may itself also eventually be replaced (Kuhn, Essential Tension 268; Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 2, 8, 12, 151–52).

New Reference Works from OUP

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:55:12 +0000

The following two reference works are recently published or forthcoming from Oxford University Press, albeit with rather hefty, retail price tags:

[caption id=“attachment_3613” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Roger Bagnall”] [/caption]Publisher’s Summary: Thousands of texts, written over a period of three thousand years on papyri and potsherds, in Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, Persian, and other languages, have transformed our knowledge of many aspects of life in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology provides an introduction to the world of these ancient documents and literary texts, ranging from the raw materials of writing to the languages used, from the history of papyrology to its future, and from practical help in reading papyri to frank opinions about the nature of the work of papyrologists. This volume, the first major reference work on papyrology written in English, takes account of the important changes experienced by the discipline within especially the last thirty years. Including new work by twenty-seven international experts and more than one hundred illustrations, The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology will serve as an invaluable guide to the subject.[caption id=“attachment_3612” align=“alignleft” width=“90” caption=“Michael Gagarin”] [/caption]Publisher’s Summary: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome is the clearest and most accessible guide to the world of classical antiquity ever produced. This multivolume reference work is a comprehensive overview of the major cultures of the classical Mediterranean world—Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman—from the Bronze Age to the fifth century CE. It also covers the legacy of the classical world and its interpretation and influence in subsequent centuries. The Encyclopedia brings the work of the best classical scholars, archaeologists, and historians together in an easy-to-use format. The articles, written by leading scholars in the field, seek to convey the significance of the people, places, and historical events of classical antiquity, together with its intellectual and material culture. Broad overviews of literature, history, archaeology, art, philosophy, science, and religion are complimented by articles on authors and their works, literary genres and periods, historical figures and events, archaeologists and archaeological sites, artists and artistic themes and materials, philosophers and philosophical schools, scientists and scientific areas, gods, heroes, and myths.

Biblioblog Top 50 (September 2009)

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:42:35 +0000

Per the Biblioblog Top 50, New Testament Interpretation actually rose 74 spaces in August to 104. Thanks very much to everyone for their interest last month.

Ecclesia Reformanda 1.2

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:34:51 +0000

The second issue of Ecclesia Reformanda is almost finished. This issue includes:

"‘And Their Children After Them’: A Response to Reformed Baptist Readings of Jeremiah’s New Covenant Promises," by Neil G. T. Jeffers

Journal’s Abstract: The promise of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34 is a key text in the infant baptism debate. For Baptists, it describes the discontinuity between Old and New Covenants, highlighting in particular the individual, unbreakable, more subjective nature of the new. While paedobaptists often respond defensively, Jeremiah 32:37-41, where this promise is echoed with the important addition ‘for their own good and the good of their children after them’, suggests the Old Covenant principle of family solidarity may remain in place. This article re-examines the Baptist argument, and suggests closer exegesis shows that even Jeremiah 31 still includes children in the New Covenant.

Burnett Streeter and Proto-Luke

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:52:12 +0000

In his Four Gospels, Burnett Streeter articulates his view of the sources of Luke and proto-Luke as follows:

The hypothesis I propose in no way conflicts with the generally accepted view that Matthew and Luke are ultimately dependent not only on Mark but on Q—meaning by Q a single written source. Most, if not all, of the agreements of Matthew and Luke, where Mark is absent, are, I think, to be referred to Q; but I desire to interpolate a stage between Q and the editor of the Third Gospel. I conceive that what this editor had before him was, not Q in its original form—which, I hold, included hardly any narrative and no account of the Passion—but Q+L, that is, Q embodied in a larger document, a kind of “Gospel” in fact, which I will call Proto-Luke. This Proto-Luke would have been slightly longer than Mark, and about one-third of its total contents consisted of materials derived from Q (Streeter 208).

New Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:48:28 +0000

Three recent, Brill publications on the intersections between the New Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls include:

[caption id=“attachment_3522” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Florentino García Martínez”] [/caption]

Publisher’s Summary: In spite of the amount of literature on the relationship between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament, no consensus among the scholars has emerged as yet on how to explain both the similarities and the differences among the two corpora of religious writings. This volume contains a revised form of the contributions to an “experts meeting” held at the Catholic University of Leuven on December 2007 dedicated to explore the relationship among the two corpora and to understand both the commonalities and the differences between the two corpora from the perspective of the common ground from which both corpora have developed: the Hebrew Bible.

Kuhn and Kant

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:31:24 +0000

In the later half of the twentieth-century, Thomas Kuhn reappropriated and significantly adapted Immanuel Kant’s qualifications of empirical science (Kuhn, Essential Tension 336–37; Kuhn, Since Structure 103–104, 264). First published in 1962, Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions replaced Kant’s transcendental truths of reason with theoretical ‘paradigms’ (cf. Kuhn, Since Structure 264). This understanding puts Kuhn in an interesting position from which to shed light on the hermeneutical dimensions of biblical studies. Naturally, there have been some recent qualifications and objections to this application that deserve attention.

Stark Savings

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:17:06 +0000

Earlier this week, my wife, Carrie, started blogging at Stark Savings with some of the mass of the great deals that she finds and assorted other money-saving tips. The shopping results in her post from Tuesday about her most recent trip to Harris Teeter are pretty typical.

Somehow, I doubt that Stark Savings will come up in the list of biblioblogs and related blogs any time soon, but it could work: getting better deals > spending less money > having more money > buying more books about biblical studies. Or, maybe not ;-). In any case, particularly any biblical studies students or their family members who read this blog may also want to check out Stark Savings.

Evernote for Windows Overhaul

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:57:02 +0000

Evernote is a program that manages assorted notes and images while attempting to render searchable any text—even handwritten text—that is in its database. While the program already provides some very useful features for biblical studies research, a beta version of a major overhaul for Evernote’s Windows client is now available. The new version mostly aims to enhance performance and to make future improvements easier.

Two Online Journals

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:41:36 +0000

As news to me, I recently found Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal and the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures openly accessible online.

Online, Hermeneutics Resources

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:39:59 +0000

Mark Goodacre has updated the hermeneutics page at New Testament Gateway to include Holger Szesnat’s substantial list of online resources for biblical hermeneutics.

Theological Writing Handout 0.8.1, Beta

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:51:23 +0000

The Theological Writing Handout has been updated. The major change from 0.7 (beta) to 0.8 (beta) is the addition of example insets for each type of source that the handout mentions (see §32.11). The most recent version, 0.8.1 (beta), contains some minor, pagination changes in comparison with version 0.8. For fuller details on the changes made since version 0.7, please see the 0.7 to 0.8 and the 0.8 to 0.8.1 change logs.

RBL Newsletter (September 19, 2009)

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:30:19 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

L. Stephanie Cobb, Dying to Be Men: Gender and Language in Early Christian Martyr Texts, reviewed by Jan Willem van Henten
J. Edward Crowley and Paul L. Danove, The Rhetoric of Characterization of God, Jesus, and Jesus’ Disciples in the Gospel of Mark, reviewed by Seán P. Kealy
F. Gerald Downing, God with Everything: The Divine in the Discourse of the First Christian Century, reviewed by Michael Lakey
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, reviewed by Shayna Sheinfeld
Matthew J. Marohl, Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews: A Social Identity Approach, reviewed by Renate Viveen Hood
Etienne Nodet, The Historical Jesus? Necessity and Limits of an Inquiry, reviewed by James West
Ilaria Ramelli and David Konstan, Terms for Eternity: Aiônios and Aïdios in Classical and Christian Texts, reviewed by Jan G. van der Watt
Kevin J. Vanhoozer, ed., Theological Interpretation of the New Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey, reviewed by Erik Heen

Hermeneutics

A Plea for Scholarly Engagement

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:04:56 +0000

Steve Runge has posted a fantastic essay on “The Bane of Dismissive Scholarship.” Among his most poignant statements are the following:

[T]he literature review and preparation for writing the paper. . . . is where I should be adding to my already profound arsenal of Knowledge, filling my cup til it runneth over. Realistically, I feel like many use this stage to fill their quiver with barbs that they will launch at other scholars. Why? Because some folks seem more interested in being right than in getting it right. . . . The specific issue that has got me in a tizzy is folks getting it mostly right, but being dismissed because of the portion that is lacking. To put it another way, instead of remodeling the missing element of the structure, they demo the whole thing so that THEY can be the builder, THEY can save the day. . . . It behooves me in writing my paper to stop and ask what my objective is: to be right or to get it right? If I am claiming something that no one else has ever claimed before, I have good reason to fear. If I am claiming something that represents the core idea the grammarians have expressed for over a century and I can build on or clarify that argument, there is a far greater chance of getting things right. It is a win-win: in getting it right, I get to be right (Runge, “Dismissive Scholarship”; italics and capitalization original).

Free Resources from BAS

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:25:27 +0000

The Biblical Archaeology Society catalog arrived yesterday with a list of free resources in the back, most of which are relevant for New Testament and related studies. Among these works are:

Island Jewels: Understanding Ancient Cyprus and Crete. 2008. 66 pages. Contributors include Steven Feldman, David Soren, Hershel Shanks, Marina Solomidou-Ieronymidou, Nancy Serwint, Jeremy McInerney, and Joan G. Scheuer.
The Dead Sea Scrolls—What They Really Say. 2007. 24 pages. By Hershel Shanks.
The Burial of Jesus. 2007. 63 pages. Contributors include Jodi Magness, Amos Kloner, Dan Bahat, Gabriel Barkay, Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, Gabriel Barkay and Amos Kloner, and Richard J. Bauckham.
Real or Fake? A Special Report. 2007. 29 pages. By Hershel Shanks. Also available at this URL as a separate file is the abstracts appendix. 2007. 83 pages. Contributors include Shmuel Ahituv, Gabriel Barkay, Chaim Cohen, Aaron Demsky, David Noel Freedman, Edward Greenstein, Avi Hurwitz, Wolfgang Krumbein, André Lemaire, Alan Millard, Ronny Reich, Amnon Rosenfeld and Howard R. Feldman, Hershel Shanks, Andrew Vaughn, Ada Yardeni, Gerald B. Richards, and Gabriel Barkay.

All of these works are helpfully illustrated. To access these resources, you will need to submit your name and email address, and you will receive an email with download information.

Online Papers and Lectures

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:19:29 +0000

Michael Bird comments that the papers for next week’s Louven conference, “New Perspectives on Paul and the Jews,” are available for download. Of the presenters listed in the program, only Anne-Marie Reijnen’s paper on " Kosmos and Creation in Paul’s Thought" is not currently available.

Additionally, in the developing list of audio and video resources over at Evangelical Textual Criticism:

Little Bunny Fufu Meets the Maccabees

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:46:37 +0000

Sometimes, a bit of humor or oddity can be pedagogically advantageous. In this connection, I have tried to fit the chief, Maccabean figures into the chorus from “Little Bunny Fufu” (who may apparently appear, at least occasionally, as “Little Rabbit Fufu” in the UK) ( midi audio, lyrics).

Gems from Justin

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:45:03 +0000

While reading around Justin Martyr’s First Apology this morning, I came across a few interesting points.

Historical In discussing the injustice of Christians’ condemnation, Justin says,

By the mere application of a name, nothing is decided, either good or evil, apart from the actions implied in the name; and indeed, so far at least as one may judge from the name we are accused of, we are most excellent people. But as we do not think it just to beg to be acquitted on account of the name, if we be convicted as evil-doers, so, on the other hand, if we be found to have committed no offence, either in the matter of thus naming ourselves, or of our conduct as citizens, it is your part very earnestly to guard against incurring just punishment, by unjustly punishing those who are not convicted. For from a name neither praise nor punishment could reasonably spring, unless something excellent or base in action be proved. And those among yourselves who are accused you do not punish before they are convicted; but in our case you receive the name as proof against us, and this although, so far as the name goes, you ought rather to punish our accusers. For we are accused of being Christians, and to hate what is excellent (Chrestian) is unjust (Justin, 1 Apol. 4; emphasis added).

New in the Review of Biblical Literature

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:01:18 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Dan R. Stiver, Life Together in the Way of Jesus Christ: An Introduction to Christian Theology, reviewed by Yolanda Dreyer
James M. Robinson, Jesus: According to the Earliest Witness, reviewed by Petri Luomanen
Marvin Meyer, Judas: The Definitive Collection of Gospels and Legends about the Infamous Apostle of Jesus, reviewed by Philip Tite
Andrew T. Lincoln and Angus Paddison, eds., Christology and Scripture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, reviewed by Douglas Campbell
Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons, Illuminating Luke, Volume 3: The Passion and Resurrection Narratives in Italian Renaissance and Baroque Painting, reviewed by Thomas E. Phillips
Axel Graupner and Michael Wolter, eds., Moses in Biblical and Extra-biblical Traditions, reviewed by Hallvard Hagelia
Beverly Roberts Gaventa and Richard B. Hays, eds., Seeking the Identity of Jesus: A Pilgrimage, reviewed by Mark Elliott
Daniel Durken, ed., The New Collegeville Bible Commentary: New Testament, reviewed by Peter Judge
Lawrence DiPaolo Jr., Hymn Fragments Embedded in the New Testament: Hellenistic Jewish and Greco-Roman Parallels, reviewed by Daniel Darko
Augustine Casiday and Frederick W. Norris, The Cambridge History of Christianity, Volume 2: Constantine to c. 600, reviewed by Paul Dilley
Richard Bauckham, The Jewish World around the New Testament: Collected Essays 1, reviewed by Christoph Stenschke
Octavian D. Baban, On the Road Encounters in Luke-Acts: Hellenistic Mimesis and Luke’s Theology of the Way, reviewed by Ron Clark

Other Fields

Biblioblog Unit Steering Committee Formed

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:21:45 +0000

Jim West reports that the steering committee for the Society of Biblical Literature’s Biblioblog Program Unit has been formed. The committee will initially consist of April DeConick, Mark Goodacre, Stephanie Fisher, and Robert Cargill. The committee will begin working with plans for the 2010 SBL meeting in Atlanta.

History and Hermeneutics

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:09:19 +0000

To the extent that New Testament Studies is a historical discipline, it shares the features of other historical disciplines. Among these features are its own historical-affectedness:

If we are trying to understand a historical phenomenon from the historical distance that is characteristic of our hermeneutical situation, we are always already affected by history. It determines in advance both what seems to us worth inquiring about and what will appear as an object of investigation, and we more or less forget half of what is really there—in fact, we miss the whole truth of the phenomenon—when we take its immediate appearance as the whole truth ( Gadamer 300).

Background Transparency for the Biblioblog-SBL Affiliate Badge

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:58:51 +0000

Thanks to Mark Hoffman for introducing a version of the Biblioblog-SBL Affiliate badge with a non-white background. With this color change, in an effort at collaborative improvement, I was able to get OpenOffice.org Draw to translate this background to transparent for use on blogs or places on blogs with non-white backgrounds.

"The Origin of 'Alpha and Omega'"

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:51:28 +0000

David Lincicum has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “The Origin of “Alpha and Omega” (Revelation 1.8; 21.6; 22.13): A Suggestion.” Lincicum takes his point of departure from the fact that

[Some] scholars have suggested that the title ‘Alpha and Omega’ in Revelation arose through reflection on the Greek form of the divine name, ΙΑΩ. This note takes up and extends that evidence to put forth the possibility that John ‘exegeted’ the divine name, in light of Isaiah 40–48 and emerging scribal practices of abbreviating the nomina sacra, as a reference to Jesus as the Alpha and Omega ( Lincicum 128).

The Deliverance of God

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:10:01 +0000

Douglas Campbell

Douglas Campbell’s new book, The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul, has come to publication at Eerdmans. The publisher’s description reports that:

In this scholarly book Douglas Campbell pushes beyond both “Lutheran” and “New” perspectives on Paul to a noncontractual, “apocalyptic” reading of many of the apostle’s most famous-and most troublesome-texts.

Campbell holds that the intrusion of an alien, essentially modern, and theologically unhealthy theoretical construct into the interpretation of Paul has produced an individualistic and contractual construct that shares more with modern political traditions than with either orthodox theology or Paul’s first-century world. In order to counteract that influence, Campbell argues that it needs to be isolated and brought to the foreground before the interpretation of Paul’s texts begins. When that is done, readings free from this intrusive paradigm become possible and surprising new interpretations unfold.

NIV Update Slated for 2011

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:19:52 +0000

The widely used New International Version is slated for an update in 2011, its first revision in 25 years. According to the press release:

“As time passes and English changes, the NIV we have at present is becoming increasingly dated. If we want a Bible that English speakers around the world can understand, we have to listen to, and respect, the vocabulary they are using today.” . . . “The new 2011 NIV is all about maintaining and enhancing the original values of the NIV for today’s readers.” . . . “We’re looking for a translation that is above all accurate – that says what the original authors said in the way they would have said it had they been speaking in English to the global English-speaking audience today. We’re looking for a translation that offers clarity – where understanding comes naturally and readers can quickly grasp the original authors’ ideas and the cadence of their language. We’re looking for a translation that is suitable both for in-depth study and for outreach – a translation that Christians can share with their neighbors without hindrance whether they are experienced Bible readers or interested newcomers.

In the Biblioblogs

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:12:21 +0000

A few recent, noteworthy posts in the biblioblogs:

Michael Bird and Michael Whitenton have an article in the newest issue of New Testament Studies: “The Faithfulness of Jesus Christ in Hippolytus’s De Christo et Antichristo: Overlooked Patristic Evidence in the Πίστις Χριστοῦ Debate.”

2009 Carver-Barnes Lectures

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:48:56 +0000

This post is somewhat belated, but I have just recently been able to listen to this year’s Carver-Barnes Lectures. On March 25, Ken Myers delivered a lecture on the “Comprehensive Character of Christian Discipleship.” Ken followed on the 26th with a lecture on the “Counter-Cultural Imperative for Christian Disciplers.”

As much as a good many discussions of the relationship(s) between Christianity and culture lack a certain degree of care and nuance, Ken has a number of highly astute insights, not least on issues related to the anthropology of the modern, Western Christian community. In addition, Ken’s irenic disposition in these lectures and in the colloquium that followed made his observations and suggestions all the more engaging.

Alexander's Effects

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:00:42 +0000

Through his vast conquests, Alexander’s comparatively short life left several important marks on history:

Alexander’s conquests effected a substantial influx of Greeks into various areas around the known world, and these Greeks brought their distinctive culture with them ( Ferguson 13). To be sure, the Greeks had already established several colonies outside the Balkan Peninsula by this time, but after Alexander’s conquests, the numbers of Greeks living in other lands and degree of their influence with these lands’ native peoples significantly increased ( Ferguson 13; Schürer 1:11).
Alexander’s life allowed the culture that the Greek conquerors and settlers had carried with them to take hold more quickly and firmly in foreign soil than it might otherwise have done ( Ferguson 14). This increased exposure to Greek culture was especially significant for the peoples of the Near East, including the Jews ( Ferguson 14).
Alexander’s campaigns spread Attic-standard currency throughout the known world, and this distribution enhanced economic consistency also increased people’s economic interconnectedness ( Ferguson 14; Wright 153).
Although the Greek language was relatively widespread in the fifth century BC, it became vastly more disseminated through Alexander’s conquests ( Blass & Debrunner §2; Caragounis 566; Deissmann 58; Ferguson 14; Moule 1; Voelz 912, 931; Wallace 15, 17–18; Wright 153). In turn, this wide dissemination among non-native speakers caused a certain simplification of the classical tongue ( Ferguson 14; Wallace 15, 19).
The non-Greek world became vastly more acquainted with Greek philosophy and the use of it to describe a way of life ( Ferguson 14; Wright 153).
The increased acquaintance with Greek philosophy entailed a general increase in the overall level of education ( Ferguson 14). While this increase in education was certainly not evenly distributed throughout the empire (Schürer 1:11), more people were better educated and more literate than they had previously been, and this fact, combined with the use of Koine as a lingua franca for the Greek empire as a whole, increased communication among people from different cultures ( Ferguson 14).
As Greek language and philosophy spread, so did Greek religion, though it too had begun to spread before Alexander’s time ( Ferguson 14; cf. Schürer 1:11). In particular, Alexander’s conquests abroad significantly increased the adoption of Greek deities and the practice of identifying local deities with the members of the Greek pantheon ( Ferguson 14; see Schürer 1:11–29).
The Alexandrian conquests effected greater urbanization in the lands they affected, tending to present the polis, rather than the countryside, village, or temple-state, as the fundamental backbone of societal structure (cf. Plato 414d–415e; see Ferguson 14).
Finally, despite the spread of things like similar language, philosophy, culture, and economics more broadly ( Blass & Debrunner §2; Deissmann 59; Voelz 912, 931; Wallace 15, 17; Wright 153), Grecian conquest introduced greater opportunities for individualism as Greek conventions provided alternatives to traditional ones ( Ferguson 14). In such an environment, perhaps contrary to what had gone before it, choices of individuals in the conquered lands could receive greater priority than the things that these individuals would have otherwise inherited from their communities of origin ( Ferguson 14–15).

In large measure, therefore, Alexander’s conquests accelerated the development or increased the strength of Hellenic influences that were already beginning to creep toward many of the areas that he subjugated.

Creating Research Timelines in Excel

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:14:01 +0000

Although it certainly can be used otherwise, a progress tracking system like the one Paul Silvia suggests in his book How to Write a Lot seems to work best for writing that can be open ended: by following a regular writing schedule, projects can regularly and reliably come to completion. What happens, however, if one is working under a deadline (be it self-imposed or not) and, therefore, needs to develop a writing schedule backwards from this due date?

The Rise and Division of Hellenic Empire

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:37:37 +0000

With Phillip II of Macedon’s (359–336 BC) son, Alexander the Great (356–323 BC), the Greeks established an empire vast enough to influence Palestine (see Ferguson 10, 13). When Thebes revolted after his father’s death, Alexander successfully re-unified the Greek city-states, albeit by conquest ( Plutarch, Alex. 11.3–6; Ferguson 12), and Alexander was made head of the campaign against Persia in his father’s stead ( Arrian, Anab. 1.1; cf. 1 Macc 1:1). In prosecuting this campaign, Alexander moved through Asia Minor ( Plutarch, Alex. 24.1), Phoenicia ( Plutarch, Alex. 24.1–25.2), Palestine ( Plutarch, Alex. 25.3–5), Egypt ( Plutarch, Alex. 26), Mesopotamia ( Plutarch, Alex. 31), Iran ( Plutarch, Alex. 37), and even as far as India ( Plutarch, Alex. 55; cf. 1 Macc 1:3–4) before dying in Babylon from a fever ( Plutarch, Alex. 75; cf. 1 Macc 1:5; see Ferguson 12). Yet, throughout these conquests, Alexander typically replaced neither the ruling class nor the religions in these conquered areas ( Ferguson 12). Rather, instead of primarily intending and explicitly acting to spread Hellenism, Alexander concentrated on appointing governors, placing garrisons, and founding cities ( Ferguson 12), things that eventually did indeed create and spread Hellenism.

Keeping Things in Perspective

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:00:42 +0000

In mid-June, I posted a review of Paul Silvia’s book How to Write a Lot with an additional tool for tracking writing progress. Yet, for academic work, non-productive non-writing time can be at least as important as important:

Is academic writing more important than spending time with your family and friends, petting the dog, and drinking coffee? A dog unpetted is a sad dog; a cup of coffee forsaken is caffeine lost forever. Protect your real-world time just as you protect your scheduled writing time ( Silvia 132).

Historical Backgrounds

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:00:08 +0000

Over the coming weeks, I plan to write a series of posts that outline some background issues that seem particularly relevant for New Testament interpretation. Of the numerous points of historical background that could be included here, four dimensions of the period leading up to the turn of the era will initially receive attention. These background dynamics will include: (1) the Greek conquest and its continuing effects, (2) the Maccabean revolt and the Hasmonean period, (3) the Roman conquest, and (4) sectarian developments within Judaism. As the series grows, if other areas suggest themselves as being particularly salient, thoughts about additional topics will certainly be welcome.

Ferdinand Christian Baur

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:00:38 +0000

See Kümmel 139. Please see the symbol key for an explanation of the diagrams in this post series.

In this post:[caption id=“attachment_2014” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Werner Kümmel”] [/caption]

Site Updates

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:00:55 +0000

For the past several weeks, I have been working on some reasonably substantial changes to the site that should make it more useful and beneficial. With these changes completed and my comprehensive exams on the horizon (in both a hermeneutical and a temporal sense), I hope to begin regularly posting again quite soon. For anyone who may be interested, the following are among the most significant of changes to the site:

Christian Wilke

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:31:34 +0000

See Baird 305; Kümmel 148–49. Please see the symbol key for an explanation of the diagrams in this post series.

[caption id=“attachment_2065” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“William Baird”] [/caption] [caption id=“attachment_2014” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Werner Kümmel”] [/caption]

Codex Sinaiticus Update

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:05:26 +0000

A while back, I mentioned that Mark for Codex Sinaiticus had been digitized and made available online. The Codex Sinaiticus Project website now reports that “[f]rom 6 July 2009, the Codex Sinaiticus website features all extant pages of the Codex.” In addition to the page images, which have been available for some time at the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, the Codex Sinaiticus Project website allows users to modify lighting options and view transcriptions and translations for the manuscript.

Comment on Aspect and Actionsart

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:00:39 +0000

http://evepheso.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/aspect-aktionsart-one-more-time-part-ii/

Blass’s discussion slightly earlier [§56.1 – 1898, MacMillan, trans. H. St. J. Thackeray] affirms, perhaps slightly more explicitly, that the Greek tenses express time relations “absolutely, i.e. with reference to the stand-point of the speaker or narrator, and not relatively, i.e. with reference to something else that occurs in the speech or narrative” (italics added).

Blass’s subsequent discussion of the present in direct and indirect discourse (§56.9) also seems to illustrate your point about his view of the Greek tenses: “In the N.T. the use of oratorio obliqua is certainly not favored, and that of oratorio recta predominates; but it is noteworthy that subordinate sentences after verbs of perception and belief are assimilated to oratorio recta, and the tenses therefore have a relative meaning” (italics added). Blass then cites Matt 2:22 and John 6:24. In these cases, then, the tense in the quoted discourse is relative with respect to the writer who reports the discourse and absolute (see §56.1) with respect to the person(s) reported as constructing the discourse originally.

New Bookshelf Section

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:35:01 +0000

The bookshelf has a new section on faith and scholarship, which (for starters) includes the following works:

[caption id=“attachment_2085” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Philip Davies”] [/caption] [caption id=“attachment_2137” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“George Marsden”] [/caption] [caption id=“attachment_2136” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Mark Noll”] [/caption]

Blogging and Biblical Studies: Thoughts from N. T. Wright and Thomas Kuhn

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:58:10 +0000

In his Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision, N. T. Wright reflects:

It is really high time we developed a Christian ethic of blogging. Bad temper is bad temper even in the apparent privacy of your own hard drive, and harsh and unjust words, when released into the wild, rampage around and do real damage. . . . [T]he cyberspace equivalents of road rage don’t happen by accident. People who type vicious, angry, slanderous and inaccurate accusations do so because they feel their worldview to be under attack. Yes, I have a pastoral concern for such people. (And, for that matter, a pastoral concern for anyone who spends more than a few minutes a day taking part in blogsite discussions, especially when they all use code names: was it for this that the creator God made human beings?) ( Wright 26–27; cf. Köstenberger, “Internet Ettiquette”; Köstenberger, “Internet Ettiquette, Part 2”).1

"How to Write a Lot"

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:06:50 +0000

Paul Silvia

Paul J. Silvia teaches psychology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. In
How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing, Silvia chiefly pleads with his readers to set aside specific, regular blocks of time for writing and to adhere steadfastly to this schedule ( 16–17). “The secret,” he says, “is the regularity, not the number of days or the number of hours [allotted for writing]” ( 13). Silvia argues that observing such a regular writing schedule will allow an author to produce better material more efficiently ( 1). “More efficiently” does not, of course, necessarily indicate that all academics should publish a large quantity of material; those whose interests lie elsewhere can still use a regular writing schedule to produce the quantity of literature that they wish. Thus, Silvia suggests that a more accurate title for the volume would be How to Write More Productively During the Normal Work Week with Less Anxiety and Guilt, but he humorously recognizes that such a title may well have inhibited book sales ( 130).

Excellence in Writing

Thu, 28 May 2009 06:49:26 +0000

In preparing for another revision of the Theological Writing Handout, I am rereading William Strunk and E. B. White’s little classic, The Elements of Style. The fourth edition contains a forward by Roger Angell, White’s stepson, where Angell recalls the following pattern of behavior from his stepfather:

Theological Writing Handout 0.7, Beta

Wed, 27 May 2009 21:31:03 +0000

The next revision of the Theological Writing Handout is now available, and it can be previewed and downloaded below. As always, comments identifying errors or suggesting improvements are welcome. For anyone who may be interested, a change log from the previous version (0.4.1) is also available.

[scribd id=15866483 key=key-20poma272lcpzlvx7mlj]

Book Review: The Office of Assertion

Wed, 20 May 2009 21:23:07 +0000

Scott Crider

Scott Crider teaches in the English Department at the University of Dallas. His book, The Office of Assertion: An Art of Rhetoric for the Academic Essay ( affiliate disclosure), is intended to provide an introduction to “the classical art of rhetoric and composition” (xi). While providing this introduction, Crider specifically seeks to argue that rhetoric is, as a liberal art, a noble pursuit and to improve the readers ability to write academic prose (2).

ΠΑΡΑΛΕΙΠΟΜΕΝΑ: From Page to Category

Sun, 17 May 2009 15:49:55 +0000

Over the past several weeks, I’ve become convinced that the Παραλειπόμενα page would be more serviceable as a post category. Below are the current παραλειπόμενα not also included in other posts; a complete selection of the παραλειπόμενα can be obtained by clicking the παραλειπόμενα category link.

ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· διὰ τοῦτο πᾶς γραμματεὺς μαθητευθεὶς τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν ὅμοιός ἐστιν ἀνθρώπῳ οἰκοδεσπότῃ, ὅστις ἐκβάλλει ἐκ τοῦ θησαυροῦ αὐτοῦ καινὰ καὶ παλαιά ( And he said to them, “Therefore, every scribe who has been taught for the kingdom of the heavens is like a man who is a master of a house, who brings forth from his storeroom new and old things”; Matt 13:52)
“[I]t is better for [people] to find you [O God] and leave the question unanswered than to find the answer without finding you” ( Augustine 1.6; affiliate disclosure).
“If you can’t imagine how anyone could hold the view you are attacking, you just don’t understand it yet” ( Weston 6; affiliate disclosure).
“I have never been able to give myself the comfort which some devout believers seem to derive from a contemptuous attitude toward men on the other side of the great debate; I have never been able to dismiss the ‘higher critics’ en masse with a few words of summary condemnation” (J. Gresham Machen, quoted in Baird 352; affiliate disclosure).
עשות ספרים הרבה אין קץ ולהג הרבה יגעת בשר ( Of the making of many books there is no end, and much study is the weariness of the bones; Eccl 12:12).
“We do God’s work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them. So often Christians, especially preachers, think that their only service is always to have to ‘offer’ something when they are together with other people. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking. Many people seek a sympathetic ear and do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking even when they should be listening. But Christians who can no longer listen to one another will soon no longer be listening to God either; they will always be talking even in the presence of God. The death of the spiritual life starts here, and in the end there is nothing left but empty spiritual chatter and clerical condescension which chokes on pious words. Those who cannot listen long and patiently will always be talking past others, and finally no longer will even notice it. Those who think their time is too precious to spend listening will never really have time for God and others, but only for themselves and for their own words and plans” ( Bonhoeffer 98; affiliate disclosure).
καὶ ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῆς ( And wisdom is justified by her deeds; Matt 11:19).
“The New Testament is concerned with proclamation. It is a Kerygma, the loud cry of a herald authorized by a king to proclaim his will and purpose to his subjects. It is Euangelion, good news, sent to those who are in distress with the promise of deliverance. It is the Word of the Lord—and in the East a word is no mere vibration in the atmosphere, it is a living power sent forth to accomplish that for which it is sent” ( Neill and Wright 448–49; italics original; affiliate disclosure).
“[T]he hermeneutical task involves both distance, in which account is taken of the particularity of the text, and also a progress towards as close a fusion of horizons with the text as the relation between text and interpreter will allow” ( Thiselton 440; emphasis original; affiliate disclosure).
ὁ ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ λαλῶν τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἰδίαν ζητεῖ ( He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; John 7:18).

Zotero 2 Beta Launches

Fri, 15 May 2009 09:17:58 +0000

Zotero is a bibliographic and research management addin for the Firefox web browser. The latest test release, 2.0b3, succeeds Zotero 1.5b2.1 with some substantial improvements, particularly by increasing Zotero’s flexibility and usefulness for research collaboration among several, different Zotero users.

2009 ETS Paper

Fri, 01 May 2009 22:32:52 +0000

I just received an email confirmation that my paper, “Jeremiah 9:23–24 and Rewritten Bible: A Window on Paul’s Hermeneutic,” has been accepted for this year’s national ETS meeting in New Orleans. A brief abstract follows:

The genre of rewritten Bible was reasonably common in the Second Temple period. Although rewritten Bible did not fully substitute for Israel’s scripture, this genre still provides evidence for biblical interpretations that were current in the Second Temple period. It also facilitates a greater understanding of how these interpretations could be employed in various contexts. Two Pauline texts in which the rewritten Bible tradition provides such assistance are 1 Cor 1:31 and 2 Cor 10:17, which both cite Jer 9:24. In this case, reading Jer 9:24 in concert with the rewritten Bible tradition, such as the one that the Targum of the Prophets exhibits, sheds light on Paul’s text and on the hermeneutical approach that he exhibits toward Jer 9:24 as he attempts to speak to the unique challenges of the Corinthians’ situation.

Roland Deines on Halakah and Community Definition

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:00:05 +0000

In reading Roland Deines’ essay in Second Temple Judaism (“The Pharisees Between ‘Judaisms’ and ‘Common Judaism’”), I came across the following, astute paragraph:

If it is correct that it was particularly halakah that constituted Pharisees as Pharisees, it is also true that it constituted Essenes as Essenes and Sadducees as Sadducees. The same can be said regarding the other Jewish groups that existed prior to 70. This explains why the differences and even antagonism between these three basic movements (which included diverse elements within themselves) did not lead to the complete suspension of religious association within Judaism, whereas the association with early Christians broke off quite soon. All three Jewish movements oriented themselves basically around the Torah as the center of individual and national Jewish existence. In this system the Messiah was subordinated to Torah. For Christians, on the other hand, Christ became the center of individual as well as communal existence. In him, a person’s profound relationship with his own nation was expanded to an eschatological and thus at the same time universal horizon. The final breakdown came when the soteriological marginality of the Torah in relation to Christ could no longer be overlooked in the course of generational change. Even where Torah was observed with sincerity in Jewish-Christian congregations, it had still lost its absolute, eschatological dimension. It had, even in these congregations, reached its τέλος in Christ ( 499–500; italics added).

Justification and Variegated Nomism

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:00:04 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_1423” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“D. A. Carson, Peter O’Brien, and Mark Seifrid”] [/caption]If first-century Judaism had a different shape than much New Testament scholarship has traditionally assumed, then an understanding of the New Testament’s—and especially Paul’s—negative critique of Judaism, as well as the positive, doctrinal affirmations predicated to some degree upon this traditional view of Judaism, may need to be revised. The direction this revision has taken based on the trajectory Sanders set in the last portion of Paul and Palestinian Judaism ( 431–556), 1 provides the impetus for the Justification and Variegated Nomism set ( Carson, O’Brien, and Seifrid 5). This set attempts to determine “whether ‘covenantal nomism’ serves us well as a label for an overarching pattern of religion” in Palestinian Judaism ( Carson, O’Brien, and Seifrid 5).

Judaism in Paul and Palestinian Judaism

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:32:06 +0000

The New Perspective on Paul has its beginnings in what N. T. Wright has called “the Sanders revolution.”

Burnett Streeter

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:47:54 +0000

See Kümmel 327. Please see the symbol key for an explanation of the diagrams in this post series.

In this post:[caption id=“attachment_2014” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Werner Kümmel”] [/caption]

The Firstborn from the Dead

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:00:22 +0000

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upGCMl_b0n4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0]

By S. M. Lockridge

Thanks to Michael Bird for the reminder about this clip.

Behold the Man

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:09:37 +0000

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6_Qa-HnaYg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0]

Lyrics by Bernard of Clairvaux, music by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Greek and Hebrew

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:00:23 +0000

Despite the imperial connection that might have been expected to promote the Latin tongue, “[e]ven after Rome became the world power in the first century BCE, Greek continued to penetrate distant lands. (This was due largely to Rome’s policy of assimilation of cultures already in place, rather than destruction and replacement.) Consequently, [when Pompey conquered Palestine in 63 BC ( Ferguson 411) and] even when Rome was in absolute control [under Augustus in 31 BC-AD 14 (cf. Ferguson 26–30)], Latin was not the lingua franca. Greek continued to be a universal language until at least the end of the first century” ( Wallace 18). Moreover, when one considers the strong Jewish presence in Palestine, it becomes clear that Hebrew and Aramaic would constitute important languages in the Palestinian milieu (cf. Poirier 55).

Heinrich Holtzmann

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:00:14 +0000

Early Holtzmann Late Holtzmann

See Kümmel 151–55. Please see the symbol key for an explanation of the diagrams in this post series.

In this post:[caption id=“attachment_2014” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Werner Kümmel”] [/caption]

Minor Players

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:00:20 +0000

The linguistic situation in Palestine during the first century AD was, to say the least, quite complex because it involved interaction among four different languages—namely, Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. The presence of other languages is also apparent, and although few individuals were probably fluent in three or more of these languages, many were probably bilingual ( Poirier 56). In seeking to understand this multi-faceted situation, our strategy will be to handle the less common languages first and proceed to the more common ones. Although language distribution “varied almost personally” ( Poirier 56, quoting Barr 112), of primary concern will be the question: Which language(s) held vernacular or nearly vernacular status?

Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic Reader's Bible

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:20:05 +0000

John Dyer has developed an online reader’s Bible, primarily as a pedagogical tool, that will allow customized output of text, vocabulary, and morphology.

For instance, with just a few clicks and keystrokes, here’s a version of Gal 3:15–16 showing vocabulary that occurs 50 or fewer times in the New Testament.

Articles and Adjectives and Substantives: Oh, My!

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:00:04 +0000

Keeping the New Testament Greek, attributive adjective “position” classifications straight in one’s head can be challenging, but here is a short summary (see Porter 117):

Article-adjective-substantive (e.g., ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος),
Article-substantive-article-adjective (e.g., ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀγαθὸς),
Substantive-article-adjective (e.g., ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀγαθὸς),
Adjective-substantive or substantive-adjective (e.g., ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος or ἄνθρωπος ἀγαθὸς).

In contrast to these four basic patterns, the potentially legitimate structure article-adjective-article-substantive (e.g., ὁ ἀγαθὸς ὁ ἄνθρωπος) is not used ( Mounce §9.12).

Christian Weisse

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:10:45 +0000

See Kümmel 149–51. Please see the symbol key for an explanation of the diagrams in this post series.

In this post:[caption id=“attachment_2014” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Werner Kümmel”] [/caption]

The Origin of Codex Sinaiticus

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:14:02 +0000

Over at Evangelical Textual Criticism, Peter Head just posted about a monastery excavation that links the origin of Codex Sinaiticus to Jerusalem.

If this provenance is correct, then it does, of course, constitute a substantive piece of evidence for a wider geographic distribution of the Alexandrian text type than is sometimes assumed.

PDF Markup Tool

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:00:04 +0000

I recently found a thread on the Zotero forum that mentions the PDF XChange Viewer, which is supposed to allow users to markup PDF files.

Especially if you use Zotero, you may want to use PDF XChange as your default PDF browser plugin. After installing PDF XChange, you may still need to do the following:

Karl Lachmann

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:00:41 +0000

See Kümmel 146–48. Please see the symbol key for an explanation of the diagrams in this post series.

In this post:[caption id=“attachment_2014” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Werner Kümmel”] [/caption]

Identity of the New Testament Text II

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:00:14 +0000

Wilbur Pickering’s updated (2003) defense of the majority text available online. Whatever one’s perspective on methods of textual criticism, Pickering’s analysis at least merits familiarity.

In concert with the theory of textual criticism that he outlines here, Pickering has also posted his own reconstructions of James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and Revelation, according to the majority text. In these files, Pickering has also included textual apparatuses that provide his statistical analyses for selected variants from these texts.

Codex Sinaiticus: Mark

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:00:08 +0000

The Codex Sinaiticus Project has been producing an outstanding digital version of this fourth-century codex that contains the earliest extant collection of the standard New Testament canon. Until recently, the project had only prepared Septuagint and Old Greek texts, but Sinaiticus’s entire text of Mark is now available.

The Textual Originality of Romans 15–16: Additional Evidence

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:00:40 +0000

Beyond these general reasons that the perspectives of Baur and others on Rom 15–16 are insufficiently supported, several other pieces of evidence also converge to suggest that these chapters, much in the form in which they appear in the modern, printed editions, are original to Romans.

On Origen’s testimony, Marcion truncated the epistle before the beginning of chapter fifteen ( Murray 2.265; cf. Carson, Moo, and Morris 246; Metzger 536). This fact, combined with the observation that Rom 15:1–13 completes the argument begun in Rom 14:1–23 strongly indicates that at least this part of Rom 15–16 is original to Paul.
Since only limited, if any, direct, textual evidence exists for the supposed fifteen-chapter version of the epistle, it seems quite likely that, as authenticity goes for one part of the section of Rom 15–16, so it goes for the whole ( Carson, Moo, and Morris 247).
The external manuscript evidence for Rom 15–16 is very strong, and the external, patristic testimony also seems reasonably good. Origen (ca. 185–254) includes this section in his Romans commentary ( Bray 353–81, 387), and both Justin Martyr (ca. 100/110-165) and Tertullian (ca. 155/160–240/250) seem to allude to it at various points ( Bray 360, 375, 387). With these last two examples, however, some caution must be exercised, since they do provide only allusions to and not direct quotations from Romans (cf. Bray xxii). Moreover, Carson, Moo, and Morris, 246, note that Tertullian, at least, does not quote from Rom 15–16 in places where he might have been expected to do so. Yet, if Tertullian was indeed writing against Marcionism in these texts ( Murray 2:264), he may have simply been attempting to construct his argument from texts that the Marcionites themselves would accept.
Finally, and specifically related to the doxology, very little evidence exists for its omission, and one manuscript (G), although it omits the passage, leaves room for its inclusion ( Metzger 534–35)].

Based on these factors, it seems that only the doxology’s specific placement may remain somewhat in doubt, and one must admit that discerning its original placement is no simple task. Of the three basic positions in which it appears in different manuscripts (i.e., at the end of one of Romans’ last three chapters), a placement after chapter fourteen (either in addition to or instead of the placement at the end of Rom 16) would interrupt the train of Paul’s argument from 14:1–15:13. This placement could, therefore, perhaps be preferred because it is the hardest reading, and scribes copying Romans would have tended to remove rather than create difficulties in the text. Yet, this reading could also have arisen because the Marcionites used and circulated their version of Romans, which ended with chapter fourteen ( Metzger 472). Reading the doxology after Rom 15 has the support of an early third-century manuscript (P46), but this textual basis is very narrow and may merely reflect a scribal idiosyncrasy (cf. Metzger 471, 473). The final placement possibility for the doxology at the end of Rom 16, of the three major possibilities, has perhaps the best breadth and antiquity in its manuscript attestation (e.g., א, B, C, D, cop, eth, it, vg). In the end, therefore, because of the possibility of Marcionite influence in the placement of the doxology after Rom 14, it seems most probable that the doxology originally appeared after Rom 16 and that Rom 15–16 formed the concluding section of Paul’s original composition.

Solutions to the Synoptic Problem 5: Johann Herder

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:00:55 +0000

Herder thought that Mark most exactly reproduced Urev Or. Matthew reproduced it with expansions, and Luke, aware of these expansions, “wished to create ‘an actual historical account’ after a wholly Hellenistic pattern.” Herder also hypothesized that “[s]ome forty years later John . . . wrote an ’echo of the earlier Gospels at a higher pitch’ which undertook to set forth Jesus as the Savior of the world. . . .”

The Textual Originality of Romans 15–16: Responses

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:00:25 +0000

The arguments against the authenticity of Rom 15–16 that have been summarized are, however, inadequate for several reasons, which including the following:

Far from a needless repetition of Rom 12:1ff, Rom 15:1–13 actually provides a necessary continuation of Paul’s argument from Rom 14:1–23 ( Murray 2:263–65).
When Paul speaks of ministering “from Jerusalem and around as far as Illyricum” ( Rom 15:19), he does not indicate Jerusalem to be the chronological starting point and Illyricum to be the ending point of his ministry. Rather, he uses these cities to designate the geographical bounds for the region of his ministry ( Murray 2:213–15).
First Clement 5:7 speaks of Paul reaching “the limit of the west.” While Clement may have surmised from Rom 15:25, 28 that Paul actually did reach Spain, this text at least provides ancient testimony to the plausibility of the Spanish mission. In any case, the fact that Paul did not mention Spain in any of his other letters does not invalidate the usage here any more than the destination(s) given in a company’s first bulk marketing mailing is invalidated because that company or its employees have not previously been to that place.
That Aquilla and Priscilla could not have returned to Rome and established a residence there in the interval between the composition of 1 Corinthians [ca. AD 55 ( Carson, Moo, and Morris 283)] and the composition of Romans is by no means certain, especially if Romans is dated later in the period of AD 55–59 (cf. Murray 2:267–68). Moreover, Paul’s greeting so many other people in a city he had never visited does not necessarily provide evidence for non-Pauline authorship of this section of the epistle, since Paul may well have met these people elsewhere, have been introduced to them through correspondence, or have known them through others.
Very little manuscript evidence exists for omitting the doxology, and the consistent testimony of the earliest manuscripts is to have the doxology present at some point ( Metzger 534). Additionally, hypothesizing a Marcionite origin for the doxology seems quite strange, since Marcion’s text of Romans did not contain it ( Murray 2:263).

Johann Eichhorn

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:00:25 +0000

Eichhorn does not appear to have named Q as such, but this part of his hypothesis fits what has come to be called Q.

See Kümmel 77–79. Please see the symbol key for an explanation of the diagrams in this post series.

In this post:[caption id=“attachment_2014” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Werner Kümmel”] [/caption]

The Textual Originality of Romans 15–16: Objections

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:00:22 +0000

Perhaps the most persistently thorny issues in textual criticism of Romans are related to: (1) the placement of the doxology, which normally appears in Rom 16:25–27 in modern, printed editions and (2) the cohesion of Rom 15–16 with the rest of the epistle. While distinguishable, however, these issues cannot be completely separated from each other, since, at the very least, the doxology appears to be an ending to something.

Gotthold Lessing

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:00:13 +0000

See Kümmel 76. Please see the symbol key for an explanation of the diagrams in this post series.

In this post:[caption id=“attachment_2014” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Werner Kümmel”] [/caption]

Gottlob Storr

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:33:43 +0000

See Kümmel 75–76. Please see the symbol key for an explanation of the diagrams in this post series.

In this post:[caption id=“attachment_2014” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Werner Kümmel”] [/caption]

Johann Griesbach

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:00:00 +0000

See Kümmel 75. Please see the symbol key for an explanation of the diagrams in this post series.

In this post:[caption id=“attachment_2014” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Werner Kümmel”] [/caption]

Solutions to the Synoptic Problem: Symbol Key

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:56:07 +0000

The following symbols, listed alphabetically, are used in the post series that summarizes solutions to the synoptic problem:

A, or UrMk – Urmarkus (a proto-Gospel of Mark)
Ar – Aramaic
frag – fragmentary
GosNaz – Gospel of the Nazarenes
Heb – Hebrew
L – a special, Lukan source
Lk – Luke
M – a special, Matthean source
Mk – Mark

Solutions to the Synoptic Problem: Introduction

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:53:41 +0000

The ‘synoptic problem’ is a phenomenon that arises because the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), while they contain so much similar material, do not always report the same material in the same way. Various solutions for the synoptic problem that have been proposed—so many that their nuances can be difficult to remember. This post series will attempt to compose a set of diagrams based on the summaries of these solutions that Kümmel, New Testament ( affiliate disclosure), provides.

All Grown Up

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:39:50 +0000

A third instance of ‘gospel’ language in the wider Greco-Roman context is the Gaius inscription (ca. 5 BC):

On the motion of the strategi Metrodorus son of Conon, Clinius, Musaeus, and Dionysius—

Whereas Gaius Julius Caesar, the eldest of the sons of Augustus has—as has been fervently prayed for—assumed in all its splendor the pure-white toga [of manhood] in place of the purple-bordered toga [of youth], and all men rejoice to see the prayers for his sons rising together to Augustus;

Happy Birthday

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:58:26 +0000

Another example of ‘gospel’ language in the Greco-Roman environment is the inscription found at Priene (ca. 9 BC) about Augustus:

It seemed good to the Greeks of Asia, in the opinion of the high priest Apollonius of Menophilus Azanitus: “Since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior [σωτήρ], both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war [= ποιῇ εἰρήνην] and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance [ἐπιφανεῖν] (excelled even our anticipations), surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings for the world that came by reason of him [ἦρξεν δὲ τῷ κόσμῳ τῶν δἰ αὐτὸν εὐαγγελίων ἡ γενέθλιος τοῦ θεοῦ],” which Asia resolved in Smyrna (text and translation cited from Evans 2–3).

Greek Resources: Links Updated

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:44:11 +0000

The link list on the Greek resources page has been updated and expanded to include some additional, online resources for studying New Testament Greek and the Greek New Testament.

SBL Greek Font

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:11:47 +0000

The Greek font that the Society of Biblical Literature has developed is complete and available for download.

Good News . . . for Whom?

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:35:52 +0000

First century Christians were not unique in their use of ‘gospel’ language. In fact, this word group (which exhibits the εὐαγγελι- stem in Greek) actually comes into several connections in ancient literature. For instance, in his Jewish Wars, Josephus records the following:

So the men of power, perceiving that the sedition was too hard for them to subdue, and that the danger which would arise from the Romans would come upon them first of all, endeavored to save themselves, and sent ambassadors; some to Florus, the chief of whom was Simon the son of Ananias; and others to Agrippa, among whom the most eminent were Saul, and Antipas, and Costobarus, who were of the king’s kindred; and they desired of them both that they would come with an army to the city and cut off the sedition before it should be too hard to be subdued. Now this terrible message was good news [εὐαγγέλιον] to Florus; and because his design was to have a war kindled, he gave the ambassadors no answer at all ( Josephus, Jewish Wars 2.418–20).

New Testament Greek Resources

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:40:09 +0000

A new page is now available that will eventually house several resources for learning New Testament Greek. Currently, the page features MP3 audio recordings of the basic verb and noun paradigms as well as some songs that have been translated into Greek. Repeatedly hearing these paradigms and the songs in which they are used can provide one more way of cementing New Testament Greek in memory.

Right now, the Greek resources page basically reflects my old faculty page at Faulkner University, but expect more material to become available and a more friendly organization to develop over the coming weeks.

Bavinck on the “Divine and Human” in Scripture

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:17:46 +0000

Asking whether the New Testament specifically or the biblical literature generally has a divine or human origin and a divine or human nature imports a dichotomy that literature itself does not reflect. From this literature’s own perspective, the literature is not viewed as always either human or divine in origin and nature, nor is it sometimes human in origin and nature and sometimes divine. Rather, this literature and several significant figures in early Christianity represent the biblical literature as having both a human and a divine origin simultaneously (see 1 Tim 5:18; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:21; 3:15–16; Ferguson 2:5–6).

Wisdom in the Muratorian Fragment

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:15:44 +0000

The Muratorian fragment curiously includes a book named “Wisdom” in the middle of its discussion of New Testament literature (see Westcott 562). The standard interpretation of this reference appears to be that the fragment refers here to the well-known Wisdom of Solomon (e.g., Carson, Moo, and Morris 492; Ehrman 241).

Irenaeus on the Fourfold Gospel Tradition

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:26:05 +0000

In the third book of his work, Against Heresies, Irenaeus takes up a defense of the fourfold Gospel tradition.

New Journal

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:31:25 +0000

[Update: As of 27 October 2017, the Ecclesia Reformanda website appears no longer to be available.]

A new journal for British, Reformed theology has just launched, Ecclesia Reformanda. Ros Clarke, a fellow PhD student from our days at Westminster who is now sitting under Jamie Grant at the University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute, is the book review editor.

New Testament Canon

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:09:53 +0000

In his second plenary address at the eastern regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society last spring, Stephen Chapman, Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Duke Divinity School, suggested some ways to navigate some of the pitfalls of current canon debates. In his closing remarks, Chapman emphasized the statement of the First Vatican Council (1868) that:

James Dunn on Faith and Scholarship

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:50:51 +0000

To complement the current series on faith and scholarship over at Café Apocalypsis, we might note some interesting comments from James Dunn’s Jesus Remembered. Dunn favorably mentions Gadamer’s alliance with “those who want to maintain that faith is not in principle at odds with the hermeneutical process in its application to the study of the NT” ( 123) because the whole Jesus tradition began from a “faith stimulus” ( 127). That is, “the original impulse behind these records was . . . sayings of Jesus as heard and received, and actions of Jesus as witnessed and retained in memory” ( 129; emphasis original). This tradition emerged and was preserved “as an expression of faith” ( 132). All this is to say, as Dunn helpfully summarizes, that:

Jesus and History

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:29:32 +0000

In his Jesus Remembered, James Dunn makes the following, insightful observations about the interplay between the study of Jesus and the study of history:

For those within the Christian tradition of faith, the issue [of Jesus’ relationship to history] is even more important. Christian belief in the incarnation, in the events of long ago in Palestine of the late 20s and early 30s AD as the decisive fulcrum point in human history, leaves them no choice but to be interested in the events and words of those days. For the incarnation, by definition, means the commitment of God to self-manifestation in Jesus at a particular time and place within human history, and thus places a tremendous weight of significance on certain events in Palestine in the years 28-30 (or thereabouts) of the common era. Christians cannot but want to know what Jesus was like, since he shows them what God is like. . . . [T]he new questers of the third quarter of the twentieth century showed that faith could and does have a theologically legitimate interest in the history of Jesus. Honest historical inquiry may be granted insights regarding Jesus which are crucially (in)formative of honest (self-critical) faith. . . . The point of [this historical] otherness of Jesus is, in part at least, . . . the otherness in particular of Jesus the Jew—again something we ‘moderns’ have forgotten at our cost. Without that sense of Jesus ‘born under the law’ ( Gal. 4.4), of Christ ‘become servant of the circumcision’ ( Rom. 15.8), with historical awareness of what that means in terms of the particularities of history, then the humanity of Christ is likely to be lost again to view within Christianity and swallowed up in an essentially docetic affirmation of his deity. Although the failures of earlier lives of Jesus at this point . . . are now widely acknowledged, the instinctive compulsion to extricate Jesus from his historical context and to assume his [a-historical,] timeless relevance still has to be resolutely resisted ( 101–102).

The Interpretation of the New Testament, 1861–1986: Interaction

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:05:10 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_668” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Stephen Neill and N. T. Wright”] [/caption] Neill’s stated purpose for his book was “to provide a narrative [about the interpretation of the New Testament] that can be read without too much trouble by the non-theologian who is anxious to know and is prepared to devote some time to the subject” ( ix). This task he seems to have done masterfully well, with a comparatively frugal use of footnotes to set forth “the necessary apparatus of scholarship” ( ix). While this history might have proved tedious, Neill has managed to produce a cogent narrative that, at times, may well carry the interested student into the situation or the time being described.

The Interpretation of the New Testament, 1861–1986: Summary

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:41:52 +0000

Stephen Neill and N. T. Wright

N. T. Wright’s revision of Stephen Neill’s, Interpretation of the New Testament, 1861–1986, attempts a concise, but significantly narratival, survey of various issues in New Testament scholarship during the period in question. To this end, Neill and Wright discuss: (i) the challenge to orthodoxy ( 1–34); (ii) the New Testament and its relationship to history ( 35–64); (iii) what the New Testament says and means ( 65–111); (iv) Jesus and His relationship to the Gospel ( 112–46); (v) Greeks and their relationship to Christians ( 147–204); (vi) “Re-enter[ing] Theology” ( 205–51); (vii) the theory of a gospel behind the Gospels ( 252–312); (viii) the Jewish background of the Gospel ( 313–59); and (ix) the relationship between history and theology ( 360–449).

Simon Kistemaker – Interaction

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:49:17 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_635” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Simon Kistemaker”] [/caption] Simon Kistemaker generally provides balanced, astute commentary on several of Jesus’ parables and parabolic sayings. He attempts to avoid allegorical interpretations, thinking that “in the New Testament we encounter elements of allegory but never a full-fledged allegorical parable” ( 15). This surface disagreement with Blomberg’s perspective on the parables is mainly an issue of semantics. In actuality, Kistemaker’s point merely reflects the very probable hypothesis that in none of Jesus’ parables do all the details stand for things other than themselves, or stated alternatively, that Jesus’ parables—even the allegorical ones—are qualitatively different from an allegory like The Pilgrim’s Progress. One of the chief benefits of The Parables is how Kistemaker consistently summarizes with simplicity and clarity what he considers to be the main points of each parable. Occasionally, one might well debate some precise points of exegesis. Yet, the work is, overall, engaging and informative, and Kistemaker’s style is coherent and straightforward.

Simon Kistemaker – Summary

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:18:04 +0000

Simon Kistemaker

In The Parables, Simon Kistemaker specifically targets “theologically trained pastors. But because technical details have been relegated to endnotes, the text itself is user-friendly to any serious student of the Bible” ( 8). The introduction describes very broadly some of the basic issues of which one should be aware when studying parables, such as: the meaning of the term “parable,” the composition of parables, Jesus’ purpose for teaching in parables, the basic principles of interpreting parables, and the elusiveness of any firm method of classifying the parables ( 9–20).

Dominic Crossan – Interaction

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:07:22 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_601” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Dominic Crossan”] [/caption] Crossan’s book, In Parables, immediately demonstrates his keen intellect and wide range of reading. The great variety of literature he cites certainly indicates his substantial, literary aptitude. One of the more beneficial parts of the book, however, relates more directly to his detailed reading of Jesus’ parables themselves rather than so much to his wide reading in other literature. Specifically, Crossan performs a very valuable service in his detailed analyses of multiply attested parables in relation to the synoptic problem. Crossan’s close reading of these parables and his subsequent notes on points of divergence between the parable froms in the synoptics helpfully summarizes the major critical issues involved with these parables. The solutions he proposes to these difficulties are frequently innovative and seem to be motivated by a desire to recapture the exact wording Jesus used when He originally gave the parables ( ipsissima verba) ( 3–4). Nevertheless, many scholars might, in most cases, propose quite different solutions from those Crossan puts forth (cf. vii, 3–4). The book does have some questionable aspects, such as an excessive skepticism about the historical Jesus (e.g., 4; for a critical realist approach to this question, see Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God). Yet, In Parables definitely provides itself to be valuable by providing the reader with much helpful information concerning the divergences present in Jesus’ multiply attested parables.

Dominic Crossan – Summary

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:53:56 +0000

Dominic Crossan

Crossan’s work, In Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus, is based on several articles that Crossan wrote separately and has now compiled into a single collection ( xi). Rather uniquely, through citations from various scholars and littérateurs, the introduction and conclusion attempt to provide some literary commentary related to different ways of reading parables. The first major section, “Parables and the Temporality of the Kingdom” ( 3–36), addresses several broad issues related to literary theory, describes what constitutes a parable, and identifies a method for parable interpretation. At this section’s conclusion, Crossan groups Jesus’ parables by what he sees as their three major themes—namely, the advent of God’s kingdom, the reversal of the worldview of the parables’ addressees, and the calling and empowering of the recipients to live and act in concert with God’s kingdom ( 36). In each of the following chapters, Crossan comments generally about one of these themes and examines at least one parable that, in his estimation, fits that category.

Craig Blomberg – Interaction

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:30:12 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_501” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Craig Blomberg”] [/caption] In Interpreting the Parables, Blomberg appears to have succeeded quite well in accomplishing his stated task of producing an introduction to and theory of parable interpretation that will benefit a wide variety of readers ( 10). To this end, he keeps unnecessary, technical jargon to a minimum, yet regularly handles the necessary, technical points quite clearly.

Summary of Validity in Interpretation

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:16:18 +0000

Alan Knox has made my summary of E. D. Hirsch’s Validity in Interpretation available on his website, ̔Ελληνιστί, in HTML format.

A PDF version of this summary is also available here.

Update (19 June 2017): The above-noted link to Alan Knox’s website is currently broken. Please see the summary at the PDF link mentioned above.

Craig Blomberg – Summary

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:23:54 +0000

Interpreting the Parables

Craig Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables ( affiliate disclosure; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1992).

Interpreting the Parables begins by summarizing significant findings and methodological issues in recent parable research so that a wide audience can benefit from this historical foundation for Blomberg’s work (13).

In reviewing this previous scholarship, Blomberg seeks to interact critically with it and, at some points, propose specific alternatives (14). In Blomberg’s opinion, all Jesus parables are allegorical on some level.

Kenneth Bailey – Interaction

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:46:07 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_482” align=“alignleft” width=“63” caption=“Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant’s Eyes”] [/caption]Kenneth Bailey, Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes: A Literary-Cultural Approach to the Parables in Luke, (combined ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983).

Bailey initially published Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes separately. Yet, they have begun circulating in combined editions like the one shown here, and the works are, in fact, quite amiable partners, since Through Peasant Eyes is, in significant respects, a continuation of Poet and Peasant. Both these works are thought-provoking and fascinating pieces of scholarship, particularly with respect to Bailey’s unique perspectives on Jesus’ parables and the approach he uses to arrive at these understandings. Particularly, Bailey’s practice of interviewing Middle Easterners for their perspectives on the parables highlights some nuances that may easily become muted in purely Western treatments. Because modern, Middle Eastern culture is arguably closer to the culture of first-century, Jewish Palestine than is modern Western culture, Middle Eastern readers begin with a natural advantage over their Western counterparts in interpreting the parables. While some changes in Middle Eastern culture during the last two millennia (most notably, the Muslim conquest) may have introduced significant paradigm shifts into the Middle Eastern worldview, consulting people (whether directly or through Bailey’s work) who live in cultures of seeds and sowers, neighbors and midnight visitors will surely provide valuable grist for the interpretive mills of those who come from other cultural backgrounds.

Kenneth Bailey – Summary

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:37:07 +0000

Bailey’s works, Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes, explicitly attempt to approach Jesus’ parables from the perspective of an Oriental worldview.

Joachim Jeremias – Interaction

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:46:00 +0000

Joachim Jeremias’s “Rediscovering the Parables” is a modern classic in parables research for reasons that can be clearly seen after even casual perusal.

Joachim Jeremias – Summary

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:53:54 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_442” align=“alignright” width=“95” caption=“Joachim Jeremias”] [/caption] Joachim Jeremias’ work, Rediscovering the Parables, attempts “to go back to the oldest form of the parables attainable and try to recover what Jesus himself meant by them” ( 7). Jeremias proceeds toward this goal by paying special attention to the Palestinian setting of the parables ( 7) and by analyzing the parables in terms of ten different categories of modifications that he thinks might be expected to appear in the course of their transmission ( 16–88)—namely,

Hermeneutical Method, Part 2

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:45:01 +0000

A corollary problem to the tension between the old and the new was the tension between the absolute and the relative. No one would have dared relativize the words of the Highest, but some heretical sects thought parts of scripture (notably the Old Testament) were products of a lesser god. This position allowed them safely to relativize portions of scripture. Although the rabbis had relativized scripture, to some extent, in halakah, they had limited the operational extent of that halakah by the oral law. In competition with these other positions, the orthodox, Christian position received slightly different articulations based on which factors pressed heaviest on a given author’s context. For example, the Epistle of Barnabas applied whatever method necessary to arrive at a distinctively Christian interpretation of the Old Testament. In contrast to the general, orthodox emphasis on the use of the Old Testament, Ignatius used the New Testament more frequently than he used the Old Testament. Where he did use the Old Testament, however, he took Jesus as the starting point for his interpretation of the Old Testament.

Hermeneutical Method, Part 1

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:57:28 +0000

The second century saw several, very live issues about hermeneutical method, such as the necessity to actualize scripture (i.e., to interpret scripture in a manner consistent with its supreme importance), the necessity to actualize according to rules (e.g., the rule of faith), and the reality that the actualizations are largely determined by community contexts. Therefore, within this context, what shape did the early Christian community’s hermeneutics take? Ireneas fully affirmed scripture’s divinity (as did the rest of the orthodox Christian tradition) and, because of its divinity, its perfection. In the ancient world, however, one assumption and test of divine literature was that it could be allegorized. Hence, when Celsus argued that the Old Testament was not divine because it could not be allegorized, Origen responded by seeking to defend the divinity of the Old Testament by proving that it would yield allegorical meanings [Origen, Against Celsus 1.20 ( ANF 4:404)]. Similarly, in polemicizing with pagans, Athenagoras applied the Old Testament directly to his own situation. Moreover, even some heretical, Gnostic groups (e.g., the Valentinians) had a hermeneutic that allowed for the Old Testament’s divine origin, but Marcion and his followers completely rejected idea that the Old Testament originated with the father of Jesus Christ. Interestingly, however, contrary to the willingness of orthodox Christians to allegorize the Old Testament, Marcion generally argued for a literal approach to interpretation.

Community Boundary Definition, Part 3: Heretical “Christianity”

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:14:01 +0000

Last in the series of challenges for boundary definition of the early Christian community is the work that orthodox Christianity had to perform to define itself in relation to its various, heretical offshoots. Particularly, orthodox Christians faced a significant struggle with heretical groups over the problem of the old and the new, which includes, but is not limited to, the problem of the relationships between the Old and New Testaments. This issue grew especially large in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and it encompassed problems of sociology (the relationship between Israel and the church), Christology (Jesus’ messiahship), theology (Jesus’ divinity), and eschatology (understanding prophesies of Israel’s scripture in light of Jesus). Moreover, the church had to sort through tensions along canonical-hermeneutical lines by defining how the Old Testament constituted specifically Christian scripture and how Jesus should affect one’s interpretation of it.

Community Boundary Definition, Part 2: Paganism

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:18:38 +0000

The early church also had to struggle to define itself in relation to Paganism. The church had to decide what degree of cultural syncretism was acceptable and how much its members had to form their own subculture. One example of this dimension of definition is the staunch, orthodox Christian refusal to participate in the Caesar cult, for which reason Polycarp was burned ( Mart. Poly. 9:2). Moreover, Christian monotheism (albeit in Trinitarian form), in a pantheistic society, opened Christians to the charge of atheism (e.g., Pliny of Flavia Domitilla and her husband Flavius Clemens; see Wilken, Christians as the Romans Saw Them, 25‒30). Thus, the central defining point for the church vis-à-vis Paganism, as in relation to Judaism, was Jesus, but Jesus in his identity as the κύριος ( lord) who ruled over all, including Caesar (cf. Priene inscription).

Community Boundary Definition, Part 1: Judaism

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:51:03 +0000

Somewhat similar to the question of canonical development is the question of the boundaries of the Christian community. The orthodox early church had to work to define these boundaries over against Judaism, paganism, and heretical, “Christian” sects. Scholars have sometimes seen the struggle of Christianity to define itself in relation to Judaism as beginning in the mid-second century, but this effort had really already begun within the first century (cf. Acts 15; Galatians). It was crucial for the church to define itself correctly in relation to Judaism because, at the beginning, Christians did not want to say that they were a new religion. Instead, they preferred to view themselves and to be viewed by others (not least the Romans, who afforded the Jews special religious privileges) as the continuation of Judaism, which Israel’s God had planned. Moreover, Christians wanted to claim Jewish scripture as their own and borrow some of Judaism’s interpretive methods. Even the Christological method of interpretation, which the church developed, might be regarded as merely a Jesus-oriented application of other methods, which the Jews had already applied to their scriptures. Orthodox Christianity did not adopt all Jewish interpretive methods, but more than which methods the early church did or did not adopt, the central defining point for the church in relation to Judaism was really the church’s commitment Jesus’ messianic status. Therefore, Christian interpretations of scripture differed with Jewish ones at certain key points because of how the church’s a priori acceptance of Jesus as messiah impacted its hermeneutic.

Messages in Communication

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:13:26 +0000

Texts are artifacts insofar as they are products of constructive processes and are ontologically distinct from their authors ( Barton 159). Thus, respecting how readers encounter texts, Derrida correctly says that “there is nothing outside the text” ( Caputo 80; cf. Barton 220). That is, readers only directly encounter the text, not its “meaning,” the author’s “intention,” or anything else about the text; readers must construe these other things from the text. Moreover, a text’s context is not even “attached” to the text. The text may describe its context, but as such, this description is text, not context. Consequently, texts must be placed in contexts, and this placement requires textual data to be construed.