For and Against Calvinisim
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,
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Academic Stimulants?
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.
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Like Father, Like Son—Only More So
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
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)
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)
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)
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
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
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
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)
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)
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
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).
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On the Web (May 29, 2012)
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)
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.
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Finding Faith in Samaria
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
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)
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)
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)
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
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)
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
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:
Origin, Identity, and Mission
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
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
Via Michael Bird:
Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (May 17, 2012)
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
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!
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Homer and the Papyri
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.
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Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric
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).”
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