Blog

[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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

[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). ...

[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” ...

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 ...

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 ...

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.)) ...

[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” ...

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“268” caption=“Scenes of the Passion of Christ (Image via Wikipedia)”] [/caption] 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). ...

Starting this year, the International Journal of the Platonic Tradition has become fully and openly accessible online (HT: Charles Jones).

Apparently, Michael Kruger, Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, is now blogging at Canon Fodder and tweeting @michaeljkruger (HT: Lane Keister). ...

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.

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). ...

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“125” caption=“Thomas Aquinas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)”] [/caption] 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. ...

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“125” caption=“Piazza (Image via Wikipedia)”] [/caption] 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. ...

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. ...

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Gerald Bray”] [/caption] 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. . . . ...

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).)) ...

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”

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“125” caption=“Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)”] [/caption] 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. ...

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“150” caption=“Rahab Helping the Two Israelite Spies (Image via Wikipedia)”] [/caption] 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). ...

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 ...

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). ...

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. ...

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 ...

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“150” caption=“Image via Wikipedia”] [/caption] 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. ...

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”

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 ...

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