The Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17–49)

C. D. "Jimmy" Agan III has a nice post here on the less well known Sermon on the Plain.

Deuteronomy 4:29

I am somewhat reticent to go against common translation conventions but there are occasions where one should consider it. Peter Goeman makes such a case in his treatment of Deuteronomy 4:29. Check out his argument here.

The Latest Issue of the Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below but unfortunately you must be a SBL member to read them.

G. K. Beale, Union with the Resurrected Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology (Baker Academic)
Joshua Caleb Hutchens

Michael J. Gorman, 1 Corinthians: A Theological, Pastoral, and Missional Commentary (Eerdmans)
Pierre Célestin Musoni

Chris E. W. Green, The Fire and the Cloud: A Biblical Christology (Baylor University Press)
Reed Carlson

Joshua W. Jipp, Reading the Gospels as Christian Scripture: A Literary, Canonical, and Theological Introduction (Baker Academic)
Doug Burleson

James D. Nogalski, The Book of Micah (Eerdmans)
Kristin Weingart

Richard C. Rojas, Wisdom according to Paul in Relation to the Corinthian Problems: A Sociological and Rhetorical Analysis of 1 Corinthians 1–4 (Langham Academic)
Eric Covington

Michael Rydryck, Die Wunder an den Widersachern: Wunderhermeneutik am Beispiel der Strafwunder im lukanischen Doppelwerk (Mohr Siebeck)
Maria Sokolskaya

Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, In Search of Jonathan: Jonathan between the Bible and Modern Fiction (Oxford University Press)
Joseph McDonald

The Death of Children in Ancient Israel

Not the happiest of topics but Kristine Garroway has a good discussion of the topic here.

A Thought on Lament

I keep a continual stack of reading material on my nightstand. Recently, I picked up a volume from the stack that I had thumbed through a few times and found this insightful thought.

Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God. Without lament we won't know how to process our pain. Silence, bitterness, and even anger can dominate our spiritual lives instead. Without lament we won't know how to help people walking through sorrow. Instead, we will offer trite solutions, unhelpful comments, or impatient responses. What's more without the sacred song of sorrow, we''ll miss the lessons historical laments are intended to teach us.

Mark Vroegop, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 21.

A Hearty Congratulations and a Great New Resource on the Book of Job

I am not usually an early adopter but every now and again I am glad when I am. The pictorial resources from Todd Bolen and BiblePlaces is one such case. Congratulations and thank you for twenty-five years of creating the best visual resources for Biblical geography and archaeology.

The legacy of excellence continues with their latest release, The Photo Companion to the Book of Job. This volume contains over 1600 images and 42 PowerPoint files. This set is currently on sale for only $29! If you want to try before you buy, you can download the presentation on Job 6 here. Or if you already appreciate the value of this resource, you can purchase it as a DVD+download or as download-only.

Overview of the Gospel of Luke

Steve Walton has made his presentation slides for an overview of the Gospel of Luke here.

Free Logos Resources for November

 Logos is offering these freebies this month: 1 Peter, Word Biblical Themes by J. Ramsey Michaels, Coritta Kent by Rose Pacatte, a free ebook, The Pursuit of Excellence by George Sweeting, and the free audio book The Pastor's Wife by Sabina Wurmbrand. You can get these free resources and also other deals here, here, here, and here. If you are a subscriber, you can also get I Saw the Lord by Abner Chou for free here.

Why Did Cain Kill Abel?

David Zucker explores this question here by looking almost solely at rabbinic sources. Unexplored in the article are references to Cain in Hebrews 11:4; 1 John 3:12, and Jude 11.

The Latest Issue of the Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below but unfortunately you must be a SBL member to read them.

Jörg Frey, Friederike Kunath, and Jens Schröter, eds., Perspektiven zur Präexistenz im Frühjudentum und frühen Christentum (Mohr Siebeck)
Frederique Dantonel

Najeeb T. Haddad, Paul and Empire Criticism: Why and How? (Cascade)
Efrain Agosto

Liv Ingeborg Lied and Brent Nongbri, Working with Manuscripts: A Guide for Textual Scholars (Yale University Press)
Jacob A. Lollar

Jordan J. Ryan, From the Passion to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Memories of Jesus in Place, Pilgrimage, and Early Holy Sites over the First Three Centuries (T&T Clark)
Joshua Schwartz

Maria Sokolskaya, Die griechische Bibel in Alexandrien: Ihre Legende und die exegetische Praxis im hellenistischen Judentum (Brill)
Felix Albrecht

Peter Kamande Thuo, A Complementary Approach to the Interpretation and Translation of Biblical Metaphors (Langham Monographs)
Nebeyou Alemu Terefe

Karel van der Toorn, Israelite Religion: From Tribal Beginnings to Scribal Legacy (Yale University Press)
David M. Carr

Samson L. Uytanlet, 2 Peter and Jude: A Pastoral and Contextual Commentary (Langham Global Library)
Jacob C. Berlin

Prophetic Humor

HT: Clark Paton

The Latest Issue of the Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below but unfortunately you must be a SBL member to read them.

Brian J. Abasciano, Paul’s Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9:19–24: An Intertextual and Theological Exegesis (T&T Clark)
A. Chadwick Thornhill

Jan-Mathieu Carbon and Gunnel Ekroth, eds., From Snout to Tail: Exploring the Greek Sacrificial Animal from the Literary, Epigraphical, Iconographical, Archaeological, and Zooarchaeological Evidence (Swedish Institute at Athens)
Tua Korhonen

Benedikt Hensel, Bartosz Adamczewski, and Dany Nocquet, eds., Social Groups behind Biblical Traditions: Identity Perspectives from Egypt, Transjordan, Mesopotamia, and Israel in the Second Temple Period (Mohr Siebeck)
Sam Blankenship

Yung Suk Kim, Monotheism, Biblical Traditions, Race Relations (Cambridge University Press)
Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III

Hugo Méndez, The Gospel of John: A New History (Oxford University Press)
M. David Litwa

Stephen Westerholm, Romans: Text, Readers, and the History of Interpretation (Eerdmans)
Josh C. S. Ip

Jeremy L. Williams, Criminalization in Acts of the Apostles: Race, Rhetoric and the Prosecution of Early Christian Movement (Cambridge University Press)
Eric C. Smith

Jacob L. Wright, Why the Bible Began: An Alternative History of Scripture and Its Origins (Cambridge University Press)
Corrine Carvalho