Journal of Biblical Literature 139:4

JBL 139:4 is now out. Here is a list of the articles with links to abstracts.

Death in the Garden of Eden
Bruce Wells

The Mark of Cain and White Violence
Nyasha Junior

Memories, Myths, and Megalithics: Reconsidering the Giants of Gath
Aren M. Maeir

Torn Garments and Calamity Mourning in 1 Kings 11:30
Kerry M. Sonia

כעת חיה: An Allusion Connecting Genesis 18:10, 14 and 2 Kings 4:16–17
Gil Rosenberg

The “God of Israel” in Judah’s Bible: Problems and Prospects
Michael J. Stahl

The Historicity of Confusion: Jesus, John the Baptist, and the Construction of Public Identity
Tucker S. Ferda

Jesus against the Laws of the Pharisees: The Legal Woe Sayings and Second Temple Intersectarian Discourse
Yair Furstenberg

The Promises Fulfilled for Whose Children? The Problem of the Text of Acts 13:33 in Contemporary Debate
Daniel B. Glover

Canon Lists Are Not Just Lists
C. Rebecca Rine

Good and Bad Preaching

Ian Paul asks and answers the question, "What does good preaching actually look like?" There is a bit to process but two points in particular stood out for me.

• If I want to be a good preacher, then I need to work on the disciplines which will allow me to reach the point of having something worthwhile to say.
• If I want to avoid being a bad preacher, then I need to work on the disciplines that will allow me to deliver what I have to say in an effective way.

The Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim

Leen Ritmeyer has a very interesting post about it and other structures here.

Is Coffee the Antichrist?

I know that not everyone cares for it, but I had no idea that coffee was this evil. 😆

Pharaoh’s "Heavy Heart" in Exodus

Daniel Zucker has an interesting post here on Pharaoh’s "heavy heart" in Exodus. Zucker argues that "heavy heart" is related to Egyptian understandings of judgment in the afterlife and is a better way to understand the idiom in Exodus often translated as hardened heart.

The Threefold Purpose of the Book of Ezekiel

I created this table while reworking some of my teaching materials for the book of Ezekiel.

Charlie Trimm Has a Website

Charlie Trimm, an associate professor and chair of the Old Testament program at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, has created a new website to showcase some of his materials. You can check it out here.

Hermenutical Humor

 Here is some hermeneutical humor for your Saturday.

 

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. 

John Behr, John the Theologian and His Paschal Gospel: A Prologue to Theology
Reviewed by William M. Wright IV

Eric Clouston, How Ancient Narratives Persuade: Acts in Its Literary Context
Reviewed by Bart B. Bruehler

David J. Fuller, A Discourse Analysis of Habakkuk
Reviewed by Barry A. Jones

David M. Grossberg, Heresy and the Formation of the Rabbinic Community
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz

Christopher R. Hutson, First and Second Timothy and Titus
Reviewed by Nijay Gupta

Maijastina Kahlos, Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity, 350–450
Reviewed by Paula Fredriksen

Jessica M. Keady, Todd E. Klutz, and C. A. Strine, eds., Scripture as Social Discourse: Social-Scientific Perspectives on Early Jewish and Christian Writings
Reviewed by Ross D. Harmon

Tristan Major, Undoing Babel: The Tower of Babel in Anglo-Saxon Literature
Reviewed by Anthony Swindell

Mikael C. Parsons, Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, and Paul N. Anderson, eds., Anatomies of the Gospels and Beyond: Essays in Honor of R. Alan Culpepper
Reviewed by Olegs Andrejevs

Peter M. Phillips, The Bible, Social Media and Digital Culture
Reviewed by Dan Clanton

Bernd U. Schipper, Proverbs 1–15
Reviewed by Suzanna R. Millar

Johanna Stiebert, Rape Myths, the Bible, and #MeToo
Reviewed by Sandie Gravett

Ryan E. Stokes, The Satan: How God’s Executioner Became the Enemy
Reviewed by Tom de Bruin

Frank Ueberschaer, Thomas Wagner, and Jonathan Miles Robker, eds., Theologie und Textgeschichte: Septuaginta und Masoretischer Text als Äußerungen theologischer Reflexion
Reviewed by Leonardo Pessoa da Silva Pinto

Nathan Wasserman, Akkadian Love Literature of the Third and Second Millennium BCE
Reviewed by Barbara Cifola

A Timeline for Paul's Journeys

Tutku Tours has posted a helpful timeline created by Mark Fairchild of Paul's travels here.

William Schniedewind on Scribal Practices in the ANE

Aaron Burke interviews William Schniedewind on his 2019 book, The Finger of the Scribe: How Scribes Learned to Write the Bible on this YouTube video. I found the video which also contains a number of pictures of the relevant texts to be fairly interesting.

"The Curse of Ham": Genesis 9:24-25

Genesis 9:24-25 is a difficult text to interpret. But its use by some to justify slavery is especially regrettable. Garrett Kell does a pretty good job of addressing the passage and some of its misuse here.

Questioning Your Illustrations

The temptation of a nice illustration is using it without giving thought to whether it really works best with the message at hand. So, I appreciate Peter Mead's six questions to ask here.

Podcast on the Philistines

Aren Maier is featured on a this podcast discussing the Philistines.

Tel Dan

William Barrick has a very well illustrated blog post on Tel Dan here. Dan is an important site in the Old Testament.

Tabernacle, Sacrifices, and Judaism: Maimonides vs. Nahmanides

This is a very interesting discussion related to how two important Jewish scholars and teachers (Maimonides and Nahmanides) viewed the purposes of the tabernacle and sacrifices. The author, Menachem Kellner argues that basically that, "for Nahmanides and thinkers like him, the purpose of the mishkan (as well as many other aspects of Judaism) is to bring God, as it were, down to earth. For Maimonides, on the other hand, it is the point of all Jewish practices to assist human beings in their striving to raise themselves, as it were, in the direction of God."

Seventy Years of Colossians Commentaries

David May has a decade-by-decade listing in a Review & Expositor article 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. 

M. Eugene Boring, Hearing John’s Voice: Insights for Teaching and Preaching
Reviewed by R. Alan Culpepper

Sarah H. Casson, Textual Signposts in the Argument of Romans: A Relevance-Theory Approach
Reviewed by Isaiah L. Allen

John A. Cook and Robert D. Homstedt, Intermediate Biblical Hebrew: An Illustrated Grammar
Reviewed by Charles David Isbell

Ranon Katzoff, On Jews in the Roman World: Collected Studies
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz

Sara M. Koenig, Bathsheba Survives
Reviewed by Caryn Tamber-Rosenau

Max J. Lee, Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind: Mapping the Moral Milieu of the Apostle Paul and His Diaspora Jewish Contemporaries
Reviewed by Matthew Thiessen

Timothy H. Lim, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction
Reviewed by Daniele Minisini

Eric F. Mason and Edmondo F. Lupieri, eds., Golden Calf Traditions in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Reviewed by James N. Rhodes

Maren R. Niehoff and Joshua Levinson, eds., Self, Self-Fashioning and Individuality in Late Antiquity: New Perspectives
Reviewed by Jonathan Schofer

Pawel Paszko, Mundus inversus nei cantici femminili dell’Antico Testamento
Reviewed by Francis M. Macatangay

David Satran, In the Image of Origen: Eros, Virtue, and Constraint in the Early Christian Academy
Reviewed by M. J. Edwards

Jan A. Sigvartsen, Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Apocrypha and Apocalyptic Literature
Reviewed by Alexander P. Thompson

James W. Thompson, Strangers on the Earth: Philosophy and Rhetoric in Hebrews
Reviewed by Amy Peeler

Susanna Towers, Constructions of Gender in Late Antique Manichaean Cosmological Narrative
Reviewed by Jonathan Cahana-Blum

Dominik Wolff, Paulus beispiels-weise: Selbstdarstellung und autobiographisches Schreiben im Ersten Korintherbrief
Reviewed by Gudrun Nassauer

Free Articles: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament and Journal for the Study of the New Testament

It seems that you can now access free articles of the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (here) and Journal for the Study of the New Testament (here). This includes the most recent issues. I am unsure how long this will last so you might want to check it out sooner rather than later.

Free Logos Book for January: Galatians and Praying with Confidence

The free Logos Book for the Month for January is Galatians (Lectio Continua Expository Commentary on the New Testament) by J. V. Fesko and Praying with Confidence: Aquinas on the Lord’s Prayer by Paul Murray.

You can also purchase Redemptive History and the New Testament Scriptures by Herman Ridderbos for $0.99, Songs of a Suffering King: The Grand Christ Hymn of Psalms 1–8 by J. V. Fesko for $1.99, Living in the Gap between Promise and Reality: The Gospel According to Abraham by Iain Duguid for $2.99, Salvation by Grace: The Case for Effectual Calling and Regeneration by Matthew Barrett for $3.99, The Christian's Reasonable Service, Volume 1: God, Man, and Christ by Wilhelmus à Brakel for $5.99, The Works of William Perkins, Volume 1 for $7.99, and John, 2 vols. (Reformed Expository Commentary) by Richard Phillips for $9.99.

You can also register for a chance to win the eleven volume Explorations inBiblical Studies series. For all these offers, go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here and here.

The Ultimate Top 10 Discoveries in Biblical Archaeology in 2020

Todd Bolen outdoes all of the top ten lists I have seen so far. Not only does he discuss the top ten discoveries in biblical archaeology in 2020 but also identifies other noteworthy stories, notable resources, and more. Check it out here.

A Biblical Theology of Monarchs and Music

Peter Leithart has some interesting thoughts 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. 

Keith Bodner and Benjamin J. M. Johnson, eds., Characters and Characterization in the Book of Kings
Reviewed by Suzie Park

Don C. Collett, Figural Reading and the Old Testament: Theology and Practice
Reviewed by J. Michael Thigpen

Gregory L. Cuéllar, Empire, the British Museum, and the Making of the Biblical Scholar in the Nineteenth Century: Archival Criticism
Reviewed by Rachel Hallote

J. Christopher Edwards, The Gospel according to the Epistle of Barnabas
Reviewed by James N. Rhodes

Jaco Gericke, A Philosophical Theology of the Old Testament: A Historical, Experimental, Comparative and Analytic Perspective
Reviewed by Paavo Tucker

Remo Gramigna, Augustine’s Theory of Signs, Signification, and Lying
Reviewed by Alexander H. Pierce

Charles W. Hedrick, Unmasking Biblical Faiths: The Marginal Relevance of the Bible for Contemporary Religious Faith
Reviewed by Hector Avalos

Luke Timothy Johnson, Constructing Paul: The Canonical Paul, Volume 1
Reviewed by M. Eugene Boring

Ingrid Rosa Kitzberger, Interfigural Readings of the Gospel of John
Reviewed by Sherri Brown

B. J. Koet and A. L. H. M. van Wieringen, eds., Multiple Teachers in Biblical Texts
Reviewed by Steven Edward Harris

Ross Shepard Kraemer, The Mediterranean Diaspora in Late Antiquity: What Christianity Cost the Jews
Reviewed by Steven Fine

Josef Schmid, Studies in the History of the Greek Text of the Apocalypse: The Ancient Stems
Reviewed by Ian Boxall

William J. Webb and Gordon K. Oeste, Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric? Wrestling with Troubling War Texts
Reviewed by Eric A. Seibert

Oda Wischmeyer, ed., Handbuch der Bibelhermeneutiken: Von Origenes bis zur Gegenwart
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow

Martin Worthington, Ea’s Duplicity in the Gilgamesh Flood Story
Reviewed by Louise M. Pryke