Wasting a Theological Education Redux

Derek James Brown has a thoughtful follow up to an earlier post on forty-five ways to waste your theological education. The new post can be found here.

Archaeological Dig at Megiddo

See the DigMeggido's Weblog for a description and picture of "the Areas currently under excavation or which have been excavated by The Megiddo Expedition since 1994."

Top Five Commentaries on Exodus

Ligonier Ministries has a list and discussion of their top five commentaries on Exodus. I agree with Stuart at the top, but I am not sure I would agree with 2-5. ISeems to me that better candidates for the top 5 would include Sarna, Kaiser (EBC), and Gispen. In any case, the top five they have listed are:

1. Douglas K. Stuart -- Exodus (The New American Commentary, 2006).
2. J. Alec Motyer -- The Message of Exodus (The Bible Speaks Today, 2005).
3. John L. Mackay -- Exodus (A Mentor Commentary, 2001).
4. Philip Graham Ryken -- Exodus (Preaching the Word, 2005).
5. Brevard S. Childs -- The Book of Exodus (The Old Testament Library, 1974).

Top Five Commentaries on Genesis

Ligonier Ministries has a list and discussion of their top five commentaries on Genesis. I generally agree with their list, but I would rank Hamilton a bit higher, either first or second. In any case, the top five are:

1. Gordon J. Wenham -- Genesis 1-15 and Genesis 16-50 (Word Biblical Commentary, 1987, 1994);
2. Kenneth A. Mathews -- Genesis 1-11:26 and Genesis 11:27-50:26 (The New American Commentary, 1996, 2005);
3. Victor P. Hamilton -- The Book of Genesis 1-17 and The Book of Genesis 18-50 (The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 1990, 1995);
4. Allen P. Ross -- Creation and Blessing (1988);
5. John H. Walton -- Genesis (NIV Application Commentary, 2001).

Top Five Commentaries on Matthew

Ligonier Ministries has a list and discussion of their top five commentaries on Matthew. I would agree pretty much with their list. To their runners-up list I would add commentaries by D. E. Hiebert, Craig Evans, and Hagner. The top five are:

1. R. T. France -- The Gospel of Matthew (NICNT, 2007);
2. D. A. Carson -- "Matthew" in The Expositor's Bible Commentary (1984);
3. Craig S. Keener -- A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (1999);
4. Leon Morris -- The Gospel According to Matthew (PNTC, 1992);
5. W.D. Davies and D.C. Allison -- Matthew 1-7, Matthew 8-18, Matthew 19-28 (ICC, 1988, 1991, 1997).

Sinclair Ferguson's Sermons on James

Justin Taylor has listed links to seventeen Sinclair Ferguson sermons on James. Find it here.

Interview With Walter Kaiser

See this interview of Walter Kaiser. Here is one snippet:

Thank you for that helpful exegesis. That brings me to my next point which is to talk about another subject that you have written extensively about: expository preaching. How do you sum up the current state of preaching in the Church?

I think there's a huge famine of the word of God as Amos 8:11 puts it - not a hunger for food and water but a hunger of expository teaching and preaching, paragraph by paragraph, line by line. That's what is so lacking although there are beautiful exceptions of course but the truth of the matter is that expository preachers are really hard to find. I tell my students that when preaching to "hold your finger on the text and gesture with your other hand. And when you get tired, hold that finger on the text and gesture with the other one!" We ought to keep bringing God's men and women back to the text.

Praying and Spiritual Gifts

Darrell Pursiful has an interesting post on praying for spiritual gifts. He notes in part that:

It may seem presumptuous to pray for God to give spiritual gifts. On the contrary, I believe it is presumptuous not to. If they really are gifts God gives and not innate abilities, it makes sense that they should be a matter of prayer.

Praying for spiritual gifts is a way of confessing that God’s power is necessary for the church to thrive and for its members to be effective in ministry. It is a way of admitting that, no matter how many training seminars we attend or how passionate we are about God’s causes, we can’t do it in our own strength.

Go ahead and ask God to supply your church with the gifts you need to further God’s kingdom-and be open to the possibility that God will choose to activate those gifts in you.

Prayer in Acts: A Bibliography

Yesterday I posted on the occurrences of prayer in the book of Acts. Today, I have noted some of the specialized bibliography for the topic of prayer in Acts. (I have not included commentaries even though some have significant comments regarding prayer in Acts.)

Boyd, Charles F. “Prayer in Luke–Acts.” ThM thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1984.

Conn, Harvie M. “Luke’s Theology of Prayer.” Christianity Today 17 (1972): 6–8.

Crump, David. Jesus the Intercessor: Prayer and Christology in Luke–Acts. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999.

Green, Joel B. “Persevering in Prayer: The Significance of Prayer in the Acts of the Apostles” in Into God’s Presence, ed. Richard N. Longenecker. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.

Harris, Oscar G. “Prayer in Luke–Acts: A Study in the Theology of Luke.” Ph.D. dissertation, Vanderbilt University, 1966.

O’Brien, P. T. “Prayer in Luke–Acts.” Tyndale Bulletin 24, 1973: 11–27.