Aug 1, 2009

Free Audio Download of Dante's Divine Comedy


Christianaudio.com is offering a free audio download of Dante's
Divine Comedy. Go here and use the coupon code AUG2009.

Total Depravity


Travis Carden has categorized and compiled a list of verses on total depravity. You can access the list here.

Jul 31, 2009

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature


The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews that may be of interest from a Bible Exposition perspective include:

Keith Bodner
1 Samuel: A Narrative Commentary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6924
Reviewed by Tim Bulkeley

J. Bretschneider, J. Driessen, and K. van Lerberghe, eds.
Power and Architecture: Monumental Public Architecture in the Bronze Age Near East and Aegean
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6793
Reviewed by Aren Maeir

Adela Yarbro Collins and John J. Collins
King and Messiah as Son of God: Divine, Human, and Angelic Messianic Figures in Biblical and Related Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7034
Reviewed by Stephen Reed

Stacy Davis
This Strange Story: Jewish and Christian Interpretation of the Curse of Canaan from Antiquity to 1865
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6532
Reviewed by David M. Whitford

Michael B. Dick
Reading the Old Testament: An Inductive Introduction
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6512
Reviewed by George C. Heider

Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea L. Weiss, eds.
The Torah: A Women's Commentary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6637
Reviewed by Yael Shemesh

Friedhelm Hartenstein
Das Angesicht JHWHs: Studien zu seinem höfischen und kultischen Bedeutungshintergrund in den Psalmen und in Exodus 32-34
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6916
Reviewed by Mark W. Hamilton

Brad E. Kelle and Frank Ritchel Ames, eds.
Writing and Reading War: Rhetoric, Gender, and Ethics in Biblical and Modern Contexts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6887
Reviewed by Pierre Johan Jordaan

Seyoon Kim
Christ and Caesar: The Gospel and the Roman Empire in the Writings of Paul and Luke
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6957
Reviewed by Warren Carter

Tat-siong Benny Liew
What Is Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics? Reading the New Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6869
Reviewed by Jae Won Lee

Evan Powell
The Myth of the Lost Gospel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5230
Reviewed by Sarah E. Rollens

Moses Taiwo
Paul's Rhetoric in 1 Corinthians 10:29b-30
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6983
Reviewed by Mark A. Jennings

James W. Thompson
Hebrews
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6966
Reviewed by Alan C. Mitchell

Jason A. Whitlark
Enabling Fidelity to God: Perseverance in Hebrews in Light of Reciprocity Systems in the Ancient Mediterranean World
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7027
Reviewed by Ryan D. Chivington


Archaeology and the Bible


See this helpful post on four approaches to archaeology and the Bible.

Jul 30, 2009

The Implications of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15


Here is a nice quote from David Peterson’s just released commentary on Acts:


“However, Acts 15 is to imply commending a particular process of decision-making and the ideal of a community united in discovering and applying the will of God. Subtly and surely, Luke uses the apostles’ statements to shape a new definition of ‘the people of God’ as one based on messianic faith rather than on ethnic origin or ritual observance. Here we find an important manifestation of the church as entity involving local congregations in partnership, working together to maintain the truth of God’s word and promote the work of the gospel. The Jerusalem Council makes the gospel of salvation by faith alone the key to defining the true nature of this church, which involves Jewish and Gentile believers together. At the same time, there is further reflection on the role of the law in the new community created through faith in Christ.”

David G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles, Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2009), pp. 442–3.

Jul 29, 2009

H. A. Ironside the Preacher

Peter Mead has posted a great quote from Warren Wiersbe concerning H. A. Ironside.

Ironside was not a dazzling preacher; he did not aim to be sensational. He stepped into the pulpit with exclamation points, not question marks. A generation of preachers that has tried every gimmick available to get people’s attention would do well to become acquainted with Harry Ironside and to learn afresh the meaning of living by faith and preaching the Word of God in simplicity and love.

Jul 28, 2009

Spousal Mistreatment in the Roman World and 1 Peter 3


Josh Mann has a nice post on 1 Peter 3 and spousal mistreatment in the Roman world. You can read it here.

The Scope of the Jerusalem Council Decision


Here is a quote from an older work as part of my ongoing study in Acts in general and the Jerusalem Council in particular.


“The Fact the decree is addressed to the Churches of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia by name, seems to show that it was drawn up to meet a special difficulty affecting special Churches, and was not meant to be of universal obligation. With this agrees the fact that St. Paul in writing to other Churches never alludes to it ; and further, in his letter to the Corinthians (I Cor. X.27) and in that to the Romans xiv. 2), he speaks of one of its rules (about eating things offered to idols) as an open question, to be answered by each man’s conscience on principles of evangelical expediency.”

John Pilkington Norris, A Key to the Narrative of the Acts of the Apostles (London: Rivingtons, 1871), 74.

I am not sure that Norris is right given Acts 21:25, but the issue of 1 Corinthians is problematic. See this earlier post.


The Latest Issue of Themelios is Out


The Latest Issue of Themelios a international journal for students of theological and religious studies is out as a free pdf download
here.

HT: Andy Naselli

Jul 27, 2009

Creating a Torah Scroll


Some readers might find this website created to track the progress of a creation of a Torah scroll, a project expected to take eighteen months, by Rabbi Avraham Bloomenstiel. The website contains several short videos explaining some of the intricacies of creating the Hebrew letters.

Jul 26, 2009

Applying the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15)


Timothy Wiarda identifies three models for those “who share a belief that the Jerusalem Council offers a paradigm that may be followed today by those who develop theology to guide the church.”


1. The council as a model of contextualization.
2. The Council as a model for Spirit-led community interpretation of Scripture.
3. The Council as a pattern for a bimodal authority structure (Scripture and Tradition).
4. The Council as an example of canonical conversations (intramural discussions related to theological diversity).
5. The Council as a precedent for theological decision-making based on a concept of progressive revelation.

Timothy Wiarda, The Jerusalem Council and the Theological Task, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 46 (2003): 233–43.