Sep 19, 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:


L. Stephanie Cobb
Dying to Be Men: Gender and Language in Early Christian Martyr Texts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6862
Reviewed by Jan Willem van Henten

J. Edward Crowley and Paul L. Danove
The Rhetoric of Characterization of God, Jesus, and Jesus' Disciples in the Gospel of Mark
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=4991
Reviewed by Seán P. Kealy

Ellen F. Davis
Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6922
Reviewed by Philip F. Esler

F. Gerald Downing
God with Everything: The Divine in the Discourse of the First Christian Century
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6676
Reviewed by Michael Lakey

Lori Anne Ferrell
The Bible and the People
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6947
Reviewed by Seán P. Kealy

Joseph A. Fitzmyer
A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6885
Reviewed by Shayna Sheinfeld

William H. Jennings
Storms over Genesis: Biblical Battleground in America's Wars of Religion
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6155
Reviewed by Michael D. Matlock

Julie Kelso
O Mother, Where Art Thou? An Irigarayan Reading of the Book of Chronicles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6854
Reviewed by Susanne Scholz

Matthew J. Marohl
Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews: A Social Identity Approach
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6586
Reviewed by Renate Viveen Hood

Alexander I. Negrov
Biblical Interpretation in the Russian Orthodox Church: A Historical and Hermeneutical Perspective
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6866
Reviewed by Peter Penner

Etienne Nodet
The Historical Jesus? Necessity and Limits of an Inquiry
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6670
Reviewed by James West

Julia M. O'Brien
Challenging Prophetic Metaphor: Theology and Ideology in the Prophets
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6847
Reviewed by Bo H. Lim

Mikeal C. Parsons
Acts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6963
Reviewed by I. Howard Marshall

Ilaria Ramelli and David Konstan
Terms for Eternity: Aiônios and Aïdios in Classical and Christian Texts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6984
Reviewed by Jan G. van der Watt

Kevin J. Vanhoozer, ed.
Theological Interpretation of the New Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6967
Reviewed by Erik Heen


Quote of the Day


“Do not look for big opportunities, “worthy” of your abilities. Those will come in due time. The great saints of the Bible started as servants, not rulers: and they were faithful over a few things before God made them kings. Moses tended sheep; Joseph was a steward; David was a shepherd; even Jesus was a carpenter. Live with the eye of God upon you, and forger the praise of men. Serve faithfully in the hidden place, and in due time, God will life you up. Every opportunity for service is an opportunity to exercise sovereignty in Christ. We reign in life by living to serve, to the glory of God.”


Warren Wiersbe, Live Like Kings: Living the Beatitudes Today (Chicago: Moody, 1976), 42.

Sep 18, 2009

DeYoung on Social Justice and Leviticus 25


Kevin DeYoung has a fine set of posts on "Social Justice and the Poor." Today's post interacts with Leviticus 25, in particular with the year of jubilee and how some have advocated a government sponsored redistribution of land as a way of assisting the poor today. But Kevin highlights five problems with this approach which can be summarized as follows.


1. We are not an ancient, agrarian society.
2. Most importantly, our property was not assigned directly by God.
3. Our economy is not based on a fixed piece of land.
4. Our nation is not under the Mosaic covenant.
5. Most of us are not Jews.

Rather, Kevin suggests that Leviticus should remind us that:

1. We should find ways to give opportunities for the poor to succeed.
2. The Bible supports the existence of private property.
3. The Bible relativizes private property.
4. Our God is the God of second chances.
5. Jesus is Jubilee.


Read the entire post here, complete with a link to a sermon on the topic.


Sep 17, 2009

The Family of Abraham and the Jerusalem Council


“Paul’s definition of kinship with Abraham and belonging to the line of promise eventually wins in this debate. Looking back on this argument, Luke presents the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 as a decisive turning point in the construction of the ‘family of God’ and ‘family of Abraham.’ In Acts 15:23, a clear note is sounded as the Jewish brothers send greetings to the believers of Gentile origin with the report of the Jerusalem Council about circumcision. This is an incredibly significant step in the Christian movement since it has at least been decided that a believer does not have to join the ‘house of Israel’ through circumcision and proselytization in order to join the “household of God” these two houses being one and the same for the not-Christian Jew.”

David A. deSilva, Honor Patronage, Kinship & Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2000), 283.

Sep 16, 2009

Some Mid-Week Markdowns from CBD


Readers might be interested in two items Christianbook.com's mid-week mark down sale (good for today only). Just click on the links below. Price does not include postage.

Two Volume Bible Knowledge Commentary, ed. Walvoord & Zuck for $34.99
Canon and Biblical Interpretation, ed. Craig Bartolomew and Anthony Thiselton for $12.99

See these and other books on sale here.

Sep 15, 2009

New Blog by William Varner


You will want to check out William Varner's blog. There are interesting posts on James, Hebrews, Acts, and more. You can access it
here.

HT: Todd Bolen

Household Idolatry in the Greco-Roman World


See Josh Mann's short but interesting
post on household idolatry in the Greco-Roman world.

Varner on the New Perspective on James


William Varner has a very helpful post on the Epistle of James in general and the new perspective on James in particular
here.

Sep 14, 2009

How to Benefit from Less Interesting Passages


Tyler Kenney has a good
post on how to benefit from "boring passages" (Sorry, I couldn't bring myself to call parts of Scripture boring in my title above). The three benefits are:

1. “Boring” passages are the evidence of God's faithfulness.
2. “Boring” passages equip us to understand greater spiritual realities.
3. “Boring” passages help us experience what they talk about.


Sep 13, 2009

Blomberg on Contemporary Preaching


Blomberg, writing on the contemporary significance of 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 states:


“One wonders how much contemporary preaching is in fact cross-centered. Ours is an age of user-friendly, seeker-sensitive techniques for church growth. Some of these techniques affect only the form and not the substance of the gospel, but others are more suspect. Many people have rejected human sin and personal accountability for evil actions in favor of passing the blame onto corrupting societal influences. Such people have an acute need to hear the true meaning of the crucifixion of Christ. Positive thinking and possibility thinking perhaps have a limited place for people with an overly poor self-image, but they do not adequately substitute for repentance and trust in Jesus.”

Craig Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 39.