Witherington on Readers and Literacy in the Ancient World

  
See this post by Ben Witherington on readers and literacy in the ancient world.
  

Three Reasons Not To Delegate

  
Delegating certain tasks is practically essential for those involved in ministry leadership. But David Murray (building on the work of Whitney Johnson) provides a helpful advice on when delegating should be avoided.

 

Interview With Frank Thielman

  
Matthew Montonini has a nice interview with Frank Thielman on his recent Ephesians commentary here.
  

Top Ten Systematic Theology Books

  
C. Michael Patton has a good discussion of his top ten systematic theology recommendations here.
  

David Allen on Text-Driven Preaching

  
See Michael Duduit's interview of David Allen on text-driven preaching here. The interview relates to a book that David co-edited entitled Text-Driven Preaching.
  

Applicational Faux Pas

  
See this post on some of the challenges and mistakes made in application.
  

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:

Elie Assis
Flashes of Fire: A Literary Analysis of the Song of Songs
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7561
Reviewed by Francis Landy
 
Athalya Brenner and Frank H. Polak, eds.
Performing Memory in Biblical Narrative and Beyond
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7513
Reviewed by Ovidiu Creanga
 
Harry T. Fleddermann
Q: A Reconstruction and Commentary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7878
Reviewed by Leslie Robert Keylock
 
Chris Franke and Julia M. O'Brien, eds.
Aesthetics of Violence in the Prophets
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7549
Reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
 
A. R. George
Babylonian Literary Texts in the Schoyen Collection
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7274
Reviewed by Alan Lenzi
 
Harry A. Hoffner Jr.
Letters from the Hittite Kingdom
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7222
Reviewed by Ludek Vac韓
 
Brigitte Kahl
Galatians Re-imagined: Reading with the Eyes of the Vanquished
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7438
Reviewed by Eric Noffke
 
Reinhard G. Kratz and Hermann Spieckermann, eds.
Divine Wrath and Divine Mercy in the World of Antiquity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7371
Reviewed by Michael S. Moore
 
J. Gordon McConville and Stephen Williams
Joshua
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7625
Reviewed by Ernst Axel Knauf
 
Eckart Otto
Die Tora: Studien zum Pentateuch: Gesammelte Schriften
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7226
Reviewed by Reinhard Achenbach
 
Stanley E. Porter and Matthew Brook O'Donnell, eds.
The Linguist as Pedagogue: Trends in the Teaching and Linguistic Analysis of the Greek New Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7510
Reviewed by Buist M. Fanning
 

Daniel A. Smith
Revisiting the Empty Tomb: The Early History of Easter
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7450
Reviewed by Tony Costa
 
Gregory E. Sterling and David T. Runia, eds.
The Studia Philonica Annual: Studies in Hellenistic Judaism, Volume XX
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6888
Reviewed by James E. Bowley
 
Eugene Ulrich, ed.
The Biblical Qumran Scrolls: Transcriptions and Textual Variants
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7647
Reviewed by Aaron D. Rubin

Barna: Six Megatrends Changing Christianity

  
See this article on six megatrends changing Christianity according to the Barna Group.
   

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:

Alejandro F. Botta and Pablo R. Andiñach, eds.
The Bible and the Hermeneutics of Liberation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7294
Reviewed by Jeremy Punt

François Bovon
New Testament and Christian Apocrypha: Collected Studies II
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7323
Reviewed by Christopher R. Matthews

Athalya Brenner, Archie Chi Chung Lee, and Gale A. Yee, eds.
Genesis
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7448
Reviewed by John Anderson

Gregg Gardner and Kevin L. Osterloh, eds.
Antiquity in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Pasts in the Greco-Roman World
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7540
Reviewed by Matthew W. Mitchell

E. Grypeou and H. Spurling, eds.
The Exegetical Encounter between Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7390
Reviewed by Judith M. Lieu

Olav Hammer, ed.
Alternative Christs
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7416
Reviewed by Brent Landau

Thomas Holsinger-Friesen
Irenaeus and Genesis: A Study of Competition in Early Christian Hermeneutics
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7272
Reviewed by Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger

Aren M. Maeir and Pierre de Miroschedji, eds.
"I Will Speak the Riddles of Ancient Times": Archaeological and Historical Studies in Honor of Amihai Mazar on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7118
Reviewed by Gilbert Lozano

Hilary Marlow
Biblical Prophets and Contemporary Environmental Ethics
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7415
Reviewed by Norman Habel

Steven L. McKenzie
Introduction to the Historical Books: Strategies for Reading
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7398
Reviewed by Patrick Russell

Juha Pakkala and Martti Nissinen, eds.
Houses Full of All Good Things: Essays in Memory of Timo Veijola
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6537
Reviewed by Carly Crouch

Lorenzo Scornaienchi
Sarx und Soma bei Paulus: Der Mensch zwischen Destruktivität und Konstruktivität
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7161
Reviewed by Christof Landmesser

Mark S. Smith
God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7225
Reviewed by Christopher B. Hays

Peter S. Williamson
Ephesians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7529
Reviewed by Markus Lang

Joel Willitts
Matthew's Messianic Shepherd-King: In Search of 'The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel'
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7440
Reviewed by Don Garlington

 

Ten Commandments for Churches Seeking Pastors

  
See this article listing ten commandments for churches seeking pastors and other church leaders.The ten commandments are drawn from Chris Brauns' book When the Word Leads Your Pastoral Search.
  

Jonah Like You've Never Heard It Before

  

I'm not sure what to say. Just watch.

HT. Mark Massey

Pre-Seminary Reading Recommendations

  
Nathan Finn has some helpful advice for those who are thinking about or planning to go to seminary.
 

The Fourteen Generations in Matthew's Presentation of Jesus' Genealogy

I am currently working through Robert Gundry’s Commentary on the New Testament (Hendrickson, 2010) for an upcoming journal review. Concerning Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew’s Gospel, Gundry writes,

“That Matthew constructs three sets of fourteen also corresponds to the spelling of David’s name in Hebrew with three consonants and puts triple emphasis on Jesus’ Davidic ancestry. So the first set ended with royal power (‘David the king’), the second with loss of royal power (‘the deportation to Babylon’), and the third with a revival of royal power (‘the Christ’)” (p. 3).

The idea that Matthew uses fourteen generations to correspond to the spelling of David’s name is nothing new, but I am intrigued with Gundry’s other suggestion that the fourteens also serve to emphasize royal power established, lost, and revived is intriguing.