A Descriptive Definition of Prophets Based on Luke-Acts

  
David Miller has an interesting post on prophets in Luke-Acts here.
 

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

  

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below.

James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy, eds.
The Historical Jesus: Five Views
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7322
Reviewed by Pieter F. Craffert
 
Corrine L. Carvalho
Encountering Ancient Voices: A Guide to Reading the Old Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7444
Reviewed by Achim Mueller
 
Jeremy Corley, ed.
New Perspectives on the Nativity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7568
Reviewed by Mark R. C. Grundeken
 
Thomas B. Dozeman, ed.
Methods for Exodus
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7597
Reviewed by Brian D. Russell
 
Yael S. Feldman
Glory and Agony: Isaac's Sacrifice and National Narrative
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7778
Reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
 
Norman K. Gottwald; Rebecca J. Kruger Gaudino, ed.
The Hebrew Bible: A Brief Socio-Literary Introduction
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7197
Reviewed by David M. Maas
 
Hans-Josef Klauck, Bernard McGinn, Paul Mendes-Flohr, Choon-Leong Seow, Hermann Spieckermann, Barry Dov Walfish, Eric Ziolkowski, eds.
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception: Volume 1: Aaron-Aniconism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7995
Reviewed by Christoph Stenschke
 
Laura Nasrallah and Elisabeth SchЭssler Fiorenza, eds.
Prejudice and Christian Beginnings: Investigating Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Early Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7341
Reviewed by Hal Taussig
 
Raymond F. Person
The Deuteronomic History and the Book of Chronicles: Scribal Works in an Oral World
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7736
Reviewed by Frank H. Polak
 
Jerome T. Walsh
Old Testament Narrative: A Guide to Interpretation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7527
Reviewed by John E. Anderson

Reading Scripture

  

“There is an ethical dimension to reading that includes respect for the author as well as careful attention to what was in fact been written and the form in which it has been written. Yet reading the word of God in the presence of God demands more than these more general courtesies. In this case, the very human activity of reading takes on a new importance as a vital element of the life of faith. The suggestion that we approach the text with a ‘hermeneutic of suspicion,’ or that we must ‘master the text lest the text master us,’ is quite frankly, incompatible with faith in the goodness of God. It cannot but lead to a distortion of Scripture’s meaning and the elevation of our own interests above the express will of the one who made us and redeemed us.

“In short, hermeneutics is like everything else in the world outside Eden. It is an area of scholarly activity that can be an avenue for faithful service or an opportunity for human self-assertion.”

Mark D.  Thompson, A Clear and Present Word: The Clarity of Scripture, New Studies in Biblical Theology 21, ed. D. A. Carson (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006), 140–1.

The Value of Short Term Mission Trips

  
See this article.
 

Something Different: A Tower of Babel Made of Books

  
See this article.
  

Old Testament Wisdom Literature

I just received a copy of Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Theological Introduction by Craig G. Bartholomew and Ryan P. O'Dowd. I plan to do a more thorough reading of this soon, but here is the publisher's description and the table of contents.

Description:

Craig G. Bartholomew and Ryan P. O'Dowd provide an informed introduction to the Old Testament wisdom books Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job. Establishing the books in the context of ancient Near Eastern wisdom traditions and literature, the authors move beyond the scope of typical introductions to discuss the theological and hermeneutical implications of this literature.

Table of Contents:

Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction

1 An Introduction to Old Testament Wisdom
2 The Ancient World of Wisdom
3 The Poetry of Wisdom and the Wisdom of Poetry
4 Proverbs
5 Women, Wisdom and Valor
6 Job
7 Where Can Wisdom Be Found?
8 Ecclesiastes
9 For Everything There Is a Season
10 Jesus, the Wisdom of God
11 The Theology of Old Testament Wisdom
12 The Theology of Wisdom Today

Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture Index
  

The Book of Jeremiah

  
Matt Capps has a fairly decent introduction to the Book of Jeremiah here. 
   

Three Factors in Biblical Archaeology

  

“Archaeological research is a uniquely human activity. It is man attempting to piece together the story of mankind from meager clues which he has been able to recover. In biblical archaeology, three factors are involved in the process of recovering the story—the Bible, archaeology, and the archaeologist—and each of these has its own peculiarities and limitations that affect the total phenomenon that we call archaeological research, including the final results.”

Keith N. Schoville, Biblical Archaeology in Focus (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978), 154.