Apr 14, 2012

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.

Don C. Benjamin
Stones and Stories: An Introduction to Archaeology and the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7976
Reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
 
Jeffrey Burns; David Bers and Stephen Tree, eds.
The Music of Psalms, Proverbs and Job in the Hebrew Bible: A Revised Theory of Musical Accents in the Hebrew Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8221
Reviewed by Rebecca A. Mitchell and Matthew W. Mitchell
 
John S. Kloppenborg and Richard S. Ascough, eds.
Greco-Roman Associations: Texts, Translations, and Commentary: Volume 1: Attica, Central Greece, Macedonia, Thrace
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8214
Reviewed by Alicia J. Batten
 
Oh-Young Kwon
1 Corinthians 1-4: Reconstructing Its Social and Rhetorical Situation and Re-reading It Cross-Culturally for Korean-Confucian Christians Today
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8094
Reviewed by Yongbom Lee
 
Martin Leuenberger
Segen und Segenstheologien im alten Israel: Untersuchungen zu ihren religions- und theologiegeschichtlichen Konstellationen und Transformationen
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7319
Reviewed by William P. Brown
 
Stuart Macwilliam
Queer Theory and the Prophetic Marriage Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8189
Reviewed by Christine Mitchell
 
Kent Aaron Reynolds
Torah as Teacher: The Exemplary Torah Student in Psalm 119
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8033
Reviewed by Steven Dunn
 
Thomas Römer
Dieu obscur: Cruauté, sexe et violence dans l'Ancien Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7332
Reviewed by Delia Klingler
 
Jonathan Y. Rowe
Michal's Moral Dilemma: A Literary, Anthropological and Ethical Interpretation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7988
Reviewed by Susanne Scholz
 
Michael A. Salmeier
Restoring the Kingdom: The Role of God as the "Ordainer of Times and Seasons" in the Acts of the Apostles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8269
Reviewed by Richard I. Pervo
  

Apr 13, 2012

Free Audio and Video of the 2012 Together for the Gospel Conference

  
You can access free audio and video from the 2012 Together for the Gospel Conference here.

HT: Denny Burk
 

Nine Reasons to Preach Expositionally

  
See this article by Danny Slavich.
 

Articles on The Dead Sea Scrolls

  
The latest issue of the Southwestern News (read it here) has several Dead Sea Scrolls related articles and information about upcoming Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
 

Apr 12, 2012

Fourth Blogiversary

  
This blog was started on this day in 2008 after a little prodding of one of my friends (thanks Patrick). I am humbled and amazed at how the Lord has chosen to use it. To Him be the glory.
 

Apr 11, 2012

Vatican Plans to Digitize Its Library

  
See this article about a cooperative effort between Oxford University and the Vatican to digitize the Vatican's library which includes a number of biblical manuscripts.
  

"Top 10 Christian Phrases I Never Want to Hear Again"

  
You might not agree with every point that Nicole Cottrell makes in this article, but I do think she has a point about how trite and unhelpful some of the things we say in speaking Christianese can be.
   

Apr 10, 2012

One More Thought on the Resurrection

  
While I was jogging this morning it struck me that when one looks at the aptly identified resurrection chapter in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15, it is interesting to note how Paul does not make his case for the resurrection. That is, he does not make it by appealing to well-known examples of people being raised from the dead (e.g., the widow of Zarephath's son [1 Kgs 17], the Shunnamite's son [2 Kgs 4), Jairus' daughter [Mark 5], the widow of Nain's son [Luke 7], Lazarus [John 11], etc.). Instead, Paul points to Jesus' resurrection and illustrates his point using creation (plants, animals, and stars). I believe that there is a very good reason for this. Namely, the examples of people raised from the dead are not really examples of resurrections, but more technically, of resuscitations, or as I prefer to call "resusurrections" (see this post). Jesus was the first one to be resurrected. Therefore, there are no other examples (yet!) of resurrections for Paul to appeal to. While we must exercise caution in making too much of how a biblical author does not make his argument, it seems to me that what Paul does not say here is worth noting.
  

Four Views on the Influence of the Old Testament on the New

  
I found this post interesting because the question more often asked relates to the question of the New Testament's influence on our understanding of the Old Testament. In any case, the post contains responses from Craig Blomberg, Darrell Bock, Robert Plummer, and Andrew Hill.
 

Apr 9, 2012

Walter Kaiser on Job 19:21-27 and Resurrection

  
In honor of Resurrection Sunday yesterday, I thought I would share a portion of Walter Kaiser's discussion of Job 19:21-27 from his recent book, Preaching and Teaching the Last Things. After doing an exposition of Job 19:21-27, Kaiser concludes with the following three points.

"1. A real and personal afterlife was assumed by the Israelites as a naturally and necessary conclusion to the present life, similar to what is evidenced throughout the ancient Near Eastern cultures in their burial practices and writings.

2. Believers have a right to expect that their 'Living redeemer' will 'in the end' raise them back to physical life again.

3. Job's references to 'skin,' 'flesh,' and 'eyes' make it clear that the Old Testament believers were not expecting a resurrection of a disembodied state, or ghostly appearance, but one with a bodily identity."

Walter Kaiser, Preaching and Teaching the Last Things: Old Testament Eschatology for the Life of the Church (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2011), 18.
 

Apr 8, 2012

You Have to Act Quickly But . . .

  
The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary is free today as a text-only Kindle edition here.
  

He Is Risen