Denominations

  
I know that thinking positively about denominations has fallen on hard times. But I have long believed that on their best days they can still serve a helpful function. So it is nice to read someone else who sees denominations as a good thing.

Nestle-Aland 28 Available Online

The new Nestle-Aland 28 is now available online here.

HT: Michael Gorman

How to Become A Biblical Scholar

  
An interview with C. Clifton Black addresses the issue of becoming a biblical scholar here.
 

Review of The Handy Guide to New Testament Greek

Douglas S. Huffman, The Handy Guide to New Testament Greek: Grammar, Syntax, and Diagramming (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2012).

During my Bible college days I remember purchasing A Card-Guide to New Testament Greek by Benjamin Chapman and Gary Shogren. This was a laminated sheet, printed on the front and back, highlighting the basic information covered in first year Greek. Zondervan also now produces a four-page laminated overview produced by William Mounce.

Huffman’s work is more than these two resources but less than a first-year Greek grammar and/or a second-year Greek syntax. It is a supplemental resource designed to conveniently distill the information typically covered in first and second year Greek courses and texts. By this measure, Huffman’s guide is largely successful. There is a lot of information packed in these 112 pages. It is full without feeling cramped. The printing is easy on the eyes and the use of color is both attractive and helpful. This guide contains helpful definitions, explanations (simple without being simplistic), descriptions, examples, tables, and memory devices (e.g., “Old MacDonald nouns,” p. 10). The work is rounded out by a solid chapter on diagramming that reads more like a book than the first two chapters. The value of this resource is also enhanced by a fairly comprehensive and nicely organized bibliography (for the table of contents go here). I actually enjoyed going through this guide and my overall impression of this work is very positive. 

The main challenge as I see for this niche product is finding an audience outside of the Bible college or seminary classroom where it is a required text. If this resource is intended to be used after graduation then I suspect the best hope will be to put it out in the main ebook formats. 

Douglas Huffman is a Professor and associate Dean of Biblical and Theological Studies at Biola University. You can read an excerpt here.

Thanks to Kregel Academic for providing the free copy of this book used in writing this unbiased review. 
  

Luke Commentary on Sale

  
Christian Book Distributor's "Deal of the Day" is I. Howard Marshall's Luke Commentary.

The Gospel of Luke: New International Greek Testament Commentary [NIGTC]

CBD has the volume at $47% off or $35.99. This is about $20 better than either Amazon who has the same volume for $55.31 or the Westminster Bookstore at $56.91.
 

Merry Christmas!

  
Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ in celebration of His birth and Merry Christmas to all from my family to yours.
 

Christmas in Koine

  
Daniel Streett has posted a collection of links for Christmas songs in Koine Greek 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.

Frederick Dale Bruner
The Gospel of John: A Commentary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8442
Reviewed by Sonya S. Cronin

Georg Fischer and Dominik Markl
Das Buch Exodus
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8142
Reviewed by Paul Sanders

Peter Hon Wan Lau
Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth: A Social Identity Approach
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8253
Reviewed by Timothy Stone

Nancy C. Lee
Lyrics of Lament: From Tragedy to Transformation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7435
Reviewed by Ulrich Berges
Reviewed by Leonard Mare

Mikeal C. Parsons
Body and Character in Luke and Acts: The Subversion of Physiognomy in Early Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8324
Reviewed by Stephan Witetschek

Matthew S. Rindge
Jesus' Parable of the Rich Fool: Luke 12:13-34 among Ancient Conversations on Death and Possessions
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8342
Reviewed by Matthew Hauge

John H. Sailhamer
The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8130
Reviewed by Andrew Steinmann

Simon P. Stocks
The Form and Function of the Tricolon in the Psalms of Ascents: Introducing a New Paradigm for Hebrew Poetic Line-form
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8553
Reviewed by Gert T. M. Prinsloo

Klaus Wachtel and Michael W. Holmes, eds.
The Textual History of the Greek New Testament: Changing Views in Contemporary Research
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8381
Reviewed by James Leonard