Two New Books on the Psalms

See this article on two new books written from a Jewish perspective by Conservative rabbis: A New Psalm: The Psalms as Literature, by Rabbi Benjamin Segal and Joy, Despair and Hope: Reading Psalms, by Rabbi Edward Feld.

The Debate about Sodom

Christianity Today has brief summary of the debate regarding Steven Collins' identification of Tall el-Hammam with the biblical Sodom. You can access the article here.

Exodus Videos

The Biblical Archaeology Society’s Bible History Today website has added over a dozen new full-length free lecture videos from the recent Out of Egypt Conference. You can access links to the videos here.

Leadership and Authority

Shane Lems, interacting with Timothy Witmer's book The Shepherd Leader, has enumerated five observations concerning the authority of elders (and I would suggest all church-based leadership). Lems distilled list is further summarized below. See his entire post here.

1. All human authority is derived. 

2. The exercise of authority is designed to serve the well-being of those under its care. 

3. This authority is to be directed by God’s Word. 

4. All who hold derived authority are ultimately accountable to the One who gave that authority. 

5. The flock is called to submit to the authority of the elders.

Camels and the Bible

I have refrained from getting into the recent flood of reports related to camel domestication, archaeology, and the accuracy of the Bible. A great irony here is that many of the same folks who criticize so-called fundamentalist Christians for misusing archaeological evidence (and often rightly so) are doing much the same in this case. The claims have well-exceeded the evidence. Thankfully, Todd Bolen, although not the first, has provided a nice response with a number of links here. To paraphrase and adapt something Mark Twain once said, "the reports of the death of the Bible's accuracy have been greatly exaggerated."

Beyond the River Chebar

I just received a review copy of Daniel Block's Beyond the River Chebar: Studies in Kingship and Eschatology in the Book of Ezekiel. This volume consists of a collection of essays from Ezekiel 25-40 and is a companion to Block's By the River Chebar which I reviewed here. I am looking forward to digging into this volume.

Top Ten Books from Dr. J. Carl Laney

Those who appreciate the work of J. Carl Laney might also appreciate this list of his recommended books.