Aug 13, 2016

How Long Is the Average Sermon Series?

Preaching Magazine ran a poll recently concerning the average length of a sermon series. Here is what they found.

Longer than 15 weeks – 8%
10–15 weeks – 12%
6–10 weeks – 36%
2–5 weeks – 31%
I do not preach in series – 13%


There were no big surprises here for me except for the fact that I might have suspected that, "I do not preach in series" number might be higher than 13%.

Aug 12, 2016

The Great Commission

Rob Plummer has a nice explanation here of the Greek of the "Great Commission" (Matt 28:19–20a).

Aug 11, 2016

The Septuagint and Biblical Theology

Check out Ed Glenny's article, "The Septuagint and Biblical Theology." It is available as a free PDF here.

Aug 10, 2016

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 but unfortunately you must be a SBL member.

Sébastien B. Abalodo 
Structure et théologie dans le Trito-Isaïe: Une contribution à l’unité du Livre 
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10121
Reviewed by C. Y. Timothy Kao

Mark A. Chancey, Carol Meyers, and Eric M. Meyers, eds.
The Bible in the Public Square: Its Enduring Influence in American Life
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9915
Reviewed by Jeffrey S. Siker

R. Alan Culpepper and Paul N. Anderson, eds.
Communities in Dispute: Current Scholarship on the Johannine Epistles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10077
Reviewed by Toan Do
Reviewed by Jan A. du Rand

Thomas B. Dozeman, Craig A. Evans, and Joel N. Lohr, eds.
The Book of Exodus: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10206
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow

Niclas Förster
Jesus und die Steuerfrage: Die Zinsgroschenperikope auf dem religiösen und politischen Hintergrund ihrer Zeit mit einer Edition von Pseudo-Hieronymus, De haeresibus Judaeorum
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9103
Reviewed by Stephan Witetschek

Gregg E. Gardner
The Origins of Organized Charity in Rabbinic Judaism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10410
Reviewed by Rivka Ulmer

Raimo Hakola, Nina Nikki, and Ulla Tervahauta, eds.
Others and the Construction of Early Christian Identities
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10022
Reviewed by Benjamin H. Dunning

Tricia Miller
Three Versions of Esther: Their Relationship to Anti-Semitic and Feminist Critique of the Story
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10346
Reviewed by Anne-Mareike Wetter

Mika S. Pajunen and Hanna Tervanotko, eds.
Crossing Imaginary Boundaries: The Dead Sea Scrolls in the Context of Second Temple Judaism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10309
Reviewed by Timothy H. Lim

Aug 9, 2016

Another Benefit of Reading

Apparently readers live longer according to a recent article in the journal Science and Social Order. You can read about it here.

Aug 8, 2016

Background and Function of the Priestly Blessing in Numbers

Jeremy Smoak has an interesting article here on the background and function of the priestly blessing in Numbers 6:22-27.

Aug 7, 2016

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 but unfortunately you must be a SBL member.

Giorgio Agamben
Pilate and Jesus
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10338
Reviewed by Roland Boer

Ellen Bradshaw Aitken and John M. Fossey, eds.
The Levant: Crossroads of Late Antiquity. History, Religion and Archaeology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9788
Reviewed by Jürgen Zangenberg

Roland Boer
The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10348
Reviewed by K. L. Noll

Daniel Boyarin
A Traveling Homeland: The Babylonian Talmud as Diaspora
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10519
Reviewed by Christine Hayes

Walter Brueggemann; Davis Hankins, ed.
Ice Axes for Frozen Seas: A Biblical Theology of Provocation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9966
Reviewed by Joy A. Schroeder

George Carraway
Christ Is God over All: Romans 9:5 in the Context of Romans 9–11
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9704
Reviewed by Charles L. Quarles

Susannah Cornwall, ed.
Intersex, Theology, and the Bible: Troubling Bodies in Church, Text, and Society
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10746
Reviewed by Teresa J. Hornsby

Katie Edwards
Rethinking Biblical Literacy
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10384
Reviewed by Valarie H. Ziegler

Barat Ellman
Memory and Covenant: The Role of Israel’s and God’s Memory in Sustaining the Deuteronomic and Priestly Covenants
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9564
Reviewed by Rachelle Gilmour

Albert C. Geljon and Riemer Roukema, eds.
Violence in Ancient Christianity: Victims and Perpetrators
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9943
Reviewed by Kimberly B. Stratton

Garth Gilmour
Gezer VI: The Objects from Phases I and II (1964–1974)
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10176
Reviewed by Aren M. Maeir

Matyáš Havrda, Vít Hušek, and Jana Plátová, eds.
The Seventh Book of the Stromateis: Proceedings of the Colloquium on Clement of Alexandria (Olomouc, October 21–23, 2010)
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8789
Reviewed by Michael Harris

Paul M. Joyce and Dalit Rom-Shiloni, eds.
The God Ezekiel Creates
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10294
Reviewed by J. Michael Thigpen

Jack R. Lundbom
Jeremiah: Prophet Like Moses
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10784
Reviewed by Leslie C. Allen

Michael Lyons
An Introduction to the Study of Ezekiel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10544
Reviewed by Corrine Carvalho

Safwat Marzouk
Egypt as a Monster in the Book of Ezekiel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10371
Reviewed by Amy Kalmanofsky

Susanne Scholz, ed.
Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect II: Social Locations
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10232
Reviewed by Christina Landman

Carlos Raúl Sosa Siliezar
Creation Imagery in the Gospel of John
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10550
Reviewed by R. Alan Culpepper

Elaine M. Wainwright
The Gospel according to Matthew: The Basileia of the Heavens Is Near at Hand
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10220
Reviewed by Margaret Aymer

Jaime L. Waters
Threshing Floors in Ancient Israel: Their Ritual and Symbolic Significance
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10625
Reviewed by Victor H. Matthews