Apr 21, 2018

The Latest Issue of the 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. 

A. Graeme Auld
Life in Kings: Reshaping the Royal Story in the Hebrew Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11675
Reviewed by John W. Herbst

Rhonda G. Crutcher
That He Might Be Revealed: Water Imagery and the Identity of Jesus in the Gospel of John
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10640
Reviewed by Steven R. Shisley

David J. Downs
The Offering of the Gentiles: Paul’s Collection for Jerusalem in Its Chronological, Cultural, and Cultic Contexts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11271
Reviewed by Stephan J. Joubert

Göran Eidevall
Amos: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11872
Reviewed by Marvin A. Sweeney

Troels Engberg-Pedersen
John and Philosophy: A New Reading of the Fourth Gospel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11646
Reviewed by Gitte Buch-Hansen

Lester L. Grabbe
1 and 2 Kings: History and Story in Ancient Israel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11563
Reviewed by Benjamin Giffone

Ekaterina E. Kozlova
Maternal Grief in the Hebrew Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11816
Reviewed by Claudia D. Bergmann

Beniamin Pascut
Redescribing Jesus’ Divinity through a Social Science Theory: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Forgiveness and Divine Identity in Ancient Judaism and Mark 2:1–12
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=12140
Reviewed by Timothy Bertolet

Maria Pascuzzi
Paul: Windows on His Thought and His World
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10444
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Cockrell

Mark Sheridan
Language for God in Patristic Tradition: Wrestling with Biblical Anthropomorphism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11483
Reviewed by Kevin Clarke

Marion Ann Taylor and Heather E. Weir, eds.
Women in the Story of Jesus: The Gospels through the Eyes of Nineteenth-Century Female Biblical Interpreters
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11525
Reviewed by Jill Marshall

Andreas Wagner and Jürgen van Oorschot, eds.
Individualität und Selbstreflexion in den Literaturen des Alten Testaments
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11737
Reviewed by Gert Kwakkel

Apr 20, 2018

On the Use of Commentaries

Matt Waymeyer's post, "Expository Preaching and the Use of Commentaries," provides some sound advice on the use and abuse of commentaries.

Apr 19, 2018

15 Things Seminary Teaches Me that My Busy Pastor(ate) Can’t

The limitations and/or impracticality of seminary or theological education for pastoral ministry is frequently noted. But this post is a good reminder of what a good seminary or theological education can do for you.

"Fake News" on Genesis 22

According to this post, a 1,500 year old Coptic manuscript suggests that Abraham actually sacrificed Isaac on Mt. Moriah. Readers of Genesis know that this is fake news.

Apr 17, 2018

New Volume in the Photo Companion to the Bible Series

Todd Bolen and the folks at Bible Places have done it again with their newest volume in the Photo Companion to the Bible series.This volume focuses on Ruth and it once again provides a plethora of pictorial resources broken down by chapter/verse. These images are helpfully presented in four separate PowerPoint presentations. Each presentation focuses on a chapter in the book. Just to give you an idea of the richness of this resource, there are 57 slides dedicated to 1:1 and the presentation contains 350 images total. This collection is on sale for only $20 this week and that includes free shipping (in the U.S.). This is surely one of the best bang-for-the-buck resources out there.