May 19, 2018

Why You Should Be Read

I am probably preaching to the choir here, but here is another article touting the benefits of reading.

May 18, 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. 

Jan Assmann
From Akhenaten to Moses: Ancient Egypt and Religious Change
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10607
Reviewed by Paul Sanders

Richard Bauckham
Gospel of Glory: Major Themes in Johannine Theology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10542
Reviewed by Jo-Ann Brant
Reviewed by Sherri Brown

Cynthia R. Chapman
The House of the Mother: The Social Beliefs of Maternal Kin in Biblical Hebrew Narrative and Poetry
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11510
Reviewed by Laura Quick

R. Alan Culpepper and Paul N. Anderson, eds.
John and Judaism: A Contested Relationship in Context
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11904
Reviewed by Mary L. Coloe
Reviewed by Chris Blumhofer

Katharine Dell
Who Needs the Old Testament? Its Enduring Appeal and Why the New Atheists Don’t Get It
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11794
Reviewed by James K. Mead

Peter Enns
Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10680
Reviewed by Andrew Steinmann

Paul Foster
Colossians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11410
Reviewed by Charles L. Quarles

Robert Karl Gnuse
Trajectories of Justice: What the Bible Says about Slaves, Women, and Homosexuality
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10928
Reviewed by Claude Mariottini
Reviewed by Luis Menéndez-Antuña

Michael R. Licona
Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? What We Can Learn from Ancient Biography
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11590
Reviewed by Matthew C. Baldwin

Timothy H. Lim
When Texts Are Canonized
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11694
Reviewed by Lee Martin McDonald

Andrew Ter Ern Loke
The Origin of Divine Christology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=12214
Reviewed by Craig L. Blomberg

Jeffrey S. Siker
Liquid Scripture: The Bible in a Digital World
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11851
Reviewed by Claire Clivaz

May 16, 2018

The Eye of the Needle

David Gowler has a helpful summary here of the "camel through the eye of the needle" statement in Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25. There is not anything new here but it is a nice summary and I think that Gowler is correct in his view.

May 15, 2018

Kress Biblical Resources

Kress Biblical Resources offers helpful resources for pastors and teachers. They are celebrating a new website and blog with a special offer of 50% off all their titles and free shipping. Use coupon code Ezra 710. The offer is good through 5/30/18. Check it out here.

May 14, 2018

Preaching the Old Testament

Clint Archer asks and answers the question, "Why Preach the Older Testament?" here. This is a much better approach than the one advocated recently by a well-known pastor who advocates unhitching the Old Testament from the New. In any case, Clint's four points are as summarized as follows.

1. The Old Testament, like the New Testament, is inspired and profitable.
2. The Old Testament elucidates understanding of the New Testament.
3. The Old Testament has been given as an example for New Testament believers.
4. The Old Testament elaborates on ethics omitted in the New Testament.

May 13, 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. 

Robbie F. Castleman, Darian R. Lockett, and Stephen O. Presley, eds.
Explorations in Interdisciplinary Reading: Theological, Exegetical, and Reception-Historical Perspectives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11747
Reviewed by Arie W. Zwiep

Gina Hens-Piazza
Lamentations
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11846
Reviewed by Wilma Ann Bailey

Rainer Kessler, Walter Sommerfeld, and Leslie Tramontini, eds.
State Formation and State Decline in the Near and Middle East
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11539
Reviewed by Jason M. Silverman

J. R. Daniel Kirk
A Man Attested by God: The Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11357
Reviewed by J. Andrew Doole

David L. Mathewson
Revelation: A Handbook on the Greek Text
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11237
Reviewed by Peter S. Perry

David McAuley
Paul’s Covert Use of Scripture: Intertextuality and Rhetorical Situation in Philippians 2:10–16
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10939
Reviewed by Angela Standhartinger

Stanley E. Porter
Sacred Tradition in the New Testament: Tracing Old Testament Themes in the Gospels and Epistles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11469
Reviewed by David M. Allen

Leah Rediger Schulte
The Absence of God in Biblical Rape Narratives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11801
Reviewed by Susanne Scholz

Alexey Somov
Representations of the Afterlife in Luke-Acts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11634
Reviewed by Scott Shauf

Hans de Wit and Janet Dyk, eds.
Bible and Transformation: The Promise of Intercultural Bible Reading
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11092
Reviewed by Luis Menéndez-Antuña