Jun 2, 2018

Negative Comments on Course Evaluations

Anyone who teaches, preaches, or otherwise is involved in ministry knows that criticism is par for the course. Even the Lord was criticized. Maryellen Weimer's post here provides some good advice on dealing with critical course evaluations in an academic setting but this probably applies to criticism in general.

Jun 1, 2018

Free Logos Book for June: Ecclesiastes (WBC)

The free Logos Book for the Month for April is Roland Murphy's Ecclesiastes commentary in the Word Biblical Commentary series You can also purchase John Durham's Exodus for $1.99 and George Beasley-Murray's John commentary in the same series for $9.99. While you are there you can register for a chance win the seven-volume Zondervan Theology Collection. For all these offers, go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here. Unfortunately, I already own the WBC series but hopefully others will enjoy the offer.

May 31, 2018

The Use of Lament Psalms

Gordon Wenham gives four theological reasons for using lament psalms (with slight modification).

1. The lament psalms are some of the most quoted in the New Testament.
2. Jesus prayed the lament psalms.
3.The martyr’s prayers in the book of Revelation is based on the lament psalms.
4. The early church prayed lament psalms.


Whenham also adds two practical reasons to use lament psalms.

1. Not everyone who comes to church is full of joy and happiness.
2. Praying lament psalms can help one to sympathize with those in trouble and pray for those who are suffering or persecuted.
 

Gordon Wenham, The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 45-48.

May 30, 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. 

Stan Harstine
A History of the Two-Hundred-Year Scholarly Debate about the Purpose of the Prologue to the Gospel of John: How Does Our Understanding of the Prologue Affect Our Interpretation of the Subsequent Text?
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11007
Reviewed by Martinus C. de Boer

Leander Keck
Christ’s First Theologian: The Shape of Paul’s Thought
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10483
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Cockrell

Ebbe E. Knudsen
Classical Syriac Phonology
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11113
Reviewed by Jerome A. Lund

Nina E. Livesey
Galatians and the Rhetoric of Crisis: Paul – Demosthenes – Cicero
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11522
Reviewed by Rick F. Talbott

Francis J. Moloney
Johannine Studies 1975–2017
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11659
Reviewed by Stan Harstine

Ryan S. Peterson
The Imago Dei as Human Identity: A Theological Interpretation
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11229
Reviewed by Stephen Reed

Eileen Schuller and Marie-Theres Wacker, eds.
Early Jewish Writings
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11767
Reviewed by Laura Quick

James M. Scott, ed.
Exile: A Conversation with N. T. Wright
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11830
Reviewed by Nicholas G. Piotrowski

Bonnie Bowman Thurston
All the Fullness of God: The Christ of Colossians
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11793
Reviewed by Matthew S. Collins

Tommy Wasserman, Greger Andersson, and David Willgren, eds.
Studies in Isaiah: History, Theology, and Reception
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11636
Reviewed by Daniel J. Stulac