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.

Phillip Arrington, Eloquence Divine: In Search of God’s Rhetoric
Reviewed by Thomas H. Olbricht

Roderick Elledge, Use of the Third Person for Self-Reference by Jesus and Yahweh: A Study of Illeism in the Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Its Implications for Christology
Reviewed by Paul Sanders

Moshe Garsiel, The Book of Samuel: Part One, Studies in History, Historiography, Theology, and Poetics Combined
Reviewed by Rachelle Gilmour

Aleksander Gomola, Conceptual Blending in Early Christian Discourse: A Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of Pastoral Metaphors in Patristic Literature
Reviewed by Robert H. von Thaden Jr.

Katharine M. Hockey, Madison N. Pierce, and Francis Watson, eds., Muted Voices of the New Testament: Readings in the Catholic Epistles and Hebrews
Reviewed by Mari Leesment

Carl R. Holladay, Introduction to the New Testament: Reference Edition
Reviewed by Matthew Collins

Brittany N. Melton, Where Is God in the Megilloth? A Dialogue on the Ambiguity of Divine Presence and Absence
Reviewed by Aaron Koller

Robert D. Miller II, The Dragon, the Mountain, and the Nations: An Old Testament Myth, Its Origins, and Its Afterlives
Reviewed by Brandon R. Grafius

Marius Nel, Jan G. van der Watt, and Fika J. van Rensburg, eds., The New Testament in the Graeco-Roman World: Articles in Honour of Abe Malherbe
Reviewed by Christopher R. Hutson

C. Marvin Pate, Interpreting Revelation and Other Apocalyptic Literature: An Exegetical Handbook
Reviewed by Michael Naylor

Raymond F. Person Jr. and Robert Rezetko, eds., Empirical Models Challenging Biblical Criticism

Reviewed by Leonardo Pessoa da Silva Pinto

Carla Swafford Works, The Church in the Wilderness: Paul’s Use of Exodus Traditions in 1 Corinthians
Reviewed by Greg Carey

Lament in the Church

Lament is an important part of the Scriptures. Around half of the psalms in the book of Psalms is characterized as laments. And there is a book called Lamentations. So it is a bit puzzling that churches have struggled to incorporate lament into their gatherings. So I appreciated this article on the issue.

Dealing with Text-Critical Issues in a Church Setting

Justin Dillehay has some helpful suggestions here in a post entitled, "4 Ways to Shepherd Your Flock through Textual Variants."

Cain and Abel

National Geographic has a story here on the conflict between Cain and Abel. Unfortunately, the article does not really reflect the biblical account all that well.

Free Video from the Egypt and Ancient Israel Conference

The Tandy Center for Archaeology and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary hosted a one-day conference entitled "Egypt and Ancient Israel: Merneptah's Canaanite Campaign - History or Propaganda" on March 26.

You can now access the videos from the conference here.

Two Reasons for Learning Greek

William Varner enumerates and discusses them here.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 and Iterative Prayer

I think that Ken Berding has got it right in his view of the much misunderstood statement in 1 Thessaloninas 5:17 to "pray without ceasing." You can read his thoughts here.