Bock's Top Five Books on the Historical Jesus

In the November issue of Christianity Today (p. 66), Darrell Bock lists his top five books on the historical Jesus.

• The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) themselves
• The Words and Works of Jesus Christ by J. Dwight Pentecost
• The Origins of New Testament Christology by I. Howard Marshall
• The Christology of Jesus by Ben Witherington III
• Jesus and the Victory of God by N. T. Wright

New Book: Documents and Images for the Study of Paul

   
Elliott, Neil, and Mark Reasoner, eds. Documents and Images for the Study of Paul. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2011. Paperback 432 pages.

Publishers Description:

The world surrounding Paul and the assemblies comes vividly to life here. Documents and Images for the Study of Paul gathers representative texts illustrating Jewish practices, Greco-Roman moral exhortation, biblical interpretation, Roman ideology, apocalyptic visions, epistolary conventions, and more to illustrate the complex cultural environment in which Paul carried out his apostolic work—and the manifold ways in which his legacy was reshaped in early Christianity.

Paul is the focus of intense and often controversial scholarly attention today. Brief, insightful introductions orient the reader to the significance of ancient sources for different contemporary interpretations of Paul's life and thought. Photographs illustrate the visual environment of the Greco-Roman world; a map, a timeline, and an index of scripture passages make the sourcebook the perfect companion text for studying Paul and his letters.

Table of Contents (simplified):

Introduction: Exploring Paul’s Environment
1. Paul’s Self-Presentation
2. Paul’s Gospel and Paul’s Letters
3. The Gospel of Augustus
4. Paul’s People: Israel
5. The Communities around Paul: The Ekklēsiai
6. Paul’s Legacy

Excerpts can be found here.

Thanks to Fortress Press for this review copy.
 

McKnight on Jesus vs. Paul

  
You can read Scot McKnight's Christianity Today article entitled "Jesus vs. Paul" here.
 

Köstenberger’s Guide to the Best of 2010

   
Andreas Köstenberger’s provides his list the best books of 2010 here.
 

One Challenge of Using Old Testament Commentaries in Sermon Preparation

  
John Starke has posted on one challenge of using Old Testament commentaries in sermon preparation. Namely, the reticence that many commentators appear to have.in discussing the Christological implications of a given passage. Read John's post here.
 

An Overview of 1–2 Kings

   
Matt Capps has a nice overview of 1–2 Kings here.
  

Free Audio Download of Book on Handel's Messiah

  
Christianaudio.com is offering free audio downloads of Calvin Stapert's book Handel's Messiah: Comfort for God's People. For more details and instructions go here.
   

Chemists and Archaeologists at Tel Megiddo

   
See this article on chemists and archaeologists working together at Tel Megiddo.
 

More Is Not always Better

  
See David Murray's plea for profound simplicity in preaching.
  

Rob Plummer's Blog

  

Check out Rob Plummer's blog here.

HT: Denny Burk
  

Passage Length for Preaching

   
Peter Mead has some helpful advice here for deciding how long of a passage should be preached in a single sermon. As a general rule, and all things being equal, I would suggest that the passage used in a sermon needs to be long enough to be meaningful and short enough to be doable.
 

A Lack of Accountability

  
See this article concerning the lack of accountability among Christians.
 

Free Church Kit for the ESV

  
The Crossway blog has links to sign up for free church kits for the ESV. Check it out here.
 

Old Babylonian Mathematics

   
See this interesting article on Old Babylonian mathematics.
 

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 33:2

  

The latest issue of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament is out. Here is a list of the articles and links to abstracts.

Introduction

Jonathan Roberts and Christopher Rowland

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;33 131-136
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/33/2/131

Wirkungsgeschichte, Reception History, Reception Theory

Mark Knight

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;33 137-146
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/2/137

Wirkungsgeschichte and Visual Exegesis: The Contribution of Hans-Georg Gadamer

Martin O'Kane

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;33 147-159
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/2/147

Effective-History and the Hermeneutics of Ulrich Luz

Mark W. Elliott

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;33 161-173
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/2/161

Sachkritik in Reception History

Robert Morgan

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;33 175-190
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/2/175

Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation: Textures of a Text and its Reception

David B. Gowler

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;33 191-206
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/2/191

Hope for a Troubled Discipline? Contributions to New Testament Studies from Reception History

William John Lyons

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2010;33 207-220
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/2/207

  

A "Pick List" for Historical Jesus Studies

   
Loren Rosson has posted his "pick list" of authors he believes to have made crucially significant contributions to historical Jesus studies. You can see Loren's list here.
  

Micah 5:2

  
Just in time for Christmas, David Murray has made his lecture notes on Micah 5:2 (which most readers will know is quoted in Matthew 2:6) from a course he is teaching on Poets & Prophets available as a PDF. Check it out here.
 

The Future of English as a Lingua Franca

  
See this interesting article on the future of English as a lingua franca.
  

Winning the Hermeneia CD-ROM

 
This year's Society of Biblical Literature meeting was particularly enjoyable, in no small measure, to the fact that my name was selected as the winner of the Hermeneia on CD-Rom drawing. I was allowed to choose either the Old Testament or New Testament volume. I chose the Old Testament volume because I have more of the New Testament volumes already as hard copies. Both volumes typically retail for $599 each, although Fortress has a 50% off special running until December 31 (see here and here). 
 

Major Themes in the Old Testament

    
The discipline of Bible exposition is interested in biblical theology and tracing major themes in Scripture. So I am often fascinated by the themes that different interpreter identify in either books or in the Old or New Testaments. Marty Stevens in a recent book identifies four major theological themes in the Old Testament. The themes (helpfully alliterated) are:

Creation
Covenant
Cultus
Character

Marty E. Stevens, Theological Themes of the Old Testament, Creation,Covenant,Cultus, and Character (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2010).

Black on the Ten Best Books for Studying New Testament Greek

  

See this article by David Alan Black on the "Ten Best Books for Studying New Testament Greek."

HT: Rodney Decker

 

Access to God in Hebrews 10

  
See posts, here, here, and here for James Allman's helpful posts on the idea of access to God in Hebrews 10.
 

Greidanus on Preaching Christ

   
"We can define ‘preaching Christ’ as preaching sermons which authenticall integrate the message of the text with the climax of God’s revelation in the person, work, and/or teaching of Jesus Christ as revealed in the New Testament.”

Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 10.
    

The Temple in 1 Chronicles 22

  
“The paramount concern in this chapter, as in chapters 22–29, if not the entire book of Chronicles, is the temple. The temple is to be ‘exceedingly’ magnificent, famous and glorified throughout ‘all lands’ (v. 5). The temple, thus, is to bring Israel’s renown to the nations, and the amounts of the materials set aside for is construction are incredible (vv. 2–4, 14). The magnificence of the temple structure is important not as an end in itself but because it attests the grandeur of Israel’s God.”

Steven L. McKenzie, 1–2 Chronicles, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon, 2004), 183. 
    

Herschel Hobbs on Expository Preaching

   
“Early in my ministry I determined to major on expository preaching. To me this means to draw out of Scriptures their original meaning and then apply it to present needs. Expository preaching does not depend so much upon the length of the passage but upon how it is treated. It is possible to do this even with one word. Of course, I allow myself the freedom of using other types of sermons when it seems advisable. But for the most part I adhere to exposition.”

Herschel H. Hobbs, “Aiming for a Verdict,” in Inside the Sermon, ed. Richard Allen Bodey (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 127.