Using Poetry in Preaching

  
Calvin Miller has some helpful advice on using poetry in preaching in this article.
 

Baker Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament Titles on Sale

  

The Westminster Bookstore has a 50%-off clearance sale for many of their Baker Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament titles. Here are the titles, prices and links to the sale items.

Matthew – David L. Turner ­– $27.50 after discount

Luke 1:1–9:50 – Darrell L. Bock – $30.00 after discount

Luke 9:51–24:53 – Darrell L. Bock – $30.00 after discount

John – Andreas Köstenberger– $25.00 after discount

Acts – Darrell L. Bock – $27.50 after discount

Romans – Thomas R. Schreiner– $27.50 after discount

1 Corinthians – David E. Garland– $27.50 after discount

Ephesians – Frank Thielman – $22.50 after discount

James – Dan G. McCartney– $20.00 after discount

Jude and 2 Peter ­ – Gene L. Green– $20.00 after discount

Revelation – Grant R. Osborne – $27.50 after discount

  

Free Audio for the 2011 Expository Preaching Workshop

  
You can access free audio for the 2011 Expository Preaching Workshop held at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary February 28-March 1, 2011 here.
  

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

  

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below.

Duane L. Christensen
Nahum: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7296
Reviewed by Donatella Scaiola

Pierre Gibert
L'invention critique de la Bible, XVe-XVIIIe Siècle: L'invention moderne de la critique du texte biblique
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7474
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow

Jo Ann Hackett
A Basic Introduction to Biblical Hebrew
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7571
Reviewed by George Athas

Ronald Hendel
Reading Genesis: Ten Methods
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7821
Reviewed by Matthias Millard

Dirk J. Human and Gert J. Steyn, eds.
Psalms and Hebrews: Studies in Reception
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7803
Reviewed by Steve Moyise

Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
Recovering the Unity of the Bible: One Continuous Story, Plan, and Purpose
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7300
Reviewed by Joel Stephen Williams

Ross Shepard Kraemer
Unreliable Witnesses: Religion, Gender, and History in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7876
Reviewed by Gail Streete

Tremper Longman III
How to Read Exodus
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7455
Reviewed by Wolfgang Oswald

Maynard Paul Maidman
Nuzi Texts and Their Uses as Historical Evidence
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7749
Reviewed by Christopher Metcalf

Andreas Wagner
Gottes Körper: Zur alttestamentlichen Vorstellung der Menschengestaltigkeit Gottes
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7574
Reviewed by Mark W. Hamilton
 

DeYoung on Why Pastors Should Study Greek

   

From the Western Seminary Blog

   

World's First Question Mark?

  
See this Reuters article on the possible discovery of the first question mark in biblical manuscripts from the fifth century.
 

Latest Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

  

The June 2011 edition of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 54:2 is now out. The articles in this issue are as follows.

A Temple Framework of the Atonement . . . Adam Johnson

Hittites and Hethites: A Proposed Solution to an Etymological Conundrum . . . Bryant G. Wood

Fads and Common Sense: Reading Acts in the First Century and Reading Acts Today . . . Eckhard J. Schnabel

The Near Word of Christ and the Distant Visionof N. T. Wright . . . Mark Seifrid

What Is There between Minneapolis and St. Andrews? A Third Way in the Piper-Wright Debate . . . Michael F. Bird

Ethnocentric Legalism and the Justification of the Individual: Rethinking Some New Perspective Assumptions . . . Andrew Hassler

When a Christian sins: 1 Corinthians 10:13 and the Power of Contrary Choice in Relation to Compatibilist-Libertarian Debate . . . Paul A. Himes

John Calvin’s Movement from the Bible to Theology and Practice . . . Brian C. Dennert 

High Priest's Bell?

  
Leen Ritmeyer has a post on the possible discovery of one of the bells that may have been worn by the high priest during the Second Temple period. It is probably a bit early to be speculating too much, but it is interesting.
  

The Passages Exhibition

  

If you happen to be in or near the Oklahoma City area, you might be interested in the Passages exhibition hosted by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.running from May 16 to October 16, 2011. Here is the website.

In conjunction with "the 14,000-square-foot exhibition featuring some of the most rare biblical manuscripts, printed Bibles and historical items in the world. Some of the highlights include a Dead Sea Scroll text, ancient biblical papyri, illuminated manuscripts, early printed materials, a portion of the Gutenberg Bible and many first editions of the English Bible through the King James Version. "There will also be weekly guest lecturers including, but not limited tothe following:

July 26: Dr. Peter Flint, Canada Research Chair in Dead Sea Scrolls Studies, “The Contents and Challenges of the Dead Sea Biblical Scrolls”

Aug. 9: Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, Miami University (OH), “The Greatest Archaeological Discoveries and the Old Testament”

Aug. 23: Dr. Alister McGrath, King’s College (UK), “What Do William Tyndale and C.S. Lewis Have in Common?”

Oct. 11:Dr. Robert Cooley, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, “The Greatest Archaeological Discoveries and the New Testament”

The Hermeneutics of George Ladd

  
Michael Vlach has an interesting post on the hermeneutics of George Ladd, especially as it relates to the use of the Old Testament in the New.
 

How Much Text Should Your Preach?

  
Steve Holmes has a good post on how much text one should tackle in a sermon.
 

Preaching Hosea

  
See this article on preaching from the prophetic books, namely Hosea.
 

Creation and Evolution

  
Tim Challies has a good post on the significant biblical and theological issues at stake in the debate between the creation and evolution views.
 

Goodacre on the Conflicting Criteria of Multiple Attestation and Embarrassment

  
Mark Goodacre makes an excellent observation "On the contradiction between "multiple attestation" and "embarrassment" in Historical Jesus Research." 
  

On Redemptive Blogging

  
Ed Cyzewski has some important reminders for Christian bloggers here.
 

The Promise in Hebrews 11:39-40

  
See Steven Coxhead's post on the promise not received in Hebrews 11:39-40.
  

The Significance of the 613 Commandments

  
Many Bible students know that there are supposedly 613 commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures. But less well known are the varied explanations (if any) for the number 613. See this article for some explanations. I am not sure I buy any of the explanations, but they were fun to read.
 

Biblical Illiteracy

  
Here is another article on the growing biblical illiteracy among Christians.
 

The Return of Christ

  

I just received a copy of The Return of Christ edited by David L. Allen and Steve W. Lemke  and published by B & H Academic. I will be doing a review in the near future, but for now here is the publisher's description.

In the study of end times (eschatology), evangelical Christians usually adhere to one of three positions. Premillennialism holds that Christ will return to earth before He reigns over an earthly kingdom for one thousand years. Postmillennialism says the kingdom of God will become realized on this earth through the church's influence, even before Christ's return. Amillennialism suggests the millennium is not a literal thousand-year reign, but that Christ's return will usher in eternity.

The Return of Christ gathers presentations from the Acts 1:11 Conference where church leaders spoke in support of the premillennial position and pre-tribulation rapture. Regardless of whether or not a reader holds this same position, the text emphasizes the deep importance of eschatology in Christ's teaching ministry and as the focus for our hope. Indeed, without the promise of Christ's return, Christianity has little to offer the unbeliever.

The book's dozen contributors include Jerry Vines, Ergun Caner, Danny Akin, Paige Patterson, David Allen, Richard Land, Junior Hill, Stanton R. Norman, Craig Blaising, Lamar Cooper, Steven Cox, and Michael Vlach.

  

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

  

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below.

  

Alicia J. Batten
Friendship and Benefaction in James
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7811
Reviewed by Oda Wischmeyer
 
Michael W. Duggan
The Consuming Fire: A Christian Guide to the Old Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7754
Reviewed by Wilhelm J. Wessels
 
Steven J. Friesen, Daniel N. Schowalter, and James C. Walters, eds.
Corinth in Context: Comparative Studies on Religion and Society
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7855
Reviewed by Dennis E. Smith
 
Marianne Bjelland Kartzow
Gossip and Gender: Othering of Speech in the Pastoral Epistles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7637
Reviewed by Korinna Zamfir
 
Jerome Murphy-O'Connor
Keys to Second Corinthians: Revisiting the Major Issues
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7776
Reviewed by Victor Paul Furnish
Reviewed by vanThanh Nguyen
 
Christopher Rollston
Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel: Epigraphic Evidence from the Iron Age
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7813
Reviewed by Johannes Schnocks
Reviewed by Ian Young
 
Robert L. Webb and Duane F. Watson, eds.
Reading Second Peter with New Eyes: Methodological Reassessments of the Letter of Second Peter
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7626
Reviewed by David K. Burge

   

The Problem With Preaching

  
See this Huffington Post article. I would suggest that a number of these problems could be addressed by solid expository preaching in that expository preaching explains, illustrates, and applies a passage of Scripture.
 

Burk on Hell

  
Denny Burk has some interesting thoughts on how Christians should feel about hell here.
 

1 Corinthians, the Early Church and Today's Church

  

"The notion that early Christianity is a perfect model that all successive followers of Jesus Christ should imitate is clearly undermined in 1 Corinthians, and elsewhere in the New Testament as well. The early church, as we shall repeatedly see, had the same frailties and difficulties as ever subsequent Christian generation. Since this is the case, the way in which such difficulties are resolved should be particularly illuminating for the contemporary church, where many of these same issues are reflected, not least of which is the problem of the disunity and fragmentation of Christianity."

Karl Paul Donfried, The Dynamic Word: New Testament Insights for Contemporary Christians (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981), 30.
  

Latest Issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research: Vol. 21 No. 2

 

The main articles are:

Old Testament Gemstones: Philological, Geological, and Archaeological Assessment of the Septuagint

James A. Harrell

A Communion of Subjects: Zoological Classification and Human/Animal Relations in Psalm 104

Richard Whitekettle

Building House to House (Isaiah 5:8): Theological Reflection on Land Development and Creation Care

Heath A. Thomas

NT Scholars’ Use of OT Lament Terminology and Its Theological and Interdisciplinary Implications

D. Keith Campbell

Peter and the Prophetic Word: The Theology of Prophecy Traced through Peter’s Sermons and Epistles

Paul A. Himes
  

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

  

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below.

  

Willis Barnstone
The Restored New Testament: A New Translation with Commentary, Including the Gnostic Gospels Thomas, Mary, and Judas
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7383
Reviewed by Marvin J. Hudson
 
Rowan A. Greer
Theodore of Mopsuestia: Commentary on the Minor Pauline Epistles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7873
Reviewed by Frederick G. McLeod
 
David G. Horrell, Cherryl Hunt, Christopher Southgate, and Francesca Stavrakopoulou, eds.
Ecological Hermeneutics: Biblical, Historical and Theological Perspectives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7868
Reviewed by Russell Pregeant
 
Matthew W. Mitchell
Abortion and the Apostolate: A Study in Pauline Conversion, Rhetoric, and Scholarship
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7548
Reviewed by William S. Campbell
 
John J. Ranieri
Disturbing Revelation: Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, and the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7057
Reviewed by George Heyman
 
Sandra L. Richter
The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6976
Reviewed by Russell Meek
Reviewed by Stephen Moyise
 
Richard G. Smith
The Fate of Justice and Righteousness during David's Reign: Narrative Ethics and Rereading the Court History According to 2 Samuel 8:15-20:26
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7482
Reviewed by Walter Dietrich
 
Einar Thomassen, ed.
Canon and Canonicity: The Formation and Use of Scripture
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7360
Reviewed by Donatella Scaiola