Logos' Free Book of the Month

  
Logos Bible software is offering volume one of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' Studies in the Book of Acts entitled Authentic Christianity as its free book of the month. This volume covers Acts1—3. You can get more information here.
 

Free Audio of A Tale of Three Kings

  
Christianaudio.com is offering a free audio download for the month of March is Gene Edwards' book A Tale of Three Kings. For a description of the book and instructions go 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.

  

Katharine Dell, ed.
Ethical and Unethical in the Old Testament: God and Humans in Dialogue
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7839
Reviewed by Walter Brueggemann
 
Georg Fischer
Der Prophet wie Mose: Studien zum Jeremiabuch
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7913
Reviewed by Bob Becking
 
Robert F. Hull Jr.
The Story of the New Testament Text: Movers, Materials, Motives, Methods, and Models
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7960
Reviewed by Larry W. Hurtado
Reviewed by Jean-François Racine
 
David Instone-Brewer
Feasts and Sabbaths: Passover and Atonement
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7978
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
 
Thomas Richard Kämmerer, ed.
Studien zu Ritual und Sozialgeschichte im Alten Orient/Studies on Rituals and Society in the Ancient Near East: Tartuer Symposien 1998-2004
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6825
Reviewed by Gerhard Karner
 
Jennifer L. Koosed
Gleaning Ruth: A Biblical Heroine and Her Afterlives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8178
Reviewed by Helen Leneman
 
Peter Oakes
Reading Romans in Pompeii: Paul's Letter at Ground Level
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7353
Reviewed by Richard A. Wright
 
Mark Allan Powell, ed.
Methods for Matthew
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7412
Reviewed by Daniel A. Smith
 
Michael Tait and Peter Oakes, eds.
Torah in the New Testament: Papers Delivered at the Manchester-Lausanne Seminar of June 2008
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7554
Reviewed by William Loader

  

9.5 Theses Regarding the Need to Learn Biblical Greek

  
See this post.
  

The So-Called Jesus Tomb Back in the News

  
Check out Todd Bolen's multiple posts on his blog concerning the so-called Jesus tomb that made such a stir some time back. If you are not familiar with Todd's blog, you should be. 
  

What Does the Church Expect from the Seminary?

  
Here is one answer.
 

The Jerusalem Syndrome

 
Here is an interesting article on the so-called Jerusalem Syndrome.
  

An Online Coversation with Michael Williams

  
You can join an online conversation with Michael Williams on his book How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens that is happening March 6 at 8:00 PM EST. You can access the conversation at www.livestream.com/Zondervan

Get a reminder when you RSVP at the above address, or better yet, visit the event page on Facebook.

If you're in the Grand Rapids-area you can join the discussion onsite. Details here.
  

Goodacre on Historical Jesus Criteria

    
Mark Goodacre has posted another of his New Testament audio "pods" here discussing some of the historical Jesus criteria.
 

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.

Reinhard Achenbach and Martin Arneth, eds.
»Gerechtigkeit und Recht zu üben« (Gen 18,19): Studien zur altorientalischen und biblischen Rechtsgeschichte, zur Religionsgeschichte Israels und zur Religionssoziologie: Festschrift für Eckart Otto zum 65. Geburtstag
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7468
Reviewed by John Engle

Paul N. Anderson
The Riddles of the Fourth Gospel: An Introduction to John
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7954
Reviewed by Cornelis Bennema

Blane Conklin
Oath Formulas in Biblical Hebrew
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7982
Reviewed by Yael Ziegler

Esther J. Hamori
"When Gods Were Men": The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8190
Reviewed by Michael B. Hundley

André LaCocque
The Captivity of Innocence: Babel and the Yahwist
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7737
Reviewed by Richard S. Briggs

Michael R. Licona
The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7902
Reviewed by Daniel A. Smith

Jonathan Wyn Schofer
Confronting Vulnerability: The Body and the Divine in Rabbinic Ethics
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7858
Reviewed by Phillip Sherman

Adiel Schremer
Brothers Estranged: Heresy, Christianity, and Jewish Identity in Late Antiquity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8401
Reviewed by Peter J. Tomson

Christopher D. Stanley, ed.
The Colonized Apostle: Paul in Postcolonial Eyes
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8182
Reviewed by Matthew Forrest Lowe

Robert Titley
A Poetic Discontent: Austin Farrer and the Gospel of Mark
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7485
Reviewed by Richard Pervo

Theology and Exegesis

   
Kevin DeYoung has a good post here discussing the positive role that one's systematic theology can have in the exegetical process.
  

What are the Top 10 Books for NT Graduate Students?

  
For four answers to this question see this post.
 

Galatians 3

  

I have been teaching through Galatians recently. In the following table In the following table I have tried to summarize what I think are some of the main concepts or themes in chapter 3. Any thoughts?

Positions	Judaizers	Paul
Key OT Figure	Moses	Abraham
Covenant	Mosaic/Sinaitic	Abrahamic
Key Concept	Law	Faith/Promise
Consequence	Curse / No Justification	Blessing / Justification

An Ancient Garden at Ramat Rahel

  
See this article.
 

A Pick and Choose Theology

  
See this article.
  

2012 Expository Preaching Workshop Deadline

  

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is hosting an expository Preaching Workshop on March 5-6, 2012. This Expository Preaching Workshop will aid you in clearly communicating the message of Scripture to your congregation while keeping them engaged at every turn. Early registration for the workshop is only  $25 for students and $50 for non-students but it ends tomorrow, February 20. After tomorrow, registration fees increase to $50 for students and $75 for non-students. Study materials and one meal are included. This year's speakers include Bryan Chapell, Jerry Vines, Paige Patterson, and David Allen.

Go here to get more information and registration. 
  

Happy Birthday Pilgrim's Progress

John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress was published this day in 1678. You can read more about the book here. To access various formats of the book, with some for free, go here.

Luke’s Use of Sources in Acts 15

 
"To some extent the decisions of the exegetes on the nature of the assembly or assemblies in Acts 15 depend on their view of the use of sources in the chapter. ‘Minimalists,’ like Dibelius and Haenchen, who credit virtually the whole story to Lukan composition, tend to the view that the author has here created one of those “großen lebendigen und eindrucksvollen Szenen’ that Luke regards as suited to his audience. Those, on the other hand, who view Luke less as a freewheeling author and more as a redactor of sources, try to find in the seams and cracks of the narrative signs of the weaving together of various documents and traditions."

Linda M. Maloney, “All that God had Done with them”: The Narration of the Works of God in the Early Christian Community as Described in the Acts of the Apostles, American University Studies 91 (New York: Peter Lang, 1991), 145.
   

Piper on the Future Conversion of Israel

  

See this post by John Piper: "Five Reasons I Believe Romans 11:26 Means a Future Conversion for Israel."

  

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.

Craig L. Blomberg, with Jennifer Foutz Markley
A Handbook of New Testament Exegesis
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8106
Reviewed by Jan G. van der Watt
 
John Drane
Introducing the Old Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8064
Reviewed by Jordan M. Scheetz
 
Gregg Gardner and Kevin L. Osterloh, eds.
Antiquity in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Pasts in the Greco-Roman World
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7540
Reviewed by Douglas Estes
 
Joze Krasovec
The Transformation of Biblical Proper Names
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7481
Reviewed by Jeremy Hutton
 
Michael C. Legaspi
The Death of Scripture and the Rise of Biblical Studies
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7911
Reviewed by Teresa Okure
 
Kevin B. McCruden
Solidarity Perfected: Beneficent Christology in the Epistle to the Hebrews
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7407
Reviewed by Craig R. Koester
 
Daniel O'Hare
"Have You Seen, Son of Man?": A Study of the Translation and Vorlage of LXX Ezekiel 40-48
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7817
Reviewed by William Tooman
 
Gert J. Steyn and Dirk J. Human, eds.
Psalms and Hebrews: Studies in Reception
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7803
Reviewed by Scott D. Mackie
 
Anthony C. Swindell
Reworking the Bible: The Literary Reception-History of Fourteen Biblical Stories
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8011
Reviewed by Frank H. Polak
 
Naomi Tadmor
The Social Universe of the English Bible: Scripture, Society, and Culture in Early Modern England
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7907
Reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer

R. T. France (1938-2012)

  
Noted New Testament scholar R. T. France died last Friday, February 10. You can read more about his passing here.
 

Therapeutic Value of the Psalms

  
See David Murray's excellent post on the Psalms, in particular their therapeutic value. David brings out some of the reasons why the Psalms are often the favorite part of Scripture for many believers.
  

Not Sure How I Feel About This Sign

  
Read this story about an Anglican church in Australia that has created quite a stir by placing two signs with "OMG" on parts of its building. While such a move may generate discussion and interest in spiritual matters, I really wonder whether this panders to the baser aspects of our society and whether it truly glorifies God. The phrase has always seemed rather flippant to me and I often cringe when I hear people use it, especially Christians.
 

Building the Tabernacle

Having recently gone through a building program with my church, I found the following comments from Victor Hamilton's Exodus commentary to be interesting.

"It is also significant that Moses first asks for donations to fund the project before he talks to the people about the tabernacle’s design. One might expect that order to be reversed: first show them the plans, and then ask them to get behind it financially. Is that not how most religious communities wishing to construct a new building or expand and renovate an older building would go about it? Congregants tend to be more enthusiastic and generous when they can see, at least in blueprint, what their pledges and dollars are funding."

Victor P. Hamilton, Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker), 2011), 456.
    

Having a Canonical "Conversation"

  
"While a number of metaphors work well to express the Bible’s theological plurality coherently and constructively, my preference for the interpreter’s practical task is conversation. Naturally, there are different kinds of conversations. A canonical approach to the NT’s pluriform subject matter envisages a conversation that is more complementary than adversarial. In one sense, the intercanonical conversation is very much like an intramural debate over the precise meaning of things generally agreed to be true and substantial. The purpose or outcome of debate is not to resolve firmly fixed disagreements among members of the same community or panel as though a normative synthesis were possible; rather, more often it is the sort of debate that clarifies the contested content of their common ground. Likewise, the biblical canon stabilizes and bears continuing witness to the historic disagreements between the traditions of the church’s first apostles, which were often creative and instructive (cf. Acts 15:1-21; Gal 2:1-15). Not only do these controversies acquire a permanent value within Scripture, but Scripture in turn commends these same controversies to its current readers, who are invited to engage in similar acts of what Karl Popper calls ‘mutual criticism’ in order to provide more balance to parochial interests or supply instruction to clarify the theological confession of a particular faith tradition."

Robert W. Wall, "Reading the New Testament in Canonical Context," in Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation, 2nd ed., ed. Joel B. Green (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 384.