Apr 6, 2012

Tell en-Nasbeh Collection at the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology

  
You can access the finds of the Badè Archaeological Museum here. According to the website,

"This project is a digital catalog of all the artifacts, archives, and photographs from the Tell en-Nasbeh Collection at the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. This collection derives from the excavations of Tell en-Nasbeh conducted by William Frederic Badè between 1926 and 1935. The project was jointly sponsored by the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) and represents one of the earliest scientific excavations in Israel/Palestine. 

"Tell en-Nasbeh, likely the biblical city of Mizpah, is a 3.2 hectare (8 acre) tell located 12 kilometers (8 miles) northwest of Jerusalem on a low plateau. The site lies adjacent to an ancient roadway connecting Jerusalem with the northern hill country, which is how Tell en-Nasbeh gained importance as Judah’s northern border fortress during its prime phase of occupation in the Iron Age (Strata 3A-C; 1000-586 BCE). There are also archaeological remains at the site and in surrounding cave tombs that have been dated to Early Bronze I (Stratum 5; 3500-3300 BCE), Iron I (Stratum 4; 1200-100 BCE), Babylonian and Persian (Stratum 2; 586-323 BCE), Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Periods (Stratum 1; 323-630 CE)."
  

Free Francis Chan E-Books

  
David C. Cook has made three Francis Chan books (Crazy Love, Forgotten God, and Erasing Hell) available as free e-books for 48 hours only (deadline is Saturday, April 7, 2012 @ 11:59pm PT). To access the free e-books, visit the eChristian special offer page, login. If you already have an account at Christianaudio.com you can use the same username and password. If not, you will need to create an account. See the instructions after clicking the link above.
  

Apr 5, 2012

Interactive 360-Degree Virtual Holy Land Tour

  
See this interactive 360-degree virtual Holy Land tour here.
 

Apr 4, 2012

Free Logos Book of the Month

  
Logos Bible Software is offering John Bunyan's Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. Get details here.
 

Apr 3, 2012

Reading on the Resurrection

  
See Matthew Barrett's list of recommended books on the resurrection.
 

Book Reviews

  
The Chronicle of Higher Education has a couple of interesting articles here and here on book reviews. This is of particular interest to me since I review books here and for journals.
  

Apr 2, 2012

Craig Evans' Top Five Books on Archaeology

  
See this link to see Craig Evans' top five books on archaeology. (you will need a subscription to read the entire article). In any case, here are the five books that Evans lists.


1. Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums by Clyde E. Fant & Mitchell G. Reddish (Eerdmans)
2. Archaeology of the Land of the Bible: Volumes I and II by Amihai Mazar & Ephraim Stern (Yale University Press)
4. Jesus and Archaeology edited by James H. Charlesworth (Eerdmans)
  

Apr 1, 2012

Free Audiobook: Greg Laurie's Road to the Resurrection

  
Christianaudio.com's free audiobook download for the month of April is Greg Laurie's book Road to the Resurrection. The publisher describes that book as,

"A guidebook to the facts and circumstances surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. The listener will examine the people, places and timeline of that first Easter. But more than that, delve into the prophecies of those events, given hundreds of year prior, as well what happened after Christ rose from the dead."

For more information or to get your download go here. 
 

Mar 31, 2012

Integrity in Proclaiming the Resurrection

  
"The church today should examine itself with respect to the integrity of its proclamation of the resurrection. It must first ask whether it continues to proclaim the apostolic faith or whether the corrosive effects of modernity have softened the hard edges of the resurrection truth in the church's preaching and teaching. The church needs to consider the slow collapse of creedal commitment among its members, and even its leaders. The popularity of the 'historical Jesus' as a touchstone for many communities needs careful analysis and criticism. Certainly, the learning of history in order to be better readers of the Gospel is to be applauded; but a reconstruction of Jesus' ministry by historical means cannot replace the Gospels, which are written from beginning to end in light of the resurrection—that is, in light of the faith shared by the church of the evangelists, and the church today, if indeed it is."

Luke Timothy Johnson, Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church: The Challenge of Luke-Acts to Contemporary Christians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), 183.

Mar 30, 2012

Moving from the Resurrection

  
Tim Gombis has some good thoughts related to the resurrection here.
 

Mar 29, 2012

The Opponents in Jude

  
Phillip Long here has a good discussion of the false teachers/opponents in the Book of Jude.
 

Mar 28, 2012

Seals of Jeremiah's Captors

  
If you find yourself near Edmond, Oklahoma you might be interested in this exhibit.

Preaching the Psalms

  
There are some interesting thoughts on preaching the Psalms here.
 

Mar 27, 2012

Thankful for Technology: Of Scribes and Manuscripts

  
I have seen several references to the following list  around the blogosphere to these scribal comments from monks written on illuminated manuscripts. They are "illuminating" and humorous. 


  • New parchment, bad ink; I say nothing more.
  • I am very cold.
  • That’s a hard page and a weary work to read it.
  • Let the reader’s voice honor the writer’s pen.
  • This page has not been written very slowly
  • The parchment is hairy.
  • The ink is thin.
  • Thank God it will soon be dark.
  • Oh, my hand
  • Now I’ve written the whole thing: for Christ’s sake give me something to drink.
  • Writing is excessive drudgery. It crooks your back, it dims your sight, it twists your stomach and your sides.
  • As the harbor is welcome to the sailor, so is the last line to the scribe.
  • This is sad! O little book! A day will come in truth when someone over your page will say, ‘The hand that wrote it is no more.’

Mar 26, 2012

The Task of Old Testament Theology

  
Joseph Kelly has some interesting observations about the evolving task of Old Testament theology here. That being said, I am not sure that the "new answer" that Kelly proposes is all that new. See this quote from George A. F. Knight from 1959.
  

Bulletin for Biblical Research 22:1


  
The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research is out. Here is a list of the articles.

The Septuagint and Apostolic Hermeneutics: Amos 9 in Acts 15
W. Edward Glenny

Matthew and Psalms of Solomon’s Messianism:  A Comparative Study in First-Century Messianology
Joel Willitts

Disagreement in the Greco-Roman Literary Tradition and the Implications for Gospel Research
Preston T. Massey

What “Mercies of God”? Oiktirmos in Romans 12:1 against Its Septuagintal Background
N. K. Gupta

Paul’s Imprisonment as the Glory of the Ethnē: A Discourse Analysis of Ephesians 3:1–13
Aaron Sherwood

Mar 25, 2012

Six Reasons for Preaching Ecclesiastes

  
See this post by Bill Gray in reference to John E. Johnson's recent Bibliotheca Sacra article, “The Special Relevance of Ecclesiastes for Contemporary Culture” (Bibliotheca Sacra 169 [2012]: 159-71.I might add that Johnson's article also offers the following six "clues" to preaching Ecclesiastes (pp. 164-70).

1. Commit to work hard
2. Read in the context of wisdom literature
3. Welcome rather than avoid the conflicts and apparent contradictions
4. Find the exhortation
5. Move from theme to theme
6. Move to the gospel

Bryant Wood Audio on “Archaeology and the Conquest: New Evidence on an Old Problem”

  
Bryant Wood's March 2012 lectures for the William R. Rice Lecture Series on the theme “Archaeology and the Conquest: New Evidence on an Old Problem”are now available as free audio.

Lecture 1: Background and Chronology of the Exodus and Conquest - MP3
Lecture 2: Digging Up the Truth at Jericho - MP3
Lecture 3: The Discovery of Joshua's Ai - MP3


Bonus Lecture: Great Archaeological Discoveries Related to the Old Testament. For a description see here or access the MP3 here (delivered for Campus Bible Fellowship at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI)
  
HT: Bill Combs at Theologically Driven
  

Mar 24, 2012

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.
  
Clinton E. Arnold
Ephesians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7880
Reviewed by Gregory E. Sterling
 
Anthony Heacock
Jonathan Loved David: Manly Love in the Bible and the Hermeneutics of Sex
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8007
Reviewed by John Barclay Burns
 
John R. Levison
Filled with the Spirit
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7399
Reviewed by Mark Batluck
 
Maynard Paul Maidman
Nuzi Texts and Their Uses as Historical Evidence
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7749
Reviewed by Ronan Head
 
Thomas W. Mann
The Book of the Former Prophets
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8170
Reviewed by Trent C. Butler
 
David Miano
Shadow on the Steps: Time Measurement in Ancient Israel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7961
Reviewed by Spencer L. Allen
 
Anathea E. Portier-Young
Apocalypse against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7957
Reviewed by Benjamin E. Reynolds
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
 
Karlheinz Schüssler, ed.
Biblia Coptica: Die koptischen Bibeltexte. Vollständiges Verzeichnis mit Standorten 4.3
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8045
Reviewed by Stephan Witetschek
   

Mar 23, 2012

How to See Esther

  
Preston Sprinkle has some interesting thoughts here on how we should view the character of Esther. Although, framing the options in terms of harlot or heroine is a bit too strong (as Sprinkle acknowledges), I believe that his analysis is basically correct. One point raised in the post, namely the Jewish canonical placement of Esther next to Daniel, is something I have not thought about before. It is an interesting point.
 

Mar 22, 2012

Forgiveness and Reconciliation: David and Absalom?


Forgiveness and reconciliation is like being pregnant. You cannot really sort of be forgiven or reconciled. You either are or you aren’t. I was reminded of this recently when I came across these words from Pete Wilcox concerning the faux reconciliation between David and Absalom in 2 Samuel 14:1–33. Wilcox writes:

“There are three bowings before David in this episode: first the wise woman (verse 4), then Joab (verse 22) and finally Absalom (verse 33) prostrate themselves before David and do obeisance. The series is climactic and only Absalom is received with a kiss.

“Yet the reconciliation described in the final verse of the episode is threadbare. Statutory categories take precedence here over personal ones. This is the king becoming formally reconciled to a troublesome subject rather that David becoming reconciled to a wayward son. There is no dialogue (which, in Hebrew narrative, is always a mark that what transpires is somehow superficial and fails to engage the emotions). There is no real meeting of minds or hearts here even when Absalom gets the face to face meeting with the king that he has waited two years to achieve. No forgiveness has truly been offered by David or received by his son.

“The consequences of this will be tragic. Absalom will dominate the next few chapters, and his actions will plunge the kingdom of Israel into costly civil war.”

Pete Wilcox, Talking the Talk: The Fall of King David for Today: A Dramatic Exposition of 2 Samuel 5:11 to 1 Kings 2:11 (Cambridge: Lutterworth, 2011), 95–6.

Mar 21, 2012

Dan Wallace's New Blog

  
Dan Wallace has his own blog here.
 

The Capture of Beersheba: October 21, 1948

  
This is not exactly a biblical item, but I was fascinated to come across this article from the October 21, 1948 edition of the Pittsburgh Press.
  

Mar 20, 2012

Biblically Kosher?

  
Although I disagree with at least some, if not most, of the conclusions in this article, it is still an interesting read. I have not read the book mentioned in the article, so I cannot evaluate how its interpretations of key texts are argued, but my interpretations and applications of at least some of the texts raised would likely be different (e.g., Exod 23:19;  34:26; Deut 14:21; Mark 7; Acts 15). 
  

Mar 19, 2012

Thoughts on Job

  
Brian Marchionni has some helpful thoughts on the Book of Job here.