I have been making my way through William Baird’s third volume on the History of New Testament Research. So far it has been an interesting read. I did not realize that it was Henry J. Cadbury who coined the hyphenated designation Luke-Acts that is so commonly used today. I also appreciated the following evaluative comment by Baird regarding Cadbury: “In sum, Cadbury’s Making of Luke-Acts is a classic—one of the great books of twentieth-century NT research. It is an original work that joins penetrating analysis with synthesizing wisdom. Cadbury shows that scholarship is not always in the wind and earthquake and fire, but in the still small voice of unpretentious, meticulous research.”[1]
Baird’s analysis is spot on. If you are working in Acts you need to become familiar with Cadbury. And whether you are a budding or seasoned scholar, one would do well to emulate “the still small voice of unpretentious, meticulous research.”
[1] William Baird, History of New Testament Research: Volume 3: From C. H. Dodd to Hans Dieter Betz (MInneapolis, Fortress, 2013), 23.
The historicity of Esther has clearly been called into question particularly in recent times. As Moore has noted, “Even though the book of Esther claims to be a strictly historical account, ever since the work of J. S. Semler in 1773, that claim has been increasingly rejected, to the point that in the twentieth century only a handful of critical scholars have strenuously argued for the book’s historical accuracy.”[1] Clines in a more recent commentary concurs with Moore when he writes, “The current consensus of opinion on the question of the historicity of the Esther narrative is that it is a “historical novel” (so, e.g., O. Eissfeldt, The Old Testament. An Introduction, p. 507), by which is meant an essentially fictional story with probably a foundation in some historical event.”[2] Although, Clines made that assertion over twenty years ago, the critical consensus seems to be intact. In several future posts, I will seek to examine that consensus and challenge its conclusions.
[1] Carey A. Moore, “Archaeology and the Book of Esther,” The Biblical Archaeologist 38 (September- December 1983), 63.
[2] D. J. A. Clines, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, New Century Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 256. See also Michael V. Fox, Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1991), 131–39.
The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below.
Marielle Frigge
Beginning Biblical Studies
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9377
Reviewed by Markus Lang
Jenny R. Labendz
Socratic Torah: Non-Jews in Rabbinic Intellectual Culture
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9212
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
Bruce W. Longenecker
Hearing the Silence: Jesus on the Edge and God in the Gap—Luke 4 in Narrative Perspective
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8563
Reviewed by Dieter T. Roth
Jill Middlemas, David J. A. Clines, and Else K. Holt, eds.
The Centre and the Periphery: A European Tribute to Walter Brueggemann
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8016
Reviewed by Chadwick Eggleston
Timothy Milinovich
Beyond What Is Written: The Performative Structure of 1 Corinthians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9373
Reviewed by Matthew R. Malcolm
Joel B. Green and Lee Martin McDonald, eds.
The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9404
Reviewed by John J. Pilch
Eileen M. Schuller and Carol A. Newsom
The Hodayot (Thanksgiving Psalms): A Study Edition of 1QHa
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8850
Reviewed by Philippus J. Botha
Ekkehard W. Stegemann; Christina Tuor and Peter Wick, eds.
Der Römerbrief: Brennpunkte der Rezeption
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9031
Reviewed by Oda Wischmeyer
Thomas L. Thompson
Biblical Narrative and Palestine’s History: Changing Perspectives 2
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9108
Reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins
Caroline Vander Stichele and Hugh S. Pyper, eds.
Text, Image, and Otherness in Children's Bibles: What Is in the Picture?
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8847
Reviewed by David R. Jackson
The Chronicle of Higher Education has this article on the top ten books on teaching. I can't vouch for the books on the list but it might be worth checking out.
See this brief article by Eugene Merrill on atonement in the Old Testament.
The purpose of Esther seems twofold. On a theological level, it serves to remind the reader of God’s providence and sovereignty. This message would be particularly appropriate for a post-exilic Israel still wrestling with their covenantal relationship with the Lord, a relationship that had been strained but not broken. Some would dispute this purpose since the book is not overtly religious. Furthermore, it is common knowledge that Esther is the only book in the Bible in which the name of God is not mentioned and one of only a handful of Old Testament books not quoted in the New Testament. Nonetheless, its place in the canon insures that it has spiritual value (cf. 2 Tim 3:16) and its focus on the preservation of God’s chosen nation Israel has implications for the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants, and therefore, for the Messiah himself. On a historical level, Esther serves to provide an explanation for the origin of the Feast of Purim.[1] Most commentators agree with this purpose although some would deny the historical veracity of this account.[2]
[1] Huey notes that, “Many exegetes take the position that the major purpose of the Book of Esther was to explain the historical origin of Purim, to justify its celebration (since it is not mentioned in the Torah), and to regulate its manner of observance”( F.B. Huey, “Esther,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 4, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988], 779).
[2] Ironically, “Purim is not central to the narrative” (Sandra Beth Berg, The Book of Esther: Motifs, Themes, and Structure, Society of Biblical Literature and Dissertation Series 44 [Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979], 3). Similarly Edwin Yamauchi has observed “It is mentioned only in Esther 9:28-32 with allusions to it in 3:7 and 9:24” (“The Archaeological Background of Esther,” Bibliotheca Sacra 137 [April-June 1980], 101).
See this post from Justin Taylor on the proper pronunciation of Augustine.
See David Allen's five reasons for consulting commentaries here. I would add at least two other reasons.
1. It helps to cultivate humility, an important quality for those who seek to understand and communicate Scripture.
2. It helps us to connect us with our rich interpretive heritage and theological forbears.
David Croteau has a brief but interesting post related to "urban legends" related to the New Testament here.
Opinions on the genre of Esther vary widely from historical narrative to short story or novel. Early Jewish opinion saw it as “both law and history.”[1] Some interpreters have seen it as either wholly fictitious or partially so, while others have regarded it as generally historical. Whatever the case may be, the book gives itself internal evidence indicating that it was indeed a historical account. As Berg points out “The histiographical nature of the book is underlined by its opening and concluding passages. The narrator begins his work in a manner typical of biblical histories and concludes with a challenge to verify his account.”[2] Also, the cultural details, the specific names, places, and titles would at the very least imply historicity. Therefore, it is probably best to see Esther as a historical narrative woven with great artistic skill. Jobe’s words are helpful at this point. “Rather than deciding whether the book of Esther is history or literature, the real question is how to understand it as both. When reading the Esther story, it would be a shame to allow ourselves to be so distracted by the historical ‘problems’ it raises that we completely miss the point of this wonderful book. Similarly, it would be a mistake to be so impressed by its literary qualities that we dismiss the book as pious fiction.”[3]
You should check out the David Allen's blog. Dr. Allen is an excellent expository preacher and there are a number of resources available with more to come. You can access the blog here.
The Book of Hebrews provides a powerful encouragement to press on in faith. This exhortation runs to the very end of the book. Recently while teaching through Hebrews I came upon this comment on Hebrews 13:22–25.
"The declaration that ‘I encourage’ you as brothers to hold on to the word of the ‘encouragement’ emphatically underscores that what the author has composed in this letter is indeed a homiletic word aimed at encouraging his audience (13:22). Noteworthy is that the author’s final and climactic greeting, ‘the grace with all of you!’ (13:25), contains no explicit verb. This facilitates its multiple functions as a speech act whose purpose begins to be accomplished in the very hearing of it. First, it affirms that ‘the grace has been with all of you,’ thus reminding the audience that they have already received the grace of God in the past, in accord with the fact that Jesus tasted death on behalf of all by the grace of God (2:9). Secondly, it asserts that ‘the grace is now with all of you’ thus indicating to the audience that the grace of God is now presently being given to them in and through hearing and heeding of the letter itself as the author’s word of encouragement (13:22). Finally, it prays that ‘the grace will be with all of you,’ thus assuring the audience that the grace of God will continue to be available to them in the future. This accords with the encouraging exhortation, ‘Let us approach then with boldness the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and may find grace for timely help’ (4:16).”
John Paul Heil, Worship in the Letter to the Hebrews (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2011), 274.
Charles Spurgeon preached his last sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on this day in 1891. The so-called "Prince of Preachers" had preached at the Tabernacle for thirty years. You can read an interested write up here and here is one site where you can access links to Spurgeon's sermons.
Christian Book Distributor's "Fab Friday" sale has C. Marvin Pate's The Writings of John: A Survey of the Gospel, Epistles, and Apocalypse on sale for $14.99 (67% off). I have only briefly used this book but what I have used has been good. You can access the sale here.
Herbert W. Bateman IV, Interpreting the General Letters, Handbook for New Testament Exegesis, ed. John D. Harvey (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2013).
Interpreting the General Letters is the third of four volumes intended to introduce and demonstrate a methodology for interpreting and communicating the books of the New Testament. The volume at hand covers Hebrews through Jude. The book consists of seven chapters. The first three relate more to background issues, namely, the genre, background, and theology of the General Letters. The next three chapters present a nine-step process moving from translation, text-criticism, exegesis, to homiletics. The final chapter uses two passages (Jude 5–7; Hebrews 10.19–25) to demonstrate the nine step process. This volume includes a nice bibliography and brief glossary.
Interpreting the General Letters has at least three commendable qualities. First, Bateman packs a lot in. This is a 315-page work that in many ways could stand alone as a general handbook on interpretive process. There are also additional features that add value to the work. For example, the discussion on choosing commentaries will prove valuable to many. Second, the author communicates well. The writing is clear and there are numerous charts, tables, and diagrams for the more visually inclined. The discussion on Greco-Roman letters is a good example of this. Third, I believe that the methodology presented is sound, even if a bit ambitious for many pastors and teachers. (For example, I am not sure that generating a fresh translation of a given passage is a realistic goal for the average pastor/teacher with limited time and skills.)
While Interpreting the General Letters provides significant help and insight in the process of moving from exegesis to exposition, there are a few minor critiques that can be made. First, I am not sure that all the material included is truly necessary. A case in point is Bateman’s brief history of the English Bible (pp. 135–39). While the discussion is interesting, it is doubtful that it is essential for the task at hand. Second, the importance of some material is not really demonstrated well. For example, after an extended discussion of Greco-Roman letters (pp. 19–54) a few comments, mostly speculative, are made related to how understanding this material contributes to a specific understanding of the General Letters (pp. 54–56). It would be nice to see specific ways in which this background material impacts the interpretation of specific texts. It is also puzzling that so much is made about Greco-Roman letter forms and little is noted about ancient homiletical practices. This absence is significant since many interpreters today believe that Hebrews and perhaps James are more homily than letter. Third, while one hesitates to mention typos (since all works have them), they are somewhat conspicuous in this work (see pp. 77, 78, 88, 91, 102, 105, 109, 111, 114, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 292, 295, 298, 304). Finally, many will not be convinced that Bateman has the provenance correct in seeing Jude’s antagonists as Jewish rebels rather than the more traditional identification of false teachers (pp. 84–87). This idiosyncratic thesis would need to discuss the striking similarities between Jude and 2 Peter, another letter often held to address false teachers. Unfortunately, Bateman does not do this.
At bottom, Interpreting the General Letters is a solid resource for anyone interested in interpretation generally, and in the General Letters specifically. A reader will need some working knowledge of Greek to get the most benefit from this book but those lacking such facility could still benefit from much of the content. Bateman has done his homework and summarized and packaged much helpful information for students of the Bible.
You can access an excerpt here.
Thanks to Kregel for providing the free book used in this unbiased review.
You can access a free pdf of A Guide to Expository Ministry edited by Dan Dumas here (you will need to fill out a form). A Spanish version can be had here.
Logos in conjunction with Baylor University Press are offering Ben Witherington's What’s in the Word: Rethinking the Socio-Rhetorical Character of the New Testament for free.I can't speak for all of the essays in the volume but I did find the one on eidolothoton helpful. Go here to get your free book.
The free Logos Book for June is Walter Brueggemann's Spirituality of the Psalms. You can also enter to win the entire 24-volume Walter Brueggemann Collection. Go the Logos' Free Book of Month page to enter and download your free book today!
