Characters in Acts

Many readers of Acts know that the character of Paul dominates the book. But Sean Adams has put some mathematical quantification to that observation. It is also interesting to see how other characters in Acts fare as can be seen in Adams' table below.

Character	Verses	Words/episode	Total of words	Percentage
Jesus	1.1–9	166	166	0.9%
Disciples (general)	1.10–14	118
	1.23–2.13	255
	6.1–7	138
	15.5–34	480	991	5.4%
‘Believers’	2.41–7	117
	4.24–35	251	368	2.0%
Apostles and Peter	5.12–42	566	566	3.1%
Peter with disciples	1.15–22	160
	2.14–40	525
	5.1–11	206	891	4.8%
Peter with John	3.1–4.23	908
	8.14–25	199	1,107	6.0%
Peter alone	9.32–11.18	1,373
	12.3–19	372	1,745	9.5%
	[15.7–11=98]
Barnabas	4.36–7	31
	11.19–26	153	184	1.0%
Stephen	6.8–8.3	1,326	1,326	7.2%
Philip	8.4–13,26–40	433	433	2.3%
Ananias	9.10–17	169	169	0.9%
Saul/Paul alone	9.1–9	144
	9.18–35	251
	17.16–18.23	779
	19.1–20.3	809
	20.18–38	373
	21.26–26.32	3,154
	27.17–31	306	5,816	32.1%
Paul and Barnabas	11.27–30?	64
	12.24–15.4	1,533
	[15.12=23]
	15.35–41	112	1,709	9.3%
Paul and Silas/’we’	16.1–17.15	1,023
	20.4–17	251
	21.1–17	309
	27.1–28–28.16	1,046	2,629	14.2%
Paul and James	21.18–25	153	153	0.8%
James (disciple)	12.1–2?	24	24	0.1%
James (brother)	15.13–21	130	130	.07%
Herod	12.20–3	74	74	0.4%
Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila	18.24–8	103	103	0.6%

Sean Adams, The Genre of Acts and Collected Bibliography, SNTSMS 156 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 130-31.

Proverbs on Work and Laziness-Part 3

This is the final part of a three-part series on proverbs related to work and laziness.


Proverbs on Work and Laziness

Verse(s)	Text (NASB)	Type	Parallelism
12:11	He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, But he who pursues vain things lacks sense.	Didactic	Antithetic
12:24	The hand of the diligent will rule, But the slack hand will be put to forced labor.	Didactic	Antithetic
12:27	A slothful man does not roast his prey, But the precious possession of a man is diligence.	Didactic	Antithetic
13:11	Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, But the one who gathers by labor increases it.	Didactic	Antithetic
28:19	He who tills his land will have plenty of food, But he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.	Didactic	Antithetic
15:19	The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns, But the path of the upright is a highway.	Didactic	Antithetic
20:13	Do not love sleep, lest you become poor; Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food.	Admonition	Antithetic
21:25-26	25 The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, For his hands refuse to work; 26 All day long he is craving, While the righteous gives and does not hold back.	Didactic	Antithetic
10:4-5	4Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich. 5He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, But he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully.	Didactic	Antithetic
13:4	The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat.	Didactic	Antithetic
14:23	In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty.	Didactic	Antithetic

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. 

Robert L. Cole
Psalms 1–2: Gateway to the Psalter
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9054
Reviewed by Richard S. Briggs

Avraham Faust
The Archaeology of Israelite Society in Iron Age II
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8631
Reviewed by William G. Dever

Gregory P. Fewster
Creation Language in Romans 8: A Study in Monosemy
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9282
Reviewed by Andrew W. Pitts

Steven Fine
Art, History and the Historiography of Judaism in Roman Antiquity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9840
Reviewed by Yael Wilfand

Christian Frevel and Christophe Nihan, eds.
Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9170
Reviewed by Jason M. Silverman

Jey J. Kanagaraj
John
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9181
Reviewed by Nijay Gupta

John S. Kloppenborg and Judith H. Newman, eds.
Editing the Bible: Assessing the Task Past and Present
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8547
Reviewed by Scott Charlesworth

Cynthia Miller-Naudé and Ziony Zevit, eds.
Diachrony in Biblical Hebrew
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8820
Reviewed by Stephen A. Kaufman

Yann Redalié
La deuxième épître aux Thessaloniciens
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9003
Reviewed by Abson Joseph

Carolyn J. Sharp
Wrestling the Word: The Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Believer
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7980
Reviewed by Robert Wafawanaka

Proverbs on Work and Laziness-Part 2

Yesterday, I started a three-part series on proverbs related to work and laziness.

Proverbs Solely on Laziness

Verse(s)	Text (NASB)	Type	Parallelism
6:6-11	6 Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, 7 Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, 8 Prepares her food in the summer, And gathers her provision in the harvest. 9 How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 "A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest"-- 11 And your poverty will come in like a vagabond, And your need like an armed man.	Admonition	Comparative Antithetic
18:9	He also who is slack in his work Is brother to him who destroys.	Didactic	Synthetic
19:15	Laziness casts into a deep sleep, And an idle man will suffer hunger.	Didactic	Synthetic
19:24	The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, And will not even bring it back to his mouth.	Didactic	Synthetic
20:4	The sluggard does not plow after the autumn, So he begs during the harvest and has nothing.	Didactic	Synthetic
21:17	He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; He who loves wine and oil will not become rich.	Didactic	Synthetic
22:13	The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside; I shall be slain in the streets!"	Didactic	Synthetic
24:30-34	30 I passed by the field of the sluggard, And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense; 31 And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles, Its surface was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down. 32 When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. 33 "A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest," 34 Then your poverty will come as a robber, And your want like an armed man.	Example Story	Synthetic
26:13-16	13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square!" 14 As the door turns on its hinges, So does the sluggard on his bed. 15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again. 16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can give a discreet answer.	Didactic	Synthetic

Proverbs on Work and Laziness-Part 1

I was looking through some materials that I created some time back related to the book of Proverbs. I will post three tables related to work and laziness.

Proverbs Solely on Work

Verse(s)	Text (NASB)	Type	Parallelism
16:3	Commit your works to the LORD, And your plans will be established.	Admonition	Synthetic
16:26	A worker's appetite works for him, For his hunger urges him on.	Admonition	Synonymous
22:29	Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure men.	Rhetorical Question	Synthetic
24:27	Prepare your work outside, And make it ready for yourself in the field; Afterwards, then, build your house.	Didactic	Synthetic

Notes on 1 John 3:11-18

David Allen continues to post some good stuff on his blog. Check out his sermon notes on 1 John 3:11-18 here.

Responding to Praise

Brian Croft has some good advice here on how one should respond to praise that is received after preaching a sermon. This would also be applicable, with some modification, to other areas of ministry as well.