Review of Early Explorers of Bible Lands

Jack P. Lewis, Early Explorers of Bible Lands (Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 2013). Early Explorers of Bible Lands is a fascinating, inspiring, and sometimes humorous glimpse into the lives of ten nineteenth-century men who made significant contributions to our understanding of the geography, and to some extent the archaeology, of the Bible lands. The highlighted explorers include John Lewis Burckhardt, Giovanni Battista Belzoni, Conrad Schick, William Francis Lynch, James T. Barclay, Charles William Wilson, Charles Clermont-Ganneau, Selah Merrill, Claude Conder, and Archibald Henry Sayce.
 

This book is fun to read. The individual stories are relatively short and focused primarily as one would expect, on their times in the Bible Lands. But there is sufficient personal detail to give the reader a sense of the person. Lewis also does a good job highlighting the personal sacrifices that were often made, and the dangers and interpersonal conflicts that each one seemed to encounter. There is even a bit of humor thrown in. For example, William Lynch’s affirmation while staying in Tiberias that the rumor, “the king of the fleas holds his court in Tiberias” was true (p. 78). The book also contains a fairly thorough bibliography although it does lack a subject index. Those who have traveled to, or are interested in, the Bible lands should consider reading this book.

Much thanks to Abilene Christian University Press for providing the copy used in this review.

Ten Ideas for Sermon Application

Craig Schill has some really good ideas and suggestions regarding sermon application here.

Catching My Own Typos

I struggle with catching typos in my own work although I am pretty good at spotting them in general. I continue to work at it but this article at least gives a bit of an explanation of why I struggle.

Dan Wallace on Lexical Fallacies by Linguists

See this post by Dan Wallace on lexical fallacies by linguists here.

The Law in Romans

Skimming through a book I picked up last year, Reading Paul’s Letter to the Romans, I particularly enjoyed the essay by Francis Watson on the law. Here is Watson’s very first paragraph which is also a nice summary of the topic. 

“Paul uses the word nomos (‘law’) on seventy-two occasions in Romans, and in all but a few cases the reference is to the Torah, the law of Moses whose five books are foundational to Jewish Scripture. Thus the law was given though Moses (Rom 5:14), and before his time 'there was no law' (5:13). The law was entrusted specifically to the Jewish people (2:17), or 'Israel' (9:31), for whom it is a legitimate source of pride (2:24). Gentiles are basically ignorant of the law although they sometimes unknowingly observe it (2:14). The law is associated with wrath (4:13) and with sin or transgression (3:20; 4:15; 5:13; 7:7, 8). It is disassociated from the righteousness of God (3:21), promise (4:13–14), and grace (6:14, 15). Although its commandments are many, they can be summed up in a single negative or positive statement: 'You shall not desire' (7:7), or 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself (13:8–10).” 

Francis Watson, “The Law in Romans,” in Reading Paul’s Letter to the Romans, ed. Jerry L. Sumney, Resources for Biblical Studies 73, ed. Tom Thatcher (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012), 93.

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. 

Constantine R. Campbell
Colossians and Philemon: A Handbook on the Greek Text
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9361
Reviewed by Alan Cadwallader

Cynthia Edenburg and Juha Pakkala, eds.
Is Samuel among the Deuteronomists? Current Views on the Place of Samuel in a Deuteronomistic History
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9436
Reviewed by David G. Firth

Scott S. Elliott
Reconfiguring Mark’s Jesus: Narrative Criticism after Poststructuralism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8958
Reviewed by Thomas P. Nelligan

Scott S. Elliott and Roland Boer, eds.
Ideology, Culture, and Translation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8693
Reviewed by Todd Borger

Eun-Woo Lee
Crossing the Jordan: Diachrony Versus Synchrony in the Book of Joshua
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9301
Reviewed by Thomas Römer

Jack R. Lundbom
Jeremiah Closer Up: The Prophet and the Book
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8004
Reviewed by Richard G. Smith

Martin O’Kane, ed.
Bible, Art, Gallery
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8959
Reviewed by Bryan J. Cook

Robert Kimball Shinkoskey
Do My Prophets No Harm: Revelation and Religious Liberty in the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8175
Reviewed by J. Gordon McConville

Michael E. Stone
Adam and Eve in the Armenian Tradition, Fifth through Seventeenth Centuries
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9448
Reviewed by Linda S. Schearing

Chris Tilling
Paul’s Divine Christology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8855
Reviewed by Benjamin A. Edsall

Themelios 39.3

The latest edition of Themelios is out and available as a PDF or Logos version here. You can access individual articles via the links below.

D. A. Carson | EDITORIAL: The Underbelly of Revival? Five Reflections on Various Failures in the Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement

Michael J. Ovey | OFF THE RECORD: Is It a Mistake to Stay at the Crossroads?

Robert W. Yarbrough | Bye-bye Bible? Progress Report on the Death of Scripture

Andrew David Naselli | Three Reflections on Evangelical Academic Publishing

William R. Edwards | Participants in What We Proclaim: Recovering Paul’s Narrative of Pastoral Ministry

Steven L. Porter | The Gradual Nature of Sanctification: Σάρξ as Habituated, Relational Resistance to the Spirit

Stephen Witmer | PASTORAL PENSÉES: Keeping Eschatology and Ethics Together: The Teaching of Jesus, the Work of Albert Schweitzer, and the Task of Evangelical Pastor-Theologians

Free Audio Book: The Dawning of Indestructible Joy by John Piper

Christianaudio.com is offering John Piper's Advent devotional, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy, as their free audio download for the month of December. To read more about the book and to get your free audio download in either MP3 or M4B formats go here.

An Introduction to Advent

Whether you participate or just want to know what others are talking about, Mark Roberts has a fairly thorough blog post on Advent here.

Daniel 9:24-27 among the Interpreters

My Digital Seminary is running a series of question and answer posts on Daniel 9:24-27 (the well-known "Seventy-Week Prophecy") with various Bible scholars. I am not sure how many participants they will ultimately have, but here are those who have been posted so far.

Introduction
Thomas Ice
Robert Chisholm
Peter Gentry
Wendy Widder
Dale Ralph Davis

Studies in the Pauline Epistles: Essays in Honor of Douglas J. Moo

I noted yesterday that one noteworthy part of the recent 50th anniversary dinner and program celebrating the commissioning of the NIV was a presentation of a festschrift in honor of Doug Moo. The book is entitled Studies in the Pauline Epistles: Essays in Honor of Douglas J. Moo and was edited by Matthew S. Harmon and Jay E. Smith, two of Moo’s former students.
 

There are sixteen essays divided into three categories: Exegeting Paul, Paul’s Use of Scripture and the Jesus Tradition, and Pauline Scholarship and His Contemporary Significance. Authors include G. K. Beale, Craig Blomberg, Ardel Caneday, D. A. Carson, James D. G. Dunn, Matthew Harmon, Jonathan Moo, Grant R. Osborne, Thomas R. Schreiner, Mark Seifrid, Jay Smith, Verlyn Verbrugge, Chris Vlachos, Stephen Westerholm, N. T. Wright, and Robert Yarbrough.

The 50th Anniversary of the Commissioning of the NIV

Three parts of the recent 50th anniversary dinner and program celebrating the commissioning of the NIV at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting in San Diego are worth noting. First, there was a paper presented by Doug Moo. His paper was printed and distributed by Zondervan as a free booklet but you access the free PDF here. Second, there was a lively and interesting panel discussion involving Moo, Richard Hess, Karen Jobes, Bill Mounce, Jeannine Brown, and Mark Strauss. See this live blog for a transcript of the questions and answers. And third there was a surprise presentation of a festschrift for Doug Moo. I will talk about this book in a future post.

You can read a story about the meeting here.

Josephus as Historical Authority?

I recently picked up Steve Mason’s book Josephus, Judea, and Christian Origins: Methods and Categories and found this introductory statement to be interesting.

“The following study addresses what seems to me a fundamental problem in the use of Josephus’ writings for studying Roman Judea, namely his status as an authority. I begin from the observation that Josephus is, and has always been (though for changing reasons), regarded as a peerless authority for first-century Judea, and this assumption runs even more deeply than we perhaps realize. My argument, simply, is that he should not be so regarded. This is not because he is unworthy or ‘unreliable’ or only partially reliable—or because of anything to do with reliability. It is rather because the whole appeal to reliable authority in the discipline of history is an error of categories. History has, or should have, a problem with authority” (Steve Mason, Josephus, Judea, and Christian Origins: Methods and Categories [Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2009], 7). I am not sure that I agree with Mason, and I know this is not his main point, but I find it annoying that whenever Josephus and the Gospels or Acts appear to be in conflict regarding a historical matter, Josephus is usually treated as sacrosanct. I have argued that this is not good historical method.

Vern Poythress' Proposal Related to the Human Authors of Scripture

Vern Poythress makes a provocative and interesting suggestion regarding the human authors of Scripture in an article that appears in the most recent Journal of the Evangelical Society. Here are the first four paragraphs introducing the article.

How important is it for biblical interpreters to focus on the human author and his intention? For many books of the Bible, we know little or nothing about the human author, except what we might tentatively infer from the text itself. We who are inerrantists say that we believe that Scripture has a divine author, and that we have come to know him. What gains are there in focusing on the human author whom we do not know?

People might list several benefits: (1) focus on the historical and social environment, as a context for the text; (2) reckoning with human capacity, the characteristics of human linguistic communication, and the limitations of human understanding; (3) reckoning on limited canon available at the time; (4) reckoning on the structural coherence of a single biblical book, written by a single human author.

All of these are indeed valuable benefits. But a robust conception of divine authorship and divine purpose leads to exactly the same benefits. In addition, focusing on the divine author leads to fewer interpretive problems, because problems are generated by what we do not know about an author.

We will use Zeph 1:2–3 to illustrate the difficulties. In the process, it may seem at times as if we are multiplying the uncertainties about human intentionality. But I believe we can have confidence on the other side of the uncertainties." Poythress goes on to conclude the following. “My concluding advice with respect to the focus on an isolated human author is that we give it up. Period. There is no gain to it, and much loss. We who are scholars work on the intentions of human authors as if this focus will give us answers. But we are living an illusion. Instead, let us seek God. If we do so, we will get more spiritual health, because we are encountering God seriously. We will get more accuracy, because we can settle many interpretive questions concerning authorial intention. We will get more candor, because we can give up concealing from ourselves that in most cases we do not know anything about the human author except what we infer from the text, and that many such inferences are questionable.”

My take

Poythress raises interpretive problems related to the relatively scant information regarding many, if not most, of the human authors of Scripture. And it is probably true that many interpreters pay little if any attention to the divine Author. But I am not sure that Poythress’ proposal is the way forward. My concerns are threefold. First, the attribution authorship, as in Zephaniah, is part of the inspired text. Simply put, God apparently wanted us to know that Zephaniah was the author. For me, that suggests that we should strive to understand how and why the authorial attribution might be important. If jots and tittles are important surely the name of a prophet might be as well. Second, while focusing on the divine Author is commendable, I wonder whether we can assume to know His intentions any more than we know the human author’s. Or in other words, the same ambiguities that dog the human author might also apply to the divine Author as well. Third, I get the feeling that many of the issues raised by Poythress are not so much related to ignorance concerning the human author but of how prophecy should be interpreted and how it functions in general.

In sum, I found the article to be thought-provoking but remain unpersuaded. If you have read the article, please feel free to leave you feedback in the comments section.

Vern Poythress, “Dispensing with Merely Human Meaning: Gains and Losses from Focusing on the Human Author, Illustrated by Zephaniah 1:2–3,” JETS 57 (2014): 481, 499.

Dale Ralph Davis on Joshua 22

In looking at the altar-making crisis in Joshua 22, I found the following point by Dale Ralph Davis to be spot on.

“Now to chapter 22; let us try to mount the right hermeneutical horse at the outset. Clearly, the keynote of this chapter is the pervasive passion for fidelity to Yahweh (e.g., vv. 5, 19, 29, 31). Hence, we must beware of moralizing the text into anything less, such as the peril of rumor, the tragedy of misunderstanding, or the need to talk out problems reasonably. Those may be commendable concerns, but they do not constitute the main freight of chapter 22” (No Falling Words: Expositions of the Book of Joshua [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988], 167).

I know that Davis’ point may cause some sermons to be reworked but he captures the issue at hand so well and so succinctly.

Satan and Isaiah 14?

See this post by J. Carl Laney on Isaiah 14 and its possible connection to Satan. Whether one agrees with Laney or not, he does raise textual issues that need to be considered.

BiblePlaces at SBL

A few days ago I noted that those going to SBL might want to stop by the Bibleplaces booth (#411). I did today. They have significant discounts on the collections, plus a free volume of choice for just stopping by. If you teach the Bible and are looking for an outstanding collection of Holy Land photos then you really should check it out..

Review of Invitation to James

Donald R. Sunukjian, Invitation to James: Persevering through Trials to Win the Crown, Biblical Preaching for the Contemporary Church (Wooster, OH: Weaver, 2014).

Invitation to James is a collection of fourteen messages on the book of James. The author, Don Sunukjian, has written the award-winning Invitation to Biblical Preaching and has taught homiletics for many years. This work is part of a projected six volume series (Biblical Preaching for the Contemporary Church). “The purpose of this series is to offer models of the principles presented in the textbook” (p. xi). The fourteen messages are slightly-edited versions of actual sermons preached by the author. Most of the messages run about ten pages. Sunukjian includes a brief introduction to James. In the introduction, he suggests that James is writing pastorally (although he does not appear to conclude that James is a homily) on the theme of trials. “James’s purpose is to tell his friends and us how to act both as individuals and as a church, when we find ourselves in stressful and difficult situations” (p. 3).
This volume provides solid examples of expository messages. Each message attempts to deal with the main points of the text through explanation and illustration. The illustrations in particular are very good. The author also has a nice way of phrasing things. He is clearly a wordsmith.
 

But several aspects of this work would, I believe, add to its usefulness for preachers (the main intended audience). First, outline headings would really help. One would not have to preach the outline, but seeing the outline would help the reader see the flow of the text. I would have preferred a bit more direct application. Second, providing a clearly articulated message (topic and assertion according to Invitation to Preaching) for each preaching passage would make this work more valuable. Seeing how a seasoned preacher crafts such statements would be an education in itself. And third, I would have preferred to see more direct application in these messages. I recognize that this is more a matter of methodological preference, but I would have loved to have seen these principles fleshed out in more concrete and measurable ways. At bottom, Invitation to James will not replace exegetical commentaries, and in fact, would be most effective if consulted after one has done their exegetical work. But if one is looking for a good collection of sermons on James then this volume might just hit the spot. You can access a free PDF excerpt here.

Thanks to Weaver for providing the free book used in this unbiased review.

Review of Illustrated Life of Paul

Charles L. Quarles, Illustrated Life of Paul (Nashville: B&H, 2014).

The writings, theology, and life of the apostle Paul continue to generate interest. Some works seek to present new and novel ways of approaching the subject, whereas others take a more traditional approach. This work by Quarles falls into the latter category.

This volume is commendable for several reasons. First, it is clearly and concisely written. The discussion is fairly thorough but not exhaustive. But those who are looking for a presentation, critique, and examination of recent trends in Pauline studies will likely be disappointed. Second, this work is faithful to the biblical narrative. The book of Acts is treated like a reliable historical source and the author accepts the thirteen epistles of Paul as genuinely Pauline. For those interested in such things, Quarles holds the South Galatian view and two Roman imprisonments. Third, in keeping with its title, this volume is nicely illustrated. There is a good blend of photos and illustrations throughout. Finally, the volume includes both subject and Scripture indices that help to contribute to the usefulness of the volume.

There are a few weaknesses of this volume. I do wish that a few more excurses on some disputed issues would have been included (e.g., the new perspective, Romans debate, etc.). I noticed only one excursus related to the relationship between Galatians 2 and Acts 15 (p. 78).The author’s description of the oft-referenced immorality of Corinth (p. 120) should be more nuanced in light of the work of Jerome Murphy O’Conner and others. A third issue is more of an issue of preference, but I believe that this volume would be easier to use with footnotes rather than endnotes.

But these criticisms notwithstanding, Illustrated Life of Paul is a solid option for those interested an introductory level resource to the life, ministry, and writings of Paul.

You can access a PDF excerpt here.

C. H. Dodd, Zacchaeus, and a Daughter's Shoes

Here is a snippet for my readers who are at ETS and SBL this week. This comes from William Baird’s delightful third volume on the history of New Testament research and concerns the esteemed C. H. Dodd. 

“Like Zacchaeus, Dodd was self-conscious about his small stature. W. D. Davies (in a recording made in 1986) told me that when, as a student, he would visit in Dodd’s study, the furniture would be so arranged that he would sit in a low chair and Dodd would sit above him on a higher one. Dodd was notorious for his absentmindedness, once appearing for a lecture wearing one of his own shoes and one of his daughter’s. He lectured with vitality and eloquence and was famous for his sense of humor, which even crept into his publications. In the introduction to his Romans commentary he gives the reason for a ‘clumsy made cut’ at 16:23 as the ‘illimitable stupidity of editors’” (William Baird, History of New Testament Research: Volume 3: From C. H. Dodd to Hans Dieter Betz [Minneapolis: Fortress, 2013], 35).

NIVAC Ebooks on Sale

All NIVAC Commentaries in Ebook format are on sale for $4.99. But note that the sale is only good until November 23. You can check out this deal at the Zondervan Academic blog here.

Replacement Theology

Dr. William Varner has a good post listing some of the biblical problems with replacement theology (aka supersessionism) here.

Review of Persuasive Preaching

R. Larry Overstreet, Persuasive Preaching: A Biblical and Practical Guide to the Effective Use of Persuasion (Wooster, OH: Weaver, 2014). 

Like the author I came to faith and cut my teeth on a persuasive preaching style that typically included some kind of invitation. It was only later that I was exposed to a different style of preaching that was less confrontational and more contemplative. This book by Larry Overstreet is an examination of homiletical theology in general and the use of persuasion in particular. It is an apologetic for, and a call to, return to a more directly persuasive form of preaching. 

Persuasive Preaching is laid out logically, moving from need, to theory, to practice. So in part 1, Overstreet identifies issues and challenges related to persuasive preaching. This is followed in part 2 by a comprehensive discussion of biblical texts and terms that relate to persuasion. Here the author finds ample support for the use of persuasion. Having established that biblical legitimacy for the use of persuasion, part 3 identifies four structural approaches to persuasive messages (motivated sequence, problem-solution, cause-effect, and refutation). The final part of this work relates to three pertinent issues that relate to the application of persuasive peaching. Here Overstreet addresses the issue of persuasion versus manipulation and outlines an ethical use of persuasion. He also discusses the role of the Holy Spirit in preaching and do’s and don’ts related to the use of invitations. Appendices, bibliography and indexes round out the volume.  

Persuasive Preaching is an interesting and rare study. As the author notes, many preaching texts assume persuasion (of some sort) but don’t often talk about it. I have read a number of volumes on preaching and can say that this volume is the most comprehensive treatment on the topic that I have ever encountered. This will likely be both the strength and weakness of this volume. 

Those interested in a thorough examination of the biblical foundations of persuasion (including some fairly significant interaction with Greek) will enjoy this volume. Less interested readers will probably skim or skip this section as being too technical. Those looking for a detailed presentation of structural approaches to persuasive messages (motivated sequence, problem-solution, cause-effect, and refutation) will be delighted, but less patient readers will probably feel a bit frustrated although the sample sermons in Appendix E will probably help. 

I enjoyed this volume. I learned much. But I suspect some of my preaching peers would be less enthusiastic. This is not a quick or light read. But in the end, while it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I think that Overstreet has provided a valuable resource for studying the topic of persuasion in preaching and a persuasive argument for its use in the pulpit.

You can access a PDF excerpt here. 

Thanks to Weaver for providing the free book used in this unbiased review.

Free 1 Samuel Bible Study

Those interested in a free 1 Samuel Bible study written by George and Koula Athas can go here. Here are the titles of the individual studies. 

• Study 1 The blind leading the blind (1 Samuel 1-4)
• Study 2 Putting God in a box (1 Samuel 5:1-7:14)
• Study 3 The people’s choice (1 Samuel 7:15-10:27)
• Study 4 An eye-catching king (1 Samuel 11-12)
• Study 5 Mishmash at Michmash and dismissal at Gilgal (1 Samuel 13-15)
• Study 6 The LORD’s choice (1 Samuel 16-17)
• Study 7 Loyalty and disloyalty amongst the royalty (1 Samuel 18-20)
• Study 8 Seek and destroy (1 Samuel 21-24)
• Study 9 Friend or fiend? (1 Samuel 25-27)
• Study 10 The LORD keeps his word (1 Samuel 28-31)

BiblePlaces Resources at SBL

If you are looking for an outstanding collection of Holy Land photos and if you are headed to SBL you will want to stop by the BiblePlaces exhibit, #411. They will have major discounts on the collections, plus a free volume of choice to anyone who stops by.