Why Your Youth Leader Needs Seminary Training

Cameron Cole explains here.

The Tombs of Esther and Mordechai

You can read this interesting article on the tombs of Esther and Mordechai located in Iran.

Reading the Genealogies Devotionally

William Barrick provides some suggestions here.

Pastoral Epistles Literature Review

Check out "Paul’s Letters to Timothy and Titus: A Literature Review (2009–2015)" by Charles J. Bumgardner in the winter issue of the Southeastern Theological Review.

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 but unfortunately you must be a SBL member.

Rainer Albertz
Exodus 19–40
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10926
Reviewed by William Johnstone

Darrin W. Snyder Belousek
Good News: The Advent of Salvation in the Gospel of Luke
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10050
Reviewed by Benjamin J. Burkholder

Stephen B. Chapman
1 Samuel as Christian Scripture: A Theological Commentary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11265
Reviewed by Jordan M. Scheetz

Nicole Wilkinson Duran and James P. Grimshaw, eds.
Matthew
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9238
Reviewed by Ernest van Eck

Joachim Eck
Jesaja 1—Eine Exegese der Eröffnung des Jesaja-Buches: Die Präsentation Jesajas und JHWHs, Israels und der Tochter Zion
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10667
Reviewed by Richard J. Bautch

Rebekah Eklund
Jesus Wept: The Significance of Jesus’ Laments in the New Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10290
Reviewed by Leonard Maré

Izaak J. de Hulster, Brent A. Strawn, and Ryan P. Bonfiglio, eds.
Iconographic Exegesis of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: An Introduction to Its Method and Practice
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11065
Reviewed by Michael B. Hundley

Charles Irons
The Righteousness of God: A Lexical Examination of the Covenant-Faithfulness Interpretation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10379
Reviewed by Robert L. Foster

Britt Leslie
One Thing I Know: How the Blind Man of John 9 Leads an Audience toward Belief
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10357
Reviewed by Susanne Luther

Peter S. Williamson
Revelation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10366
Reviewed by Andrew R. Guffey

The Very Model of a Doctor of New Testament

Gary Manning provides a New Testament flavored parody of Gilbert and Sullivan's "I am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" from The Pirates of Penzance here.

Genealogical Gaps and Chronological Gaps in Biblical Genealogies?

Peter Leithart has an interesting post here interacting with Jeremy Sexton's 2015 critique of William Henry Green's fairly well-known article, "Primeval Chronology" (Bibliotheca Sacra 47 [1890]: 285-303).

Mudbricks and the Bible

Gary Byers has a fairly comprehensive article on mudbricks and the Bible here.

Free Logos Book for March: This Risen Existence: The Spirit of Easter

The free Logos Book of the Month for March is This Risen Existence: The Spirit of Easter by Paula Gooder. You can also purchase Fruit of the Soul: Luther on the Lament Psalms for $1.99. For both offers you can go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.

On Footnotes

"For most theological writers/researchers, the writing of footnotes is secondary to the primary task of researching and writing the paper. Footnotes are intended to support your argument, not to draw attention to themselves. When footnotes are well written and carefully cited, they give a paper authority, scholarly credibility, and rhetorical force. In sum, a well written footnote is one that is clear, concise, accurate, rendered in one's own academic voice, and formatted according to the convention of the style of citation required for the paper."

Lucretia B. Yaghjian, Writing Theology Well: A Rhetoric for Theological and Biblical Writers, 2nd ed. (London: Bloomsbury, 2015),154.

Developing Pastoral Sensitivity

David Murray has some really good advice developing pastoral antennae here. I remind my students frequently that ministry is people. Unfortunately, the pastor as CEO model has done great harm to the traditional pastoral ministries.

Pastors and Domestic Violence

Christianity Today has an interesting study of pastors perceive domestic violence here.

Saul and Paul

Greg Lanier has a good correction and explanation here of the use of Saul and Paul in the New Testament.

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 but unfortunately you must be a SBL member.

Kristian A. Bendoraitis
‘Behold, the Angels Came and Served Him’: A Compositional Analysis of Angels in Matthew
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10950
Reviewed by Marianne Blickenstaff

J. Blake Couey
Reading the Poetry of First Isaiah: The Most Perfect Model of the Prophetic Poetry
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11598
Reviewed by Daniel J. Stulac

Robert Hanhart, ed.
Septuaginta: Paralipomenon liber II
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10312
Reviewed by Roger Good

Diana Lipton, ed.
Universalism and Particularism at Sodom and Gomorrah: Essays in Memory of Ron Pirson
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8455
Reviewed by Victor H. Matthews

Peter Meineck and David Konstan, eds.
Combat Trauma and the Ancient Greeks
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11000
Reviewed by Zsuzsanna Varhelyi

Geert van Oyen
Reading the Gospel of Mark as a Novel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10180
Reviewed by Gregg S. Morrison

E. J. Revell; Raymond de Hoop and Paul Sanders, eds.
The Pausal System: Divisions in the Hebrew Biblical Text as Marked by Voweling and Stress Position
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11133
Reviewed by Jerome A. Lund

Randy Rheaume
An Exegetical and Theological Analysis of the Son’s Relationship to the Father in John’s Gospel: Equal Yet Subordinate
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10799
Reviewed by Athanasios Despotis

Mirjo Salvini
Les textes hourrites de Meskéné/Emar
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11147
Reviewed by Michael S. Moore

Christopher W. Skinner
Reading John
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10513
Reviewed by Chang Seon An

Another Three-Fold Division of the Law

Ian Paul discusses Philip Jenson's alternative three-fold division of the law here. It is an interesting proposal but I am not sure that setting up a tiered-system solves some of the thornier problems related to Christians and the law.

Maintaining Your Greek

Andreas Köstenberger and Robert Plummer talk about maintaining your Greek here. I especially liked this quote: “Greek is like the neighborhood cat. If we don’t feed it, eventually it will leave.” The same could be said of Hebrew as well.

The Temple in Daniel 9:24-27

Michael Vlach has a good  post here on the three phases of the Jerusalem temple in Daniel 9:24-27.

Free ANE Timeline

The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago is providing a free full-color PDF timeline of the ancient Near East here.

How to Read (a Lot) More Books This Year

See this article at the Harvard Business Review.

HT: Trevin Wax

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 but unfortunately you must be a SBL member.

Terri Bednarz
Humor in the Gospels: A Sourcebook for the Study of Humor in the New Testament, 1863–2014
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10781
Reviewed by David B. Gowler

Mark J. Boda
The Book of Zechariah
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11100
Reviewed by Anthony R. Petterson

Helen K. Bond and Larry W. Hurtado, eds.
Peter in Early Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10977
Reviewed by Timothy Peace

Philip Wesley Comfort
A Commentary on the Manuscripts and Text of the New Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10681
Reviewed by Richard I. Pervo

John H. Elliott
Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World: Volume 1: Introduction, Mesopotamia, and Egypt
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10998
Reviewed by Nicole L. Tilford

John H. Elliott
Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World: Volume 2: Greece and Rome
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11148
Reviewed by Nicole L. Tilford

Shai Gordin
Hittite Scribal Circles: Scholarly Tradition and Writing Habits
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11162
Reviewed by Yitzhaq Feder

George Anton Kiraz
The Syriac Dot: A Short History
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10883
Reviewed by Jerome A. Lund

Michael A. Knibb
The Ethiopic Text of the Book of Ezekiel: A Critical Edition
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10701
Reviewed by Curt Niccum

Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi
Belonging in Genesis: Biblical Israel and the Politics of Identity Formation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11238
Reviewed by Benjamin D. Giffone

Maarten J. J. Menken
Studies in John’s Gospel and Epistles: Collected Essays
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10694
Reviewed by Cornelis Bennema

Nicholas Moore
Repetition in Hebrews: Plurality and Singularity in the Letter to the Hebrews, Its Ancient Context, and the Early Church
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10565
Reviewed by Amy Peeler

Karl-Wilhelm Niehbuhr, ed.
Sapientia Salomonis (Weisheit Salomos)
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11036
Reviewed by Helmut Engel, S.J.

Matthew S. Rindge
Profane Parables: Film and the American Dream
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11236
Reviewed by Emily O. Gravett

Melissa C. Stewart, ed.
Simulating Aichele: Essays in Bible, Film, Culture and Theory
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11130
Reviewed by Jay Twomey

Not Everything Is a "Bible Study"

Jen Wilken has a great reminder and challenge here not to use the label "Bible study" for a catch-all for any gathering at church. Rather "Bible study" should be reserved for classes where you actually study the Bible.

Intertextuality, Again

Earlier this year, I shared a link to a post by James Hamilton that was fairly critical of intertextuality (see here). Now Kyle Dunham at the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary blog has two posts, here and here, that doesn't shy away from issues raised by Hamilton but does see some value in using intertextuality as a hermeneutical tool. Dunham will be posting a third installment on how John's use of Zechariah in his account of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion in John 19.

Genesis 6:7: A Reversal of Creation

Here is another visual from my Genesis course.

A Tale of Two Brothers

I have been reworking my teaching materials in Genesis. Here is one the visuals that I have used before.

Genesis 1:1

Lee Fields has a good discussion here on the various syntactical issues and options for translating Genesis 1:1.