A Coin Related to Acts 19

I recently saw this silver Cistophorus listed for sale at a coin-selling site. The reverse has a nice image and inscription related to Diana of Ephesus. The obverse is not too bad with images of Claudius and Agrippina. This coin provides a nice background illustration to Acts 19. The price is a bit out of my budget but as a friend of mine says, "I wouldn't mind if I found it under my Christmas tree!"

HT: Russell Atherton    

Review of The Handy Guide to Di­fficult and Irregular Greek Verbs

Jon C. Laansma and Randall X. Gauthier. The Handy Guide to Difficult and Irregular Greek Verbs: Aids for Readers of the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2017.

The Handy Guide to Di­fficult and Irregular Greek Verbs is described by the publisher as “a learning aid especially for those transitioning from beginning courses in Greek to regular reading of the New Testament.”

The authors helpfully define a “difficult or irregular verb” from the perspective of that beginning Greek student who understands the present active indicative, first singular as the basic form (p. 12). Typically, the verbs that have unusual principle parts provide the greatest challenge for those who seeking proficiency in reading the New Testament. So a resource like this one can be a great help.

I especially two aspects of this work. First, it might be a bit nerdy, but I actually enjoyed reading the preface and introduction which helped me further appreciate the amount of work and thought that went into this resource. Second, the frequency list on pp. 23–26 is helpful. This list will help readers to prioritize their memorization efforts.

In sum, this is a handy little book. It is inexpensive, concise, and the same size as to the two most frequently used Greek New Testaments. Like many resources, it is not indispensable since people have been able to read the Greek New Testament without it. But in the constant search for better, more effective, and efficient ways of learning Greek, this volume definitely makes a contribution.

Thanks to Kregel for providing the copy used in this unbiased review.

Where Does the Parable of the Sower Begin?

Peter Williams has an interesting post here on where the "parable of the sower" paragraph in the Gospel of Mark should begin. I confess that I find this stuff fascinating.

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. 

Ernst Baasland
Parables and Rhetoric in the Sermon on the Mount: New Approaches to a Classical Text
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10579
Reviewed by Samuel Lamerson

John M. G. Barclay
Pauline Churches and Diaspora Jews
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11353
Reviewed by Matthew V. Novenson

A. Andrew Das
Galatians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11108
Reviewed by Nijay Gupta

R. Michael Fox
A Message from the Great King: Reading Malachi in Light of Ancient Persian Royal Messenger Texts from the Time of Xerxes
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11074
Reviewed by Aaron Schart

Michaela Geiger, Ruth Poser, and Charlotte Voß, eds.
Visionen im Dialog: Der Schluss des Amosbuches (Am 7–9)
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11362
Reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer

Joel S. Kaminsky and Joel N. Lohr
The Hebrew Bible for Beginners: A Jewish and Christian Introduction
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10578
Reviewed by Valeriy A. Alikin
Reviewed by William L. Lyons

Mary E. Mills
Jeremiah: Prophecy in a Time of Crisis
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11605
Reviewed by Leslie C. Allen

Jane Lancaster Patterson
Keeping the Feast: Metaphors of Sacrifice in 1 Corinthians and Philippians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10771
Reviewed by Kenneth Schenck

Gerry Schoberg
Perspectives of Jesus in the Writings of Paul: A Historical Examination of Shared Core Commitments with a View to Determining the Extent of Paul’s Dependence on Jesus
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9990
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Cockrell

Foothills of Judah Conference

This is a bit late, but if you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area you might be interested in this conference. You can register here.

Teacher Entitlement

I have posted several times on the the phenomenon of "student entitlement." But as this post points out another problem might be "teacher entitlement." And perhaps "teacher entitlement" helps foster "student entitlement." Here is a comment worth considering.

If we act in ways that aren’t entitled, ways that treat students with respect, that deliver the quality educational experiences they deserve, our leadership creates a different set of expectations. If we say we’ll have the test/paper/projects grades done by Friday, we meet that deadline. We don’t come to class on Friday with excuses and a promise that maybe they’ll be graded by Monday. We arrive to class on time, not several minutes late because we’re busy and important and just expect students to show respect by waiting for us to show up. When students come to us with questions after class, we keep our phones away and talk with them rather than sort of half-listen and try to steal glances to see what messages we might have missed. Respect extended is generally respect returned. And when it isn’t, we stand tall and give students part of what a college experience entitles them to receive.

A Biblical Genealogy Can Change Your Life

I often remind my students that many Bible readers zip past the biblical genealogies to get to the "good stuff" but that if read carefully, the biblical genealogies can also be the "good stuff." In this post, Jordan Standridge writes about how a genealogy changed his life.

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. 

Michael Avioz
Josephus’ Interpretation of the Books of Samuel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10471
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow

Michael F. Bird
An Anomalous Jew: Paul among Jews, Greeks, and Romans
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11436
Reviewed by Mark Harding

Seulgi L. Byun
The Influence of Post-biblical Hebrew and Aramaic on the Translator of Septuagint Isaiah
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11588
Reviewed by Arie van der Kooij

Terry Giles and William J. Doan
The Story of Naomi—The Book of Ruth: From Gender to Politics
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11171
Reviewed by Christina Landman

James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn, eds.
The First Urban Churches 2: Roman Corinth
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11531
Reviewed by Richard Last
Reviewed by B. J. Oropeza

Kevin M. McGeough
The Ancient Near East in the Nineteenth Century: Appreciations and Appropriations: III. Fantasy and Alternative Histories
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11131
Reviewed by James Harding

Beth M. Stovell, ed.
Making Sense of Motherhood: Biblical and Theological Perspectives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11186
Reviewed by L. Juliana Claassens

Jane S. Webster and Glenn S. Holland, eds.
Teaching the Bible in the Liberal Arts Classroom, Volume 2
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11122
Reviewed by John Lanci

Azzan Yadin-Israel
Scripture and Tradition: Rabbi Akiva and the Triumph of Midrash
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10571
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz

The History of Spiritual Gift Profiles and Inventories

Gary McIntosh has a nice survey of the origins of spiritual gift inventories here. By the way, I have taken and used several that are mentioned. I think the inventories can be a bit mechanical but they can provide a way to get people interested in the Bible's teachings on the subject.

Some Proverbs if Solomon Had Been a Millennial

Jennifer Greenberg shares internet proverbs if Solomon had been a millennial here.

HT: Alvin Thompson

Free Logos "Book" for November: Jesus and the Witness of the Outsiders

The free Logos Book of the Month for November is not a book but one of their Mobile Ed courses taught by Craig Evans, "Jesus and the Witness of the Outsiders." You can also purchase another Mobile Ed. course entitle, "Paul's Theology and the Letter to the Philippians for $9.99 and enter a giveaway for a twenty volume Supplementary Texts package. Go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.

Slavery and Philemon

Phil Long has been blogging on Philemon and slavery recently. Today's post addresses some recent scholarship regarding Greco-Roman and Jewish slavery and succinctly addresses some recent scholarship on the matter. You can check it out here and you might want to bookmark this excellent blog.

Four Suggestions for Reading the Minor Prophets

Scott Slayton offers them here.

HT: David Murray

Law as Academic Treatises?

I am making my way through Roy Gane’s recent volume on Old Testament law. Gane and others suggest that the Old Testament laws were not normative legislation, at least in the technical sense. ANE law codes might be more accurately identified as academic treatises. He writes,

It appears that the early law collections, such as that of Hammurabi, were academic treatises that gathered, edited, organized, and supplemented existing legal customs and precedents. That they did not function as normative legislation is shown by the fact that extant Mesopotamian court records and contracts, of which there are thousands, do not explicitly refer to the Laws of Hammurabi or any other written law collection, so these collections were not used to directly govern day-to-day legal practice.

Roy E. Gane, Old Testament Law for Christians: Original Context and Enduring Application (Grand Rapids: Baker, 201), 32.