What a Pastor Should Know about Developments in New Testament Textual Criticism

Peter Gurry has three posts related to what a pastor should know about developments in New Testament textual criticism here, here, and here.

Free Logos Book for February: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount

The free Logos Book for the Month for February is John R. W. Stott's Message of the Sermon on the Mount from The Bible Speaks Today series. You can also purchase The Message of Ephesians in the same series for $1.99 and The Message of the Psalms for $4.99. There is also a contest to win a 7 volume John Stott collection. For all these offers, go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.

A Master's-Level Reading List for Old Testament Students

You can see one here.

Köstenberger on Preaching the Gospel of John

Andreas Köstenberger talks about preaching the Gospel of John here.

Resources for Researching Early Christianity

Stephen Presley provides a helpful list here of some resources for researching early Christianity.

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. 

Mira Balberg
Purity, Body, and Self in Early Rabbinic Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11062
Reviewed by Lennart Lehmhaus

John T. Carroll
Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11428
Reviewed by David J. Neville

Mordechai Cogan
The Raging Torrent
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11028
Reviewed by Krzysztof J. Baranowski

Elaine T. James
Landscapes of the Song of Songs: Poetry and Place
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11758
Reviewed by Stephen C. Russell

M. David Litwa
Refutation of All Heresies
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11117
Reviewed by Augusto Cosentino

Sara J. Milstein
Tracking the Master Scribe: Revision through Introduction in Biblical and Mesopotamian Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11480
Reviewed by JiSeong Kwon

James J. O’Donnell
Pagans: The End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10780
Reviewed by Michael F. Bird

Kenneth A. Ristau
Reconstructing Jerusalem: Persian-Period Prophetic Perspective
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11314
Reviewed by Sean Burt

Marcel Sigrist and Kevin Stephens, eds.
In Memoriam John Strugnell: Four Studies
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10972
Reviewed by Andrea Ravasco

Peter-Ben Smit
From Canonical Criticism to Ecumenical Exegesis? A Study in Biblical Hermeneutics
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11125
Reviewed by Joel B. Green

Matthew 10:21 and Malachi 4:6.

Abram K-J has an interesting post here on whether Jesus' words recorded in Matthew 10:21 which seem allude to Malachi 4:6 follow the MT (3:24) or LXX (3:23).

Translating New Testament Slavery Texts

Philip Jenkins discusses the challenges related to translating slavery texts in the New Testament here.

Vlach on Psalm 8 in the New Testament

Michael Vlach discusses the use of Psalm 8 in the New Testament here.

The Place of Trumpeting Inscription

Leen Ritmeyer has an interesting post here on the "place of trumpeting" inscription found in the southern Temple Mount excavations. One point that I found intriguing was Leen's suggestion that the inscription may have been Broken inadvertently by Charles Warren in 1867.

Bad Theological Writing

David Murray talks about it here.

Mission as the Staring Point for the Theology of the Pastorals?

Andreas Köstenberger in this post suggests that "mission" might be the best starting point for the theology of the Pastorals. I'm not sure I agree but it is interesting.

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. 

Bradford A. Anderson
An Introduction to the Study of the Pentateuch
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11666
Reviewed by Reinhard Achenbach

Pablo Andiñach
El Dios que está: Teología del Antiguo Testamento
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10438
Reviewed by Osvaldo D. Vena

Eugene Cruz-Uribe
The Demotic Graffiti from the Temple of Isis on Philae Island
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11206
Reviewed by John Gee

April D. DeConick
The Gnostic New Age: How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion From Antiquity to Today
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11396
Reviewed by James F. McGrath

Alan Kirk
Q in Matthew: Ancient Media, Memory, and Early Scribal Transmission of the Jesus Tradition
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11394
Reviewed by Akiva Cohen

Michael J. Kruger
The Question of Canon: Challenging the Status Quo in the New Testament Debate
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10146
Reviewed by Chris S. Stevens

Benjamin W. Porter
Complex Communities: The Archaeology of Early Iron Age West-Central Jordan
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9691
Reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins

Brian S. Rosner, Andrew S. Malone, and Trevor J. Burke, eds.
Paul as Pastor
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11967
Reviewed by Scot McKnight

Lauri Thurén
Parables Unplugged: Reading the Lukan Parables in Their Rhetorical Context
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10139
Reviewed by Susana de Sola Funsten

David Willgren
The Formation of the ‘Book’ of Psalms: Reconsidering the Transmission and Canonization of Psalmody in Light of Material Culture and the Poetics of Anthologies
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11966
Reviewed by Erhard S. Gerstenberger

Three Books for Preaching Ecclesiastes

Matt Capps writes about three books that he found helpful for preaching Ecclesiastes here.

How to Read Faster in Seminary

Just in time for the spring semester, Seminary Survival Guide has some helpful infographic on surviving the reading demands of graduate school here. I question whether the 200 pages per week per course number for at least master's level students is correct. But I suppose this might vary quite a bit from class-to-class and institution-to-institution. 

One other point needs to be made. One has to be careful that if the professor requires you to report your reading, then integrity demands that you accurately report what you have read. Some professors will allow skimming, others will not.

That being said the information is helpful.

John Piper on the Value of the Old Testament

You can read or listen to John Piper's comments on the value of the Old Testament for the Christian life here.

The Complexity of Translation

The New Yorker has an interesting article here related to the recent translation of a Korean novel into English. This is a great illustration of the complexity of the process of translation, whether it relates to the Bible or a novel.

Donald Campbell (1926–2018)

Donald Campbell, former professor and president of Dallas Theological Seminary, has gone to be with the Lord. There is a nice write-up here. Although I met Dr. Campbell on a few occasions, I mainly profited from his preaching and popular level expositions.

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. 

Mark J. Boda, Michael H. Floyd, and Colin M. Toffelmire, eds.

The Book of the Twelve and the New Form Criticism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11093
Reviewed by James M. Bos

Athalya Brenner-Idan and Archie Lee, eds.
Samuel, Kings and Chronicles I
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11578
Reviewed by John W. Herbst

Warren Carter
Telling Tales about Jesus: An Introduction to the New Testament Gospels
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11218
Reviewed by Marius J. Nel
Reviewed by Steven R. Shisley

Tat-siong Benny Liew and Erin Runions, eds.
Psychoanalytic Meditations between Marxist and Postcolonial Readings of the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11418
Reviewed by Rhiannon Graybill

Siobhán Dowling Long and John F. A. Sawyer
The Bible in Music: A Dictionary of Songs, Works, and More
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10778
Reviewed by James F. McGrath

Todd D. Still and David E. Wilhite, eds.
The Apostolic Fathers and Paul
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11573
Reviewed by Christopher T. Holmes
Reviewed by H. H. Drake Williams III

Henry Wansbrough
Introducing the New Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10286
Reviewed by Ken Olson

Archie T. Wright
The Origin of Evil Spirits: The Reception of Genesis 6:1–4 in Early Jewish Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10359
Reviewed by Michael B. Hundley

Grant Osborne on the Teacher as Pastor

Grant Osborne has some helpful advice or reminders about the role of the professor in the Bible college or seminary classroom here. Here is an excerpt.

"I have long felt that if all I was in the classroom was a disseminator of information, I would fail. The problem today is that the seminary (or college, or graduate school) classroom is often too academic, and too few students fall in love with the process of exegesis and feeding their flock—even looking upon the act of “feeding” in terms of delivering simple topical messages. We must show students the relevance of the biblical text for their lives, stimulating them spiritually as well as intellectually. The truth is that they can find everything we are going to say in commentaries and other sources. What we need to do is show them how practical and refreshing deep exegesis can be."

The Dating of Acts

This post, which is adapted from a course taught by Darrell Bock, covers the issue of the dating of Acts pretty well. 

Improving Your Speaking Skills

Although this post by Jason Shen is not specifically about teaching or preaching, there is some helpful advice about becoming a better speaker.

The Primacy of Peter

I do not hold to the primacy of Peter, at least in the Roman Catholic sense, or perhaps more accurately, the implications that they draw from it, namely, from the primacy to the papacy. But Dave Armstrong gives us fifty reasons supporting the primacy here and the twenty reasons he considers the best here. 

Writing Sermons with Integrity

Brad Whitt has a thoughtful and helpful post on avoiding sermon plagiarism here.

Journal of Biblical Literature 136:4

The latest volume of the Journal of Biblical Literature is now out. Here is a list of the articles with links to abstracts.

Creating a New “Great Divide”: The Exoticization of Ancient Culture in Some Recent Applications of Orality Studies to the Bible
Paul S. Evans
abstract

The Date of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4–5)
Nathan MacDonald
abstract

The Lists of Levitical Cities (Joshua 21, 1 Chronicles 6) and the Propagandistic Map for the Hasmonean Territorial Expansion
Yitzhak Lee-Sak
abstract

Hands, Heads, and Feet: Body Parts as Poetic Device in Judges 4–5
Karolien Vermeulen
abstract

“He Will Take the Best of Your Fields”: Royal Feasts and Rural Extraction
Gale A. Yee
abstract

Yahwistic Appropriation of Achaemenid Ideology and the Function of Nehemiah 9 in Ezra-Nehemiah
David Janzen
abstract

Job 2 and 42:7–10 as Narrative Bridge and Theological Pivot
Paul K.-K. Cho
abstract

[Hbl] as “Worthless” in Qoheleth: A Critique of Michael V. Fox’s “Absurd” Thesis
Mark Sneed
abstract

Naqia and Nineveh in Nahum: Ambiguity and the Prostitute Queen
Gregory D. Cook
abstract

A Newly Reconstructed Calendrical Scroll from Qumran in Cryptic Script
Eshbal Ratzon and Jonathan Ben-Dov
abstract

Jesus’s Question to Pilate in Mark 15:2
Jonathan Schwiebert
abstract

Slow Sailing in Acts: Suspense in the Final Sea Journey (Acts 27:1–28:15)
Troy M. Troftgruben
abstract

Is Every Sin outside the Body except Immoral Sex? Weighing Whether 1 Corinthians 6:18b Is Paul’s Statement or a Corinthian Slogan
Andrew David Naselli
abstract

James 3:13–4:10 and the Language of Envy in Proverbs 3
Benjamin Lappenga
abstract