The Latest Issue of the 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.

Melanie Baffes, ed., Text and Context: Vernacular Approaches to the Bible in Global Christianity
Reviewed by Dorothy Jean Weaver

Fiona C. Black and Jennifer L. Koosed, eds., Reading with Feeling: Affect Theory and the Bible
Reviewed by Shawn Kelley

Daniel Castelo, Sara M. Koenig, and David R. Nienhuis, eds., The Usefulness of Scripture: Essays in Honor of Robert W. Wall
Reviewed by Derek Morton Tovey

Kristin Divjanovic, Paulus als Philosoph: Das Ethos des Apostels vor dem Hintergrund antiker Populärphilosophie
Reviewed by Timothy A. Brookins

Elaine Wei-Fun Goh, Cross-Textual Reading of Ecclesiastes with the Analects: In Search of Political Wisdom in a Disordered World
Reviewed by Raymond C. Van Leeuwen

JoAnna M. Hoyt, Amos, Jonah, and Micah
Reviewed by John Ahn

Rivka Nir, The First Christian Believer: In Search of John the Baptist
Reviewed by Nathan Shedd

Lucy Peppiatt, Unveiling Paul’s Women: Making Sense of 1 Corinthians 11:2–16
Reviewed by J. J. Johnson Leese

Meira Polliack and Athalya Brenner-Idan, eds., Jewish Biblical Exegesis from Islamic Lands: The Medieval Period
Reviewed by Jason Kalman

Marie Noonan Sabin, Evolving Humanity and Biblical Wisdom: Reading Scripture through the Lens of Teilhard de Chardin
Reviewed by Thomas Andrew Bennett

Steve Walton on the Gospel of Mark

Steve Walton has made two sets of slides from a recent presentation on the Gospel of Mark available as pdfs here.

Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 24:1: Reflections on Hebrews

The newest issue of Southern Baptist Journal of Theology focuses on the book of Hebrews. You can access it for free as individual articles here, or the entire issue here.

HT: Antony Billington

Psalm 32 Links

I have been working on a commentary on the Psalms. I have decided to compile some helpful links that I discovered during my research. It includes a mix of exegetical and sermonic links. Here is what I have for Psalm 32 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

Literary analysis of Psalm 32: http://psalmsstudy.com/psalms-literary-analysis-by-chapter/literary-analysis-psalm-32-bliss-teshuvah-return-repentance

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps032.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_032.pdf

The Happiness That Godly Sorrow Brings: Ten Things About Psalm 32: https://davidschrock.com/2019/08/02/the-happiness-that-godly-sorrow-brings-ten-things-about-psalm-32

John Piper, Go to God in Prayer: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/go-to-god-in-prayer

The Public Reading of Scripture

Jeffrey Arthurs provides eight best practices here. I am not where I want to be on this but at least I try and pay more attention to doing this well. Sometimes preachers and teachers see Scripture reading as a means to get to the sermon/lesson rather than seeing our sermon/lesson as a means to get to Scripture.

Ecclesiastes: Meditating on Futility

Tzvee Zahavy looks here at Ecclesiastes (Qohelet) from a Jewish perspective. Zahavy posits that "Kohelet is a collection of meditative chants on the futility of life, cast in a decidedly Israelite key." And he notes that, "Kohelet’s message is not entirely an expression of futility, for meditating on futility may be the one endeavor the book does not believe to be entirely futile." Some interesting thoughts on a challenging book.

The Latest Issue of the 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.

Amy L. Balogh, Moses among the Idols: Mediators of the Divine in the Ancient Near East
Reviewed by Paul Korchin

Cédric Brélaz, Philippes, colonie romaine d’Orient: Recherches d’histoire institutionnelle et sociale
Reviewed by D. Clint Burnett

Kristine Henriksen Garroway, Growing Up in Ancient Israel: Children in Material Culture and Biblical Texts
Reviewed by Claudia D. Bergmann

Getatchew Haile, ed. and trans., ‘Life’ and ‘Miracles’ of Abunä Akalä Krəstos
Reviewed by Nebeyou A. Terefe

Jione Havea, ed., Scripture and Resistance
Reviewed by Marshall C. Johns

John Paul Heil, The Gospel of Matthew: Worship in the Kingdom of Heaven
Reviewed by David Z. Blackwell

David Janzen, Trauma and the Failure of History: Kings, Lamentations, and the Destruction of Jerusalem
Reviewed by Mark McEntire

Gideon R. Kotzé, Christian S. Locatell, and John A. Messarra, eds., Ancient Texts and Modern Readers: Studies in Ancient Hebrew Linguistics and Bible Translation
Reviewed by Tarsee Li

Brian Neil Peterson, Qoheleth’s Hope: The Message of Ecclesiastes in a Broken World
Reviewed by Katharine Dell

Nadine Ueberschaer, Theologie des Lebens bei Paulus und Johannes: Ein theologisch-konzeptioneller Vergleich des Zusammenhangs von Glaube und Leben auf dem Hintergrund ihrer Glaubenssummarien
Reviewed by Kari Syreeni

Preaching Takeaways from the Latest in Social Science

 Interesting post here from Christianity Today.

Lamentations: What Kind of Grief?

I was recently listening to a podcast on teaching Lamentations where the point was being made that the book teaches about grieving generally. While there is much grief in Lamentations, is it really about grieving in the general sense? Aren't the poetic expressions about the devastating consequences of sin against God (historically of the devastation of Jerusalem in 586 BC by the Babylonians). While the podcast mentioned sin and judgment it was almost an aside. Lamentations is not really  designed primarily as a book of comfort for those who have experienced tragic and unimaginable losses but a warning that rejecting God has tragic and unimaginable consequences. Sin and judgment frame the grief so powerfully expressed in the text.We should preach and teach it accordingly.

Free Logos Book for October: Interpreting the Pentateuch

The free Logos Book for the Month for October is Interpreting the Pentateuch by Peter Vogt. You can also purchase Interpreting the Historical Books by David Howard, and A Commentary on 1-2 Chronicles by Eugene Merrill, Exodus by Duane Garrett, and What the Old Testament Authors Cared About edited by Jason DeRouchie for $1.99, $3.99, $5.99, and $7.99 respectively. While you are at it, you can register for a chance to win Kregel's 40 Questions Series Collection. For all these offers, go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.

Biblical Languages for Everyone

Ryan Martin lays out four benefits here of studying Hebrew and Greek for any serious student of the Bible. The benefits are spot on but I rarely find folks that are devoted enough to really move on from "they know enough to be dangerous" mode. If I could go back and speak to the younger version of myself, I would say that learning the languages is more of a journey than a destination.

Journal of Biblical Literature 139:3

Volume 139:3 of the Journal of Biblical Literature is now out. Here is a list of the articles with links to abstracts.

Contradictions, Culture Gaps, and Narrative Gaps in the Joseph Story
Richard C. Steiner

The Rhetoric of Condemnation in the Book of Job
Lance Hawley

“Woe Is Me!”: The Book of Jeremiah and the Language of Despair
Samuel Hildebrandt

The Animalistic Nebuchadnezzar and the Heroic Encounter: Daniel 4:30 Iconographically Revisited
Brian Charles DiPalma

Yedaniah’s Identity as Priest or Layperson and the Rhetoric of the Letter from the Judean Garrison of Elephantine to Bagavahya
Nathan Hays

Rethinking Luke 10: The Parable of the Good Samaritan Israelite
Matthew Chalmers

Imperial Divine Honors in Julio-Claudian Thessalonica and the Thessalonian Correspondence
D. Clint Burnett

Papias’s Prologue and the Probability of Parallels
Nevin Climenhaga

David's Unfortunate Census

David's unfortunate census is recorded in 2 Samuel 24:1-17 and 1 Chronicles 21:1-30. There are a number of interpretive challenges related to this event, but perhaps one of the stickiest is whether David's numbering was prompted by God (2 Sam 24:1) or Satan (1 Chr 21:1). Sinclair Ferguson attempts to address this conundrum here. While I tend to agree with the principles behind his proposed theological solution, I do wish he would have spent more time in the actual texts of 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles and looking first at the possible textual reasons behind the different approaches taken by the authors of the respective books. 

The Latest Issue of the 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.

Kai Akagi, Proclaiming the Judge of the Living and the Dead: The Christological Significance of Judgment in Acts 10 and 17
Reviewed by Steve Walton

Warren Carter, Mark
Reviewed by Barry S. Crawford

Matthew Colvin, The Lost Supper: Revisiting Passover and the Origins of the Eucharist
Reviewed by Brant Pitre

Brian P. Gault, Body as Landscape, Love as Intoxication: Conceptual Metaphors in the Song of Songs
Reviewed by Laura Quick

Jione Havea, ed., Sea of Readings: The Bible in the South Pacific
Reviewed by Michelle Eastwood

Michael R. Licona, Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? What We Can Learn from Ancient Biography
Reviewed by Eve-Marie Becker

David Marcus, Hidden Treasure: Doublet Catchwords in the Leningrad Codex
Reviewed by Timothy G. Crawford

Stephen Mitchell and Philipp Pilhofer, eds., Early Christianity in Asia Minor and Cyprus: From the Margins to the Mainstream
Reviewed by Raymond Van Dam

Brent Nongbri, God’s Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts
Reviewed by Juan Hernández

Joachim Schaper, Media and Monotheism: Presence, Representation, and Abstraction in Ancient Judea
Reviewed by Dominik Markl

Free Conference: The Archaeology of Israel: Where Are We Today?

The Purchase College History Program and the History Club is offering a free conference via zoom on "The Archaeology of Israel: Where Are We Today?" The webinar will be on October 13, 2020 at 4:00 PM EST, Unfortunately, there are no details about the speaker(s) or topics. Hopefully, these details will be shared soon. You can see a web page on the event here.

Psalm 31 Links

I have been working on a commentary on the Psalms. I have decided to compile some helpful links that I discovered during my research. It includes a mix of exegetical and sermonic links. Here is what I have for Psalm 31 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

Literary analysis of Psalm 31: http://psalmsstudy.com/psalms-literary-analysis-by-chapter/literary-analysis-psalm-31

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps031.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_031.pdf

Sermon Writer: https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary/psalm-31-commentary 

Steven J. Cole, “Psalm 31: The Remedy for Stress”: https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-31-remedy-stress

Erastus of Corinth

Carl Rasmussen has a helpful post here on Erastus of Corinth, a personage mentioned in Acts 19:22; Romans 16:13; 2 Timothy 4:20.

Where Was Galatia and Who Were Considered Galatians?

Wrapped up in the seemingly innocuous question above is a much discussed debate about the dating of Paul's epistle to the Galatians and the correspondence of Galatians 2:1-10 and the book of Acts, most notably Acts 11:30/12:25 or Acts 15:1-35. The issues are complex and part of the discussion is sometimes simply framed in academic shorthand as the Northern or Southern Galatian views. I fall within the less popular Southern Galatian view and see correspondence between the Jerusalem visits noted Galatians 2 and Acts 11. So I was happy to see Mark Wilson's recent, brief but informative, article in Biblical Archaeology Review: "Galatia in Text, Geography, and Archaeology” (Fall 2020). The article's main contribution in my view is to provide inscriptional evidence that might support the Southern Galatian view. You can read a condensed version for free here but if you are interested in the topic, you should take a look at the complete article.

Psalm 30 Links

I have been working on a commentary on the Psalms. I have decided to compile some helpful links that I discovered during my research. It includes a mix of exegetical and sermonic links. Here is what I have for Psalm 30 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

Literary analysis of Psalm 30: http://psalmsstudy.com/psalms-literary-analysis-by-chapter/literary-analysis-psalm-30-turned-lament-dancing

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps030.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_030.pdf