Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews that may be of interest from a Bible Exposition perspective include:

Craig D. Allert
A High View of Scripture? The Authority of the Bible and the Formation of the New Testament Canon
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6258
Reviewed by Garwood P. Anderson

Stephen Bertman
Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6305
Reviewed by Aren M. Maeir

Michael J. Gorman
Reading Paul
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6323
Reviewed by Stephen Finlan

Joseph H. Hellerman
Jesus and the People of God: Reconfiguring Ethnic Identity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6355
Reviewed by Vernon Robbins

Christophe Nihan
From Priestly Torah to Pentateuch: A Study in the Composition of the Book of Leviticus
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6341
Reviewed by Jeffrey Stackert

Barbara E. Reid
Taking up the Cross: New Testament Interpretations through Latina and Feminist Eyes
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6223
Reviewed by Mary J. Marshall

Bernard Renaud
«Proche est ton Nom»: De la révélation à l'invocation du Nom de Dieu
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6104
Reviewed by Jean-Paul Michaud

Joseph B. Soloveitchik; David Shatz, Joel B. Wolowelsky, and Reuven Ziegler, eds.
Abraham's Journey: Reflections on the Life of the Founding Patriarch
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6398
Reviewed by Dan W. Clanton Jr.

Dispensationalism and the New Covenant

Rodney Decker has posted a recently delivered paper entitled, "Why Do Dispensationalists Have Such a Hard Time Agreeing on the New Covenant." You can access it here.

Trier on Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture

Follow this link to an interview with Daniel Trier concerning his book Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture published by Baker.

Hamilton on the Christology of the Old Testament

Jim Hamilton has posted a link to a panel discussion that he was part of on the Christology of the Old Testament and several articles that he has written.

Link to the panel discussion audio here.

Article links:

“The Seed of the Woman and the Blessing of Abraham,” Tyndale Bulletin 58.2 (2007), 253-73.

“The Messianic Music of the Song of Songs: A Non-Allegorical Interpretation,” Westminster Theological Journal 68 (2006) 331-45.

“The Skull Crushing Seed of the Woman: Inner-Biblical Interpretation of Genesis 3:15,” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 10.2 (2006), 30-54.

Free Book Download: Essential Church

Some readers might be interested in this free book download of Thom and Sam Rainer's book Essential Church.

The book is based on a study of one-thousand so-called "church dropouts" who were interviewed about why they left. Their answers are quite surprising, having less to do with "losing their religion" and more about the desire for a community that isn’t made stale by simply maintaining the status quo.

To download the book you will have to submit your e-mail. Here is the link.

Why Learn New Testament Greek?

See Nijay Gupta's post answering the question "Why Learn NT Greek?"

Messiah as a Hebrew Term

Claude Mariottini has a nice post on the Hebrew term Messiah read it here.

Moyise on Paul's Quotation of Scripture

Bruce Fisk has posted a link to Steve Moyise's paper entitled "Does Paul Respect the Context of His Scriptural quotations and Does it Matter?" The paper will be delivered at the SBL meeting in November. You can download the paper here.

Robert Yarbrough Interview

Christianity Today has posted a nice interview with Robert Yarbrough editor for the Baker Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament series, the author of 1-3 John in the BECNT series, and contributor to the ESV study Bible. The interview by Collin Hanson basically involves his work in the Epistles of John. Read it here.

Free Resources for Bible Study

The website promoting the Archaeological Study Bible has apparently been out awhile. What I did not realize was that they have made a nice selection of pictures, charts, diagrams, and maps available for free. The materials are helpfully catagorized as Introduction, Old Testament, New Testament, and Maps and the OT and NT sections are further divided into books. Check it out here.

Top Five Commentaries on Ezra-Nehemiah

Ligonier Ministries has a list and discussion of their top five commentaries on Ezra-Nehemiah. I would replace the briefer works of Kidner and McConville with Blenkinsopp (OTL) and Thrtontveit (Int). I would also add Yamauchi (EBC) to the runners-up list. In any case, the top five Keith Mathison has listed are:

1. F. Charles Fensham -- The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 1983).
2. H.G.M. Williamson -- Ezra/Nehemiah (Word Biblical Commentary, 1985).
3. Derek Kidner. -- Ezra & Nehemiah (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 1979).
4. Mervin Breneman -- Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (New American Commentary, 1993).
5. J. G. McConville -- Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Daily Study Bible, 1985).

Preaching or Reporting?

Peter Mead has a good word concerning the difference between preaching and reporting.

The preacher is not a reporter of facts found during their research. The preacher is called to speak to the listeners from God’s Word. The Bible is not exhibit A. It is the source of the message for us, today. The Bible doesn’t sit off to one side and get pointed at during the presentation, it sits in the hand of the preacher as the source and driver of the message for us.

Read his entire post here.

Woodhouse on the Interpretation and Exposition of Old Testament Narrative

I have been listening to John Woodhouse’s six lectures on the interpretation and exposition of Old Testament narrative delivered for the Charles Simeon Trust. Woodhouse is Principal of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia.

Thanks to Justin Taylor for pointing out that these are available free online (see links below).

• Lecture 1
• Lecture 2
• Lecture 3
• Lecture 4
• Lecture 5
• Lecture 6

Bovon on Luke and the Law

According to François Bovon, "Luke is a witness for that Hellenistic form of Christianity, which, following Paul, placed itself beyond the strict adherence to the Law. If Luke nevertheless emphasizes that the apostles and other witnesses practiced the Jewish Law, this is the reaction of a historian emphasizing the historical roots of the Christian faith, not a theologian who demands such behavior for every Christian"

Luke 1: A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1-9:50, Hermeneia, ed. Helmut Koester (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2002), 10.

What is an Evangelical?

The 9.17.08 edition of the Church Leader's Intelligence Report contained the following bit (apparently from The Christian Post 9.04.08).

Ellison research asked adult Americans to explain what an "evangelical Christian" is. 18% said it is a Christian who tries to spread his or her faith. 9% said it is a Christian particularly devoted or zealous about their faith (but not to the point of fanaticism) and totally sold-out to their beliefs. Other responses:

8%: Focused strongly on the Bible, believing in the Bible as God's inerrant word allowing it to guide their lives.
8%: Saved by Christ, saved by grace, believe in a born-again experience, and believe in eternal life through Christ, among other theological definitions.
6%: Conservative, ultra-conservative or radical right, anti-homosexual, Republican, highly involved in politics, etc.
5%: Fanatical about their beliefs.
4%: Closed-minded about religion.
3%: Focus on money rather than God.
3%: Want to impose their beliefs or standards on others.

2% gave a dramatically off-base theological definition. Researchers stressed almost half of Americans cannot give a definition of "evangelical" that has any substance to it.

Original Languages, Literal Meaning, and Preaching

Peter Mead has provided a good reminder of the potential problems associated with stating "this word originally meant" in preaching and teaching. Read Peter's remarks here.

The Relationship Between Philemon and Onesimus

Michael Bird has a nice post on the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus. Read it here.

The Gospel Cannot Be a Product That The Church Sells

Justin Buzzard has highlighted the following quote taken from David Wells' The Courage to Be Protestant.

"...how likely is it, outside of the intervention of God through the Holy Spirit, that we will identify our needs as those arising from our rebellion against God? No, the product we will seek naturally will not be the gospel. It will be therapy of some kind, a technique for life, perhaps a way of connecting more deeply with our own spiritual selves on our own terms, terms that require no repentance and no redemption. It will not be the gospel. The gospel cannot be a product that the church sells because there are no consumers for it. When we find consumers, we will find that what they are interested in in buying, on their own terms, is not the gospel."

The Spirit in Acts

See Jim Hamilton's discussion on "The Spirit of God in the Mission of God: Acts." Here is a snippet.

In the book of Acts we see the church baptized in the Spirit, filled with power by the Spirit (usually resulting in proclamation), and we see hints of the church enjoying the indwelling of the Spirit. One of the perennial questions facing interpreters is the relationship between the events narrated in John 20 and Acts 2. In John 20, Jesus breathes on his disciples and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2 the Spirit comes on the disciples dramatically in power. In my view, these are two different accounts of the Spirit coming at different times and in different ways. In John 20 the disciples receive the indwelling Spirit. In Acts 2 they are baptized in the Spirit. There is no more conflict between John 20 and Acts 2 than there is between the baptism in the Spirit in Acts 2 and the church being filled with the Spirit in Acts 4:31.

Read the rest of the post here.

Academic References

Nijay Gupta has some helpful advice on choosing and usin academic references. Read it here.

Köstenberger on Some Recent Scholarship Regarding 1 Timothy 2:12

See Andreas Köstenberger’s response to Philip Payne's critique of his essay on 1 Timothy 2:12. Read it here.

Redemption and the Exodus

In a chapter in which the author discusses Jewish concepts of redemption, David Daube states,“Let us note that, from the first, the liberation from Egypt meant much more than a liberation from physical sufferings. From the first, the Exodus included Mt. Sinai. It meant, therefore, salvation both in the physical and the spiritual sense.”

David Daube, The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998), 271.

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews that may be of interest from a Bible Exposition perspective include:

Frederick E. Brenk
With Unperfumed Voice: Studies in Plutarch, in Greek Literature, Religion and Philosophy, and in the New Testament Background
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6275
Reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus

James H. Charlesworth, ed.
The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Second Princeton Symposium on Judaism and Christian Origins
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5896
Reviewed by Matthew Goff

Zeba A. Crook and Philip A. Harland, eds.
Identity and Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean: Jews, Christians and Others: Essays in Honour of Stephen G. Wilson
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6363
Reviewed by Thomas W. Gillespie

Rodney J. Decker
Koine Greek Reader: Selections from the New Testament, Septuagint, and Early Christian Writers
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6213
Reviewed by Pierre Johan Jordaan

Matthew Kraus
How Should Rabbinic Literature Be Read in the Modern World?
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6038
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz

Larry J. Kreitzer
Hierapolis in the Heavens: Studies in the Letter to the Ephesians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6426
Reviewed by Daniel Darko
Reviewed by Stephan Witetschek

Roger Ryan
Judges
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6359
Reviewed by Victor H. Matthews

Daniel L. Smith-Christopher
Jonah, Jesus, and Other Good Coyotes: Speaking Peace to Power in the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6081
Reviewed by Hector Avalos

Nili Wazana
All the Boundaries of the Land: The Promised Land in Biblical Thought in Light of the Ancient Near East [Hebrew]
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6388
Reviewed by Shalom E. Holtz

B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort
The Greek New Testament with Dictionary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6182
Reviewed by Allan J. McNicol

Apocryphal Rope Tied to the High Priest's Ankle?

Many who read this blog have probably heard sermons, lessons, lectures on the supposed Jewish tradition that the high priest had a rope tied to his ankle so that if something should go wrong while he is in the temple, he could be dragged out without endangering anyone else. The problem with is that there is not much evidence for this supposed practice. See this interesting post though.

See also this follow up post.

John Walton on Bara (Create?)

John Walton has a nice discussion on the Hebrew term bara. Here is a lengthy excerpt from his post which can be read in its entirety here.

The verb bara’ occurs about fifty times in the Old Testament. As often noted, deity is always either the subject or the implied subject (in passive constructions) of the verb. It can therefore be confidently asserted that the activity is inherently a divine activity and not one that humans can perform or participate in.

It is of interest that few commentators discuss the objects of the verb, but this is the most important issue for our analysis. Since we are exploring what constitutes creative activity, then the nature of that which has been created is of utmost significance.

The following chart provides a comprehensive list of the objects of bara’:

Gen. 1:1 Heavens and earth
Gen. 1:21 Creatures of the sea
Gen. 1:27 People
Gen. 1:27 (2) People
Gen. 2:3 X
Gen. 2:4 Heavens and earth
Gen. 5:1 People
Gen. 5:2 People
Gen. 5:2 People
Gen. 6:7 People
Exod. 34:10 wonders
Num. 16:30 Something new (debatable)
Deut. 4:32 People
Ps. 102:18 People not yet created
Ps. 104:30 Creatures
Ps. 148:5 Celestial inhabitants
Ps. 51:10 pure heart
Ps. 89:12 North and south
Ps. 89:47 People
Ecc. 12:1 you
Isa. 4:5 Cloud of smoke
Isa. 40:26 Starry host
Isa. 40:28 Ends of the earth
Isa. 41:20 Rivers flowing in desert
Isa. 42:5 Heavens
Isa. 43:1 Jacob
Isa. 43:15 Israel
Isa. 43:7 Everyone called by my name
Isa. 45:12 People
Isa. 45:18 Earth
Isa. 45:18 Heavens
Isa. 45:7 Darkness
Isa. 45:7 Disaster
Isa. 45:8 Heavens and earth
Isa. 48:7 New things, hidden things
Isa. 54:16 Blacksmith
Isa. 54:16 Destroyer
Isa. 57:19 praise
Isa. 65:17 New heavens and new earth
Isa. 65:18 New heavens and new earth
Isa. 65:18 Jerusalem
Jer. 31:22 New thing
Ezek. 21:30 Ammonites
Ezek. 28:13 King of Tyre
Ezek. 28:15 King of Tyre
Amos 4:13 wind
Mal. 2:10 Covenant people

The grammatical objects of the verb can be summarized in the following categories:

Cosmos (10, including New Cosmos)
People in general (10)
Specific groups of people (6)
Specific individuals or types of individuals (5)
Creatures (2)
Phenomena (10)
Components of cosmic geography (3)
Condition (1: pure heart)

What is obvious from this listing is that grammatical objects of the verb are not material in nature, and even when they are, it is questionable that the context is objectifying them. What would be the alternative? Is there anything else “creation” could refer to other than bringing something material into existence? Even a quick look at English usage would alert us to alternatives. For example, we might speak of creating a committee; a curriculum; a masterpiece; havoc—none of these are material in nature. We would instead refer to these as the creation of something functional.

It should be noted that a large percentage of the biblical contexts require a functional understanding. If the Israelites understood the word bara’ to convey creation in functional terms, then that would be the most “literal” understanding that we could achieve. The truest meaning of a text is found in what the author and hearers would have thought. Incidentally, analysis of ancient Near Eastern creation literature confirms that ancient priorities were focused on the functional rather than the material.