My Reading Report

I was interested to read this article on President Bush’s reading habits. For the last twelve years I have kept a record of the books that I have read cover-to-cover as it were. I also read the newspaper almost every day and the Bible through every year (except one year in the last twelve). I do not keep track of the reading that I do in commentaries (unless I read the whole commentary), theologies, monographs, journals, magazines, blogs, etc. Altogether, I estimate that what I don’t keep track of actually accounts to more than what I do keep track of. But I digress.

For the year 2008 I read sixteen books (a number which pales in comparison to the forty read by the president this year). My goals for each year are to read in three broad categories. One category is biblical studies. This year I read eight books in this category: Poetics and Biblical Interpretation (Adele Berlin), The Heart of the Old Testament (Ronald Youngblood), Religion and Culture in Ancient Israel (J. Andrew Dearman), Acts (J. Bradley Chance), Jesus’ Promise to the Nations (Joachim Jeremias), The Blue Parakeet (Scot McKnight), An Introduction to the Gospels and Acts (Charles Puskas and David Crump), Paul and the New Perspective (Seyoon Kim). You might have noticed that I try to read books related to both Testaments.

I also read books related to ministry. Here I read Preaching and Preachers (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones), Inspired Preaching (C. Richard Wells and Boyd Luter), and Telling God’s Story (John Wright).

A third category that I try to read in every year relates to the biblical languages. In 2008 I read Basics of Verbal Aspect in New Testament Greek (Constantine Campbell) and Philippians: A Greek Student’s Intermediate Reader (Jerry Sumney). Alas there was not a Hebrew book this year.

Other than these categories I read Blue Like Jazz (Donald Miller), Assaulted by Joy (Stephen Simpson), and as I have already noted above, the Bible.

I already have at least two books on tap for 2009 for which I have committed to reviewing and I know that there will be a great deal of reading pertaining to the dissertation I will be writing.

Feel free to let me know what you have been reading.

Free Downloadable Hebrew Resources

DailyHebrew.com has a helpful list of downloadable Hebrew resources including grammars, lexicons, and special studies. You can access the list here.

Free Audio Download of Oswald Chambers Biography

Christianaudio.com is currently offering a free download of David MacCasland's biography of Oswald Chambers: Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God. Go here and add the download format of Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God to your cart and then enter the coupon code JAN2009 when prompted during checkout.

Decker on the Genitive Absolute

Rodney Decker has a nice explanation of the Greek genitive absolute. Read it here.

Keller on Preaching Hell in a Tolerant Age

Tim Keller has posted an interesting article on preaching hell in a tolerant age. You can read it here.

Video: I Think My Wife's a Calvinist

Those of you who are predestined to watch this will.

Review of Preach the Word

Peter Mead has posted a review of Preach the Word: Essays on Expository Preaching in Honor of R. Kent Hughes, edited by Leland Ryken and Todd Wilson . You can access the review here.

Bolen on the Top Eight Archaeological Discoveries in 2008

Todd Bolen has a nice post on the top eight archaeological discoveries in 2008. You can read it here.

Themes in Acts

A few years ago I taught a course entitled "Themes from the Book of Acts." In this course I developed the following eight themes.

1. The expansion of the Church
2. The Holy Spirit
3. The spread of the inclusive gospel
4. The sovereignty of God
5. Opposition to the spread of the gospel
6. The person and work of Christ
7. Prayer
8. The ministries of Peter and Paul

As I was reading through Puskas and Crump's An Introduction to the Gospels and Acts (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), I noted that they identify the following as key themes in Luke-Acts (pp. 128-52). Although I did not include Luke in my listing of themes I thought that a comparison of themes might be interesting and/or helpful. The themes they identify are:

1. Salvation to the Gentiles
2. The progression of the gospel
3. The Holy Spirit
4. Prayer
5. Wealth, poverty, and the marginalized
6. Faithful Israel
7. Roman tolerance.

It is encouraging to note that there was significant overlap between the lists. But I wonder if there might be some other major themes. Suggestions anyone?

Video on J. Vernon McGee

Here is a fifteen minute video on the life and ministry of J. Vernon McGee.

A man who made a difference

Cook on Funerary Practices and Afterlife Expectations in Ancient Israel

Stephen Cook has posted his November 2007 Religion Compass article in toto. The abstract to the article reads:

Ancient Israel was thoroughly familiar with existence beyond death. Individual personalities survived the death of the body, most Israelites believed, albeit in a considerably weakened and vulnerable state. The ensnaring tentacles of Sheol constantly threatened the living-dead, but the fortunate among them were able to use the power of kinship bonds to keep Sheol’s threats at bay. The traditional ties of lineage and kin-bonding, according to biblical Yahwism, were an actual way for the living-dead to pull themselves back from death’s devouring suction. Ancient Israel’s funerary practices and afterlife expectations are greatly illumined by recent archaeological studies and by a new comparative model that draws on data gleaned from African ethnography.

While one might debate the specifics of ancient Israel's conception(s) of the afterlife, it is refreshing to see someone acknowledge that ancient Israel had a conception of an afterlife. You can access Cook's article here.

Commentaries on Song of Solomon

Keith Mathison Ligonier Ministries has a list and discussion of his top five commentaries on Song of Solomon at the Ligonier Ministries blog. Mathison acknowledges that, “It is somewhat difficult to recommend a "Top 5" list on the Song of Songs because one's inclusion of commentaries in the list will largely depend on whether one takes an allegorical or non-allegorical approach to the book. The list below is based on my own non-allegorical approach to the book.” That being said, I would suggest that Duane Garrett (either or both his work in the NAC and WBC) is a better choice for the top two slots than either Gledhill or Carr. (Garrett takes a non-allegorical approach.) I would also add David Hubbard, Michael V. Fox (The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs), Tremper Longman (Cornerstone), and Jack Deere in The Bible Knowledge Commentary to the runners-up. In any case, the top five Mathison listed are:

1. Tom Gledhill -- The Message of the Song of Songs (The Bible Speaks Today, 1994).
2. Lloyd Carr -- The Song of Solomon (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 1984).
3. Richard S. Hess -- Song of Songs (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, 2005).
4. Tremper Longman -- Song of Songs (New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2001).
5. Iain Provan -- Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (NIV Application Commentary, 2001).

How to Have an Expository Preaching Church

Jim Kang has posted on how to have an expository preaching church. Read the post here.

Why Pastors and Professors Ought to be on Facebook

Alex Tang and Kar Yong have posted here and here concerning why pastors and professors ought to be on Facebook.

Alex Tang:

• it forces them to become more computer and Internet savvy. Many pastors are generations behind in their understanding and use of communication technology
• it introduces them to a new way of social interacting- the digital way.
• it makes them human. Depending on their openness and integrity, pastors who presents themselves as themselves will have to reveal a more personal and human side of themselves.
• allows them to understand and know what the younger generations in his/her congregation is doing in these social network spaces
• develop new aspects of their ministries. Most pastors do not realise that their ministry is limited to the verbal and printed words. They need to be missional with digital words
• provide the presence of Christ in these social network spaces
• make 'friends' with people from all over the world
• they need to create Christian faith communities in these social network spaces
• they should have fun

Kar Yong:

• In addition to the reasons listed by Alex, I think I could add that if lecturers in seminary participate in Facebook, we can discuss aspects of our lectures with our students, engage with them and, who knows, we might even attract some potential students.

Preaching Ecclesiastes

I was recently teaching Ecclesiastes to a class of seminarians. During the course of our discussion I was asked how one might go about preaching this challenging book. While I have not actually preached through the book myself (I have taught it several times), one of my friends, who is actually a professor of homiletics, has. David L. Allen, who at time was the pastor of MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church in Irving, Texas, preached through Ecclesiastes in 2003. I have listened to the messages and I commend them to you. The title of the sermon series was a take off a James Bond move, "The World is not Enough." Here is a listing of the cleverly titled individual messages.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-2: "The World Is Not Enough"
Ecclesiastes 1:3-11: "The View From The Treadmill"
Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:11: "I Can't Get No Satisfaction"
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26: "Life's Joy? It's God's Gift!"
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 8: "War...What Is It Good For?"
Ecclesiastes 4: "Getting on God's Time Zone"
Ecclesiastes 5: "Watch Your Step at Church"
Ecclesiastes 6: "Things Ain't What They Seem!"
Ecclesiastes 7:1-15: "God Wisdom?"
Ecclesiastes 8: "Who's In Charge Here?"
Ecclesiastes 9: "Most Unlikely to Succeed"
Ecclesiastes 10: "Life With Dumb and Dumber"
Ecclesiastes 11: "Enrolled...Don't Forget the Final"
Ecclesiastes 12:1-8: "A Visit to Vanity Fair"
Ecclesiastes 12:9-14: "The World Is Not Enough...But God Is"

Walton on Judges 11:29-40: Jephthah's Daughter

John Walton has posted on Judges 11:29-40, in particular the fate of Jephthah's Daughter. Read the post here.

What's in Your Bible

The Logos blog has made a Bible canon table from their new Bible Study magazine available by clicking the picture below.

Peter Mead on Dealing With Inadequacy

Peter Mead has identified four observations on dealing with personal inadequacies in preaching. In sum:

1. Feelings of inadequacy are appropriate.
2. Feelings of inadequacy should not be avoided.
3. Feelings of inadequacy should not undermine faith.
4. Feelings of inadequacy might be a prompt to faith-filled action.

Mead concludes by stating that "Feelings of inadequacy – not all good, not all bad, not the end of the story." You can read the entire post here.

Translations of the Apocrypha

Mark Hoffman has posted on Bob Burns' compilation and comparison of different trnaslations of the Apocrypha. You can access Hoffman's post here. You can access Burn's post here and a table here

The table as an XML spreadsheet:
http://www.summascriptura.com/files/apocrypha.xml
<http://www.summascriptura.com/files/apocrypha.xml>

As an MS Excel spreadsheet:
http://www.summascriptura.com/files/apocrypha.xls
<http://www.summascriptura.com/files/apocrypha.xls>

As an image file:
http://www.summascriptura.com/image/apocrypha.jpg
<http://www.summascriptura.com/image/apocrypha.jpg>

Concerning the table Burns offers the following explanatory notes:

The line items highlighted in blue represent the preferred available
text tradition for each book in the collection. For the 3 additions to
Daniel, for instance, the preferred text tradition is "Theodotion". In
this analysis, the Latin Vulgate (with the exception of 2 Esdras) is
never viewed as a preferred text tradition, because it is itself a
translation of the Greek; also it is known that Jerome, the translator
of the Vulgate, paraphrased and abridged a number of these books.

Esther poses the highest number of ways in which it has been handled by
translators. For instance, the translators of the KJV, EV and RSV did
not restore the portions from Greek Esther into the narrative sequence
of the book, so one is left with a jumble of incoherent chapters out of
their context.

Some translators DID reinsert the chapters, such as the NAB, NJB and the
NRSV-CE, but within the context of a translation of Esther from the
Hebrew.

Few translators, such as NETS and NRSV, have translated all of Greek
Esther as a unit, thus giving us a better picture of what ancient
readers of Esther in Greek would have been reading.

Three compositions, 2 Esdras, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) and Psalm 151 have
been enlarged with previously lost portions. 2 Esdras had a portion of
chapter 7 recovered from versions of that book found outside of the
Vulgate. In the case of Psalm 151, its longer original form was
recovered from the Dead Sea Scroll caves. Sirach had portions recovered
from Hebrew fragments found in the Cairo Geniza.

Mounce on Hebrews 12:3-11

Bill Mounce has posted on Hebrews 12:3-11. In particular, the post is concerned with the reference to discipline in 12:5. Mounce concludes that this verse teaches that there are that "we are being "disciplined," not in the sense of being punished for sin but in the sense of God allowing life to mold and shape us, to teach us about his love as our heavenly father, and to call us to faithfulness in the midst of life."

I think this conclusion is correct and one that I reached a number of years ago when I was writing an argument for the book of Hebrews for a seminary class. Writing an argument forces you to notice not only the divisions or breaks between sections, but also the logical links and connections between the same passages.

In any case, you can read Mounce's post here.

What Characterizes a Gospel?

What characterizes a Gospel? Mark Strauss has helpfully identified three characteristics of a gospel.[1] First, the Gospels are historical literature, that is, “they have a history of composition,” “they are set in a specific historical context,” and “they are meant to convey accurate historical information.” Second, the Gospels are narrative literature and “not merely collections of reports or sayings of the historical Jesus.” Third, the Gospels are theological literature, that is, “theological documents written to instruct and encourage believers and to convince unbelievers of the truth of their message. One further note concerning genre can be made. There is a developing consensus that the Gospels bear close similarities in form to Greco-Roman biographies.[2]

---

[1] The substance of this paragraph is summarized from Mark L. Strauss, Four Portraits, One Jesus: An Introduction to Jesus and the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 27–9.

[2] See Richard A. Burridge, What Are the Gospels? A Comparison with Greco-Roman Bibliography, ed. Astrid Beck and David Noel Freedman, 2d ed., Biblical Resource Series (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004).

Walton on Jonah 3:5

John Walton has an interesting discussion regarding Jonah 3:5, namely, what does it mean when the people of Nineveh believed in or believed God. Read it here.

All Things are Better in Koine

Hard to describe. You just have to watch it.

Carson on Three Views on the Use of the Old Testament

D. A. Carson has reviewed Three Views on the Use of the Old Testament, edited by Berding and Lunde. Read the review here. Other reviews of this book that I have posted on can be found here and here.

Preaching Messianic Prophecies

Claude Mariottini has posted on preaching messianic prophecies. I am not sure I agree in all ways with his understanding of fulfillment, but it is worth reading. You can access it here.