Engaging the Bible

  
According to a recent study performed by LifeWay Research only 19% of churchgoers read the Bible everyday and 18% "rarely/never" read the Bible. You cab access an article on the study here and a PDF infographic here.
 

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.

Richard S. Briggs and Joel N. Lohr, eds.
A Theological Introduction to the Pentateuch: Interpreting the Torah as Christian Scripture
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8437
Reviewed by Thomas Dozeman

N. Clayton Croy
Prima Scriptura: An Introduction to New Testament Interpretation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8099
Reviewed by Craig Blomberg

Roger Good
The Septuagint's Translation of the Hebrew Verbal System in Chronicles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7667
Reviewed by Francis Dalrymple-Hamilton

Norman K. Gottwald; ed. Rebecca J. Kruger Gaudino
The Hebrew Bible: A Brief Socio-Literary Introduction
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7197
Reviewed by Steven L. McKenzie

Innocent Himbaza, Adrien Schenker, and Jean-Baptiste Edart
The Bible on the Question of Homosexuality
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8454
Translator(s): Benedict M. Guevin
Reviewed by Stuart Macwilliam

Alexander Kulik
3 Baruch: Greek-Slavonic Apocalypse of Baruch
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8536
Reviewed by Daniel C. Harlow

Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri
The Gospel of Matthew
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8105
Reviewed by Warren Carter

David M. Moffitt
Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8272
Reviewed by Kenneth D. Litwak

Roger Pearse, ed.
Eusebius of Caesarea: Gospel Problems and Solutions
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8305
Reviewed by Charles Bobertz

Frank Thielman
Ephesians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8104
Reviewed by Nijay K. Gupta   

 

The Ecclesiology of Acts

  
Sage Publications has free access to C. Kavin Rowe's article on "The Ecclesiology of Acts" from the July 2012 edition of Interpretation available here. I am not sure how long this will be available so you might want to download the PDF soon.

Sage also has Francis Moloney's article from the June Expository Times entitled "Recent Johannine Studies: Part Two: Monographs" available for free here as well.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Two Online Resources

  
ATS pro Terra Sancta have a couple of publications that they have placed online related to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.


The Holy Sepulchre: The Pilgrim's New Guide. This is a small book containing some attractive pictures and helpful diagrams. You can access it here. I have included a screen capture of one of the book's diagrams below.

The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This short four-page flyer can be accessed here.

A Resource on the Historical Reliability of Acts

  
See this post by Ferrell Jenkins and his link to a free 24-page PDF document.
 

Anything You Wanted to Know About Tefillin Straps and Were Afraid to Ask

  
Tefillin straps are the straps that are attached to phylacteries, black leather boxes containing verses from the Torah used by Jews during prayer. Although I am not Jewish, I found this article on the minutia of tefillin straps fascinating. 

Models of Noah's Ark

  
I was recently cleaning up my internet bookmarks when I found this link to people who have built scale models of Noah's Ark.
 

Free Logos Book for September: Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts

  
The free Logos Book for September is Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts. You can also enter to win the 14 volume The Works of Isaac Watts . Go the Logos' Free Book of Month page to enter and download your free book today!

  

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.

April D. DeConick
Holy Misogyny: Why the Sex and Gender Conflicts in the Early Church Still Matter
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8329
Reviewed by Alicia D. Myers

Carol J. Dempsey and Elayne J. Shapiro
Reading the Bible, Transforming Conflict
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8150
Reviewed by Jacobus Kok

Rowan A. Greer
Theodore of Mopsuestia: Commentary on the Minor Pauline Epistles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7873
Reviewed by Hennie Stander

Thomas W. Mann
The Book of the Former Prophets
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8170
Reviewed by David G. Firth

Helen Moore and Julian Reid, eds.
Manifold Greatness: The Making of the King James Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8226
Reviewed by David G. Burke

Stanley E. Porter and Jason C. Robinson
Hermeneutics: An Introduction to Interpretive Theory
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8480
Reviewed by Oda Wischmeyer

Christopher W. Skinner
What Are They Saying about the Gospel of Thomas?
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8448
Reviewed by Thomas Bergholz
Reviewed by Ian Brown

Richard C. Steiner
Biblical Translation in the Making: The Evolution and Impact of Saadia Gaon's Tafsr
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8309
Reviewed by Rachel Adelman

What is the Opposite of Faith?

  
Jake Belder has a really good post discussing the question. "What is the opposite of faith?" here.
 

A Problem with Academic Writing

  

"Modern academics are not celebrated for the clarity and felicity of their writing. One of the most important lessons a postgraduate student can learn—and if he doesn’t learn it soon, he’s doomed—is that academics generally do not write books and articles for the purpose of expressing their ideas as clearly as possible for the benefit of people who don’t already understand and agree with them. Academics don’t write to be read; they write to be published. Typically, the only people who actually read academic books and articles are other academics, who only read them to know what they need to reference in their own books and articles. And that’s not reading; that’s trawling."

From Barton Swarm in his review of Helen Sword's Stylish Academic Writing. Read the rest of this review here.

 

The Historical Context of Romans

  
Ken Berding has a good post here on the historical context of the Epistle to the Romans.
 

Witherington on a Hypothetical Fictional Gospel

  
Ben Witherington posts a link to an interview related to what the Gospels would look like if they were fictional. Witherington's link takes you to the Christian Meets World site where there are other helpful links and a link to a podcast of the interview.
 

Storytelling Tips

  

David Slagle has some good advice for telling stories here.

HT: Tim Challies
 

Typology and David's Rise to Power

  

James Hamilton has posted a link to his article “The Typology of David’s Rise to Power: Messianic Patterns in the Book of Samuel” from a recent issue of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 16:2 (2012). See also his explanatory post here.

 

Reading Leviticus

  

See Scot Fillmer's post on "5 Reasons Why We Should Still Read the Book of Leviticus."

HT: David Murray
 

Miriam's Sin and Judgment

  
You can read a Jewish take on Miriam's sin and subsequent judgment found in Numbers 12 here. I am not sure that I buy the explanation, but I found it 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.

S. Bar, D. Kahn, and J. J. Shirley, eds.
Egypt, Canaan and Israel: History, Imperialism, Ideology and Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8263
Reviewed by Aren M. Maeir
 
Bruce Chilton and Paul V. M. Flesher
Targums: A Critical Introduction
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8307
Reviewed by David Shepherd
 
Scott W. Hahn
The Kingdom of God as Liturgical Empire: A Theological Commentary on 1-2 Chronicles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8435
Reviewed by Mark Mcentire
 
Roy L. Heller
Conversations with Scripture: The Book of Judges
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8421
Reviewed by Klaas Spronk
 
Wes Howard-Brook
"Come Out My People!": God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7859
Reviewed by David M. Valeta
 
Jodi Magness
Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7997
Reviewed by Sean Freyne
Reviewed by Sarah E. Rollens
 
Robin Routledge
Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7153
Reviewed by Hubert James Keener
 
Erich Zenger; ed. Christian Frevel
Einleitung in das Alte Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8433
Reviewed by Trent C. Butler
Reviewed by Jordan M. Scheetz

The Trinity and Evangelism

  
See Glen Scrivener's post on the importance of explaining the Trinity in evangelism here.
 

Haddon Robinson Videos

  

You can see three lectures from Haddon Robinson given in 2011 for the John Broadus Lectures on Preaching at Anderson University. The video production is pretty basic, but Haddon Robinson usually has some things worth hearing.

Haddon Robinson Part 1
Haddon Robinson Part 2
Haddon Robinson Part 3

   

Maintaining Your Biblical Language Skills

  
Jared Oliphint has some suggestions here.
 

Dotting the I's and Crossing the T's in Ministry

  
See Kevin DeYoung's post here.
 

Nathanael in John 1

  
Steven Coxhead has an interesting post on Nathanael in John 1 here.
 

The Book of Daniel and Belshazzar

  

Late dating the Book of Daniel and questioning its historical accuracy is ubiquitous in modern scholarship. So I found the following comment from Alan Millard interesting.

  

"Unlike every other known ancient author writing about the fall of Babylon, Daniel preserves the name of Belshazzar, son of the last king of Babylon, according to cuneiform texts. Xenophon is in partial agreement with Daniel, giving an account of a banquet and a king slaughtered (Cyropaedia 7.5.15, 21, 25-30)."

Millard's observation is interesting in two regards. First, the use of Belshazzar argues against a late date. If Daniel was written in the second century BC, as many presume, then how or why would Daniel alone preserve the name of Daniel? Second, the fact that Xenophon agrees, at least in part, with Daniel supports the book's historical reliability. 

Alan R. Millard, “Daniel in Babylon: An Accurate Record?” in Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith: A Critical Appraisal of Modern and Postmodern Approaches to Scripture, ed. James K. Hoffmeier and Dennis R. Magary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 279.

The Tribe of Judah

  
Nicholas Batzig helpfully traces a biblical theology of the tribe of Judah here.