Journal for the Study of the New Testament 36:3

The latest issue of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament is out. Here is a list of the articles and links to abstracts.

Tyrant or Servant? Roman Political Ideology and Mark 10.42-45
Adam Winn

The Eschatological Conversion of ‘All the Nations’ in Matthew 28.19-20: (Mis)reading Matthew through Paul
Benjamin L. White

Jesus as 'The One who Entered his Rest': The Christological Reading of Hebrews 4.10
Nicholas J. Moore

Fashions, Fallacies and Future Prospects in New Testament Studies
Larry W. Hurtado

Happy Blogiversary

This blog has now completed six years with my first post being on this day in 2008. In 2008, the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII, Bill Gates stepped down as Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, and Barack Obama became the first African-American to be elected President of the United States. While the start of this blog does not compare in significance to these events, it has been a blessing to me and I hope of some benefit to the body of Christ.

Kurt Vonnegut on the Shape of Stories

HT: Dylan Cope

2013 Preaching Survey of the Year’s Best Books for Preachers

See the article in Preaching magazine entitled, "The 2013 Preaching Survey of the Year’s Best Books for Preachers" here.

Genesis: A Theological Commentary for Preachers

Dr. Abraham Kuruvilla's new commentary on Genesis is now out. Check out this link at the author's own website devoted to preaching: Homiletix. You can download a chapter and there are links to purchase the book. You might also want to check out the author's commentary on the Gospel of Mark here. I hope to feature Dr. Kuruvilla in an interview soon.

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. 

Angelika Berlejung and Michael P. Streck, eds.
Arameans, Chaldeans, and Arabs in Babylonia and Palestine in the First Millennium B.C.
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9425
Reviewed by John MacGinnis

David Alan Black
Paul, Apostle of Weakness: Astheneia and Its Cognates in the Pauline Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8827
Reviewed by H. H. Drake Williams III

James M. Bos
Reconsidering the Date and Provenance of the Book of Hosea: The Case for Persian-Period Yehud
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9302
Reviewed by Pamela J. Scalise

J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays
Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8594
Reviewed by Frank England

Sebastian Fuhrmann and Regina Grundmann, eds.
Martyriumsvorstellungen in Antike und Mittelalter: Leben oder sterben für Gott?
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8746
Reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus

Mercedes L. García Bachmann
Women at Work in the Deuteronomistic History
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9191
Reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins

Joel B. Green, ed.
Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8928
Reviewed by Kevin Jung

Kyoung-Shik Kim
God Will Judge Each One according to Works: Judgment according to Works and Psalm 62 in Early Judaism and the New Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8647
Reviewed by Travis B. Williams

Dominik Markl, ed.
The Decalogue and Its Cultural Influence
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9419
Reviewed by Bernhard Lang

David T. Runia and Gregory E. Sterling, eds.
Studia Philonica Annual: Studies in Hellenistic Judaism, Volume XXII, 2010
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7898
Reviewed by John Martens

Herod Agrippa I at the Eretz Israel Museum

A few days ago, I posted about a Sidonian coin that was on display at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. Today, I will post about another item at the museum. It is a bust of King Herod Agrippa I. This sculpted head was prepared by the Israel Museum Restoration Laboratories in which a three dimensional head was created from a coin containing Agrippa's likeness. Among other things, King Agrippa I (AD 41-44) was the notorious king who put the apostle James to death and had Peter imprisoned (Acts 12:1-4).

Hurtado on N. T. Wright's Discussion of Paul's Eschatology

Larry Hurtado has some interesting and insightful comments here related to N. T. Wright's treatment of Paul's eschatology in his Paul and the People of God.

Reading Fiction and Preaching

See this helpful post entitled "How to Read Fiction and Become a More Interesting Preacher." One might be able to adapt some of these thoughts as it relations to movies and music as well.

A Sidonian Coin

One of the places that I visited in my most recent trip to Israel was the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. Among other things, this museum has a nice collection of ancient coins. I was particularly interested in the coin pictured below. The picture is from a postcard from the museum related to a special exhibit.

The scan did not turn out at clear as I would have liked. You can see the coin well enough but the writing is hard to read. So this is what it states.

Special Exhibit:
Sidon, silver double shekel, 27.63 gms, c. 400 BC.
War-galley lying before the towered fortress of Sidon, beneath two lions tail to tail.The King of Persia in a chariot driven by a charioteer and inscription in Phoenician letters.

The city of Sidon is mentioned a number of times in Scripture. For example, Ezekiel prophesies against the city (28:20-23). Many Interpreters understand the fulfillment of this prophecy to relate to the conquests of the Babylonians or Greeks. Nonetheless, the Persians also subdued Tyre. This is apparently reflected by this coin.

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. 

Mark J. Boda and Lissa M. Wray Beal, eds.
Prophets, Prophecy, and Ancient Israelite Historiography
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9204
Reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer

Walter Brueggemann
The Practice of Prophetic Imagination: Preaching an Emancipating Word
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8481
Reviewed by Ron Clark

Constantine R. Campbell
Paul and Union with Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8689
Reviewed by Jonathon Lookadoo

Ron Clark
The God of Second Chances: Finding Hope through the Prophets of Exile
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8834
Reviewed by Gerda de Villiers

Zeba A. Crook
Parallel Gospels: A Synopsis of Early Christian Writing
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8404
Reviewed by Thomas Bergholz

J. K. Elliott
New Testament Textual Criticism: The Application of Thoroughgoing Principles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8709
Reviewed by Daniel B. Wallace

Jeffrey S. Lamp
The Greening of Hebrews? Ecological Readings in the Letter to the Hebrews
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8865
Reviewed by Amy L. B. Peeler

Paul L. Redditt
Zechariah 9–14
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8813
Reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins

Helen Rhee
Loving the Poor, Saving the Rich: Wealth, Poverty, and Early Christian Formation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8778
Reviewed by Michael S. Moore

Joseph Verheyden, ed.
The Figure of Solomon in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Tradition: King, Sage and Architect
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9211
Reviewed by Anthony Swindell

Resources for After Your Holy Land Tour (or Before)

Wayne Stiles has a great post entitled, "Great Resources to Get After Your Holy Land Tour." He does not mention magazine resources so I would add Biblical Archaeology Review and Bible and Spade. By the way, if you are interested in the Holy Land you really should be reading Wayne's blog.

A Museum to Visit

This article highlights a New York museum, the Living Torah Museum, that I would like to visit at some point. The museum contains a walk-in replica of the biblical Tabernacle, an intact three-handled clay wine storage jug purportedly used by Judean soldiers from the reign of Hezekiah, and an ivory seal, with the bird-image imprimatur as well as the name of King Ahab. Since this is a private collection, provenance might be an issue for some of the items. But it would be interesting to see nonetheless. The museum's website allows you to take a virtual tour of some of the artifacts. Have any of my readers been to this museum?

New Bibliographic Resource for 1 and 2 Corinthians

See this post by David Pettegrew related to a bibliographic resource for 1-2 Corinthians using Zotero. This looks like a great resource for those working in and and with 1 and 2 Corinthians,

The Preacher's Library

“If there is a thinker behind every great movement, there is a library behind every great preacher. What tools are to mechanics, books are to preachers. Just as no mechanic can do an effective job without adequate tools to perform precision work, so no pastor can ever hope to expound the Bible without good books. It is the height of folly for any pastor to attempt to preach God’s Word without proper exegetical and expository tools. We are never so competent in our knowledge of the Scriptures that we can afford to despise the help provided by the great minds of the past and the present.”

David Alan Black, Using New Testament Greek in Ministry: A Practical Guide for Students and Pastors (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 34.

Reading the Old Testament Missiologically

"Mission is often thought of as a New Testament and post–New Testament phenomenon. Is it possible to read the Old Testament also as a missional text? The clearest justification for doing so is that Jesus himself told his disciples to read it that way. In Luke 24 he twice surveys the whole canon of Old Testament Scripture and claims that ‘this is what is written’: both that the Messiah would come, suffer, die, and rise again; and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to the nations (vv. 45-47). The first claim reads Scripture messianically; the second reads Scripture missiologically — and Jesus urges this double hermeneutical strategy on those who read the Old Testament in conscious relation to himself.”

Christopher J. H. Wright, “Mission and Old Testament Interpretation,” in Hearing the Old Testament: Listening toGod’s Address, ed. Craig G. Bartholomew and Dvaid J. H. Beldman (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 186.

Embracing Shared Ministry

Check out Joseph Hellerman’s recent book entitled Embracing Shared Ministry: Power and Status in the Early Church and Why It Matters Today. Whether you agree with every point or not, one can appreciate the careful presentation and application of a historically contextualized examination of the New Testament to the church today. You can read an excerpt here.

An Illustrated Guide to the Holy Land for Tour Groups, Students, and Pilgrims

At last years Society Biblical Literature meeting I picked up a copy of An Illustrated Guide to the Holy Land for Tour Groups, Students, and Pilgrims by Lamontte Luker. I selectively worked through this compact volume in preparation for a trip that I am helping to lead this year. Here are some preliminary thoughts.

The size (4.25 x 5.5 in.) makes it easy to slip into a pocket or purse. Given its size, I was pleasantly surprised about how much was packed into this 184-page volume. The entries I read usually contained enough information to be helpful. It will not replace something like Jerome Murphy-O’Conner’s The Holy Land but few, if any, resources could. The one thing that would help this guide to be more user-friendly is to provide a site index. This would probably not add more than a few pages. One can use the table of contents, but this is set up by region and requires the user to know what sites are located within which regions. But if you already know what is located the Shephela for example, then you might not need a book like this. That being said this is still a helpful but not an indispensable resource.

The New Testament Was Written for Believers

"The NT was written for believers, not for doubters. Believers are the implied readers of the NT texts, and therefore believers are in the best place to make sense of the NT texts. It is to believers that the texts open themselves most readily. This is contrary to the frequently encountered claim that faith is an obstacle to the proper understanding of the NT. Only, however, when faith is characterized by openness rather than an a priori dogmatism is it an aid to the study of Scripture.

"The advantage that the believer has in the study of Scripture is openness to the truth of the narratives. A hermeneutic of trust can have the salutary and paradoxical effect of making us better historians and scholars of Scripture than those who do not believe. Options that arise from the material itself may be given fairer consideration; helpful constructions may emerge from a positive approach that would not be seen in a negative orientation. Certainly the approach of the believer will be more fruitful and truthful than a hostile approach of one who is predisposed to deconstruct the Christian faith. Theological presuppositions, of course, inevitably enter into the discussions, as indeed they do for those who consider themselves “neutral.” Without question presuppositions will remain crucial. “The wise course is to recognize those presuppositions, to make allowance for them, to ensure that they do not exercise an undue influence on our understanding of what we read. It is the unconscious and unsuspected presuppositions that are harmful.”

"It should be stressed once again that the critical method is indispensable to the study of Scripture. It is the sine qua non of responsible interpretation of God’s word. The believer need have no fear of the method itself, but need only be on guard against the employment of improper presuppositions. J. B. Lightfoot gave helpful counsel:"

The timidity, which shrinks from the application of modern science or criticism to the interpretation of Holy Scripture, evinces a very unworthy view of its character. If the Scriptures are indeed true, they must be in accordance with every true principle of whatever kind. It is against the wrong application of such principles, and against the presumption which pushes them too far, that we must protest. It is not much knowledge, but little knowledge, that is the dangerous thing here as elsewhere. From the full light of science or criticism we have nothing to fear: the glimmering light—which rather deserves the name of darkness visible—hides and distorts the truth.

Donald A. Hagner, The New Testament: A Historical and Theological Introduction (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012), 10-11.

The Expository Reading of Scripture

“Scripture reading is the missing jewel in much contemporary evangelical preaching. Think about the sermon you heard or preached last weekend. How well was the Scripture read? If you were the one preaching, how much time did you spend preparing yourself or someone else to read the text? Oddly enough, we spend little time preparing to read the text. This is not surprising, I suppose, given the fact that just about anyone, let alone pastors, can read off the cuff. Yet there is a place for the expository reading of Scripture. It can enrich worshipers whether or not it is connected to the sermon, but especially serves us well when we preach the longer text in the Gospels.”

Steven D. Mathewson, Preaching the Four Gospels with Confidence (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2013),23-24.

Romans 2:22: Robbing Temples

I developed the following table for a course that I am teaching on Romans. It was developed from discussions found in Colin G. Kruse, Paul’s Letter to the Romans, PNTC, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 149-51; Douglas Moo, Romans, NICNT (Grand Rapids:Eerdmans, 1996), 163-65; Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, BECNT 6 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 132-33.

 

Romans 2:22: Views on Robbing Temples
Metaphorical Views	Literal Views
·     Sacrilegious actions (cf. Acts 19:37) ·     Idolatrous devotion to the law	Jerusalem Temple	Pagan Temples
	Failure to pay the temple tax	·     Robbing of pagan temples ·     Using or profiting from items stolen from temples
Observations: ·     The literal views seem preferable since stealing and adultery appear to be literal ·     It seems best to see pagan temples in view since the word used is most often used in this context ·     The sin of robbing temples is tied in some way to idolatry.

Encountering John

If you are planning to study or teach the Gospel of John you should check out Andreas Köstenberger’s revised edition of Encountering John: The Gospel in Historical, Literary, and Theological Perspective. There is much that could be said about this work but I will limit myself to two points: (1) what I like about it and (2) how this edition compares to the first edition.

There is much to like about the volume. For starters, it is user-friendly. Each chapter provides an introductory outline of its contents as well as learning objectives. There are numerous sidebars, tables, diagrams, and illustrations. This work is also well-written with a penchant for making accessible some fairly complex and complicated issues. For the more interested reader there are several good appendices and excurses. Over half of the book consists of a survey through John’s Gospel. This too was well written and I was consistently impressed with the quantity and quality of the material found here. This work is not a commentary per se, but it would provide a nice supplement to exegetical commentaries.

Some might wonder how this edition compares to the first edition. As an owner and user of both editions here are some thoughts. There is not much by way of changes in substance. In the preface, Köstenberger notes that the changes in the editions involved mainly “updating scholarly references in the endnotes and the bibliography, as well as going through the entire manuscript carefully and improving minor inaccuracies in style and (in a few cases) substance” (p. xi). That being said there is a relatively slight increase in the page count from 288 to 304. In sum, if you already have the first edition and are less interested in the scholarly works of the last fifteen years then the 2nd edition is not essential. But all things being equal, the modest price of the new edition ($29.99) makes this volume worth getting.

You can access a PDF excerpt here.

Thanks to Baker Academic for the copy used in this unbiased review.

Bible Engagement Infographic

The Primary Purpose of Instruction in Greek

"First, I began to see that the primary purpose of instruction in Greek is service to Christ's body, the church. Training in New Testament Greek may be an exceedingly important part of the seminary curriculum, but it is primarily a servant’s heart—a love for God and for God’s people—that makes this activity worthwhile. I have found time and again that, whatever this heart of dedication to Christ and his people exists, preaching and other applications of Greek (and

Hebrew) flow naturally. An old Scottish proverb puts it beautifully: ‘Greek, Hebrew, and Latin all have their proper place. But it is not at the head of the cross, where Pilate put them, but at the foot of the cross, in humble service to Christ.’ Put less imaginatively, the success of a seminary education is to be measured, not in terms of how much grammar and theology we have managed to cram into the heads of our students, but in terms of whether we have produced mature human beings who are dedicated to serving God and others to the very best of their ability.”

David Alan Black, Using New Testament Greek in Ministry: A Practical Guide for Students and Pastors (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 21-22.

Miles Van Pelt on Learning Biblical Languages

Miles Van Pelt has passed on some good advice about learning biblical languages.


HT: Koinonia Blog