Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament

Rob Plummer talks about the fairly new Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament series. The only volumes currently available are Colossians and Philemon, James, and 1 Peter.

Free Logos Book for January: Ryle's Commentary on Genesis

The free Logos Book for January is Herbert Edward Ryle’s commentary on Genesis in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges series. You can also purchase An Introduction to the Pentateuch in the same series for .99 cents. While you are at it, you can enter to win the entire 58-volume series. Go the Logos' Free Book of Month page to enter and download your free book today!

How Did David Defeat Goliath?

Randy McCracken, building on the work of others, has a very interesting take on how David actually defeated Goliath here. I am typically a bit skeptical of stuff like this, but I think there is something to at least think about here.

HT: Lindsay Kennedy

The Digitization of P46

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts has announced the completion of their effort to digitize P46, which is as many know the earliest collection of Paul's epistles and Hebrews (c. AD 200). You can read about it here.

How Not to Read Your Bible in 2015

Matt Smethhurst has some good points regrading what to avoid  in reading your Bible in 2015 here.

Free Online Articles from the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal

You can see all the articles from the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal (1996-2013) and access a number of free articles here.A list with links to some of the free articles are listed below.

HT: Bill Combs

The Message of Ecclesiastes
Persevering and Falling Away: A Reexamination of Hebrews 6:4-6
James 2:21-24 and the Justification of Abraham
Elihu’s Contribution to the Thought of the Book of Job
Is Apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 a Reference to the Rapture?
The Role of the Holy Spirit in Preaching
Water Baptism and the Forgiveness of Sins in Acts 2:38
The Holy Spirit in 1 John
The Meaning of "Born of Water and the Spirit" in John 3:5
Daniel’s Prayer in Chapter 9
Who Is David’s Lord? Another Look at Psalm 110:1
The Immanuel Prophecy in Isaiah 7:14–16 and Its Use in Matthew 1:23: Harmonizing Historical Context and Single Meaning
A Brief Introduction to Verbal Aspect in New Testament Greek
Evangelicalism, Inerrancy, and Current OT Scholarship

15 Trends for Churches in 2015

See Thom Rainer's posts here and here on his top 15 trends for churches in 2015.

Hurtado on Paul's Messianic Jesus

Larry Hurtado notes on his blog that his September 2014 lecture given at New College is now available on Youtube. The lecture was entitled, “Paul’s Messianic Jesus: A Variant-Form of Ancient Jewish Messianism.”

Pauline Authorship of Ephesians

Michael Barber has an interesting post on Doug Campbell's recent affirmation of Pauline authorship of Ephesians here. Barber goes on to note that, "a significant shift seems to be occurring as a growing number of leading scholars have written works arguing that such epistles have been wrongly rejected as Pauline." Conservative interpreters can say, "What took you so long?"

Annoying Things to Say to a Theology Major

See this funny list of the even most annoying things to say to a theology major. Most of these apply to biblical studies majors as well.

Free Audio Book: Spurgeon's Morning and Evening

Christianaudio.com is offering Charles Spurgeon's well-known devotional, Evening and Morning, as their free audio download for the month of January. This would be a great way to start off the year. To read more about this resource and to get your free audio download in either MP3 or M4B formats go here.

The Richness of the Psalms

“This great diversity of emotion and perspective is the source of Psalter’s richness for believers. Because the Psalter is a collection of poetry, it does not have a plot in the same way that narrative books of the Bible do. Nor does it have a central argument in the same way that the epistles of the New Testament do. Nor does it have a unified vision or source as many of the prophetic books of the Old Testament do. Comprised of a 150 compositions from many authors, the Psalter more resembles a great choir of witnesses than it does a story, or letter, or collection of visions. The Psalter gives voice to the faith struggles, theological insights, and liturgical witnesses than it does a story, or letter, or collection of visions. For this reason and others, even though more than two thousand years separate us from days when they were first written, the psalms continue to be central to the life of faith for both Christians and Jews. Near the beginning of life, people of faith memorize them as children at their mother’s feet. They sing or chant them when they come together for weekly worship. In times of trouble they recall the psalms’ words of promise and hope. And to mark the end of life, they utter them solemnly when they bury their fathers.” 

Nancy deClaissé-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobsen, and Beth LaNeel Tanner, The Book of Psalms, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, ed. Robert L. Hubbard Jr. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 1–2.

Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2014

I found this list of the top ed-tech trends of 2014 to be interesting.

Traveling in the Holy Land: Then and Now

For fun, I have been reading Herbert Rix’s Tent and Testament: A Camping Tour in Palestine with Some Notes on Scripture Sites, a book published 1907. I came upon the following statement and was reminded of two points. First, traveling in the Holy Land, even with the hassles of security, lost luggage, etc., is still much easier and safer now. Second, some things have not changed that much. Nablus is still a somewhat difficult to visit and photography is not allowed, at least at Jacob’s well.

“I should have preferred to encamp at Nablûs, in that Vale of Shechem concerning whose beauties I had heard so much. But Hanna strongly dissuaded us from any such plan. The people, he said, were rude, and it was impossible to keep them from invading the tents; and they were fanatical to such a degree that they often became dangerous to Christians. He further took occasion to remind us that pictures were forbidden by the Mohammedan religion, so that when we entered Nablûs I must not attempt to photograph, otherwise we stood a fair chance of all being killed. It may be that for reasons of his own he exaggerated the dangers, but, of course, for the ignorant there was nothing to do but to follow his advice” (Herbert Rix, Tent and Testament: A Camping Tour in Palestine with Some Notes on Scripture Sites [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1907], 22).  

Here is a picture of Jacob's Well from the book. I am not sure how he secured the picture though.

By the way, can download Rix’s book for free at Google Books here.

Some Thoughts on Baylor's Handbook on the Greek Text Series

FWIW, I own most of the volumes published in this series so far and have found what I have used has to be helpful.

Bible Reading Plans

One of my personal disciplines is to read through the Bible every year. Over the years, I have followed a number of different plans and utilized a number of different translations. So I am not devoted to any singular approach but I am committed to the value and importance of the practice. If you are planning to join me in 2015, you might want to check out this extensive list of Bible reading plans compiled by Nathan Bingham. By the way, it is said that George Mueller had read the Bible through almost two hundred times in his lifetime.

Learning Chinese, Hebrew, and Greek

This article is about translating and writing Chinese but some of the tips are probably applicable to Hebrew and Greek and for doctoral students, French and German.

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish all of you, from our family to yours, a very blessed Christmas.

Top Five Biblical Sites to Visit

This article identifies their suggested top five biblical sites to visit. I'm not sure that all of these would make my top five. For example, how could one choose the Mount of Beatitudes over Capernaum? In any case, here is their list.

1. The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
2. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
3. Sea of Galilee, Israel
4. The Mount of Beatitudes, Israel
5. Mount Sinai, Egypt

Robert Alter on the New Exodus Movie

See this NPR interview with Robert Alter on the new Exodus movie.

The Star of Bethlehem

See the Air & Space Smithsonian article on the star of Bethlehem (Matt 2:2, 9) here. There is not much new here for those familiar with the various astrological theories but I was interested to learn that over 400 books have been written on the topic.

The Psalms as Christian Lament

Those interested in the Psalms might also be interested in The Psalms as Christian Lament: A Historical Commentary. This volume written by Bruce K. Waltke, James M. Houston, and Erika Moore offers “Informed historical-theological-pastoral insights into ten lament psalms ten lament psalms, including six of the seven traditional penitential psalms, covering Psalms 5, 6, 7, 32, 38, 39, 44, 102, 130, and 143.” The eleven chapters of the book are as follows.

1. The Psalms as Christian Lament

2. Psalm 5: A Royal Petition for Protection from Malicious Liars
3. Psalm 6: Pursuit of Royal Excellence
4. Psalm 7: A Royal Petition for Cosmic Justice
5. Psalm 32: Forgiveness for the Justified
6. Psalm 38: The Dance between Deserved and Undeserved Judgment
7. Psalm  39: The Lament of Silence in the Pastoral Theology of Erasmus
8. Psalm 44: Lament in National Catastrophe
9. Psalm 102: The Prayer of an Afflicted Person
10. Psalm 130: Lament of the Sinner before the Triune God of Grace
11. Psalm 143: The Lament of the Justified

Each section consists of four parts: (1) voice of the church, (2) voice of the psalmist:translation, (3) commentary, and (4) conclusion.

Why Books Make Great Christmas Gifts

Read this lighthearted reminder why books make great gifts. See the post for further explanation but here are the first ten reasons.

1. They’re easy to wrap.
2. They don’t need to be plugged in.
3. They don’t expire.
4. They don’t go out of date.
5. One size fits all.
6. They don’t make loud noises.
7. By God’s grace, a good Christian book will build the faith of your family and friends.
8. Books can be shared.
9. They are aesthetically pleasing.
10. They are sugar, gluten and dairy free.

Hearing Babylonian Songs

This article provides an interesting explanation of how ancient Babylonian songs were recreated. The article also contains a link to allow you to hear one of the recreated songs as well.

HT: David Burnett

Advice for Preaching Christmas

Peter Mead has some really good advice on what to do and not do in preaching about Christmas here.