New Book: Do We Need the New Testament?

You can access an excerpt of John Goldingay's new book, Do We Need the New Testament? here. I often find myself disagreeing with Goldingay but this looks like an interesting read.

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. 

John Ashton
The Gospel of John and Christian Origins
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9819
Reviewed by Seth Pollinger

Cornelis Bennema
A Theory of Character in New Testament Narrative
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9805
Reviewed by Alicia D. Myers

David G. Burke, Philip H. Towner, and John F. Kutsko, eds.
The King James Version at 400: Assessing Its Genius as Bible Translation and Its Literary Influence
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9447
Reviewed by Brian Hartley

Josef Forsling
Composite Artistry in the Book of Numbers: A Study in Biblical Narrative Conventions
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9766
Reviewed by Benjamin D. Giffone

Robert W. Funk
A Beginning-Intermediate Grammar of Hellenistic Greek
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9292
Reviewed by James W. Voelz

Mark Harding and Alanna Nobbs, eds.
All Things to All Cultures: Paul among Jews, Greeks, and Romans
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9507
Reviewed by Andrew Spurgeon

Felipe de Jesús Legarreta-Castillo
The Figure of Adam in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15: The New Creation and Its Ethical and Social Reconfiguration
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9712
Reviewed by John Anthony Dunne

Boris Paschke
Particularism and Universalism in the Sermon on the Mount: A Narrative-Critical Analysis of Matthew 5-7 in the Light of Matthew’s View on Mission
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8924
Reviewed by Jeannine K. Brown

Micahel L. Satlow
How the Bible Became Holy
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9762
Reviewed by Chad Spigel

Jay Twomey
2 Corinthians: Crisis and Conflict
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9638
Reviewed by Adam White

Jesus' Genealogy according to His Great-Grandmothers

Claude Mariottini has an interesting wrap-up post on the genealogy of Jesus according to his great-grandmothers here.

Five Reasons to Preach the Psalms

Although the post is from 2012, Peter Mead's post on "5 Reasons Why I Love Preaching Psalms" is worth a look here.

Five New and Forthcoming Books on Paul

Some might be interested in these five new and forthcoming books on Paul published by Eerdmans.

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 37:4

Here are the articles to the latest issue of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament. The links will take you to an abstract.

Why Do Things Move People? The Jerusalem Temple as Emotional Repository
Stephen C. Barton

What Type of Resistance? How Apocalyptic Discourse Functions as Social Discourse in Mark’s Gospel
Elizabeth E. Shively

‘Hanging on a Tree’: Deuteronomy 21.22-23 and the Rhetoric of Jesus’ Crucifixion in Acts 5.12-42
Timothy W. Reardon

C.K. Barrett and New Testament Theology
Robert Morgan

Noah, the Eighth Proclaimer of Righteousness: Understanding 2 Peter 2.5 in Light of Genesis 4.26
Matthew D. Jensen

Some Recent Blog Posts on 1 John

Bloggers David Allen and Dennis Wretlind have several posts related to 1 John. 

Allen posts expositional treatments of 1 John 2:16 and 2:18-19, here and here. He is also the author of the volume on the Johannine Epistles in the Preach the Word series edited by Kent Hughes.

Wretlind has posted grammatical diagrams of 1 John 1:1-4, 1:5-10; 2:1-6 and 2:7-11, here, here, here, and 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. 

Markus Bockmuehl and Guy G. Stroumsa, eds.
Paradise in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Views
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7864
Reviewed by Pieter G. R. de Villiers

Tony Burke, ed.
Ancient Gospel or Modern Forgery?: The Secret Gospel of Mark in Debate: Proceedings from the 2011 York University Christian Apocrypha Symposium
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9622
Reviewed by James F. McGrath

Andrew R. Davis
Tel Dan in Its Northern Cultic Context
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9445
Reviewed by Bob Becking
Reviewed by Aren M. Maeir

Stephen Finlan
The Family Metaphor in Jesus’ Teaching: Gospel Imagery and Application
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9275
Reviewed by Joanna Dewey

Kai Kaniuth, Anne Löhnert, Jared L. Miller, Adelheid Otto, Michael Roaf, and Walther Sallaberger, eds.
Tempel im Alten Orient
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9296
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow

Emma Loosley
The Architecture and Liturgy of the Bema in Fourth- to-Sixth-Century Syrian Churches
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8747
Reviewed by Robert Morehouse

Elvira Martín Contreras and Guadalupe Seijas de los Ríos-Zarzosa
Masora: La transmisión de la tradición de la Biblia Hebrea
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8920
Reviewed by Amparo Alba Cecilia

Halvor Moxnes
Jesus and the Rise of Nationalism: A New Quest for the Nineteenth Century Historical Jesus
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8578
Reviewed by Craig A. Evans

Pheme Perkins
First Corinthians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8901
Reviewed by H. H. Drake Williams III

Tertullian on Acts

Tertullian responding to groups like the Marcionites who rejected the book of Acts gave the following response,

Those who do not accept this volume of Scripture can have nothing to do with the Holy Spirit, for they cannot know whether the Holy Spirit has yet been sent to the disciples; neither can they claim to be the church, since they cannot prove when this body was established or where it was cradled (Prescription against heretics 22).

Hurtado on the Christ-Hymns Debate

Larry Hurtado has a great discussion here concerning a recent proposal rejecting Philippians 2:6-11 and Colossians 1:15-20 as examples of early Christ-Hymns. I remain agnostic on the issue and have gone back-and-forth in my own thinking. So I really appreciate Hurtado's balanced and fair approach to the debate.

John 2:1-11: The First Sign

Jim Gray has a good discussion on John 2:1-11 here.

The New Testament in Bob Dylan Song Titles?

Now for something a bit different, see Kim Fabricius' post, "The New Testament in Bob Dylan Song Titles" here.

HT: Jeff Carter

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. 

Francis Borchardt
The Torah in 1Maccabees: A Literary Critical Approach to the Text
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9803
Reviewed by Thomas Hieke

Cilliers Breytenbach and Jörg Frey, eds.
Reflections on the Early Christian History of Religion—Erwägungen zur frühchristlichen Religionsgeschichte
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8807
Reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus

Walter Dietrich
Die Samuelbücher im deuteronomistischen Geschichtswerk: Studien zu den Geschichtsüberlieferungen des Alten Testaments II
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8818
Reviewed by Mark W. Hamilton

James D. G. Dunn
The Oral Gospel Tradition
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9392
Reviewed by David B. Sloan

Paul S. Evans and Tyler F. Williams, eds.
Chronicling the Chronicler: The Book of Chronicles and Early Second Temple Historiography
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9741
Reviewed by Michael D. Matlock

Katharina Galor and Hanswulf Bloedhorn
The Archaeology of Jerusalem: From the Origins to the Ottomans
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9688
Reviewed by Aren M. Maeir

Moshe Garsiel
From Earth to Heaven: A Literary Study of the Eliijah Stories in the Book of Kings
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9806
Reviewed by Keith Bodner
Reviewed by David A. Glatt-Gilad

Alison Ruth Gray
Psalm 18 in Words and Pictures: A Reading through Metaphor
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9827
Reviewed by Leslie C. Allen

Mignon R. Jacobs and Raymond F. Person Jr., eds.
Israelite Prophecy and the Deuteronomistic History: Portrait, Reality, and the Formation of a History
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9437
Reviewed by James M. Bos
Reviewed by Thomas Wagner

Ronald Jolliffe, Gertraud Harb, Christoph Heil, Anneliese Felber, and Angelika Magnes
Q11: 39a, 42, 39b, 41, 43-44: Woes against the Pharisees
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9197
Reviewed by Peter J. Judge

W. G. Lambert
Babylonian Creation Myths
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9575
Reviewed by Michael S. Moore

Daniel C. Matt, trans.
The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volume 6
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8985
Reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins

Abera M. Mengestu
God as Father in Paul: Kingship Language and Identity Formation in Early Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9371
Reviewed by Inhee C. Berg

Anthony M. Moore
Signs of Salvation: The Theme of Creation in John’s Gospel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9555
Reviewed by Brian J. Tabb

Valérie Nicolet-Anderson
Constructing the Self: Thinking with Paul and Michel Foucault
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8853
Reviewed by Chris L. de Wet

Vernon K. Robbins
Who Do People Say I Am? Rewriting Gospel in Emerging Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9413
Reviewed by Michael J. Kok

David S. Vanderhooft and Abraham Winitzer, eds.
Literature as Politics, Politics as Literature: Essays on the Ancient Near East in Honor of Peter Machinist
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9577
Reviewed by Shawn W. Flynn

Ryan Donald Wettlaufer
No Longer Written: The Use of Conjectural Emendation in the Restoration of the Text of the New Testament, the Epistle of James as a Case Study
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9169
Reviewed by Jeff Cate

Free Logos Book for May: The Lord and His Prayer by N. T. Wright

The free Logos Book for May is N. T. Wright’s The Lord and His Prayer. You can also purchase Following Jesus: Biblical Reflection on Discipleship by Wright for .99 cents. While you are at it, you can enter to win  the 48 volume Works of N. T. Wright collection. Go the Logos' Free Book of Month page here to enter and download your free book today!

A New Commentary on the Song of Solomon

Christina Bucher discusses her commentary on the Song of Solomon in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series here.

Reflections on the Changing World of Theological Education

Peter Davids has some reflections on the changes that he has seen in theological education here.

Bibleworks 10 is Out

I was an early adopter and current user user of Bibleworks. It is a terrific resource. I just found out that version 10 has been released. I am not sure about all the upgrades yet but you can check it out here.

An Extensive Bibliography on Preaching

David Murray has a really well-organized bibliography on preaching organized by topic 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. 

James Aston and John Walliss, eds.
Small Screen Revelations: Apocalypse in Contemporary Television
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9378
Reviewed by Sylvie Raquel

Joseph A. Bessler
A Scandalous Jesus: How Three Historic Quests Changed Theology for the Better
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9263
Reviewed by Mary K. Schmitt

Daniel Bodi, ed.
Abigail, Wife of David, and Other Ancient Oriental Women
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9648
Reviewed by Benjamin J. M. Johnson

Jared C. Calaway
The Sabbath and the Sanctuary: Access to God in the Letter to the Hebrews and Its Priestly Context
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9475
Reviewed by Carl Mosser

Ohad Cohen
The Verbal Tense System in Late Biblical Hebrew Prose
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9569
Reviewed by Bálint Károly Zabán

John Granger Cook
Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9807
Reviewed by Charles L. Quarles

Jerome F. D. Creach
Violence in Scripture
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9513
Reviewed by Pieter G. R. de Villiers

Arthur J. Dewey and Robert J. Miller, eds.
The Complete Gospel Parallels
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9264
Reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus

Matthew Drever
Image, Identity, and the Forming of the Augustinian Soul
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9279
Reviewed by Cheuk Yin Yam and Anthony Dupont

Diana V. Edelman, ed.
Deuteronomy-Kings as Emerging Authoritative Books: A Conversation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9772
Reviewed by Trent C. Butler

Shawn W. Flynn
YHWH is King: Development of Divine Kingship in Ancient Israel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9608
Reviewed by Michael B. Hundley

Steven J. Friesen, Sarah A. James, and Daniel N. Schowalter, eds.
Corinth in Contrast: Studies in Inequality
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9668
Reviewed by Thomas R. Blanton IV

Matti Friedman
The Aleppo Codex: In Pursuit of One of the World’s Most Coveted, Sacred, and Mysterious Books
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9675
Reviewed by Paul Sanders

Cornelis den Hertog
The Other Face of God: ‘I Am That I Am’ Reconsidered
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9064
Reviewed by Richard S. Briggs

Christl M. Maier and Carolyn J. Sharp, eds.
Prophecy and Power: Jeremiah in Feminist and Postcolonial Perspective
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9733
Reviewed by Andrew Shead

Heinz-Günther Nesselrath and Florian Wilk, eds.
Gut und Böse in Mensch und Welt: Philosophische und religiöse Konzeptionen vom Alten Orient bis zum frühen Islam
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9538
Reviewed by Michael S. Moore

Jonathan Miles Robker
The Jehu Revolution: A Royal Tradition of the Northern Kingdom and Its Ramifications
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8671
Reviewed by Aren M. Maeir

David C. Sim and James S. McLaren, eds.
Attitudes to Gentiles in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9707
Reviewed by Avram Shannon

Mirjam van der Vorm-Croughs
The Old Greek of Isaiah: An Analysis of Its Pluses and Minuses
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9920
Reviewed by Randall X. Gauthier

Stephen Westerholm
Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9508
Reviewed by David J. Neville

Comparing Jesus' Baptism and His Transfiguration

Careful readers of the Gospels have noted the similarities between the accounts of Jesus' baptism and His transfiguration. Charles Talbert has created the following table that shows these similarities.

Parallels between Jesus’ Baptism and Transfiguration
Baptism	Parallel	Transfiguration
3:13–16a	Setting	17:1–2
3:16b	And behold	17:3a
3:16c	Vision	17:3b
3:17a	And behold	17:5b
3:17	Heavenly voice	17:5c

 
Charles H. Talbert, Matthew, Paideia, ed. Mikeal C. Parsons and Charles H. Talbert (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010), 58.

Similarites between Moses on Mt. Sinai and Jesus' Transfiguration

Careful readers of the Gospel of Matthew have noted the numerous similarities between Moses' experience on Mt. Sinai and Jesus' transfiguration. The following table tries to illustrate these similarities.

 

Some Similarities between Moses’ Sinai Experience (Exodus 24) and Jesus’ Transfiguration (Matthew 24)
After six days (24:16)	After six days (17:1)
Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu are singled out (24:1, 9)	Peter, James, and John are singled out (17:1)
Mount Sinai (24:16)	A high mountain (17:1)
Moses is on the mount	Moses is on the mount (17:3)
God speaks	God speaks (17:5)
Moses’ face shines in 2nd visit to Sinai (34:29–30, 35)	Jesus face shines (17:2)
Cloud covering the mountain (24:15–18)	A bright cloud (17:5)
Moses returns to a problematic situation (Exod 32)	Jesus returns to a problematic situation (17:14–18)

This second table containing similar but additional information comes from Charles Quarles.

Features Reminiscent of Moses in the Accounts of Jesus’ Transfiguration
Exodus	Matthew	Mark	Luke
after six days (24:16)	17:1	9:2
on a high mountain (24:12, 15-18; 34:3)	17:1	9:2	9:28
a cloud descends and covers the mountain (24:15-18; 34:5)	17:5	9:7	9:34
a voice speaks from the cloud (24:16)	17:5	9:7	9:35
central figure reflects or radiates the divine glory (34:29-30, 35)	17:2	9:3	9:29
three individuals are given special mention (24:1)	17:1	9:2	9:28
bystanders react with fear (34:29-30)	17:6	9:6	9:34

Charles L. Quarles, A Theology of Matthew: Jesus Revealed as Deliverer, King, and Incarnate Creator, Explorations in Biblical theology, ed. Robert A. Peterson (Phillipsburg, PA: P & R, 2013, 45.