Preaching Tips from Charles Spurgeon

See this post for ten speaking tips from Charles Spurgeon.

The Purpose and State of Seminaries

This post examines the purpose of seminaries as it relates to training scholars and/or pastors, this interview with Ligon Duncan discusses the role of seminaries to help students discern their call, this article reports on the current state of Southern Baptist seminaries especially as it concerns the MDiv, and this piece looks at mainline seminaries.

Free Logos Book for September: What Is a Healthy Church Member?

The free Logos Book of the Month for September is What Is a Healthy Church Member? by Thabiti Anyabwile. You can also purchase the Mark Dever's What Is a Healthy Church or $1.99 or enter to win the entire eleven-volume 9marks series. For all these offers you can go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.

New Preaching Website

Those interested in preaching should check out this brand new website from the School of Preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Interpreting Poetry and the Road Not Taken

I am teaching the poetic and wisdom books of the Bible this fall (Job– Song of Solomon). I have been reminding my students of the challenges of interpreting poetry in general. These challenge are well illustrated in an article by David Orr, "You’re Probably Misreading Robert Frost’s Most Famous Poem: On the Many Tricks and Contradictions of 'The Road Not Taken'" (here). Orr's article also highlights the importance of authorial intention in interpretation.

Two Posts Related to Paul's Journeys in Acts

There are a couple of posts that those interesting in Paul's journeys in Acts might want to take a peek at. Ferrell Jenkins here has a nice picture and brief description of Pamphylia and Lycia (Acts 27:5) and Carl Rasmussen here has a very interesting post here on the riot in Ephesus mentioned in Acts 19 and a painting from a house at Pompeii depicting a riot at the amphitheater at Pompeii in A.D. 59.

Sermon Quality and Choosing a New Church

The Pew Research Center recently put out this study on what Americans are looking for in choosing a new church. This study is interesting at a number of levels but I was most interested in what it had to say about preaching. For example, "Among U.S. adults who have ever looked for a new house of worship, about eight-in-ten say the quality of sermons (83%) or feeling welcomed by clergy and lay leaders (79%) played an important role in their choice." Unfortunately, this survey did not indicate what people meant by "quality sermons." Some of those surveyed also noted that they were looking for churches that offered "preaching from the Bible." Which is both encouraging and disappointing. It is encouraging in that at least some are looking for biblical preaching. It is disappointing in that biblical preaching is not a given. In any case, to borrow from Mark Twain, the reports of the death of preaching seem to have been greatly exaggerated.

Why Study the Book of Jeremiah?

Matthew Harmon gives us four reasons here.

Writing Tips for Pastors

This post discusses the following five tips.

1. Make Writing a Priority
2. Don’t Waste Your E-Mail
3. Send Helpful Newsletters
4. Share Your Devotions
5. Thorough Sermon Notes or Manuscripts

The Divisions of the Bible and Talmud

This article discusses the divisions of the Bible and Talmud. Many Bible students are familiar with the work of Stephen Langton is often credited (and sometimes blamed) for giving us the chapter divisions we now have in our Bibles. The issue is a actually bit more complicated than that which you can read about here. But what I actually found more interesting was that the distinctive page layout of the Talmud is apparently the creation of a Christian printer.

J. Alec Motyer (1924–2016)

J. Alec Motyer has gone to be with the Lord. I only knew him from his writings, especially his commentary on Isaiah. You can read more about Motyer here.

How to Read the Textual Apparatus in UBS5

My friend and colleague, Dr. David Hutchison, has created the following helpful video explaining how to read the textual apparatus in UBS5 using 1 John 1:4 as an example.

So You Want to Buy the New Logos 7?

See this story by Babylon Bee. The sad thing is that it is not too far from the truth!

A New Understanding of the Shape of the Tabernacle

Here is an interesting take on what the tabernacle might have looked like. I am not convinced this new understanding is correct but I appreciate the attempt to take the details of the text seriously.

Jacob Neusner

Those who are well-versed in biblical studies are familiar with the name Jacob Neusner. To say that Neusner is prolific is an understatement. But the man himself is a controversial and complicated character evidenced by a recent bibliography that you can read about here.

The Pursuit of Perfectionism Versus Excellence

See David Murray's post here on the difference between the pursuit of perfectionism and the pursuit of excellence. 

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 39:1

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

Investigating the Apocalyptic Texture of Paul’s Martial Imagery in 2 Corinthians 4–6
Lisa M. Bowens

‘Like the Scum of the World, the Refuse of All’: A Study of the Background and Usage of περίψημα and περικάθαρμα in 1 Corinthians 4.13b
Atsuhiro Asano

Diabolical Data: A Critical Inventory of New Testament Satanology
Thomas J. Farrar and Guy J. Williams

Talk of the Devil: Unpacking the Language of New Testament Satanology
Thomas J. Farrar and Guy J. Williams
 
Acts and Christian Beginnings: A Review Essay
Andrew Gregory

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 but unfortunately you must be a SBL member.

Jonathan Ben-Dov and Seth Sanders, eds.
Ancient Jewish Sciences and the History of Knowledge in Second Temple Literature
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10586
Reviewed by John J. Collins

Athalya Brenner-Idan, ed.
Discourse, Dialogue, and Debate in the Bible: Essays in Honour of Frank H. Polak
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10229
Reviewed by Max Rogland

Rodney J. Decker
Mark 1–8: A Handbook on the Greek Text
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10277
Reviewed by J. Andrew Doole

Crispin Fletcher-Louis
Jesus Monotheism: Volume 1: Christological Origins: The Emerging Consensus and Beyond
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10588
Reviewed by Larry W. Hurtado

Jonathan I. Griffiths
Hebrews and Divine Speech
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10211
Reviewed by Bryan J. Whitfield

George A. Kiraz and Joseph Bali, eds.; Gillian Greenberg and Donald M. Walter, trans.
Ezekiel according to the Syriac Peshitta Version with English Translation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10879
Reviewed by Jerome A. Lund

James M. Leonard
Codex Schøyen 2650: A Middle Egyptian Coptic Witness to the Early Greek Text of Matthew’s Gospel: A Study in Translation Theory, Indigenous Coptic, and New Testament Textual Criticism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9947
Reviewed by Uwe-Karsten Plisch

Michael Lyons
An Introduction to the Study of Ezekiel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10544
Reviewed by J. Michael Thigpen

James R. McConnell Jr.
The topos of Divine Testimony in Luke-Acts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9954
Reviewed by Kyle R. Hughes

Jennifer Houston McNeel
Paul as Infant and Nursing Mother: Metaphor, Rhetoric, and Identity in 1 Thessalonians 2:5–8
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9921
Reviewed by Trevor Burke

Ari Mermelstein
Creation, Covenant, and the Beginnings of Judaism: Reconceiving Historical Time in the Second Temple Period
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10202
Reviewed by Stewart Moore

J. Richard Middleton
A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10136
Reviewed by J. P. Davies

Jutta Noetzel
Maleachi, ein Hermeneut
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10668
Reviewed by Thomas Hieke

Daniel R. Schwartz
Judeans and Jews: Four Faces of Dichotomy in Ancient Jewish History
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10332
Reviewed by Lester L. Grabbe

Charles Anthony Stewart, Thomas W. Davis, and Annemarie Weyl Carr, eds.
Cyprus and the Balance of Empires: Art and Archaeology from Justinian I to the Coeur de Lion
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10046
Reviewed by Young Richard Kim

The Limitations of Strong’s Concordance for Word Studies

Gary Shogren has a good reminder here of the limited value of using a Strong's Concordance for understanding the meaning of Hebrew or Greek terms. 

Free Romans Study

Michael Kruger has made handouts and videos from a two-year study of Romans available for free here.

Advice for Bible College and Seminary Students

Michael Cooper has some good advice for Bible college and seminary students here on how to contribute to one's own education.

Emailing in an Academic Context

Mark Goodacre has a nice post here on how professors should respond to students' emails and he provides a link to another post here advising students on how to email their professors. Both of these posts are worth reading and I think they might apply, with some modification, to church and ministry contexts as well.

Plagiarized Commentaries

I was a bit shocked to see this notice from Eerdmans about plagiarism in some fairly well-known commentaries from a scholar whose work I have used and appreciated. At minimum, it is a reminder of how careful one needs to be in documenting one's sources and writing.

2016 Advanced Expository Preaching Workshop

The 2016 Advanced Expository Preaching Workshop will be held on October 10, 2016 from 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM at the Riley Center of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. This year's focus will be the book of Ruth. You can get more information here or register here.

Jeremiah 13:23

Lee Fields has a good post here on Jeremiah 13:23 and how meaning is not merely grammatical.