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.

Bill T. Arnold and Richard S. Hess, eds.
Ancient Israel’s History: An Introduction to Issues and Sources
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10062
Reviewed by Emanuel Pfoh

John Barton, ed.
The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Companion
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11295
Reviewed by Phil J. Botha

Ben Blackwell, John Goodrich, and Jason Maston, eds.
Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10419
Reviewed by Günter Röhser

Ignacio Carbajosa and Andrés García Serrano, eds.
Una Biblia a varias voces: Estudio textual de la Biblia Políglota Complutense
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10325
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow

Jan Dochhorn, Susanne Rudnig-Zelt, and Benjamin Wold, eds.
Das Böse, der Teufel und Dämonen – Evil, the Devil, and Demons
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11225
Reviewed by Carol A. Newsom

Cynthia Edenburg
Dismembering the Whole: Composition and Purpose of Judges 19–21
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11259
Reviewed by Edgar W. Conrad
Reviewed by Klaas Spronk

Bart D. Ehrman
Jesus before the Gospels: How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11126
Reviewed by James F. McGrath

Richard B. Hays, Stefan Alkier, and Leroy A. Huizenga, eds.
Reading the Bible Intertextually
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10576
Reviewed by Josh Mathews

H. A. G. Houghton
The Latin New Testament: A Guide to Its Early History, Texts, and Manuscripts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11243
Reviewed by John C. Poirier

Judaism and Rome Website

I don't know much about this project but some might be interested in this Judaism and Rome website. This project attempts to re-think Judaism’s relationship with the Roman Empire, especially from the 2nd Century BC to the 4th Century AD.

Review of Preaching Old Testament Narratives

Benjamin H. Walton, Preaching Old Testament Narratives (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2016).

Preaching narratives, especially Old Testament narratives well, can be a challenge. So I approached Benjamin Walton’s treatment with some anticipation. This fairly brief volume (208 pp.) consists of two parts, thirteen chapters, and four appendices. The first section covers the issues and methods related to studying and creating messages from Old Testament narratives. The second relates to the nuts-and-bolts of delivering the message. Through both sections, Walton uses 2 Samuel 11–12 as an example of his methodology.

This volume is clearly written and provides a pretty good methodology for moving from text-to-sermon-to-delivery. There are helpful suggestions (e.g., mini-synopses, pp. 100-101) sprinkled throughout and I appreciate the fact that he provides an example message drawn from 2 Samuel 11–12 to illustrate his approach.

Criticisms of the book are relatively minor. Walton apparently loves acronyms and there are a number of them in this work. You have CUT, THT, OTM, PPA, and others which stand for complete units of thought, take home truths, original theological messages, and picture painting applications. But I found myself getting a bit lost in this alphabet soup and having to develop a cheat-sheet just to keep things straight. I would also take issue with Walton on his view of application. For example, he states that, “The third key difference is that unlike NT epistles, Old Testament narratives do a lot of describing and not a lot of prescribing” (p. 34). While it can be problematic when Old Testament narratives are reduced to messages like “be a Daniel” or reducing texts to mere moralizing is probably not the best way to go, I think we need to take 2 Timothy 3:16 seriously. All Scripture (which includes OT narrative) is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. So while narratives are certainly descriptive, they must also be in some way prescriptive. The issue, then, is “how” are they prescriptive.

But these criticisms are relatively minor and one who seeks to begin preaching or better preach Old Testament narratives should consider this volume.

You can read an excerpt here.

Thanks to Kregel for providing the free copy used for this review.

Free Logos Book for February: Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Christian Discipleship by N. T. Wright

The free Logos Book for February is N. T. Wright’s Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Christian Discipleship. Unfortunately many may have already picked this up last year when it was offered for 99 cents. In any case, you can check out the offer here.

What is Biblical Preaching?

Eric Geiger attempts to answer that question here.

Where Paul May Have Eaten

Carl Rasmussen has a fascinating post here on where he might have eaten on his travels.

The Value of Seminary

Elizabeth Garn writes about five reasons she is glad that she went to seminary here. Number three is huge.

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.

David Balch
Contested Ethnicities and Images: Studies in Acts and Arts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10369
Reviewed by Eric D. Barreto

Ellen T. Charry
Psalms 1–50: Sighs and Songs of Israel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10890
Reviewed by J. Clinton McCann Jr.

Kevin Corrigan and Tuomas Rasimus, eds.
Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World: Essays in Honour of John D. Turner
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9522
Reviewed by Robert Joseph Morehouse

F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp
On Biblical Poetry
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10714
Reviewed by Benjamin D. Sommer

Tung Chiew Ha
Biblical Narrative Learning: Teaching Adequate Faith in the Gospel of John
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10944
Reviewed by Akio Ito
Reviewed by Dirk van der Merwe

Teresa Morgan
Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10538
Reviewed by Jason A. Myers

Tobias Nicklas
Jews and Christians? Second-Century ‘Christian’ Perspectives on the ‘Parting of the Ways’
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10263
Reviewed by Shira L. Lander

Robert H. Stein
Jesus, the Temple and the Coming Son of Man: A Commentary on Mark 13
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10028
Reviewed by Andrew R. Angel

Lauri Thurén
Parables Unplugged: Reading the Lukan Parables in Their Rhetorical Context
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10139
Reviewed by Dieter T. Roth

Hurtado on the “Conversion” of Paul

Larry Hurtado has a good post here on the “conversion” of Paul. Although Hurtado leaves the question of whether Paul's experience should be understood as a conversion or a call open, I lean toward the conversion side. But I recognize that an awful lot depends on how conversion is defined.

Writing from an Editor's Perspective

Some points in Anna Pitoniak's article, "What Being an Editor Taught Me About Writing" are worth reading and adapting for academic writing and the writing of sermons. 

HT: George Hillman

Free Ebooks from Brill

Brill is offering a number of free eBooks during Academic Book Week (Monday 23 – Saturday 28). See Brill's offer here. The following two titles have the most relevance to biblical studies.

Studies in the Making of the Early Hebrew Book
Early Christian Manuscripts

Audio: The Pastor and Biblical Languages

Ray Van Neste and Jason Allen discuss why pastors should study the biblical languages here.

N. T. Wright on Bible Study

Although this posted a few days ago, N. T. Wright has some interesting and helpful thoughts on Bible study here in case you missed it.

Bible Usage Survey

The Bible Society has posted the interesting results of their survey of over 3,700 Bible readers mostly from the UK. You can access a PDF of the results here.

HT: Antony Billington

Joshua's Long Day, Again

This new study dates and explains the sun standing still Joshua 10. The study assumes the solar eclipse explanation. I believe that the dating is wrong and I am doubtful that the eclipse view best explains the event.

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.

Samuel E. Balentine
Have You Considered My Servant Job? Understanding the Biblical Archetype of Patience
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10313
Reviewed by Jeffery M. Leonard 

Davida H. Charney
Persuading God: Rhetorical Studies of First-Person Psalms
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11140
Reviewed by Philippus J. Botha

Bruce Clark
Completing Christ’s Afflictions: Christ, Paul, and the Reconciliation of All Things
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10368
Reviewed by Alexander E. Stewart

Sonya Shetty Cronin
Raymond Brown, ‘The Jews,’ and the Gospel of John: From Apologia to Apology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10289
Reviewed by R. Alan Culpepper

Christian A. Eberhart
Kultmetaphorik und Christologie: Opfer- und Sühneterminologie im Neuen Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9328
Reviewed by Jennifer W. Knust

Ole Jakob Filtvedt
The Identity of God’s People and the Paradox of Hebrews
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10709
Reviewed by Nicholas Moore

Christian Frevel
Geschichte Israels
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11102
Reviewed by Markus Witte

Dayne S. Kalleres
City of Demons: Violence, Ritual, and Christian Power in Late Antiquity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11048
Reviewed by J. Harold Ellens
Reviewed by Sarah Rollens

Ernest C. Lucas
Proverbs http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10978
Reviewed by Ryan P. O’Dowd

Yoo Hong Min
Die Grundschrift des Ezechielbuches und ihre Botschaft
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10839
Reviewed by Sven Petry

Manfred Oeming and Petr Sláma, eds.
A King Like All the Nations? Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the Bible and History
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10812
Reviewed by Joseph Price

George L. Parsenios
First, Second, and Third John
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10156
Reviewed by Jan G. van der Watt

Brian Neil Peterson
John’s Use of Ezekiel: Understanding the Unique Perspective of the Fourth Gospel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11199
Reviewed by Pieter de Vries

Michael Widmer
Standing in the Breach: An Old Testament Theology and Spirituality of Intercessory Prayer
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11085
Reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer

Constructive Sermon Critique

David Murray has some good advice for providing constructive sermon critiques here. Although these are more geared to the classroom one could also adapt these for a church setting or even self-evaluation.

Text-Driven Preaching Conference

Those in the Dallas-Fort Worth area might want to consider attending the Text-Driven Preaching Conference being held at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on March 6-8, 2017. You can access more information here.

Ten Signs You Are not Reading Your Bibles Enough

Here at the Bible Gateway blog.

Fake Readers

I have often wondered whether my students actually read their assigned readings but according to this story, some librarians seem to have created fake readers of another kind. Apparently, these readers were created in order to bolster the circulation numbers of some books. I suspect that there is a good sermon illustration here.

Preparation for Bible Study

Henry Neufeld talks here of the different "contributions" of practices and experiences and not just formal training that helps equip a person for Bible study.

While on the topic of Bible study, one might want to take a look at this website.

Garden of Eden as Temple or Sanctuary

Many Bible students today see the Garden of Eden in Genesis as a prototype temple or sanctuary. Greg Beale identifies fourteen reasons for this identification (The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God, New Studies in Biblical Theology [Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004]). John Walton also holds a similar position. But as Andrew Perriman points out in this post, this kind of identification is open to question. I have personally gone back-and-forth on the issue and remain agnostic.

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.

Simeon Chavel
Oracular Law and Priestly Historiography in the Torah
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11012
Reviewed by Benjamin D. Sommer

Terence E. Fretheim; Michael J. Chan and Brent A. Strawn, eds.
What Kind of God? Collected Essays of Terence E. Fretheim
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10719
Reviewed by Carmen Imes

Federico Giuntoli and Konrad Schmid, eds.
The Post-Priestly Pentateuch: New Perspectives on Its Redactional Development and Theological Profiles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11033
Reviewed by Ernst Axel Knauf

Andrew Gregory and Christopher Tuckett, eds.
The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10846
Reviewed by Janet Spittler

Christine Hayes
What’s Divine about Divine Law? Early Perspectives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10749
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz

Justin Langford
Defending Hope: Semiotics and Intertextuality in 1 Peter
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9623
Reviewed by Katherine M. Hockey

Richard N. Longenecker
Paul, Apostle of Liberty
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10959
Reviewed by Panayotis Coutsoumpos

Victor H. Matthews
The Cultural World of the Bible: An Illustrated Guide to Manners and Customs
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10465
Reviewed by Tyler R. Yoder

Charles E. Shepherd
Theological Interpretation and Isaiah 53: A Critical Comparison of Bernhard Duhm, Brevard Childs, and Alec Motyer
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9874
Reviewed by J. Todd Hibbard

Martin Stowasser, ed.
Das Gottesbild in der Offenbarung des Johannes
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10431
Reviewed by Nils Neumann

Mark L. Strauss
Mark
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10063
Reviewed by J. Andrew Doole

John Van Seters
The Pentateuch: A Social-Science Commentary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10862
Reviewed by Jean Louis Ska

Donald R. Vance, George Athas, and Yael Avrahami
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: A Reader’s Edition
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10326
Reviewed by Hubert Keener

Luigi Walt
Paolo e le parole di Gesù: Frammenti di un insegnamento orale
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9407
Reviewed by Ilaria L. E. Ramelli

Kyle B. Wells
Grace and Agency in Paul and Second Temple Judaism: Interpreting the Transformation of the Heart
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10254
Reviewed by Don Garlington

Jeremiah 29:11

I just couldn't resist linking to this Babylon Bee "story."

Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs

This article provides an interesting account of a surreptitious visit to Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs. Because of security issues most tourists do not go to Hebron much less see the features described and pictured in the article.