Why You Should Be Read

I am probably preaching to the choir here, but here is another article touting the benefits of reading.

The Latest Issue of the 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. 

Jan Assmann
From Akhenaten to Moses: Ancient Egypt and Religious Change
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10607
Reviewed by Paul Sanders

Richard Bauckham
Gospel of Glory: Major Themes in Johannine Theology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10542
Reviewed by Jo-Ann Brant
Reviewed by Sherri Brown

Cynthia R. Chapman
The House of the Mother: The Social Beliefs of Maternal Kin in Biblical Hebrew Narrative and Poetry
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11510
Reviewed by Laura Quick

R. Alan Culpepper and Paul N. Anderson, eds.
John and Judaism: A Contested Relationship in Context
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11904
Reviewed by Mary L. Coloe
Reviewed by Chris Blumhofer

Katharine Dell
Who Needs the Old Testament? Its Enduring Appeal and Why the New Atheists Don’t Get It
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11794
Reviewed by James K. Mead

Peter Enns
Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10680
Reviewed by Andrew Steinmann

Paul Foster
Colossians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11410
Reviewed by Charles L. Quarles

Robert Karl Gnuse
Trajectories of Justice: What the Bible Says about Slaves, Women, and Homosexuality
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10928
Reviewed by Claude Mariottini
Reviewed by Luis Menéndez-Antuña

Michael R. Licona
Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? What We Can Learn from Ancient Biography
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11590
Reviewed by Matthew C. Baldwin

Timothy H. Lim
When Texts Are Canonized
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11694
Reviewed by Lee Martin McDonald

Andrew Ter Ern Loke
The Origin of Divine Christology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=12214
Reviewed by Craig L. Blomberg

Jeffrey S. Siker
Liquid Scripture: The Bible in a Digital World
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11851
Reviewed by Claire Clivaz

Donkeys in Ancient Gath

You can read about it here.

The Eye of the Needle

David Gowler has a helpful summary here of the "camel through the eye of the needle" statement in Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25. There is not anything new here but it is a nice summary and I think that Gowler is correct in his view.

Kress Biblical Resources

Kress Biblical Resources offers helpful resources for pastors and teachers. They are celebrating a new website and blog with a special offer of 50% off all their titles and free shipping. Use coupon code Ezra 710. The offer is good through 5/30/18. Check it out here.

Preaching the Old Testament

Clint Archer asks and answers the question, "Why Preach the Older Testament?" here. This is a much better approach than the one advocated recently by a well-known pastor who advocates unhitching the Old Testament from the New. In any case, Clint's four points are as summarized as follows.

1. The Old Testament, like the New Testament, is inspired and profitable.
2. The Old Testament elucidates understanding of the New Testament.
3. The Old Testament has been given as an example for New Testament believers.
4. The Old Testament elaborates on ethics omitted in the New Testament.

The Latest Issue of the 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. 

Robbie F. Castleman, Darian R. Lockett, and Stephen O. Presley, eds.
Explorations in Interdisciplinary Reading: Theological, Exegetical, and Reception-Historical Perspectives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11747
Reviewed by Arie W. Zwiep

Gina Hens-Piazza
Lamentations
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11846
Reviewed by Wilma Ann Bailey

Rainer Kessler, Walter Sommerfeld, and Leslie Tramontini, eds.
State Formation and State Decline in the Near and Middle East
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11539
Reviewed by Jason M. Silverman

J. R. Daniel Kirk
A Man Attested by God: The Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11357
Reviewed by J. Andrew Doole

David L. Mathewson
Revelation: A Handbook on the Greek Text
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11237
Reviewed by Peter S. Perry

David McAuley
Paul’s Covert Use of Scripture: Intertextuality and Rhetorical Situation in Philippians 2:10–16
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10939
Reviewed by Angela Standhartinger

Stanley E. Porter
Sacred Tradition in the New Testament: Tracing Old Testament Themes in the Gospels and Epistles
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11469
Reviewed by David M. Allen

Leah Rediger Schulte
The Absence of God in Biblical Rape Narratives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11801
Reviewed by Susanne Scholz

Alexey Somov
Representations of the Afterlife in Luke-Acts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11634
Reviewed by Scott Shauf

Hans de Wit and Janet Dyk, eds.
Bible and Transformation: The Promise of Intercultural Bible Reading
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11092
Reviewed by Luis Menéndez-Antuña

Latest Volume of the Master's Seminary Journal

The latest volume of the Master's Seminary Journal (29:1) features articles by the late Robert Thomas is available as free PDF here.

HT: Alf Cengia

"Love" in John 21, Again

Ian Paul has a good discussion here on the use of agape and phileo in John 21. I am not sure there is a lot that is new here but it is a good summary.

Σκύβαλον in Philo

Mike Aubrey has a nice post here on the use of σκύβαλον in Philo. Like many Greek students, I was taught that Paul's use of the term in Philippians 3:8 was edgy at best and perhaps profane. This study and others help to show that this view is not necessarily the case.

What the Word of God Says About the Word of God

See Jared Wilson's post here on the Bible's testimony related to God's Word both spoken and written.

Mother's Day and Proverbs 31

Mother's Day is upon us and typically not a few sermons will involve Proverbs 31. I have found that many Christians are unaware that there is a fair amount of disagreement on how the Proverbs 31 woman should be understood. In this article, Will Thomas suggests one of them: 

"Rather than a to-do list for an already over-stressed mom, Proverb 31 should be read through the eyes of an appreciative husband and family who recognize how much they owe the one who does life’s most important job."

Thomas reading is possible but improbable. Note that the context involves admonitions to a son about what to look for in a potential wife (31:2-3). Additionally, the book of Proverbs as a whole is prescriptive rather than descriptive. More often than not, it informs the reader how to live a wise life and even the descriptive passages imply that one should live accordingly. Finally, one should not miss the fact that the wife/mother of Proverbs 31 is extraordinary and therefore not ordinary (31:10ff).

Seminary-Related Links

David Murray has posted a nice list of seminary-related links here. Some of the links have already appeared in this blog but this is still a handy compilation.

The 12 "Most Effective" Preachers

An article in Christianity Today lists them here. The list is based on survey conducted by Truett Theological Seminary.

The Latest Issue of the 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.

Ionel Ababi
Natan et la succession de David: Une étude synchronique de 2 Samuel 7 et 12 et 1 Rois 1 https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11920
Reviewed by Marvin A. Sweeney

Andrea Albertin
Il caso dei deboli e dei forti: Rm 14,1–15,13 come esemplificazione di vita etica alla luce della giustificazione per la fede https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11144
Reviewed by R. Gregory Jenks

Joshua A. Berman
Inconsistency in the Torah: Ancient Literary Convention and the Limits of Source Criticism https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11760
Reviewed by Brandon Grafius

Mark J. Boda
Exploring Zechariah, Volume 1: The Development of Zechariah and Its Role within the Twelve https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11663
Reviewed by Göran Eidevall

Derek R. Brown
The God of This Age: Satan in the Churches and Letters of the Apostle Paul https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11034
Reviewed by Tom de Bruin

Corinne Egasse
Le lavement des pieds: Recherches sur une pratique négligée https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10906
Reviewed by Susana de Sola Funsten

Daniel M. Gurtner, Grant Macaskill, and Jonathan T. Pennington, eds.
In the Fullness of Time: Essays on Christology, Creation, and Eschatology https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11425
Reviewed by Chris Kugler

Mirko Pozzobon
La Peshitta del Secondo Libro di Samuele https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11654
Reviewed by Jerome A. Lund

Joy A. Schroeder, trans. and ed.
The Book of Jeremiah https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11806
Reviewed by Shelley Birdsong

Robert Seesengood
Philemon: Imagination, Labor, and Love https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11882
Reviewed by Roy R. Jeal

Elsa Tamez, Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, Claire Miller Colombo, and Alicia J. Batten
Philippians, Colossians, Philemon https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11626
Reviewed by Julia Lambert Fogg

Margaret Wesley
Son of Mary: The Family of Jesus and the Community of Faith in the Fourth Gospel https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10645
Reviewed by Dorothy A. Lee

Markus Witte and Jan C. Gertz, eds.
Hermeneutik des Alten Testaments https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11873
Reviewed by Bob Becking

The Ten Plagues in Exodus

The Zondervan blog has a good post on the ten plagues in Exodus here. The article is supplemented with several helpful tables.

Free Audio Book of the Month: Jonathan Edwards: America's Genius

Christianaudio.com is offering Christian George's Jonathan Edwards: America's Genius as their free audio download for the month of May. To read more about this resource and to get your free audio download in either MP3 or M4B formats go here.

Free Logos Book for May: Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrews

The free Logos Book for the Month for May is Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrews. You can also purchase Charts on the Life, Letters, and Theology of Paul for $1.99 and/or A Commentary on Judges and Ruth for $9.99. While you are at it, you can register for a chance to win the five-volume Kregel Charts of the Bible and Theology. For all these offers, go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.

Free Loeb Classical Volumes

Back in 2010 I noted here that some of older (i.e. out of copyright) volumes of the Loeb Classical Library were available as free downloads. I updated that list here in 2012. Now apparently we have an even newer list here.

HT: Mark Hoffman

The Latest Issue of the 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. 

Susan I. Bubbers
A Scriptural Theology of Eucharistic Blessings
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9727
Reviewed by Richard S. Briggs

Rhonda G. Crutcher
That He Might Be Revealed: Water Imagery and the Identity of Jesus in the Gospel of John
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10640
Reviewed by Dorothy A. Lee

Eric M. Vanden Eykel
“But Their Faces Were All Looking Up”: Author and Reader in the Protoevangelium of James
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11570
Reviewed by Joseph Azize

J. R. Daniel Kirk
A Man Attested by God: The Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11357
Reviewed by Derek Tovey

Manoja Kumar Korada
The Rationale for Aniconism in the Old Testament: A Study of Select Texts
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11719
Reviewed by Nathan Macdonald

Joseph McDonal
Exploring Moral Injury in Sacred Texts
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11805
Reviewed by Joel Stephen Williams

Candida R. Moss and Joel S. Baden
Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10633
Reviewed by Beth M. Stovell

Richard I. Pervo
The Acts of John
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10896
Reviewed by R. Alan Culpepper

Kandy Queen-Sutherland
Ruth and Esther
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11596
Reviewed by Peter H. W. Lau
Reviewed by Jeanette Mathews

Thomas Bowie Slater, ed.
Afrocentric Interpretations of Jesus and the Gospel Tradition: Things Black Scholars See That White Scholars Overlook
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10991
Reviewed by John W. Fadden

Robert S. Snow
Daniel’s Son of Man in Mark: A Redefinition of the Jerusalem Temple and the Formation of a New Covenant Community
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11527
Reviewed by Max Botner

Richard N. Soulen
Defining Jesus: The Earthly, the Biblical, the Historical, and the Real Jesus, and How Not to Confuse Them
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10785
Reviewed by Glen Fairen

Gillian Townsley
The Straight Mind in Corinth: Queer Readings across 1 Corinthians 11:2–16
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11790
Reviewed by Joseph A. Marchal

Gary Yamasaki
Insights from Filmmaking for Analyzing Biblical Narrative
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11513
Reviewed by Reina-Marie Loader

Köstenberger on Recent Pauline Studies

Andreas Köstenberger briefly overviews the recent state of Pauline studies here.

A New Resource for Studying Ancient Corinth

This looks like a cool resource for studying ancient Corinth.

Biblical Hebrew Quiz

The Eerdmans blog has a brief biblical Hebrew quiz that you can take here.

The Demise of Christian Bloggers

Tim Challies has some good insights in asking and answering "Why Christians Blogs Aren’t What They Used To Be."

Gideon the "Hero"?

Lee Fields has a good discussion of the NLT's translation of Judges 6:12 here.