Asbury Journal 73, 2

The latest volume of the Asbury Journal is available as afree PDF download.This issue focuses on Brent A. Strawn’s recent book, The Old Testament is Dying but there are other articles as well. You can access the entire journal here.

HT: Antony Billington

Older Jewish and Christian Commentaries

This is an interesting article concerning similarities between older Jewish and Christian commentaries.

The Rejection of Saul

I meant to post this earlier, but Claude Mariottini has an interesting set of posts here and here on the rejection of Saul.

Searching for the Historical King David Video, Again

About two weeks ago, I posted a video here of Yosef Garfinkel's recent presentation, "Searching for the Historical King David: Excavating Kh. Qeiyafa and Kh. al-Ra'i," made at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. You can find another version of the presentation given a few days later at the Lanier Theological Library. This one features a different Q&A.

Using Grading Rubrics

I don't get many grade appeals from students. Maybe this is because I use grading rubrics, a practice that I adopted from some of my professors in seminary. This article suggests that using rubrics might be helpful if or when students make grade appeals. I actually think the main advantage of grading rubrics are that they provide some clarity and specificity to the expectations for a given assignment.

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.

A. Graeme Auld, Life in Kings: Reshaping the Royal Story in the Hebrew Bible
Reviewed by Tony Cartledge

David A. Bosworth, Infant Weeping in Akkadian, Hebrew, and Greek Literature
Reviewed by Kristine Garroway

Sherri Brown and Christopher W. Skinner, eds., Johannine Ethics: The Moral World of the Gospel and Epistles of John
Reviewed by Peter J. Judge

Stephen J. Chester, Reading Paul with the Reformers: Reconciling Old and New Perspectives
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Cockrell

Dorothea Erbele-Küster, Body, Gender and Purity in Leviticus 12 and 15
Reviewed by Yitzhaq Feder

Philip F. Esler, God’s Court and Courtiers in the Book of the Watchers: Re-interpreting Heaven in 1 Enoch 1–36
Reviewed by David R. Jackson

Igal German, The Fall Reconsidered: A Literary Synthesis of the Primeval Sin Narratives against the Backdrop of the History of Exegesis
Reviewed by Shawna Dolansky

Matthias Henze, Mind the Gap: How the Jewish Writings between the Old and New Testament Help Us Understand Jesus
Reviewed by Cynthia R. Chapman

Robert Brian Lewis, Paul’s ‘Spirit of Adoption’ in Its Roman Imperial Context
Reviewed by James N. Hoke

Dennis R. MacDonald, Luke and Vergil: Imitations of Classical Greek Literature
Reviewed by Alexander P. Thompson

Heidi Marx-Wolf, Spiritual Taxonomies and Ritual Authority: Platonists, Priests, and Gnostics in the Third Century C.E. Reviewed by David Kneip

Eleni Pachoumi, The Concepts of the Divine in the Greek Magical Papyri
Reviewed by Pieter W. van der Horst

Douglas Petrovich, The World’s Oldest Alphabet: Hebrew as the Language of the Proto-consonantal Script
Reviewed by David A. Falk

R. Alan Streett, Caesar and the Sacrament: Baptism: A Rite of Resistance
Reviewed by Wes Howard-Brook

New Commentary on Matthew

Some might be interested in his new commentary on Matthew in the latest addition to the Two Horizons Commentary Series.

On Reading and Writing

Here is a helpful post from First Things on reading, or the meaning and value of a "bookish" life. And here are some writing tips from Stephen King.

Schreiner on His Revised Romans Commentary

The Logos blog has a nice interview here with Tom Schreiner on his recently revised Romans commentary.

5 Tips for Reading Apocalyptic Literature in the Bible

This is a fairly basic post but some might find it helpful. All of the tips actually relate to sound interpretive method generally.

Feast of St. Luke Day

Today is the Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist Day in some Christian traditions. I thought the following image of Luke's icon posted on my Facebook page was interesting.

The Loneliness of the Pastor-Theologian

This Christianity Today article looks at the issue.

The Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed 1009 years ago by order of Al-Hakim, the Caliph of Egypt, interestingly on this day in AD 1009. You can read a short article on the destruction here.

Word Meanings Change

Here are eleven English words that used to mean something significantly different. This is one reason that translations are important and why new translations are needed.

The Lost Art of Reading the Biblical Languages

This article makes a case for recovering the lost art of reading the biblical languages.

Psalm 121

The Zondervan Blog has an extended excerpt on Psalm 121 from the recent commentary by Tucker and Grant here.

All Those Books You’ve Bought but Haven’t Read

For all of you bibliophiles out there,there is a good essay in The New York Times about the possible benefit of having books that you haven't read (yet?).

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. 

William G. Dever, Beyond the Texts: An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and Judah
Reviewed by Avraham Faust

Philip F. Esler, ed., The Early Christian World
Reviewed by Steven Shisley

Caleb T. Friedman, ed., Listen, Understand, Obey: Essays on Hebrews in Honor of Gareth Lee Cockerill
Reviewed by Madison N. Pierce

Carol A. Hebron, Judas Iscariot: Damned or Redeemed; A Critical Examination of the Portrayal of Judas in Jesus Films (1902–2014)
Reviewed by Richard Walsh

Susanne Luther, Sprachethik im Neuen Testament: Eine Analyse des frühchristlichen Diskurses im Matthäusevangelium, im Jakobusbrief und im 1. Petrusbrief
Reviewed by Peter H. Davids

Luke Macnamara, My Chosen Instrument: The Characterisation of Paul in Acts 7:58–15:41
Reviewed by Steve Walton

Mira Morganstern, Reframing Politics in the Hebrew Bible: A New Introduction with Readings
Reviewed by Leslie J. Hoppe, OFM

Alexander Samely, with Philip Alexander, Rocco Bernasconi, and Robert Hayward, Profiling Jewish Literature in Antiquity: An Inventory, from Second Temple Texts to the Talmuds
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz

Loren T. Stuckenbruck and Gabriele Boccaccini, eds., Enoch and the Synoptic Gospels: Reminiscences, Allusions, Intertextuality
Reviewed by Thomas P. Nelligan

Ben Witherington III and Todd D. Still, eds., with Jeanette M. Hagen, The Epistles of 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter: Newly Discovered Commentaries
Reviewed by Clifford Barbarick

Translating Genesis 1:1

Although this article does not really raise any new issues regarding the best way to render Genesis 1:1, it may be a good read for some who are less acquainted with the different approaches to the verse. For me, Victor Hamilton's discussion in his commentary on Genesis 1-17 does a better job of laying out the issues but this article does present some of the discussion from a Jewish perspective. 

Pronouncing the Tetragrammaton

During my Bible college and seminary experience, some of my professors would  pronounce the Tetragrammaton (transliterated YHWH) as Yahweh and others would use Adonai or Lord. And during one written project in my doctoral studies I deliberately tried to  avoid the controversy by using only the Tetragrammaton but still got dinged for it. Haaretz has a pretty good article here on the the issue from a Jewish perspective. (Please note that Haaretz sometimes restricts access to their articles but I was able to access it.)

Yosef Garfinkel: Searching for the Historical King David Video

Here is Yosef Garfinkel's recent presentation, "Searching for the Historical King David: Excavating Kh. Qeiyafa and Kh. al-Ra'i," that he made at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on September 11.

Imprecatory Psalms, Again

Here is another post trying to address the difficulties posed by imprecatory psalms, or as I prefer to say, psalms containing imprecations. The "guidelines" presented by the author are not really novel but are worth keeping in mind nonetheless.

The Significance of the Bathsheba Story

Peter Tarlow, rabbi emeritus at Texas A&M Hillel Foundation in College Station, addresses the question, "What does the story of Bathsheba mean today?" (Note: I would prefer to talk about the significance rather than meaning for today.)

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. 

Jean-Noël Aletti, Justification by Faith in the Letters of Saint Paul: Keys to Interpretation
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Cockrell

Paul N. Anderson, Felix Just, S.J., and Tom Thatcher, eds., John, Jesus, and History, Volume 3: Glimpses of Jesus through the Johannine Lens
Reviewed by Andrew T. Lincoln

Tony Burke, ed., Fakes, Forgeries, and Fictions: Writing Ancient and Modern Christian Apocrypha: Proceedings from the 2015 York University Christian Apocrypha Symposium
Reviewed by Joseph Azize

Mayer I. Gruber, Hosea: A Textual Commentary
Reviewed by Susan E. Haddox

Thomas J. Mosbø, Luke the Composer: Exploring the Evangelist’s Use of Matthew
Reviewed by David J. Neville

Kaisa-Maria Pihlava, Forgotten Women Leaders: The Authority of Women Hosts of Early Christian Gatherings in the First and Second Centuries C.E.
Reviewed by Carolyn Osiek

Christopher R. Seitz, Joel
Reviewed by Joel Barker

Margaret G. Sim, A Relevant Way to Read: A New Approach to Exegesis and Communication
Reviewed by Stephan Witetschek

Abraham Smith, Mark: Shaping the Life and Legacy of Jesus
Reviewed by Abson Joseph

K. Lawson Younger Jr., A Political History of the Arameans: From Their Origins to the End of Their Polities
Reviewed by Carl S. Ehrlich