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.

Phillip Arrington, Eloquence Divine: In Search of God’s Rhetoric
Reviewed by Thomas H. Olbricht

Roderick Elledge, Use of the Third Person for Self-Reference by Jesus and Yahweh: A Study of Illeism in the Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Its Implications for Christology
Reviewed by Paul Sanders

Moshe Garsiel, The Book of Samuel: Part One, Studies in History, Historiography, Theology, and Poetics Combined
Reviewed by Rachelle Gilmour

Aleksander Gomola, Conceptual Blending in Early Christian Discourse: A Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of Pastoral Metaphors in Patristic Literature
Reviewed by Robert H. von Thaden Jr.

Katharine M. Hockey, Madison N. Pierce, and Francis Watson, eds., Muted Voices of the New Testament: Readings in the Catholic Epistles and Hebrews
Reviewed by Mari Leesment

Carl R. Holladay, Introduction to the New Testament: Reference Edition
Reviewed by Matthew Collins

Brittany N. Melton, Where Is God in the Megilloth? A Dialogue on the Ambiguity of Divine Presence and Absence
Reviewed by Aaron Koller

Robert D. Miller II, The Dragon, the Mountain, and the Nations: An Old Testament Myth, Its Origins, and Its Afterlives
Reviewed by Brandon R. Grafius

Marius Nel, Jan G. van der Watt, and Fika J. van Rensburg, eds., The New Testament in the Graeco-Roman World: Articles in Honour of Abe Malherbe
Reviewed by Christopher R. Hutson

C. Marvin Pate, Interpreting Revelation and Other Apocalyptic Literature: An Exegetical Handbook
Reviewed by Michael Naylor

Raymond F. Person Jr. and Robert Rezetko, eds., Empirical Models Challenging Biblical Criticism

Reviewed by Leonardo Pessoa da Silva Pinto

Carla Swafford Works, The Church in the Wilderness: Paul’s Use of Exodus Traditions in 1 Corinthians
Reviewed by Greg Carey

Lament in the Church

Lament is an important part of the Scriptures. Around half of the psalms in the book of Psalms is characterized as laments. And there is a book called Lamentations. So it is a bit puzzling that churches have struggled to incorporate lament into their gatherings. So I appreciated this article on the issue.

Dealing with Text-Critical Issues in a Church Setting

Justin Dillehay has some helpful suggestions here in a post entitled, "4 Ways to Shepherd Your Flock through Textual Variants."

Cain and Abel

National Geographic has a story here on the conflict between Cain and Abel. Unfortunately, the article does not really reflect the biblical account all that well.

Free Video from the Egypt and Ancient Israel Conference

The Tandy Center for Archaeology and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary hosted a one-day conference entitled "Egypt and Ancient Israel: Merneptah's Canaanite Campaign - History or Propaganda" on March 26.

You can now access the videos from the conference here.

Two Reasons for Learning Greek

William Varner enumerates and discusses them here.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 and Iterative Prayer

I think that Ken Berding has got it right in his view of the much misunderstood statement in 1 Thessaloninas 5:17 to "pray without ceasing." You can read his thoughts here.

Best Bible Study Software

Kevin Purcell at Christian Media Magazine shares his top five here.

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.

Woojin Chung, Translation Theory and the Old Testament in Matthew: The Possibilities of Skopos Theory
Reviewed by Edmon L. Gallagher

Philip R. Davies, Rethinking Biblical Scholarship: Changing Perspectives 4
Reviewed by Paola Mollo

Paul Gardner, 1 Corinthians
Reviewed by Andrew Spurgeon

Stephen M. Hildebrand, Basil of Caesarea
Reviewed by Kevin M. Clarke

Alex Hon Ho Ip, A Socio-rhetorical Interpretation of the Letter to Philemon in Light of the New Institutional Economics: An Exhortation to Transform a Master-Slave Economic Relationship into a Brotherly Loving Relationship
Reviewed by Demetrius K. Williams

Wolfgang Kraus, Michaël van der Meer, and Martin Meiser, eds., XV Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies
Reviewed by Ville Mäkipelto

Elritia Le Roux, Ethics in 1 Peter: The Imitatio Christi and the Ethics of Suffering in 1 Peter and the Gospel of Mark, a Comparative Study
Reviewed by Joel Stephen Williams

Nicole Rupschus, Frauen in Qumran
Reviewed by William Loader

Ariel Clark Silver, The Book of Esther and the Typology of Female Transfiguration in American Literature
Reviewed by Jennifer L. Koosed

Ambjörn Sjörs, Historical Aspects of Standard Negation in Semitic
Reviewed by Dennis Pardee

Michael J. Thate, Kevin J. Vanhoozer, and Constantine R. Campbell, eds., “In Christ” in Paul: Explorations in Paul’s Theology of Union and Participation
Reviewed by Max Botner

Michael Wolter, The Gospel according to Luke: Volume II (Luke 9:51–24)
Reviewed by David Lertis Matson

Lessons from the Book of Judges

Robert Godfrey has some thoughts here.

Bees and Honey

Old Testament references to bees are relatively rare (e.g., Deut 1:44; Judg 14:8; Ps 118:12; Isa 7:18). The Hebrew term דְּבוֹרָה could also be translated as "wasp" or as the name "Deborah." Bees are not mentioned in the New Testament. References to "honey" on the other hand, are more frequent, almost sixty times and found in both Testaments. In any case, a beehive apparently found at the so-called "Solomon’s Pools" was discovered recently in the attic of the Albright Institute in Jerusalem. You can read about this interesting and curious find here.

Some Thoughts on Psalm 37

What does the psalmist mean that we should not be concerned about the ungodly? Perhaps the way to look at this is to first address what it does not mean. The psalmist is not stating that one should absolutely ignore the wicked as if they did not exist. Nor is he advocating taking a “head in the sand” approach to deny the pain and harm that the wicked cause or that we should not pursue righteousness and justice. What the psalmist is advocating is having a theistic perspective regarding those who do evil. That is, we do not ignore or deny evil but rather we trust that God will ultimately deal with it. Our primary strategy for dealing with the evil around us is not to make the wrong world right but rather to live right in a wrong world.