Free Logos Book for December: Pelikan's Acts Commentary

The free Logos Book for the Month for December is Jeroslav Pelikan's Acts commentary in the Brazos Theological Commentary series. Stanley Hauerwas' Matthew and/or Peter Leithart's 1 & 2 Kings in the same series can also be purchased for $4.99 and $9.99 respectively. Like last month, I already own these volumes and have found the Brazos commentaries very hit-or-miss but you can at least try the free volume before deciding whether you want to try the other two. You can also register for a chance to win the nineteen-volume Baker Contemporary Preaching Collection. For all these offers, go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.

Interview with Graham I. Davies

The T & T Clark blog has an interesting interview here with Graham I. Davies related to his new ICC commentary on Exodus 1–18.

Three New Photo Companions to the Bible: Joshua, Judges, and Romans

BiblePlaces has just released three new volumes in their Photo Companion to the Bible series are Joshua, Judges, and Romans. As with previous volumes, these are loaded with outstanding photographs and helpful explanatory notes. This resource is part Bible encyclopedia, commentary,  Holy Land guidebook, and Bible atlas. There is nothing else like it, or as good, for free or for sale. If you you want to check it out,
you can download free chapters (in PowerPoint) on Joshua 2, Judges 4, and Romans 12.

Even better there is a current sale on these resources but you will need to act quickly. Click here. Here are the sale prices.

Joshua: 3,100 slides; reg. $99; on sale: $69

Judges: 2,800 slides; reg. $99; on sale: $69

Romans: 1,600 slides; reg. $69; on sale: $49
 
Or for this weekend you can get all three volumes for $99. with free shipping (in US). Free downloads. Free lifetime updates. Generous usage permissions. Satisfaction guaranteed.

The Value of Time

Erik Raymond reminds us that wisdom wears a watch here.

Psalm 4 Links

I have been working on a commentary on the Psalms. I have decided to compile some of my favorite links that I discovered during my research. There is a mix of exegetical and sermonic links. Here is what I have for Psalm 4 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

Spokane Bible Church: http://www.spokanebiblechurch.com/books/psalm-4

Literary analysis of Psalm 4: http://psalmsstudy.com/psalms-chapter-4/literary-analysis-psalm-4

Nancy Koester: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3645

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps004.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_004rev.pdf

“With the King in Prayer” Bruce Waltke: http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/audio/by/title/psalm_4_with_the_king_in_prayer 

Larry W. Hurtado (1943–2019)

If you have been involved in New Testament scholarship you have likely interacted with the work of Larry Hurtado. I found his work engaging but only met him in person once in 2016. He was knowledgeable, funny, and unlike some in the guild, very approachable. He will be missed.

My Favorite Line from the 2019 ETS Meeting

I attended around twenty sessions recently at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in San Diego. Some sessions were better than others. My favorite line  award goes to Abner Chou who noted that, "for the psalms to have messianic theology, it must have messianic theology" ("Messiah in the Psalms: Intertextuality, Davidic Covenant, and the Psalter," p. 8). This might not seem all the remarkable to some but keep in mind that there has been a noticeable shift away from seeing psalms as messianic within recent scholarship. 

Ten Great Biblical Artifacts at the Bible Lands Museum

It has been a few years since I have been there, but I have always enjoyed visiting the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. This article points to ten great biblical artifacts to see there.

Transitions

Sermon transitions can help make a good sermon into a great sermon. But just as transitions in life (new job, new relationships, etc.) they can be a challenge. Abe Kuruvilla’s recent book on preaching, A Manual for Preaching (Baker, 2019), discusses different types of sermonic transitions (pp. 131-32). There are word/phrase transitions such as “in addition to . . . ,” “moreover . . . ,” and “besides . . . .” Questions can also be used as transitions. Consider, “Why is this so?” or “What does the text say?” To his categories I would add that illustrations, anecdotes, and humor can have transitional functions. There are a number of ways to get from point A to point B. But transitions help your hearers to make the move mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually so make sure that you take adequate time in your sermon preparation to think it through. For me, this often means talk it through because I find it helpful to hear the transition.

Preaching Versus Teaching

I have blogged several times about the somewhat artificial distinction between preaching and teaching. I have also blogged on this topic while referencingHughes Oliphant Old's works on the history of preaching here. I want to return to that topic and Oliphant once again with this observation on the Great Commission in Matthew.

Again we see evidence that in the Synoptic Gospels at least, the words "preaching" and "teaching can be used synonymously. We might expect to read that the apostles were to go to all peoples and κήρυξατε τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, proclaim the gospel but instead we read that they are to go διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς, teaching them to observe everything Jesus had commanded them. In light of a text like this it is rather hard to drive a wedge between preaching the gospel of salvation and teaching the Christian way of life. Obviously according to this text Christian preaching is to do both.

The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church: Volume 1: The Biblical Period (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 151-52.

Jeremiah as the Center of the Old Testament

Walter Brueggemann suggests that the book of Jeremiah is the center of the Old Testament. I am not sure that I would agree but here is a diagram that he supplies showing how he think it works.

Walter Brueggemann, The Theology of the Book of Jeremiah. Old Testament Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 184

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 42:2

The latest issue of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament is out. Here is a list of the articles and links to abstracts.

“Crowds, Bread and Fame: John 6.1-15 and History Revisited”
Tucker S. Ferda

“The Polemical Origin of Luke 6.5D: Dating Codex Bezae’s Sabbath-Worker Agraphon”
Jason Robert Combs

“Roman Diet and Meat Consumption: Reassessing Elite Access to Meat in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10”
Philip L. Tite

“Laughing to the Grave and Back Again: The Humor of Acts 20.7-12”
Alexander P. Thompson

“Himations and Fancy Hairdos: A Note on 1 Peter 3.3”
Elizabeth Smith

“Judaean/Idumaean Inscriptions and New Testament Studies: A Review of Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae IV/1-2”
Simon Gathercole

Two Restrictions for a Theological Focus Statement

In Abe Kuruvilla's recent volume on preaching, he discusses what he calls a theological focus statement which, if I understand it properly, is a curated or distilled statement of what the author is doing in a given text. He gives two restrictions about the theological focus statement.

1. That it shouldn't be an imperative since imperatives should be reserved for application.
2. That it should not have any first or second person pronouns since presumably all God's people are being addressed.

But, I wonder about the second restrictions. I can see how a first person pronoun might not be the best. But would using something like "you" somehow impinge on the universality of the statement? I'm not so sure.

Abraham Kuruvilla, A Manual for Preaching: The Journey from Text to Sermon (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2019), 41

Psalm 3 Links

I have been working on a commentary on the Psalms. I have decided to compile some of my favorite links that I discovered during my research. There is a mix of exegetical and sermonic links. Here is what I have for Psalm 2 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

Spokane Bible Church: http://www.spokanebiblechurch.com/books/psalm-3

Literary analysis of Psalm 3: http://psalmsstudy.com/psalms-chapter-3/literary-analysis-psalm-3

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps003.pdf 

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_003rev.pdf