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 to read them.

Herbert R. Broderick, Moses the Egyptian in the Illustrated Old English Hexateuch: (London, British Library Cotton MS Claudius B.iv)
Reviewed by Anthony Swindell

Terrance Callan, A Voyage around the Second Letter of Peter: Collected Essays
Reviewed by James Starr

Kristine Henriksen Garroway and John W. Martens, eds., Children and Methods: Listening to and Learning from Children in the Biblical World
Reviewed by Amy Lindeman Allen

Moshe Halbertal, The Birth of Doubt: Confronting Uncertainty in Early Rabbinic Literature
Reviewed by Eliezer Diamond

Benedikt Hensel, Dany Nocquet, and Bartosz Adamczewski, eds., Yahwistic Diversity and the Hebrew Bible: Tracing Perspectives of Group Identity from Judah, Samaria, and the Diaspora in Biblical Traditions
Reviewed by Brandon R. Grafius

Joachim J. Krause, Omer Sergi, and Kristin Weingart, eds., Saul, Benjamin, and the Emergence of Monarchy in Israel: Biblical and Archaeological Perspectives
Reviewed by Zachary Thomas

Andrew N. Palmer, The Life of the Syrian Saint Barsauma: Eulogy of a Hero of the Resistance to the Council of Chalcedon
Reviewed by Robert A. Kitchen

Carolyn J. Sharp, Joshua
Reviewed by Pekka Pitkänen

Thomas B. Slater, Revelation as Civil Disobedience: Witnesses Not Warriors in John’s Apocalypse
Reviewed by Thomas W. Martin

Devin L. White, Teacher of the Nations
Reviewed by Laura B. Dingeldein

Collaborative Sermon Writing

Paul Taylor suggests five ways that it can help here. I have found it helpful to be able to discuss my messages with others.

Suffering in the Book of Lamentations

Adele Berlin presents here a stark picture of the human suffering related to destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. For those of us who have thankfully not seen the ravages of war first hand (like me), this article helps one to get a better sense of the awful human toll.

Top Judges Commentaries

Michelle Knight lists and annotates her top "six" (actually 7 are listed) commentaries on Judges at Nijay Gupta's blog here.

Jerubbaal Inscription

It is being reported that an inscription containing the name Jerubbaal and dating to around 1100 BC was uncovered in the excavations at Khirbat er-Ra‘i, near Kiryat Gat. This is interesting because Jerubbaal was also a name of one of the judges in the book of Judges (aka Gideon, see Judg 7:1). Caution needs to be exercised in drawing too many conclusions or connections except that it seems that there is now evidence for the existence of the name outside of the Bible.

 

 

 

The Jerubbaal inscription, written in ink on a pottery vessel.
(photo credit: DAFNA GAZIT/ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY) 

 

Wright and Witherington on Acts 15 and Galatians 2

In academic circles it is common to dismiss the idea that Galatians was written before Acts 15 and that therefore, Galatians 2 and the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 refer to separate events. So, it is with a bit of delight that I see that N. T. Wright and Ben Witherington both apparently hold that Galatians was written before the Jerusalem Council. I was previously aware of Witherington's position but I was not sure about Wright's view. In any case, Witherington's review of Wright's new Galatians commentary where he discusses this issue can be read here.

Sermongate

When The New York Times is reporting about it, you realize that sermon plagiarism is an issue. If nothing else, this high profile case has generated some much needed discussion on the matter.

Pastor as a Reader

Dave Morlan makes a good case for it here. A pastor needs to do more than read but he should be reading.

Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 24:3

The latest issue of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology on the theme of biblical authority and textual criticism is available as a free PDF here. Some of the articles look very interesting.

Psalm 46 Links

I have been working on a commentary on the Psalms. I have decided to compile some helpful links that I discovered during my research. It includes a mix of exegetical and sermonic links. Here is what I have for Psalm 46 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

The Text This Week: http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm46.htm

The Fathers on Psalm 46: https://pursuingveritas.com/2019/09/10/the-fathers-on-psalm-46

Into the Word with Paul Carter: https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/into-the-word/psalms-46-47

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps046.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_046.pdf

Psalm 46: Two Sermons, One Message of Hope: https://davidschrock.com/2016/11/07/psalm-46-two-sermons-one-message

Vic Anderson, “When Your World Is Falling Apart”: https://vimeo.com/user43918728 Psalm 46 devotional: https://www.generations.org/devotionals/57

Atonement from Jewish and Christian Perspectives

Marc Zvi Brettler and Amy-Jill Levine discuss the concept of atonement from Jewish and Christian perspectives here.I actually get asked quite a bit about how Judaism handles atonement without offering sacrifices today. This article does a decent job of answering questions like that.

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 to read them.

Christine H. Aarflot, God (in) Acts: The Characterization of God in the Acts of the Apostles
Reviewed by Ben Sutton

Gary Beckman, The Hittite Gilgamesh
Reviewed by Felipe Rojas

Stephen B. Chapman, The Law and the Prophets: A Study in Old Testament Canon Formation
Reviewed by R. W. L. Moberly

Christopher Dost, Jesus’ Bible: A Concise History of the Hebrew Scriptures
Reviewed by Bálint Károly Zabán

Andrea Kilian, Untersuchungen zur Keramik der Ersten Zwischenzeit und des frühen Mittleren Reichs aus Assiut/Mittelägypten
Reviewed by Robert Schiestl

Daniel King, ed., Studies in Biblical Philology and Lexicography
Reviewed by Jesus Pelaez

Alicia D. Myers and Lindsey S. Jodrey, eds., Come and Read: Interpretive Approaches to the Gospel of John
Reviewed by Joshua J. Coutts

Claudia Setzer and David A. Shefferman, eds., The Bible in the American Experience
Reviewed by David Morgan

Katherine E. Southwood, Job’s Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising
Reviewed by Melissa A. Jackson

Jacob L. Wright, War, Memory, and National Identity in the Hebrew Bible
Reviewed by Brad E. Kelle