How to Preach the Book of Nehemiah

David Allen has a podcast here.

New Ezra/Nehemiah Resource

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a huge fan of the pictorial resources produced by BiblePlaces. Todd Bolen has assembled a great team and together they produce visual materials that are great aids for Bible preachers and teachers, or really anyone who wants to know the Bible better. Their latest offering is Ezra and Nehemiah in the Photo Companion to the Bible Series. Not only are there more than 4,500 photos in this collection but the notes are informative. I am a Bible professor and I often learn stuff from the notes.

You really do owe it to yourself to check it out. And right now these resources are on sale. You can get the best price on the two books together: Ezra ($39), Nehemiah ($49), or Ezra and Nehemiah together for $59 as DVD+download or as download-only. 

 

Preaching Moral Examples from the Old Testament

Mitch Chase has a balanced discussion here on preaching moral examples from the Old Testament. I have often been uncomfortable with the one-sided condemnation of preaching the morality of the people of the Old Testament. Yes, preaching (and teaching) just morality (e.g., be a better person) is problematic but we need to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The New Testament provides abundant examples of using people from the Old Testament as exemplars, many more than Chase notes.

Free eBook: The Apocalyptic Paul

Wipf and Stock is offering a free eBook copy of The Apocalyptic Paul by Jamie Davies. Keep in mind that offer is only good until November 12. Here are the instructions to get your copy.

1. Click on this link.
2. Click "ADD TO CART" on the eBook option.
3. Use the code "APOCALYPSE23"
4. Upon checkout completion, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions of how to download your free eBook.

The Theology of Colossians

Kevin McFadden writes about some of the theological distinctives of Colossians 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 to read them.

Janice Capel Anderson, Colossians: An Introduction and Study Guide (T&T Clark)
Holly Beers

Cilliers Breytenbach and Christoph Markschies, eds., Adolf Deissmann: Ein (zu Unrecht) fast vergessener Theologe und Philologe (Brill)
Albert L. A. Hogeterp

R. Alan Culpepper, Matthew: A Commentary (Westminster John Knox)
Bruce Chilton

Idan Dershowitz, The Valediction of Moses: A Proto-Biblical Book (Mohr Siebeck)
Nathaniel E. Greene

Santiago Guijarro, The Gospel of Mark in Context: A Social-Scientific Reading of the First Gospel (Cascade)
Ernest van Eck

J. M. F. Heath, Clement of Alexandria and the Shaping of Christian Literary Practice: Miscellany and the Transformation of Greco-Roman Writing (Cambridge University Press)
Thomas J. Kraus

Susan E. Hylen, Finding Phoebe: What New Testament Women Were Really Like (Eerdmans)
Benjamin H. Dunning

Jill Middlemas, Lamentations: An Introduction and Study Guide (T&T Clark)
Nancy C. Lee

Sara J. Milstein, Making a Case: The Practical Roots of Biblical Law (Oxford University Press)
Zev Farber

Lisa K. Sabbahy, Kingship, Power, and Legitimacy in Ancient Egypt: From the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom (Cambridge University Press)
Robyn Gillam

Free Webinar: Preaching Advent

David Allen is offering a free webinar on Monday, November 6 @ 7 pm CST on preaching advent. You can sign up here.

Genesis 22:1-19

Genesis 22:1-19 is called the Akedah in Jewish tradition. This post is an interesting examination of this passage from a Jewish perspective.

Steve Walton on 2 Timothy 4:1-8

You can access Walton's presentation slides here.

Free Logos Resources for November

Logos is offering these three freebies this month: The Message of Discipleship: Authentic Followers of Jesus in Today’s World by Peter Morden, Proverbs 10-31 by Michael V. Fox, a free ebook, After Acts by Bryan Litfin, and the audio book Being the Bad Guys: How to Live for Jesus in a World That Says You Shouldn’t by Stephen McAlpine. You can get these free resources and also purchase others at significant discounts here, here, here, and here.

Free eChart on Deuteronomy

Hendrickson is offering a a free echart introducing the book of Deuteronomy here. It is taken from their Bible Overview book.

A Brief History of Hell

Kevin Dickinson gives a brief overview of the concept of Hell here. The article is not written from a Christian biblical perspective and is superficial in many ways but does provide an illustration of the ongoing interest in the topic.

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.

Christopher Armitage, Atonement and Ethics in 1 John: A Peacemaking Hermeneutic (T&T Clark)
Matthew D. Jensen

Shelley L. Birdsong, J. Cornelis de Vos, and Hyun Chul Paul Kim, eds., Reading Gender in Judges: An Intertextual Approach (SBL Press)
Alexiana Fry

Mark DelCogliano, ed., Christ: Chalcedon and Beyond (Cambridge University Press)
Robert Edwards

William G. Dever, My Nine Lives: Sixty Years in Israeli and Biblical Archaeology (SBL Press)
Joshua Schwartz

Bruce W. Longenecker, ed., Greco-Roman Associations, Deities, and Early Christianity (Baylor University Press)
Zeba Crook

Paul L. Redditt, 1 and 2 Chronicles (Smyth & Helwys)
Steven Schweitzer

Christopher Rowland, “By an Immediate Revelation”: Studies in Apocalypticism, Its Origins and Effects (Mohr Siebeck)
Frances L. Flannery

Abdul-Massih Saadi, ed. and trans., Moshe Bar Kepha’s Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (Gorgias)
T. C. Schmidt

Michael Spalione and Helen Paynter, eds., Map or Compass? The Bible on Violence (Sheffield Phoenix)
David A. Bosworth

Greg Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (Mohr Siebeck)
Stefan Krauter

Saying, "No"

I have a hard time saying, "no." But I am getting better at it and Charles Stone has some good advice here for doing it gracefully.

Numbering the Ten Commandments

Nothing really new here but Jason DeRouchie gives a good explanation of the three major ways the Decalogue has been enumerated.

The Latest Issue of Detroit Baptist Theological Journal

The latest issue of Detroit Baptist Theological Journal is available for free here.

Melchizedek

Joshua Garroway has an interesting post here on Melchizedek both from a Jewish and Christian perspective.

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.

Amy Cottrill, Uncovering Violence: Reading Biblical Narratives as an Ethical Project (Westminster John Knox)
Shelley L. Birdsong

Philip La G. Du Toit, God’s Saved Israel: Reading Romans 11:26 and Galatians 6:16 in Terms of the New Identity in Christ and the Spirit (Pickwick)
B. J. Oropeza

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow, The Slave Metaphor and Gendered Enslavement in Early Christian Discourse: Double Trouble Embodied (Routledge)
Caroline Vander Stichele

Ari Mermelstein, Power and Emotion in Ancient Judaism: Community and Identity in Formation (Cambridge University Press)
Ryan S. Schellenberg

Janette H. Ok, Constructing Ethnic Identity in 1 Peter: Who You Are No Longer (T&T Clark)
Katie Marcar

Vernon K. Robbins and Roy R. Jeal, eds., Welcoming the Nations: International Sociorhetorical Explorations (SBL Press)
Russell B. Sisson

Michael P. Theophilos, Numismatics and Greek Lexicography (T&T Clark)
David Hendin

Joel L. Watts, Jesus as Divine Suicide: The Death of the Messiah in Galatians (Pickwick)
Dain Alexander Smith

Burkard M. Zapff, Micah (Kohlhammer)
Nicholas R. Werse

Markus Zehnder, The Bible and Immigration: A Critical and Empirical Reassessment (Pickwick)
M. Daniel Carroll R.