The Authorship of 2 Peter

See this post on the authorship of 2 Peter. For what it is worth, I affirm the Petrine authorship of the epistle.

The Use of Psalms in Hebrews

See Bob MacDonald's post on the use of Psalms in Hebrews here.

Oswalt on the Bible and Myth

"It is all too easy to say that the Bible is myth because its adherents consider it true, or because it provides the central set of images and symbols for the Jewish and Christian religions, or because it ascribes to the divine the results of natural causation. Certainly the Bible does the first two, and if it is correctly understood, it does the latter as well. But that does not mean it is a myth. An elephant is not a table because it has four legs. The reason these equations between the two types of literature can be made is that they rest on definitions that fail to deal seriously with the characteristic thought patterns of the two."

John N. Oswalt, The Bible Among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 45.

Adela Yarbro Collins' Mark Commentary

I have been working through the Gospels recently and really looked forward to getting into Adela Yarbro Collins' Mark commentary. I have heard some good things about this work but unfortunately my other responsibilities have kept me from a thorough and appropriate review. So to least get something out I have decided to at least post the publishers description and some links

Collins, Adela Yarbro. Mark. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007.

Description:

Professor Adela Yarbro Collins brings to bear on the text of the first Gospel the latest historical-critical perspectives, providing a full treatment of such controversial issues as the relationship of canonical Mark to the "Secret Gospel of Mark" and the text of the Gospel, including its longer endings. She situates the Gospel, with its enigmatic portrait of the misunderstood Messiah, in the context of Jewish and Greco-Roman literature of the first century. Her comments draw on her profound knowledge of apocalyptic literature as well as on the traditions of popular biography in the Greco-Roman world to illuminate the overall literary form of the Gospel.

The commentary also introduces an impressive store of data on the language and style of Mark, illustrated from papyrological and epigraphical sources. Collins is in constructive dialogue with the wide range of scholarship on Mark that has been produced in the twentieth century. Her work will be foundational for Markan scholarship in the first half of the twenty-first century.

You can see more about the book here at Fortress Press or better yet see this link to Amazon and use the "look inside" feature.

Thanks to Fortress Press for the review commentary

The Standing Stone at Shechem

On an archeological note, see Ferrell Jenkins' post on how the standing stone at associated with the Baal-Berith temple at Shechem was saved from destruction.

Richard Bauckham's Homepage

Several bloggers have noted that Richard Bauckham has a new homepage. Among other things the site has unpublished lectures and essays available as pdfs. The unpublished lectures include:

Canonicity of the Gospels

Johannine Jessus & Synoptic Jesus

Orthodoxy in Christology

The Women & the Resurrection

James at the Centre

Losing & Finding Self

Surrounded by Truth

Jesus & the Renewal of Nature

Mission as Hermeneutic

The Pooh Community

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews that may be of interest from a Bible Exposition perspective include:

Peter Brown
The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity; Twentieth Anniversary Edition with a New Introduction
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6853
Reviewed by Richard Valantasis

Kate Cooper and Julia Hillner, eds.
Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300-900
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6522
Reviewed by Ilaria Ramelli

April D. DeConick
The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation: With a Commentary and New English Translation of the Complete Gospel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5655
Reviewed by Stephen Patterson

David A. deSilva
Seeing Things John's Way: The Rhetoric of the Book of Revelation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7207
Reviewed by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza

Terence L. Donaldson
Judaism and the Gentiles: Jewish Patterns of Universalism (to 135 CE)
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7258
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz

Yonatan Kolatch
Masters of the Word: Traditional Jewish Bible Commentary from the Eleventh through the Thirteenth Centuries (vol. 2)
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6572
Reviewed by Günter Stemberger

Michael Philip Penn
Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5116
Reviewed by Candida Moss

Stanley E. Porter, ed.
Paul: Jew, Greek, and Roman
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7328
Reviewed by Christoph Stenschke

Micah Ross, ed.
From the Banks of the Euphrates: Studies in Honor of Alice Louise Slotsky
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6741
Reviewed by Ralph K. Hawkins

Turid Karlsen Seim and Jorunn Økland, eds.
Metamorphoses: Resurrection, Body and Transformative Practices in Early Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7211
Reviewed by V. Henry Nguyen

Rivka Ulmer, ed.
Pesiqta Rabbati: A Synoptic Edition of Pesiqta Rabbati Based upon All Extant Manuscripts and the Editio Princeps
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7003
Reviewed by Peter Tomson

Jan de Waard, eds.
Biblia Hebraica Quinta: Proverbs
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7151
Reviewed by Francis Dalrymple-Hamilton

Magnus Zetterholm
Approaches to Paul: A Student's Guide to Recent Scholarship
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7196
Reviewed by Nijay Gupta

Audio of Rodney Decker's Lecture Series on Hebrews

See here for free audio of lectures on the book of Hebrews presented by Rodney Decker at Central Baptist Seminary last month.

Seminary: Traditional Onsite vs. Distance Learning

Michael Patton has an interesting post on the advantages of the onsite seminary experience versus the online seminary experience here.

Job Commentary Online

Izak Cornelius' commentary on "Job" in the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament. It's available in its entirety through the end of the month here.

Emanuel Tov Online

See Emanuel Tov's website for access to free pdfs to some of his writings. Go to the site and click the publications tab.

HT: Daniel O. McClellan

When Does Debating Theology Become Wrong?

See this post asking and answering the question "When Does Debating Theology Become Wrong?

Preaching Humor for the Day

See Lionel Woods' "Top Ten Reasons Why The Sermon Should Remain Central To The Meeting" here.

Wordiness in Numbers 7

John Piper suggests some interesting implications for the intentional repetition and wordiness found in Numbers 7. Read it here.

The Decline of Vocational Evangelism

Trevin Wax has an interesting post on the decline of vocational evangelism.Read it here.

Two Pauls?

I recently submitted a book review to the Criswell Theological Review for a book entitled Paul, His Letters, and Acts. In the book the author Thomas Phillips tries to argue for two Pauls, the one in Paul’s epistles and the portrait of Paul in Acts. While such a case might be made, I think that Phillips would have done well to heed the following statement from David Peterson’s recent Acts commentary.

“Although there are many points of contact—and there is value in comparing the evidence of Acts with the letters where possible—Luke offers a different perspective on Paul's ministry. Some have taken this to mean that Luke was misinformed, or deliberately misleading, or presenting an ideal or legendary Paul. But it is important to remember the occasiona1 nature of Paul's letters, the limited scope of Luke’s description of Paul, and his own distinctive agenda in writing.”

David G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles, Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2009), 19.