Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Andy Naselli

iPhone Resources

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I got an iPhone this month, and it surpassed my high expectations. It’s amazing.

My 3GS model is 16 GB and weighs 4.8 ounces. That means that the little phone I keep in my pocket holds eight times as much space as the laptop I used from college through my first PhD (1998–2006).

If you have an iPhone (or iPod Touch), these resources may help you use the tool more efficiently.

1. iPhone Apps

The iPhone comes with several apps already installed, and over 100,000 apps are available through the iTunes Store.

Here’s a screen-shot of my apps as they appear iTunes (click on the image to enlarge):

Here are some practices I’ve found to be helpful:

[Read more…] about iPhone Resources

Tyndale Commentaries

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Less than one week remains before Logos Bible Software releases the Tyndale Commentaries, a 49-volume series that covers the OT and NT. The pre-pub price is $179.95, which is about $3.67 per volume, and it will go up after the product ships.

I own print copies of all the NT volumes and several OT volumes, but I’m planning to get the Logos version because using Libronix is far more efficient than using print books. I’ve argued this in some previous reviews:
Related: Logos is offering discounts on new base package purchases and upgrades for Logos 4 through the end of the month.

Six Books for Children on the Bible’s Storyline

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In 2008, Jenni and I profited from reading two “documentary novels” by Paul Maier:

  1. Pontius Pilate
  2. The Flames of Rome

We recently received six of his books for children, and they’re outstanding.

1. The Real Story of Creation

2. The Real Story of the Flood

3. The Real Story of the Exodus

4. The Very First Christmas

Jenni warmly recalls reading this many times as a child.

5. The Very First Easter

6. The Very First Christians

The picture of Agrippa (p. 27) reminds me of someone I know!

Related: About a year ago, Jenni and I reviewed several hundred children’s books and highlighted our favorites: “Theology for Kids.”

Extracanonical Jewish Literature That Is Significant for NT Studies

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I’ve recently begun researching the use of some OT passages in extracanonical Jewish literature for a dissertation chapter. Six primary bodies of literature are most significant for NT studies:

  1. OT Apocrypha
  2. OT Pseudepigrapha
  3. Dead Sea Scrolls
  4. Philo
  5. Josephus
  6. Rabbinic literature (i.e., Targums, Talmuds, and midrash)

This may raise two questions.

1. Why is extracanonical Jewish literature significant for NT studies?

G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson give five reasons (“Introduction,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament  [ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007], p. xxiv, bullet points added):

How is the OT quotation or source handled in the literature of Second Temple Judaism or (more broadly yet) of early Judaism? The reasons for asking this question and the possible answers that might be advanced are many. It is not that either Jewish or Christian authorities judge, say, Jubilees or 4 Ezra to be as authoritative as Genesis or Isaiah. But attentiveness to these and many other important Jewish sources may provide several different kinds of help. [Read more…] about Extracanonical Jewish Literature That Is Significant for NT Studies

The Music of Dan Forrest

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Dan Forrest is a young award-winning pianist and composer of church and concert music, both choral and instrumental. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Kansas, and his music is fresh, contemplative, and edifying.

Check out his recordings:

1. Arise, Shine! The Choral Music of Dan Forrest (2009)

Arise_shine

You can sample excerpts from this CD on Dan’s site (on the right side of the screen). Cf. Scott Aniol’s review.

2. In Remembrance: Hymns for Communion (2009)

In_remembrance

Piano solos played and arranged by Dan Forrest [Read more…] about The Music of Dan Forrest

Breathing : Body :: Works : Faith

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  • Breathing is evidence of a living body, and good works is evidence of a living faith.
  • Not breathing is evidence of a dead body, and the absence of good works is evidence of a dead faith.
  • You can’t revitalize a corpse by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and you can’t create genuine faith by good works.

That’s my paraphrase of Dan G. McCartney on James 2:14–26 (James [BECNT; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009]). An 18-page PDF sampling of the commentary includes “Excursus 2: Faith, Works, and Justification in James and Paul” (pp. 272–79). Here’s how McCartney concludes his chapter on James 2:14–26 (p. 172):

James’s principal point is not in doubt, in any case: that which distinguishes living faith from dead faith is works of faith. By no means does any of this suggest that one could create genuine faith by works, any more than an effort at mouth-to-mouth resuscitation could revitalize a corpse.