How’s that for the title of a sermon on the story of Adam and Eve’s fall in Genesis 3? It popped into my head while my daughter and I read that story from The Jesus Storybook Bible.
(Jenni and I are currently listening to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy [1, 2, 3] in which the “One Ring to rule them all” is prominent.)
In 2008, Jenni and I profited from reading two “documentary novels” by Paul Maier:
We recently received six of his books for children, and they’re outstanding.
Jenni warmly recalls reading this many times as a child.
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.”
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:
This may raise two questions.
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
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.
–noun (used with a singular verb)
The playful definition comes from Moisés Silva, “The New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Text Form and Authority,” in Scripture and Truth (ed. D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), 156:
During the past decade or two, biblical scholarship has shown a growing obsession with the issue of hermeneutics, a harmless enough word, but one occasionally used as a euphemism for “the skill of all but totally ignoring the Bible while appearing to accept it.” Although one may be excused for feeling irritated at the way the word is thrown about as the ultimate panacea, it would be a grave mistake to dismiss the issue altogether. It is so easy for us to read the evening paper and understand it—that is, interpret it accurately—that we tend to think of interpretation as an eminently simple process. In reality, we depend on a massive framework of assumptions slowly formed by innumerable experiences. As a result, those aspects of interpretation that appear to us to be the most obvious are often the ones that cause us the greatest difficulty. In particular, when we confront a text written by someone whose “framework of assumptions” differs significantly from ours, how can we possibly bridge the two? The attempt to answer that question is what hermeneutics is all about.
Over the past month or so, I’ve read over 300 books and articles (often only parts of them) about the book of Job for a dissertation chapter I just drafted. Here are three of the most edifying and accessible resources:
1. D. A. Carson. “Job: Mystery and Faith.” Pages 135–57 in How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006. [Amazon | WTS Books]
Penetrating insight, pastoral warmth.
2. Layton Talbert. Beyond Suffering: Discovering the Message of Job. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 2007. [Amazon]
See my review.
3. Derek Kidner. “The Book of Job: A World Well Managed?” and “Job in Academic Discussion.” Pages 56–89 in The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes: An Introduction to Wisdom Literature. Downers Grove: IVP, 1985. [Amazon | WTS Books]
Pithy.
Update: See ch. 4 (free PDF) in From Typology to Doxology.
Here are two sermons I preached on Romans 3:21–26 back in June:
Several of my friends have profited immensely from studying at Jerusalem College University, where they diligently study the land of the Bible with maps prepared by James M. Monson. I recently learned from his son, John Monson (an OT professor at TEDS), about this new edition:
James M. Monson with Steven P. Lancaster. Regions on the Run: Introductory Map Studies in the Land of the Bible. 3rd ed. Rockford, IL: Biblical Backgrounds, 2009. 40 pp.
This superb overview is also available in a three-product bundle.
From Monson’s website:
The land of the Bible is the “playing board of biblical history.” Much of the Bible’s most compelling teaching is embedded in events played out on this board.