Exegesis

Tyndale Commentaries

January 9, 2010 by Andy Naselli

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:

“Scholar’s Library: Gold: A Review Article.” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 11 (2006): 151–60.
“PNTC, BECNT, and NIGTC: Three New Testament Commentary Series Available Electronically in Libronix: A Review Article.” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 12 (2007): 81–99.
Review of Anchor Yale Bible commentary series (84 vols.) in Logos Bible Software. Themelios 34 (2009): 226–27.
Review of The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testamentst (40 vols.) in Logos Bible Software. Themelios 34 (2009): 455–57.

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

January 7, 2010 by Andy Naselli

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

Pontius Pilate
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

December 31, 2009 by Andy Naselli

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:

OT Apocrypha
OT Pseudepigrapha
Dead Sea Scrolls
Philo
Josephus
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

Breathing : Body :: Works : Faith

December 24, 2009 by Andy Naselli

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.

her⋅me⋅NEU⋅tics

December 12, 2009 by Andy Naselli

–noun (used with a singular verb)

the art and science of interpretation, esp. of the Bible. Commonly distinguished from exegesis, which interprets the text by applying those principles.
the skill of all but totally ignoring the Bible while appearing to accept it.

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.

The Most Important Paragraph in the Bible

November 19, 2009 by Andy Naselli

Here are two sermons I preached on Romans 3:21–26 back in June:

Regions on the Run

October 31, 2009 by Andy Naselli

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.