Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Exegesis

The Gospels: Photo Companion to the Bible

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Five years ago I recommended Todd Bolen’s Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.

This month Todd Bolen and his team have added to that collection with The Gospels: Photo Companion to the Bible. (There is a sale through August 21.)

Here’s a 5-minute video introduction:

For over a decade Todd Bolen lived in Israel while he taught the Israel Bible Extension for The Master’s College. Many evangelical books feature his photos of Israel. Todd is now professor of biblical studies at The Master’s College in Southern California. He wrote the notes on 2 Kings in the study Bible I coedited, and he wrote the chapter on 1–2 Chronicles in the OT survey my colleague Jason DeRouchie edited. His pictures fill DeRouchie’s OT survey—nearly 300 of them.

Update on 2/19/2019: Todd Bolen just released an impressive collection of photos on Acts.

Greek for Life: Strategies for Learning, Retaining, and Using New Testament Greek in Ministry

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This book releases today:

Robert L. Plummer and Benjamin L. Merkle. Greek for Life: Strategies for Learning, Retaining, and Using New Testament Greek in Ministry. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017.

Here’s what I say about it in How to Understand and Apply the New Testament:

[It is a] motivating and practical help if you are learning Greek for the first time or relearning it decades later.

Some excerpts: [Read more…] about Greek for Life: Strategies for Learning, Retaining, and Using New Testament Greek in Ministry

Andy and Jason Drive It Home

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Here’s a 4-minute video with my brother Jason DeRouchie:

Some background:

Jason and I recently wrote companion volumes on how to understand and apply the Old and New Testaments.

We asked Rick Segal if he would be willing to help us spread the news with a short video. Rick is Vice President of Advancement for Bethlehem College & Seminary, and prior to coming to our school he was president and CPO of a successful global marketing and advertising agency. He used to have about $250,000 to work with when preparing a promotional video, and he got creative with ours with only about $100.

Jason and I commute together, and Rick recorded one of our commutes and titled the video “Andy and Jason Drive It Home.” Our assignment was to get 90 seconds of unscripted footage on our 25-minute drive home.

I confirmed that show business is not my calling.

It felt awkward to record, but it gives viewers a little taste of our camaraderie.

Here’s what I say about Jason in the acknowledgements of my book:

It’s a joy to serve shoulder to shoulder with Jason DeRouchie at Bethlehem College & Seminary. He embodies Ezra 7:10. I can’t think of another Old Testament seminary professor I’d rather team up with. We spend about three hours together each week while commuting, and the better I get to know him, the more I thank God for him. I especially love coteaching a fourth-year graduate course with him on biblical theology. Jason is both an Old Testament scholar and a biblical theologian. He helps me see Jesus more clearly in the Old Testament. It was an honor to collaborate with Jason as I prepared this book and he prepared the companion volume How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology.

Update: I refer to “normal people” in the video, and some friends teased me on Facebook by referring to themselves as normal people. I don’t mind the teasing, but I should clarify something: I didn’t mean to be condescending in any way by using the phrase “normal people.” It’s shorthand for non-specialists—that is, lay people as opposed to academics and scholars. I’m a normal guy for the vast number of domains of knowledge—like European history or economics or criminal law or automobile mechanics or whatever. I’m grateful when specialists communicate in a way that non-specialists can understand. (I write a little more about my philosophy of publishing here and here.)

Suffering in Ancient Worldview: An Interview with Brian Tabb

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This book releases today:

Brian J. Tabb. Suffering in Ancient Worldview: Luke, Seneca and 4 Maccabees in Dialogue. LNTS 569. New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017.

It’s by my dean, colleague, friend, fellow Themelios editor, and fellow elder of Bethlehem Baptist Church.

It is extremely difficult to successfully submit a book for publication in the prestigious Library of New Testament Studies series. Brian did some first-class scholarship for this book. He updated his PhD thesis, which he completed in 2013 under Steve Walton at the London School of Theology. The examiners for his thesis defense were N. T. Wright and Conrad Gempf, and Brian passed with high marks.

I asked Brian if he’d answer some questions about his book for my readers, and he generously agreed. [Read more…] about Suffering in Ancient Worldview: An Interview with Brian Tabb

How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology

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Here’s my attempt to explain how to interpret and apply the Bible:

Andrew David Naselli. How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2017. xxx + 384 pages.

Contents

The book’s structure is simple. It begins by introducing exegesis and theology, which I break down into twelve steps. Those twelve steps are the book’s twelve chapters. [Read more…] about How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology