Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Grant Osborne

So What Do Profs Like Doug Moo and Grant Osborne Talk about When They Carpool?

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The opening of Doug Moo’s chapter in Grant Osborne’s Festschrift made me smile:

I consider it a great privilege to be able to contribute an essay to this volume honoring a good friend and, for many years, colleague, Grant Osborne. We served together at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for over twenty years, years that cemented our relationship not only professionally but personally. We lived in the same neighborhood as the Osbornes for many years, and our families grew up together. Seared in my memory especially are times spent with Grant and other Trinity colleagues in an automobile, as we car-pooled together back and forth to Trinity. Students sometimes wondered at the deep theological discussions we profs must have been having during those rides; but I am afraid that our topics of conversation more often focused on the Chicago Bears or Bulls than on millennialism or supra-lapsarianism!

-Douglas J. Moo, “Translation in New Testament Commentaries,” On the Writing of New Testament Commentaries: Festschrift for Grant R. Osborne on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday (ed. Stanley E. Porter and Eckhard J. Schnabel; Texts and Editions for New Testament Study 8; Leiden: Brill, 2013), 57.

On the Writing of New Testament Commentaries: Festschrift for Grant R. Osborne

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OsborneIt’s a pleasure to watch a godly scholar honored with and genuinely surprised by a Festschrift. (A Festschrift is a collection of writings published in honor of a scholar.) That’s what happened to Grant Osborne on November 14, 2012, in Milwaukee at the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society.

A few hundred people filled up a convention room to hear a 2.5-hour session on “Writing and Reading Commentaries,” but right out of the gate Eckhard Schnabel revealed the surprise that it was primarily a time to present a Festschrift to Grant Osborne. And it was moving to watch Grant receive a standing ovation from admiring peers and former students.

Here’s info on the Festschrift:

OsborneFsStanley E. Porter and Eckhard J. Schnabel, eds. On the Writing of New Testament Commentaries: Festschrift for Grant R. Osborne on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday. Texts and Editions for New Testament Study 8. Leiden: Brill, 2013.

It’s ridiculously expensive, but it’s definitely worth owning. (You can view it in Google Books.) [Read more…] about On the Writing of New Testament Commentaries: Festschrift for Grant R. Osborne

“Explosion of Biblical Knowledge”

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This is both exciting and daunting:

“We are part of the greatest explosion of biblical knowledge in history. Never before has so much been discovered and published in the same generation. For virtually every book of the Bible major projects are coming to light, and commentaries benefiting from them are being written.”

– Grant R. Osborne, “Recent Trends in the Study of the Apocalypse,” in The Face of New Testament Studies: A Survey of Recent Research (ed. Scot McKnight and Grant R. Osborne; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), p. 473.

This is exciting because there are so many fresh advances in biblical studies, yet this is daunting because it seems impossible to master all aspects of biblical studies, let alone one of them! Biblical scholars and scholars-in-training, however, need not get discouraged. Their responsibility is to be faithful stewards of God’s manifold grace in order to glorify Him. Cf. 1 Peter 4:10–11 (NET):

“Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”

Osborne on Preaching Figures of Speech

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Grant R. Osborne ends his section “Figures of Speech” with some concluding advice for preachers (The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation [2d ed.; Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2006], 130, emphasis added):

Figures of speech are especially rich sources of imagery. While the discussion primarily has centered on the hermeneutical aspects, I want to note also their value for the sermon. It is my contention that some of the best illustrations come not just from cute stories or clever repartee but from the text itself and specifically from the background behind figurative language. Ricoeur’s view of the world-referential value of metaphor is helpful in reminding us that our task is to immerse the audience not merely in entertaining anecdotes but in the Word itself. We are to help our congregation to live anew the message God has revealed in the text and to feel its power to change their situation as well. The startling reverberations of meaning inherent in the Bible’s figurative language is the best place to start, for it is alive with powerful, colorful ideas. In recapturing the vitality and forceful presentation of the language, we will help our listeners to place themselves in the shoes of the original hearers and both to relive and to apply anew that eternal message. Every figure of speech is an illustration waiting to be unlocked. All we have to do is contextualize the metaphor for our day, and it will be an exciting illustration.

Osborne on Bible Study

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“The big problem with Bible study today is that we think it should be easier than other things we do. We study recipes for quality meals, how-to books for all kinds of things—carpentry, plumbing, automobile maintenance and so on—and read vociferously for our hobbies. Why do we think the Bible is the only subject we should not have to study?! Let me challenge you—make the Bible your hobby. At one level I do not like the analogy; the Bible must be so much more than a hobby! But at another level, what if we spent as much time and money on Bible study as we do our hobbies? What if we took the same amount we spend on golf clubs and courses or on skiing equipment and skiing trips, and put it into Bible study? Yes, encyclopedias, commentaries and other reference materials are expensive. But so is everything we do. The question is about priorities: what is important enough for our time and money? I want to encourage you to get and use the tools that enable us to bridge the gap back to Bible times and authorial intention.”

–Grant R. Osborne, The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (2d ed.; Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2006), 25.