A few years ago, when Richard Hays was in Durham (UK) for a special lecture, he told a group of us that he is knee-deep in a Gospels book and has basically turned down further offers to talk about Paul – he has spent decades studying Paul (to all of our benefit!) and is excited about researching the use of Scripture in the Gospels. Well, I was also pleased to see the soon-coming release (July 2012) of a book he... Read more

The latest issue of Interpretation focuses on the book of Acts with excellent contributions by folks like Carl Holladay, Kavin Rowe, Robert Tannehill, Loveday Alexander, and Pamela Hedrick. This is one worth checking out! Read more

I am currently reviewing the FS Celebrating Paul (honoring Fitzmyer & Murphy-O’Connor) for a journal and after reading through the eclectic set of essays, I wondered: what do you say in a review? Space does not really permit in-depth discussion of the 19 essays (400+ pages). There is obviously no central thesis. Each contributor makes his or her own argument towards an issue in Paul’s letters. So, I went looking for examples. I went on the RBL page and looked at various reviews of Festschriften. Basically, everyone... Read more

The latest HBT is now online here. It is very OT/HB heavy this issue, FYI. Read more

I love Jimmy Dunn – he is one of the reasons I went to Durham (2006-2009). I love Jimmy’s wit and intellect, which always shine through in his lectures and writings. Recently, Jimmy reviewed M. de Boer’s Galatians commentary (WJK) in RBL, offering a gracious and also incisive critique. Check it out. Read more

Bake has some discounts in e-books for the month of June -including Biblical studies books such as P.S. Williamson’s commentary on Ephesians. See here (I think most of these books will show the discount from June 5th on).For TODAY ONLY (June 4), Baker is giving away for free the theology title Death and Afterlife: A Theological Introduction by Terence Nichols.(after today it will just be discounted)  In Nichols’ book he treats the afterlife in early Judaism, NT, and the Christian tradition. He also looks... Read more

This information has been circulating for a while, but I recently saw it on Facebook and it gave me so much pleasure. Apparently when Tolkien’s publisher wished to open The Hobbit to a German audience, the German press they were to coordinate with requested disclosure of Tolkien’s Aryan (“arisch”) background. In 1938, he wrote this exquisite response. 25 July 1938 20 Northmoor Road, Oxford Dear Sirs, Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what... Read more

Seneca (the Younger) wrote a letter to Lucilius on masters and slaves. I find this fascinating reading (1) for better understanding how slaves were treated in general in the Roman world and (2) since Seneca encourages kindness, fairness, and friendship with slaves in a way that is not dissimilar to Paul (though without the religious focus). In this “letter 47,” Seneca makes dozens of very good and even persuasive points, but some of his points are downright hilarious. For example,... Read more

See here. I have been eagerly waiting for this issue to come out because I have a small piece in here on mirror-reading. I owe a huge, huge debt to one of my Doktorvatern, John M.G. Barclay, for his care in historical method and this article (as noted in the first footnote) is dedicated to him. Also, I am deeply grateful for Simon Gathercole’s editorial comments and recommendations. He also happened to be my external examiner for my thesis back... Read more

In recent years we have seen a number of commentaries on 1 Corinthians – Fitmyzer in 2008, Ciampa/Rosner in 2010, and now Pheme Perkins in 2012 (Paideia; Baker). I would say, though, based on the aims of the Paideia series and the relative (short) length of the commentary, it does not make the kind of major contribution to Pauline scholarship that Fitmyzer or Ciampa/Rosner have done. Rather, the Paideia series seeks to “enable students to understand each book of the... Read more