Yesterday I received my copy (for review in European Journal of Theology) of Greg Beale and D.A. Carson’s (eds) Commentary on the NT Use of the Old Testament (Baker/Apollos, 2007).  Here are my initial thoughts. + It looks slick and that always helps.  You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but when it looks this nice, it is inviting and really draws attention to itself. + The scholars for this are really good evangelical guys who know their stuff... Read more

The NIDB is the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible is a five-volume set (two currently released) from Abingdon (2006-?) which supposedly covers every major person, place, and topic in the Bible with an emphasis on theological concepts and based on the NRSV.  It is/will be written by 900 scholars from 40 countries and across a wide range of denominations and christian affiliations.  What is distinctive about it is that it is geared towards the pastor/rabbi – and the presentation... Read more

I have noticed a burgeoning interest in the post I made earlier on the FS for Alan Segal and Larry Hurtado entitled Israel’s God and Rebecca’s Children which covers the broad topics of Christology and community in early Judaism and early Christianity. In the next several days I will blog about particularly interesting chapters. Today I will cover Paula Fredriksen’s chapter on methodology in the study of Christian origins entitled ‘Mandatory Retirement: Ideas in the Study of Christian Origins Whose... Read more

Some fellow NT postgrads here at Durham were discussing possible ideas for future articles (that we hope one day to publish) and we came upon the question of what journal(s) to aim for (with journals specifically interested in New Testament, but not limited to just NT [e.g., may include OT, 2nd Temple Judaism, early Christianity, etc…]). I have my own ideas of what is out there and which are ‘the best’, but I hope this can turn into a conversation... Read more

I just read about the summer (July 08 ) release of the edited volume Cosmology and New Testament Theology (eds. S. McDonough and J. Pennington; Edinburgh: T & T Clark). I studied under Sean McDonough at Gordon-Conwell and he is a brilliant and humble scholar and I am excited to see more of his work in print (Amazon has the full text already online HERE). The cast of contributors include mostly younger scholars, but ones that have already developed weighty... Read more

Slated for November 2008 (just in time for SBL) is a festschrift in honor of Richard B. Hays on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Never before have a seen a longer or more prestigious list of contributors: Click on the pic for a link to Eerdmans Dale C. Allison Jr. Gary A. Anderson John M. G. Barclay Markus Bockmuehl Douglas A. Campbell Stephen B. Chapman Brian E. Daley Ellen F. Davis James D. G. Dunn Susan G. Eastman Bruce... Read more

They have a recent festschrift in honor of them – in the same book!  The title of the book is Israel’s God and Rebecca’s Children: Christology and COmmunity in Early Judaism and Christianity. They co-founded a scholarly club that relates to christology (which made it into SBL/AAR).  What is amazing is the number of scholars of high caliber who wanted to participate in this FS. Here is a sampling of some of the essay titles I found interesting (I am... Read more

For those of you like me who are working on a doctorate, you probably dreamed in seminary/undergrad what it would be like to be at a top-notch institution and eavesdrop on great conversations and soak in every bit of wisdom and knowledge that drips from the glory of today’s best scholars (OK, now it is quite obvious I had no life in seminary…).  Well, my dream was colored by New Testament studies and especially the Apostle Paul.  Yesterday I got... Read more

Biblical scholars love to read commentaries.  That is just true.  We love to buy the one’s by our favorite authors.  We like to have them lining our shelves.  We pride ourselves in getting them cheap when we can. But…sometimes we get bored of commentaries.  Nothing new under the sun kinda thing.  Same old issues rehashed.  Same format and style.  Same conclusions. Well, be prepared for a breath of fresh air with Joel Green’s work on 1 Peter.  It is a... Read more

Through the ‘wordpress’ analysis functions I can see what people search on google (or whatever) in order to eventually make it to my blog.  I noticed that today someone found their way to my blog simply by typing in the words ‘wise scholar’ into a search engine.  Whoever you are…thank you… Read more