The Carnival is In Town!

Summer is the time for reading and books and more books and more reading.  Consequently, the carnival is all about books this month:

Old Testament

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I’ve forgotten his name but he’s written a good piece on Brueggemann’s Theology (and, by the way, did you know that Chris Tilling’s favorite OT Theologian is B?  It’s a fact).  Somebody else wrote a review of Jacob Wright’s David that you’ll want to take a gander at.  Jacob’s book was popular (because it’s very good).  Bryan Lewis also reviewed it. Phil Long did a review of  Gabriele Boccaccini and Jason M. Zurawski, Interpreting 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch.  Those books are in the Pseudepigrapha.  They aren’t by NT Wright though his followers would have you think they were.

New Testament

*****

Not a review, but I mentioned Stephen Carlson’s forthcoming study of the text of Galatians.

 Matt Montinionionion brought to our attention a flurry of new resources for the study of Mark.  He calls them exciting.  Psshhhaawww.  If it were John it would be exciting.  But Mark?  Pssshhhaawwww.  Matt also brought to our attention a new book by Frank Moloney.

Mike Aubrey had an interesting discussion of Greek grammar based on a look at BDF.  Very nicely done and meticulous too.

Bill Varner wrote a review of a Craig Evans book on, hold on to your hat, Jesus!  I’ve not read Evans’ book, but Bill makes me want to.  Jenny ‘From the Block’ Guo also reviewed a book about Jesus.  5 Views of Jesus.   Shawn Wilhite reviewed David Crump’s ‘Encountering Jesus’.  He makes it sound like a great read.

Dave Jenkins reviewed a book about Christ.  A book about Christ… that’s unusual…  And Geoff has reviewed a couple of books about Paul…  Books about Paul… that’s unusual…  Wait, stop the presses- there’s yet another book on Jesus…  Nick Norelli is toying with Bart Ehrman’s ‘How Jesus Became God’.  LeDonne interviewed the author of ‘The Nonviolent Messiah’.  You’ll want to read it.  Because it’s still another Jesus book.

Larry Hurtado had a few things to say about a book on the development of worship of Christ.  As always, whatever Larry writes it’s worth reading.  Larry also revealed that his review of NT Wright’s sequel to everything he’s already written on Paul is out.  Wright’s book is also discussed by Andrew Wilson who is rather pleased with Simon Gathercole’s review of the same.

And Paul… Again…. There’s another review of another book about Paul, this one by Carl Sweatman and the author of the book reviewed is some guy named Chris Tilling.  It’s funny how there can be so many people with the same name- because the only Chris Tilling I know is a guy always in such trouble I can’t imagine he would have time to write.  And on Paul again… Spinti.

Cliff Kvidahl did a neat review of a book on Hebrews (which wasn’t, thankfully, written by Paul).  It’s quite a technical book, but since everyone who visits here is super smart (as evidenced by the fact that they visit here), it will be fun for you.

You’d think that the New Testament only consisted of Gospels and a few letters of Paul.  It seems that many biblical scholars have their own ‘canon within the canon’ and they’re even more narrowly defined and restrictive than your granny’s.  Enough books on Paul have been written to annoy people for 1000 years.  Let’s write about something else, shall we?

Dead Sea Scrolls

*****

No books or resources related to the Scrolls were discussed anywhere on the entire internet all month.

Archaeology

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No books or resources related to archaeology were discussed anywhere on the entire internet all month.

Miscellaneous

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Joel Watts reviewed the 14th volume in of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s ‘How to Kill a Tyrant’ Works.  Take a look (and by all means, don’t allow my personal disdain [contempt, loathing, disgust] with Bonhoeffer to dissuade you from reading what he wrote).  James Spinti, long time Bonhoefferian and has a few observations on the Bonhoeffer the Serial Killer (or some similar title) book recently out by Metaxes.  Chad Chambers had some thoughts on Lincoln Harvey’s book on the theology of sports.  I’d like to read Lincoln’s book but who has time with all the sports on tv to watch.  Yay soccer! Ken S. announced a new book on Philo (of Alexandria, not on ‘love’).  Ken’s a Dean, so, there’s that.

This book sounds really interesting and gross at the same time.  “Blood examines this question through the emergence of the Christian community of blood. Christianity, in its traumatic history, became a hemophilic cult. “Each and every Christian was transformed into a vessel of Christ’s blood, a blood the devout were given to drink en masse” (90). The mystical body of Christ, through the “eucharistic matrix,” became the visible body of the church, and the difference between bloods, a wholly new partition, was initiated. This body and those other bodies, enemy bodies, contain different bloods.”  All of which makes me go hmmmmmm….

And now- for something completely different…  a book on prayer… by people I’ve never heard of on a blog I’ve only read a half a time.  Enjoy!  Enjoy this one too- about why Church history matters.

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Well that’s it for this month.  Tune in next month when everything is all about Zurich and the Conference at the University there.  Until then, take a few moments and read this delightful Poem from China about books-

Mine was a trading family
Living in Nan-Hao district for a hundred years.
I was the first to become a scholar,
Our house being without a single book.
Applying myself for a full decade,
I set my heart on building a collection.
Though not fully stocked with minor writings,
Of major works, I have nearly everything:
Classics, history, philosophy, belles-lettres—
Nothing lacking from the heritage of the past.
Binding up the volumes one by one in red covers,
I painstakingly sew them by hand.
When angry, I read and become happy;
When sick, I read and am cured.
Piled helter-skelter in front of me,
Books have become my life.
The people of the past who wrote these tomes,
If not sages, were certainly men of great wisdom.
Even without opening their pages,
Joy comes to me just fondling them.
As for my foolish family, they can’t be helped;
Their hearts are set on money alone.
If a book falls on the floor, they don’t pick it up;
What do they care if they get dirty or tattered?
I’ll do my best by these books all my days,
And die not leaving a single one behind.
There are some readers among my friends—
To them I’ll give them all away.
Better that than have my unworthy sons
Haul them off to turn into cash.