Welcome, welcome welcome to the Biblioblog Carnival for May 2017, a round up of, if not the best of biblical studies on the world wide web of information, then at least the stuff I thought was interesting. Here at the carnival there are rides and games of chance, performers and daredevils (and regular devils, too). The bearded woman's here (she's Calvanist, obviously). There are thrills and spills and delights around every new corner. Take your time. Stroll down the midway and enjoy the sights.
OT
OT
And the Main Point of the Old Testament Is… - Pete
Enns: TLDR : Land.
Four Completely Different Versions of the Story of Moses –
by Mark Oliver at Ancient Origins:
The story of Moses doesn’t just show up in the Bible. In the
ancient world, nearly every culture had their own version of what happened. The
Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans all had their own way of explaining why
thousands of people left Egypt to live in Jerusalem. The Moses you know, who
performed miracles and freed the Jewish slaves from Egypt, is just one version
of the story. There are others – and they paint a completely different picture
from the one you’ve heard
Our discussion is all about the mystery of Israel’s origins.
And it is a mystery. The exodus and conquest of Canaan (Exodus through Joshua)
are central to Israel’s identity, and are certainly informed by old traditions
and authentic historical memory—but they not historical accounts in the modern
sense. How and when, historically speaking, Israel stepped out onto the world
stage is a huge mystery, though we have some clues to piece together a
compelling picture.
Why 1st and 2nd Kings? By Lester
Grabbe:
…the first story in 1 Kings has many incredible elements. This did not incline me to reject the existence of Solomon as a historical person (as it did some), but it suggested that much of what we find in the Bible about Solomon is not history.
Love this scene from the end of the book of Leviticus from the 14th C Coburg Pentateuch Add MS 19776 #HebrewProject https://t.co/HZriOuhjPD pic.twitter.com/0pvtFa9FFw— BL Hebrew Project (@BL_HebrewMSS) May 22, 2017
On the Characteristics of Hebrew Poetry - by Bob MacDonald at Dust
Saying this in non-musical language is nearly impossible. My
overall thesis is that the use of the accents defines poetic structure (and
prose also) beyond the scope of the line and beyond the scope of the verse. As
I have noted elsewhere, this thesis contradicts claims made over the past 1000
years in the literature on the accents, notably from Wickes in his treatises
from the 19th century. Two excellent examples are Psalm 96, where the accents
define the scope of the stanzas so clearly, and from the prose books, the
lament of David over the death of Saul and Jonathan. I can only illustrate
these with the music, which to a musician is so much clearer than any list of
accents would tell us.
INTER T
Between Mesopotamia and Qumran: Cuneiform Literature and Jewish AramaicTexts of the Second Temple Period - Henryk Drawnel at Ancient Jew Review:
Between Mesopotamia and Qumran: Cuneiform Literature and Jewish AramaicTexts of the Second Temple Period - Henryk Drawnel at Ancient Jew Review:
Thus, Jewish priestly education inherited from the Babylonian lexical lists some numerical schemes based on the sexagesimal counting system (i.e., a numerical system with sixty as its base), and the Levitical author presented it as part of priestly knowledge. Once Levi learns how to prepare the holocaust offering and accompanying meal offering together with the fraction notations (14–61), then in his wisdom poem (82–98) he instructs his children/students not to neglect the study of scribal craft (88, 90, 98). The priestly education system is characterized as belonging to the scribal type of knowledge, which indicates a strong Babylonian background and a clear link with the pseudepigraphic book of 1 Enoch
In this volume of collected articles—most of them published
previously in a variety of scholarly venues, though updated here—Loren
Stuckenbruck of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, takes the reader on
a detailed exploration of the birth and early history of this legend as
attested in ancient Judaism and earliest Christianity. There are few, if any,
as capable of guiding this tour, and though these individual studies were not
originally intended to be read as part of a comprehensive account, readers of this
book will come away with a rich understanding of the myth of the fallen,
rebellious angels and their offspring as understood in ancient Judaism and
Christianity.
NT
Jesus Never Said by Scott Fritzsche at Unsettled Christianity:
An argument from silence is a rhetorical device designed to be a convincing argument in a simple and straight forward way. It often, on the surface, is. There are numerous inherent flaws in an argument form silence however. This becomes important in theology as arguments from silence are, and have been, used to try and form persuasive arguments as well as having become part of the basis for theological stances.
“E.P. Sanders on Paul’s Life, Letters, and Thought” by Michael F. Bird – at Euangelion:
I love this line on Galatians: “The best way to comprehend
Galatians is to read it out aloud, shouting in an angry voice at the
appropriate points” (475).
Review: Sacrificial Giving in Philippians – by Ken Schneck
at Common Denominator:
The chapter begins with a very brief run through the rhetorical structure of Philippians with a view to possible sacrificial metaphors. Patterson's claim is that these sacrificial metaphors are more than "rhetorical flourishes" but are "a tool of active thought" (113). She wishes to show that "the shelamim sacrifices (sacrifices of thanksgiving) constitute a pattern of offering that Paul applies metaphorically and imaginatively as a guide for the actions of the Philippians" (86).
EARLY CHURCH / TALMUD
What the Gemara does not point out, but struck
me as remarkable, is that the Torah portion that lays out the rule for levirate
marriage comes in Deuteronomy, while the story of Zelophehad’s daughters is in
Numbers, which of course precedes Deuteronomy in the Five Books of Moses. In
other words, the rabbis envision Moses possessing a complete Torah while the
events the Torah recounts are still taking place. While he is wandering the
wilderness, in Numbers, he can consult the law code he will not actually
deliver to the Israelites until years later, in Deuteronomy.
ARCHAEOLOGY
The chapter begins with a very brief run through the rhetorical structure of Philippians with a view to possible sacrificial metaphors. Patterson's claim is that these sacrificial metaphors are more than "rhetorical flourishes" but are "a tool of active thought" (113). She wishes to show that "the shelamim sacrifices (sacrifices of thanksgiving) constitute a pattern of offering that Paul applies metaphorically and imaginatively as a guide for the actions of the Philippians" (86).
And the Sea Will Be No More – at Jesus Creed
In some discussions of a Christian view of creation much has
been made of the phrase “it was good” in Genesis 1 repeated in verses
3,9,12,18,21. In verse 31 we have the summary: God saw all that he had
made, and it was very good. One can, of course, take the position that the
image of the sea as chaos and the denizens of the deep as creatures of terror
are a result of the fall. Prior to Genesis 3 they were “good” in an
idyllic sense. If there had been no fall, they’d be good and tame yet. But
we still have a problem in scripture – at least if we take a literal
approach as preferred and assume a motif of creation, fall, redemption, and
restoration. Revelation does not really depict a restoration of an idyllic
primeval garden or the reestablished perfect creation of Genesis 1.
Kevin McKissick, M.Div student at Grand Rapids Theological
Seminary, reviews The Apostle Paul and the Christian Life, edited by Scot
McKnight and Joseph B. Modica.
Wait. What? … We don’t need to blacken Simon’s character,
but it’s totally cool to call the woman a whore even if there’s no evidence of
it in the text? We can construct an entire narrative around her life as a
prostitute, and her expensive oil that could only have been purchased through
her elicit [sic] activity, but let’s make sure we don’t disparage the man in
the room — the one who is totally missing the message of Jesus, who is over
there looking down on this woman in his heart, playing at the pretense of
hospitality with no real love behind it, withholding the lavishness of his love
and worship while this woman lets it all out?
Ascension Day: pic.twitter.com/WQk3OEMuHV— Christian Humor (@ChurchyFun) May 25, 2017
EARLY CHURCH / TALMUD
Here’s the big picture: Those educated today in typical
schools learn to think in what is called the historical-critical method. That
is, students in theology and Bible are taught to think like a historian, to
think critically over against the received traditions, and to base their
theology on the evidence (the Bible). The goal, then, is to determine the
intent of the author. They are taught not so much to say What does God say in
Matthew 5:17-20 but instead, What does the author of Matthew intend to communicate
with this text in his historical (Jewish) context?
That form of interpretation is not 1st Century and derives
from developments following the Renaissance and the Enlightenment and,
ironically enough, the interplay of tradition and history in the orthodox-fundamentalist
vs. the who-cares-about-the-orthodox and modernist stream of thinking.
Jesus, the apostles and the early church did not read the
Bible in the historical-critical method.
The Date of Thomas – by Jonathan Bernier at Critical Realism
and the New Testament:
Now, let me be clear: I'm not arguing that Thomas' Gospel
should be dated c. 60. The above is a hypothesis, one which at this point I
neither affirm nor reject. I have not yet thought through the issue
sufficiently to reach a final judgment. But one who would undertake to argue
that many of the texts of the New Testament canon are notably earlier than
typically supposed cannot in principle exclude the possibility that the same is
the case for some of the New Testament apocrypha. It is thus incumbent upon me
to explore such possibilities, considering and vetting hypotheses for such
earlier dates. Any other procedure would run the risk of special pleading.
The Talmud’s Hot Tub Time Machine by Adam Kirsch at
Tabletmag
The Days of Tribulation in the Apocalypse of Elijah – by Phil
Long at Reading Acts
The Apocalypse of Elijah is not strictly speaking an
apocalypse. It is strongly influenced by the book of Revelation, especially
11:1-12 (the appearance of two witnesses in Jerusalem). There are dozens of
possible ways to interpret the two witnesses, from literal people (Elijah and
Moses, Elijah and Enoch) to figurative (the Old and New Testament, two
volcanoes, etc.) The book does not contain any of the sorts of things we expect
in a true apocalypse: heavenly journeys, thinly veiled reviews of history,
revelation of mysterious secret knowledge, or angelic guides. Coptic
translations of a Greek original of the Apocalypse date to the fourth century.
The book is clearly dependent on Revelation and appears to quote 1 John 2:18. A
date of the mid-second century seems probable (OTP 1:730). If the book was a
Christian re-working of a Jewish original, then some material may be still
older (There is a Hebrew Apocalypse of Elijah which may stand in the background
of the book, but no one has systematically studied the possibility of a Hebrew
to Greek to Coptic translation). The book may reflect an Egyptian Christianity,
but this is far from clear.
ARCHAEOLOGY
Dear Mr. President, You Really Should Have Gone To Visit Masada – by Sarah Bond at Forbes Magazine:
Reports came last week that President Donald Trump would
avoid visiting the ancient site of Masada in the Judaean desert during his trip
to the Middle East because his helicopter was not allowed to land on the sacred
ground there. Here is why the site is important and why President Trump should
have walked or taken the cable car to the top--just like everyone else.
Numismatic Report – by David Hendin – at The Ancient Near
East Today:
Readers of Israeli newspapers and archaeology blogs for the
last few years have seen a notable uptick in the number of coin finds reported
by “good Samaritans” (both Israelis and tourists) and turned into the Israel
Antiquities Authority (IAA), as well as some newsworthy numismatic finds at
licensed excavations. This led The Ancient Near East Today to ask me to
look into the finds and their importance, as well as other numismatic
discoveries in or related to Israel. I recently returned from Israel, where I
talked with numismatic scholars, officials of the Israel Antiquities Authority,
licensed antiquity dealers, and collectors. Here is my report.
Two Recent Books on Coins – Larry Hurdato:
In light of the recent day-session on “Coins and the Bible”
here, I want to note two recent books.
Coins were a regular medium for kings and administrators to promote
themselves and their regimes. Coins were
also sometimes minted to celebrate military victories. Coinage is one important part of the
“material culture” of the ancient world.
The metals used, the use of images and writing, the places where coins
were minted, all these things and more contribute to historical understanding
of the period in which they were minted.
Thousands of artifacts are being stolen every year and
making their way into Jewish hands, yet the Israeli division responsible for
theft prevention has just one inspector to cover 2,600 sites
Behaviour is deeply embedded within individual cultural
psyches, reinforced by the social groups. As children we are taught to say
please and thank you, or to refer to our elders with special terminology to
infer respect. In British society, certain behaviour is encouraged and
considered polite - eating with a knife and fork, keeping your elbows off the
table - standard parental ways to help children understand what is expected of
them socially.
CHURCH &
THEOLOGIANS & BIBLE
Farewelling Well - Scott McKnight:
We Evangelicals have a 500-year history of dividing over all
sorts of issues ranging from modes of baptism to the color of the carpets in
our sanctuary – even (maybe even especially!) with our fellow Protestants.
While there is a pastoral responsibility to inquire with love about a leaver’s
spiritual health, what happens if you discover that the one moving to another
faith tradition is doing so because their faith is growing, and that growth has
shifted their faith out of your particular stream?
… his progressive views have garnered no shortage of
controversy. Conservative pastor Tim Keller has gone so far as to say that he’s
not sure whether George MacDonald was even a Christian. However, despite all
the accusations brought against him, I’ve never heard anyone call George
MacDonald an open theist. Of course that would technically be anachronistic, as
the term open theism didn’t come into use until the late twentieth century, but
my point is that I’ve not heard his beliefs compared to what open theists
believe about God and the settledness of the future.
It is rare that archival research makes the national
news. Jeffrey Alan Miller’s
identification of a draft of a portion of the King James Bible hit the
headlines in October 2015: not only was it the earliest known draft, but was
uniquely a draft written by the hand of one of the translators, who was known
by name. The notebook in which Miller
found this work – Sidney Sussex College, MS Ward B – had belonged to Samuel
Ward (1572-1643), Master of the College from 1610 until his death. Eighteen months after the discovery, the
notebook has been digitised in full and published on the Cambridge Digital
Library, in the latest instance of an ongoing collaboration between the
University Library and the Cambridge Colleges to make archival and manuscript
material available online.
Augustine’s reading is what many Christians believe Paul
actually said, and which is why Augustine’s notion of “original sin” is
defended with such uncompromising vehemence as the “biblical” teaching. But
neither Romans nor Genesis or the Old Testament supports the idea.
A Hermeneutical Parable: The Frog of the Gospel and the Lily Pond of Narrative – by Andrew Perriman:
Matthew Bates’ book Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and
the Gospel of Jesus the King is just one straw in a strong wind blowing out of
biblical studies, driving us away from theological towards narrative
constructions of Christian identity and purpose. In my view, this is an
exhilarating and necessary development, but Matthew’s book, for all its merits,
has highlighted a fundamental shortcoming. Because evangelicals naturally want
to retain the direct practical application of the “gospel”, evangelical
narrative theologies exhibit a consistent tendency to leapfrog history.
Jesus said, "I am the #Covfefe of life. All who cov and fefe in me shall have eternal life."— Unvirtuous Abbey (@UnvirtuousAbbey) May 31, 2017
How odd then, that the man who believed in spiritual
perfection of the saints as one full of grace would remove this article? Odd or
completely in line with Wesley’s thinking? I think Wesley got tired of the
elevation of bishops clearly undeserving of blessing the sacrament. It was a
new world, with no episcopal jurisdictions, yet, Wesley was laying the ground
for a kingdom of priests, without sin.
"It has never been good for anyone—including (and
particularly) Martin Luther—to look too frequently or lengthily or seriously or
systematically at demons (who for Luther were usually compressed into the
single figure of the Devil.) It does not make the slightest impression on the
demons if we do so, and there is the imminent danger that in so doing we
ourselves might become just a little or more than a little demonic."
Inerrancy and Textual Criticism by P.J. Williams at
Evangelical Textual Criticism
My basic thesis is that inerrancy may only be used as a
secondary criterion for the original reading. It cannot be used to overturn
strong external support or to support conjecture.
15 Reasons Open Theism Is True by Dan Kent at ReKnew
Recently, Andrew Wilson shared an impressive critique of
open theism called: “Responding To Open Theism In Fourteen Words.” Andrew’s
article didn’t persuade me, but it did challenge me (seriously!). Below I will
respond to each of the words Andrew presents. But first I will add one word of
my own (if Andrew gets 14 words, I should get at least 1, right?). The word I
want to add to the discussion is “Holy.”
HUMOR &
WEIRD
The Life of Francis at Existential Comics: Francis Bacon Meets Jesus by way of Brian.
If Jesus was predestined to be crucified, would that be a pre-existing condition, which means no health care for Jesus? #ACARepeal— Unvirtuous Abbey (@UnvirtuousAbbey) May 4, 2017
Taking inspiration from grim Hollywood reboots like Man of
Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, B&H Kids announced Tuesday
that it would be relaunching the Bibleman series of superhero stories in a dark
and gritty resurrection of the purple-and-gold caped crusader.
Jim Bakker says Colbert Is Provoking Anti Trump Violence -
KimKierkegaard:
Enjoy how you look now because you're not getting any younger. The most painful state of living is remembering the future.— KimKierkegaardashian (@KimKierkegaard) May 13, 2017
Dr. Demonology:
When you're too damned weird for the Church of Satan https://t.co/rqrnEHvbJe— Dr. Demonology (@DrDemonology) May 22, 2017
Begats: The Most Boring Parts of the Bible at Lousy Book
Covers
Frying Pans, Forks and Fever: Medieval Book Curses at Medieval
Manuscripts Blog
Trump in Bible Prophecy
by William Tapley, the Third Eagle of the Apocalypse and Co-Prophet of
the End Times
When Theology and Lousy Book Covers Meet at Lousy Book Covers
Never let an overworked grad student write your indexes. | @micahtilman pic.twitter.com/DhhXp5aqXf— Academia Obscura (@AcademiaObscura) May 27, 2017
OTHER STUFF
Mormon Scholars Debate Joseph Smith’s Role in Translation –
Jana Reiss at Religion News Service:
At the end of the day, no one had come up with a Grand Unified Theory about how Joseph Smith translated, but we had raised some important issues that show the inadequacies of the old model (Smith translating from one language to another without any of his own input, or what Skousen called the “tight control” model).
The Book of Mormon is a wholly American Scripture. It is the
sacred text for the 15 million-strong Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. It’s the calling card for thousands of missionaries, and part of the
inspiration for a Tony award-winning Broadway musical. But rarely has the book,
on its own merits, been considered a genuine work of art. That’s changing, as
American literary scholars embrace it as worthy of attention. In 2012, during
the waning days of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and the nation’s
so-called “Mormon moment,” literature professors were on the cusp of their own
“Book of Mormon moment.” For the first time, studies of the Book of Mormon’s
literary qualities were appearing in major journals of American literary
studies. Literature courses that prominently featured the Book of Mormon
started to appear with more frequency in secular university course catalogues.
Now the text, first published in 1830 and once derided as “a fiction of
hob-goblins and bugbears,” is being parsed by non-Mormon students across the
country, with literature scholars breaking more than a century of professional
silence on the book.
St.
Athanasius:
“The world is against you, Athanasius!”— Orthodox Faith (@since33) May 2, 2017
”Then I am against the world." + St Athanasius (commemorated May 2) pic.twitter.com/uxSKTOUP3J
Stephan Huller spent hours compiling all the bad things that
scholars have observed about Epiphanius's reliability as a historical witness.
"But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, but don't make it too good cause, you know..." Luke 14:13 https://t.co/hj334dvuNX— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) May 9, 2017
Today is the feast of Gregory of Nazianzus. Of Christ's full humanity, he said "that which He has not assumed He has not healed." pic.twitter.com/4hoRHzCPIE— Thomas McKenzie (@thomasmckenzie) May 9, 2017
Oh, and by-the-by, Jim West is hosting his own so-called "Avignonian Carnival." You can visit there if you like, but don't feel like you have to, or anything. I mean, if you do you're likely to see him wearing plaids - two different plaids. How uncouth.
FUTURE CARNIVALS
If you would like to host the Biblioblog Carnival in the near future (and I recommend that you do) contact Phil Long:
June 2017 (Due July 1) - VOLUNTEER NEEDED
July 2017 (Due August 1) - Reuben Rus, Ayuda Ministerial/Resourcesfor Ministry
August 2017 (Due September 1) - Jason
Gardner, eis doxan,
October 2017 (November 1) - VOLUNTEER NEEDED
November 2017 (December 1) - Jim
West, Zwingli Redivivus
@Pontifex looks like he just read Trump's budget. pic.twitter.com/MT3GHWPOa5— ChurchSnob (@ChurchSnob) May 24, 2017
