Tag: reviews

Hearing the Message of Scripture: Obadiah, Reviewed

HMS Obadiah by Block

At less than 400 Hebrew words, Obadiah is shorter than many Words on the Word blog posts, including this one. But its literary and rhetorical sophistication is by no means lessened by its length. Obadiah is the prophetical incarnation of the axiom, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” Or, in Obadiah’s case, “Brevity is the soul of calling out Edom and declaring God’s restoration of Jacob.”

Earlier this year Zondervan published the first two volumes of a new Old Testament commentary series, Hearing the Message of Scripture (HMS). If you want a brief overview of the series, I’ve posted about it here. Daniel I. Block is author of Obadiah: The Kingship Belongs to YHWH, as well as the general editor of HMS. I’ve had a chance to carefully work my way through the inaugural Obadiah volume, and review it in this post.

Block’s Introduction to Obadiah

The Introduction consists of three primary parts:

  1. Historical Background to Obadiah’s Prophecies–outlining some options for dating the book’s composition, as well as describing the historical setting of Obadiah’s oracles.
  2. Obadiah’s Rhetorical Aims and Strategy–the largest section in the introduction, with an excellent definition of “prophet,” as well as the idea that “Obadiah’s rhetorical aim was to rebuild his audience’s hope in the eternal promises of God.”
  3. The Structure of Obadiah—here Block outlines the book, the “climax” of which is highlighted by the “marked structure” of verse 17a (“But on Mount Zion there shall be an escape…”).

Block later summarizes Obadiah’s style as “terse elevated prose, the style being chosen for maximum rhetorical effect.” After “the climax” of verse 17, the final verse 21 “brings his proclamation to a triumphant conclusion.”

Particularly useful in the introduction was this diagram of the arc of the book, to which I frequently found myself referring:

Block's Plot Summary of Obadiah
Block’s Plot Summary of Obadiah

The Commentary Proper

Hearing the Message of Scripture intends to help its readers “to hear the message of Scripture as biblical authors intended them to be heard.” Obadiah is typeset and laid out quite a lot like Zondervan’s Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series (which I’ve reviewed–several volumes–here). Each passage of Obadiah includes this treatment:

  1. Main Idea of the Passage–a short paragraph overview, good for getting bearings on what the prophet is trying to do.
  2. Literary Context–Block explains the overall flow of Obadiah here and how the passage under consideration fits within the book. This might be the best section in the commentary.
  3. Translation and Outline–the author’s original translation and spacing of the text.
  4. Structure and Literary Form–this looks especially at the rhetorical aims of Obadiah in a given passage.
  5. Explanation of the Text–the longest section of each passage, and the bulk of the commentary.

Block divides the commentary into five “chapters” (8-14 pages each) that follow the five sections of his structural outline.

A good example of the kind of rhetorical analysis Block does appears in his comment on the first verse of Obadiah:

Obadiah’s preference for the name Esau reflects his rhetorical concern. As noted, he is not interested in the political history of Edom or Edom’s economic standing among the nations. To him Edom is a person, the brother of Jacob (vv. 10b, 12a), who shares a common ancestry in the first two patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac, but whose history of violence against his twin brother will finally be answered.

And again, on verse 5:

Obadiah’s penchant for cutting of a thought by inserting an erratic mid-sentence is also evident in v. 5c, “How you have been destroyed!”

One thing I really appreciated about the commentary is Block’s sense of the larger literary context of Scripture. He keeps the parallel Jeremiah 49 in view throughout the commentary, as well as other prophetical literature like Ezekiel and Daniel. Block helps the reader see how Obadiah fits into the larger sweep of the Hebrew Bible. Especially noteworthy is his elaboration of what other prophets in the Hebrew Bible had to say about Edom. As I read the commentary, in other words, I was able to reflect on and learn about much more than just Obadiah.

At the end of the commentary, there is a section called “Canonical and Practical Significance,” in which Block, having worked carefully through Obadiah, draws out some theological implications of the book.

Evaluation of Block’s Obadiah

A few observations, by way of evaluation:

The footnotes serve as an excellent source of references for a given word’s use elsewhere in the Old Testament. Footnotes also keep other versions such as the Vulgate and Septuagint in view.

I found the transliterated Hebrew throughout the book to be distracting. The ZECNT, which in many ways is the NT counterpart to this HMS series, does not transliterate its Greek. It also includes the full Greek text of the New Testament book under consideration, verse-by-verse, so it would have been nice to have had the full Hebrew text of Obadiah reproduced here, as well.The Series Introduction does note that “electronic versions of this commentary series will also include the Hebrew font.”

One intangible I appreciated–the margins are nice and roomy for notes. (I made quite a few to help me process Obadiah as I read.)

In an excellent commentary that is hard to fault for much else, it has an unusually large amount of typos. Many of these occur when the same verses from Obadiah are not consistently translated when they occur in multiple spots in the commentary. I heartily recommend this volume, but would suggest that those interested perhaps wait until the second printing, when corrections can be made.

Though this series aims to focus more on the rhetorical features of Obadiah, there is a good focus throughout Obadiah on the Hebrew syntax. My grammatical knowledge of Hebrew increased just by reading this commentary.

I didn’t fully agree with Block’s interpretation at every turn, but even in such instances I generally found his arguments to be reasonable and well-argued.

Bottom line: this is a really good commentary, and I like this series a lot so far. Even with its lexical, grammatical, and rhetorical details, Hearing the Message of Scripture: Obadiah is an engaging and page-turning read. Block explains the challenging book of Obadiah well at every turn. There are other good commentaries on Obadiah already in print, but pastors especially should start here, and academicians, too, will want to make sure to pick this book up.

You can look at the volume yourself–a sample PDF of Obadiah is here.

I am grateful to Zondervan for the gratis review copy of this commentary, which was offered for an unbiased review. You can find the book on Amazon here. The Zondervan product page is here.

One Year to Better Preaching

One Year to Better Preaching

Here’s a recommended preaching resource for you: One Year to Better Preaching: 52 Exercises to Hone Your Skills, by Daniel Overdorf (Kregel, 2013).

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed the inspiring Preaching in an Age of Distraction. Whereas that book took a largely big picture approach, building on itself chapter by chapter, One Year to Better Preaching contains 52 exercises (plus a few “Bonus Exercises”) that give preachers a tangible, nuts-and-bolts set of practices to engage.

Overdorf wants to help preachers “sharpen preaching skills.” Just “an hour or two of effort” is required for most of these practices, so it’s an easy book to pick up, get right into, and use right away in preparing next week’s sermon.

The 52 exercises can be weekly ones for a year, or can easily be spread out over more than a year. Overdorf wisely suggests that preachers could focus on exercises that help them overcome their particular preaching weaknesses.

To try to achieve a “process similar to cross-training,” the 52 exercises are grouped into eight categories:

  1. Prayer and Preaching
  2. Bible Interpretation
  3. Understanding Listeners
  4. Sermon Construction
  5. Illustration and Application
  6. Word Crafting
  7. The Preaching Event
  8. Sermon Evaluation

Exercises include an introduction and setup to that exercise, a description of the exercise itself, an “I Tried It” testimonial section, and “Resources for Further Study.” A preacher could easily make the benefits of this book stretch out beyond a year.

To take just one example, Exercise Two, “Balance Your Biblical Diet,” suggests that preachers be sure they are preaching from both Testaments and from a variety of literary genres. Overdorf suggests charting out recent sermons to see where they fall, and shows a chart of his last 175 sermons in various biblical genres as an example. As balance in this sense is one of my preaching priorities, I appreciated this section.

Overdorf also makes the welcome suggestion that even a preacher’s illustrations be well-balanced:

Additionally, you may consider charting your recent illustrations. What aspects of life have you used most to illustrate biblical truth? How many illustrations have come from the world of sports? From your family? How many stories have you told from the Civil War, or from popular movies? How often have you quoted Tozer, Bonhoeffer, or your favorite contemporary authors?

Other exercises that I found helpful (and have tried put to use in the pulpit) have been: “Show, Don’t Tell” (on phrasing), “Have Listeners Evaluate You,” “Listen to a Storyteller,” and especially, “Craft Evocative Words.”

Despite how truly thorough the book is, one lack I noticed was any mention of the lectionary. For as many preachers as use the lectionary, some reference to it would have been useful. Or especially for preachers who don’t ever use the lectionary, suggesting they at least try it for a while would have been a good exercise.

One Year to Better Preaching is the kind of book you put right on your desk (not your bookshelf) where you can reference it repeatedly. I’m looking forward to continuing to mine its riches in the weeks and months of preaching ahead.

Thanks to Kregel for the review copy, offered with no expectation as to the content of this review. Find the book on Amazon here (affiliate link), at Kregel’s site here, and check out a pdf sample of the book here.

Septuagint Studies Soirée #9 and #10: Buy One, Get One Free Edition

How would you do on this exam?
How would you do on this exam?

The Septuagint Studies Soirée is back. You can find all previous months gathered here, where I post links to what I find around the blogosphere in Septuagint studies. This soirée covers two months: April and May.

T. Michael Law continues to dominate the Septuagintablogosphere with his Septuagint Sessions podcast. Since the last soirée he posted episode 4 (on Greek Isaiah’s style), episode 5 (“Your BHS is safe with me!”), and episode 6 (“about a problem in research on the LXX that stems from a canonical bias”).

Suzanne McCarthy at BLT asks whether Judith was originally written in Greek or Hebrew. She also looked at our two “prototypical parents” in Greek Genesis 3 and 4. Her co-blogger J.K. Gayle examined the use of “baptism” in Plato and the LXX. BLT is one of the more substantive biblioblogs I read. You would do well to bookmark BLT’s Septuagint tag page, which includes even more recent LXX-related posts. (Also, add this one to your slate of BLT posts to read.)

Linguae Antiquitatum posted a nice review (with some interesting pedagogical musings) of a book about teaching beginning Greek and Latin. The same blog posted the first ever “Ancient Languages Carnival.”

Mosissimus Mose continues an ongoing review of  T. Michael Law’s When God Spoke Greek. Chapter 5 posted in May.

William Ross posted about papyri.info, and offered this and this post as to how to use it for LXX research.

Summer beach reading?
Summer beach reading?

Brian Davidson at LXXI suggests some summer reading. If you have made it this far in reading this post, you might even consider his recommendations to be good beach reading.

Here is Ed Gallagher on “The Greek Bible among the Jews.” And here he is with an illuminating post on the word “deuterocanonical.”

We’ve been in Easter season. And the LXX may have had “an increasing awareness of resurrection theology.” Read a short but fascinating post about it here.

Allow me to make a plug again for The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS), which publishes a yearly journal. I’m excited to say that the forthcoming issue will include a fairly lengthy review article I’ve written about the use of Bible software for Septuagint studies.

Finally, check out Jacob Cerone’s post of a Greek exam given in the late 19th century by John Broadus and A. T. Robertson (pictured at the top of this post). He even takes part of it and posts his answers. Nice work, Jacob!

One last note–Rod Decker passed away this last month. Read a note from his family here. I’ve found his Koine Greek Reader and Septuagint-related vocabulary lists quite helpful. He will be missed.

Did I miss anything? Feel free to post an LXX-related link in the comments. Until next time!

Sunday School That Really Excels, Reviewed

Any undertaking by the body of Christ for the cause of Christ should be done with excellence. Our Lord and Savior deserves the very best from his redeemed people. Therefore, the church of Jesus Christ ought to excel.

So writes Allan Taylor, the Minister of Education at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, GA, in the Foreword to Sunday School That Really Excels: Real Life Examples of Churches with Healthy Sunday Schools.

Both Prescriptive and Descriptive

The book is both prescriptive and descriptive. It aims to (prescriptively) suggest how a church’s Sunday School can excel by (descriptively) offering case studies and anecdotes from churches.

The book begins with the chapter, “The State of Sunday School Today,” in which editor and author Steve R. Parr interviews Dr. Thom Rainer. Thankfully there is an early and concise definition of “Sunday school” offered in that chapter: it “consists of Bible study groups for all ages that ordinarily meet on Sunday mornings in conjunction with a worship experience either before or aftewards.”

Rainer notes three key features that successful Sunday school programs should have:

  1. The lead pastor’s support.
  2. “A strong core of lay leaders” that receive solid training.
  3. A sense of Sunday school as “a hero of the church.”

Following the helpful wisdom of Rainer, the next 14 chapters note some specific settings and ways in which Sunday school programs should and do excel. These range from Sunday school that “Excels in the Middle of Nowhere” to Sunday school that “Excels on the Heels of a Crisis,” and more. Contributors generally reinforce Rainer’s assessment of what is needed for a robust Sunday school.

Sun School that Really ExelsThe last two chapters offer a few more short case studies and some general concluding principles for how to help move a Sunday school program forward.

Initial Observations

The case studies come predominantly (but not exclusively) from Baptist churches in the South. So ministers in other traditions may need to do some cultural adaptation in seeking to implement some of what’s recommended here. The more than dozen contributors are all male, and almost all “white.” (Southern) Baptist Sunday School That Really Excels, As Told By Mostly White Males would have been a more accurate title. (No snark intended–I had just expected more diversity of background and perspective.)

All the same, there are plenty of inspiring stories and recommendations for building healthy Sunday schools. Whether it’s the call to make sure a church has clarified the purpose of their Sunday school, or specific suggestions as to how to teach with various learning styles in mind (Ken Coley’s chapter 15–probably the best chapter), anyone reading this book will find herself or himself making a running to-do list as they read. (This is what I did.) The anecdotes from various churches were at times inspiring.

Some Lacks and Disagreements

There wasn’t much about Sunday school for young children or youth, something I had hoped this book would include. And there is what I consider to be some unsound (maybe even dangerous?) missions advice in one chapter about a Sunday school program’s effort to reach out to families at a local trailer park: “They need to see the church as a place where we will help you even if you hate us for doing it.” Good intentions, for sure, but probably bad advice as so-called development efforts go.

And I found it hard to believe that some of the evangelism efforts described would actually have positive long-term results. One contributor (whose chapter seems not to relate much to Sunday school, per se) suggests “Accountability Evangelism,” practiced by a pastor who “planned to reach the lost friends of his members” by asking “everyone to invite a neighbor to the new building and get their friend to promise attendance by filling out a ‘Yes’ card. Their signature and ‘Yes’ indicated they would be present.”

That’s: get the potential visitor (not the church member) to fill out a “Yes” card.

No doubt–God can and does choose to bless efforts of every stripe, even misguided ones. And I want to be reluctant to criticize another Christian’s evangelism efforts, but the approach described above, which also refers to said neighbors as “prospects,” just strikes me as odd, off-putting, and counter-productive.

While Sunday School That Really Excels does describe “growth” in terms of spiritual depth, the underlying assumption seems to be that healthy and excelling Sunday schools are growing numerically–and exponentially is even better. I won’t engage that presupposition at length here, but it passes as a critically unexamined axiom in this book that I don’t think is always true. I.e., “bigger” is not always and necessarily “better.”

Finally, I was surprised that none of the contributors addressed theories of culture change. To help a languishing Sunday school to excel could require a re-orientation and re-creation of the culture surrounding Sunday school. Programmatic fixes may not be enough. I’d have liked to see part of the book address how pastors and ministry leaders can help a church to navigate the change process itself, keeping systems and culture in mind.

Conclusion

So I found some things lacking and a lot to disagree with here, some of which I thought was unsound in a prescriptive sense, even if it had worked in a church in a descriptive sense.

But there were some helpful ideas and reminders to me of things I as a pastor can be contributing in my own church’s setting, as we seek to have a healthy and thriving Sunday school program. For that I’m grateful, even if on the balance I might not recommend the book as a great read for someone seeking to help a Sunday school truly excel.

If you want to see more, there is a pdf excerpt here, including Table of Contents, list of contributors, introduction, and chapter 1.

Thanks to Kregel for the review copy, offered with no expectation as to the content of this review. Find the book on Amazon here (affiliate link), or through Kregel here.

Preaching Needs to Be Exciting to the Preacher

Preaching in an Age of Distraction

Preaching in an Age of Distraction has really stuck with me since I finished reading it a few days ago. I’ll be turning back to its pages in the weeks and months to come to remind myself of some of its winsome insights into the preaching process. Here is one:

A preacher would do well to set up this inner standard: that every sermon will have in it some insight, some personal awe, some wonder of Scripture that is for him or her quite new—and therefore quite exciting. Obviously I’m not suggesting insights outside scriptural and doctrinal integrity; rather, I’m calling for insights that make the familiar idea come alive with a new glory, like a suit or dress that reveals a personality not formerly apparent in the wearer. The longer a preacher serves a given congregation, the more important it is that this kind of creativity mark the pulpit fare.

See my review of the book here. The above quotation can also be found in the press kit for the book (PDF), which contains a lengthy excerpt.

Preaching in an Age of Distraction

Preaching in an Age of Distraction

Any worship leader or preacher knows what it’s like to be distracted–either by something internally (himself or herself) or externally (something going on in the room).

“We live in the Age of Distraction,” says J. Ellsworth Kalas, Senior Professor of Homiletics at Asbury Theological Seminary, “and it seems to be accelerating.” Kalas notes that “the altar of the new” (a great turn of phrase) is constantly beckoning, but it is “a poor place to bow.”

Over the course of ten chapters, Kalas seeks to guide the preacher through distractions and distractedness, offering counsel as to how to prepare messages and preach to potentially distracted congregations.

The book started more slowly than I’d have liked. This could, of course, be a function of my own distractedness and lack of patience in reading. But there were more vague assertions than were helpful for building his case from the beginning, a trend which popped up again throughout the book. (E.g., “Sports have probably had a place in human life for as far back as we have any record” (ch. 2), and, “Surveys show that…” (ch. 4), and, “Some brain research indicates that…” (ch. 9), etc.)

Perhaps I was looking for more practical “take-aways.” And Kalas does give these as the book progresses.

However, at about chapter 3 or so, I realized that I was reading some reassuringly wise counsel. I received it as such. Kalas has generations of experience in preaching (and teaching about preaching). This allows him to see our current day in a fuller historical light. Distractions may change from generation to generation (TV vs. iPhone), but distractions themselves are not unique to the second decade of the 21st century. Kalas is worth quoting at some length here:

All of this reminds us that while the times have changed in some details–the sources of the distractions and the means by which those distractions are delivered–the pastor in his or her study has always been susceptible to distraction. Paul must surely have hoped that his guard would stop humming that first-century show tune. Bunyan no doubt had to deal with insects and assorted vermin as he thought his way through Pilgrim’s Progress. And who can guess the physical and emotional intrusions that assailed Dietrich Bonhoeffer day after day in his imprisonment!

There are significant recent changes to congregations, though. In chapter 3, “The Distracted Preacher,” Kalas notes that it “is no longer the world of our great-grandparents, where nearly all the people in the pews had the same occupation–say, dairy farming or working at the local factory–and essentially the same education.” Even if this overgeneralizes a bit, Kalas brings his point into focus by continuing, “Now the preacher looks out on vocations that did not exist a decade ago, let alone a century ago.” They are “more specialized.” Because no preacher can possibly “be a Renaissance person,” we preachers “must be highly discriminating in the knowledge we pursue.”

That itself is not a novel idea, but Kalas gives the preacher needed reminders (that we too often forget) like, “The Internet will take as much of our time as we allow it to have.” And to any preachers who may not think much about a pre-Internet world, Kalas suggests “reading across the centuries,” a practice he himself has obviously employed, as his book passes on some of the wisdom of those he has read.

An underlying theme of the book is that the ones who follow after distractions (whether preacher or congregation, or both) are “expressing the longing of a restless heart.” Kalas writes, “[W]hat gets our attention gets us.” The challenge is that not all distractions are harmful, per se; some stimulate creativity and pull us out of ruts. How to discern the difference? Kalas suggests asking:

Does this [distraction or thought] incline me toward Christ or away from him? If I pursue this thought, what will it do to my mind and spirit?

and:

Will this “distraction” lead to more life or to less?

If there is an antidote (or “counterforce”) to the distractions that lead to less of life, it is “excellence.”  How Kalas teases this out makes the book worth pursuing. Canned illustrations are okay, he suggests, but even better is “the excitement that comes when an idea springs forth after the preacher has wrestled with the Scriptures until a light has come on in the soul.” With the Holy Spirit as guide, director, and inspirer, the pastor also needs to remember that “preaching is a relationship,” so deliberate relationship-building with the congregation necessarily precedes good preaching.

Are you burned out on preaching? Get this book. Kalas doesn’t say he set out to write for burned-out preachers, per se, but I can’t think of anything better for such a preacher to read.

Are you not burned out, but looking to take a step forward in your preparation or delivery? Kalas gives a slew of sage advice and some practical suggestions to pursue excellence.

Are you distracted or unsettled when you go to prepare a sermon? Kalas offers soul care, and in the midst of a distraction-filled life helps the preacher take a look inward, and an awe-filled look outward to God.

Thanks to InterVarsity Press for the review copy, given to me so I could write this review, but with no expectation as to my assessment of the book. Find Preaching in an Age of Distraction here (publisher’s page) or here (Amazon affiliate link).

Logos Free Book of the Month for May

Screenshot 2014-05-01 21.12.34This month’s free book in Logos Bible Software is 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans. It is free as a stand-alone, and also part of a larger series I reviewed about a year ago, 1,500 Quotations for Preachers.

Here’s the link to the free 300 quotations book. Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, and a number of others are included.

There is also a short commentary on James (from Logos’s Pastorum Series) available for $0.99, here.

A Six-Year-Old’s Review of The LEGO Movie Official Handbook and Junior Novel

Lego Movie HandbookHaving seen and thoroughly enjoyed The LEGO Movie, my six-year-old son has been reading a couple of related books: The LEGO Movie: The Official Movie Handbook and The Lego Movie: Junior Novel.

The Movie Handbook packs a lot in, both text and full-color illustrations, especially for the price.

In the words of my six-year-old, “It’s really good. If someone had never seen it, I’d say that the best pages ever are ‘Where are My Pants?’ This is an episode of a TV show in Bricksburg in The LEGO Movie.”

[Dad’s editorial note: it’s more tame than it sounds, and one of the funnier parts of the movie, which is quite clever throughout.]

Lego Movie Junior NovelHere are some of the characters in the books, as told by my six-year-old:

  • Emmet: A construction worker. He is always scared of the bad guys. He falls out of a tower that, like, goes past heaven.
  • Lord Business: A bad guy. Someone who tries to defeat the good guys. He tries to wreck the Piece of Resistance.
  • Batman: A superhero. He turns Bad Cop’s car into a baby carriage in the book (i.e., in the Junior Novel).
  • Bad Cop: A bad police. Someone who helps Lord Business.
  • Wyldstyle: A superhero. She asks Emmet if he’s “the Special.” Her hair has a ponytail on the side.
  • P. UniKitty (i.e., Princess UniKitty): She’s really cute. She says, “Any idea is a good idea, except the not happy ones!”

Here’s a look inside the Movie Handbook:

Wyldstyle

The Junior Novel is more than 100 pages of text at a level that seemed to be just right for a six-year-old. Its opening lines are as silly as the rest of the book and the movie:

Bright red lava flowed from the volcano that marked the entrance to the hidden temple. Inside, a mighty weapon called the Kragle was nestled in a glowing sarcophagus.

Here is a shot of the Table of Contents from the Movie Handbook:

Lego Movie Handbook TOC

The books tie in well with the movie, yet still leave a lot on the screen. The Movie Handbook also comes with a fold-out poster, which is now taped to the ceiling above my son’s top bunk bed.

Thanks to Scholastic for the review copies, given with no expectation as to the content of the review. Find The Lego Movie: The Official Movie Handbook here at Amazon (affiliate link) or here at Scholastic’s site. The Junior Novel is here at Amazon (affiliate link) and here at Scholastic’s site.

Septuagint Studies Soirée #8: The One Week Late Edition

Translation is Required

Here are some posts from around the Septuagintabiblioblogosphere in March:

Lee Irons blogged his way through Translation is Required: The Septuagint in Retrospect and Prospect in six parts, accessible here.

T. Michael Law posted two more installments of his Septuagint Sessions podcast, here and here.

BLT blog wrote about God’s first Greek puns (brought to you largely by the letters γ and ν).

William Ross promises upcoming LXX Resource Reviews. You can see a resource page he has up now, here. Also, in the last soiree I missed his February review of Abi T. Ngunga’s Messianism in the Old Greek of Isaiah. (It’s on my shelf, too, and I’ve worked with it a little.) Here it is, in excerpted form.

Daniel Streett uses the LXX to venture an answer to the question: Did Enoch Die? He also mentions a couple options for a bound LXX-Greek NT combo.

Mosissimus Mose continues a review of  T. Michael Law’s When God Spoke Greek in dialogic form. The fourth part posted in March.

Here’s a post on “ditching flashcards” (via here).

Jacob Cerone has been posting his way through LXX Jonah. See here, here, and here.

Did I miss anything? Feel free to post an LXX-related link in the comments.

Free Book in Logos: Jesus and Scripture, by Steve Moyise

Jesus and Scripure by MoyiseIn early February I finished reading Steve Moyise’s Jesus and Scripture: Studying the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. You can read what I wrote about it here. Here is the concluding portion of that review:

Jesus and Scripture would be perfect for a seminary course on the Gospels, or on the NT use of the OT. An advanced undergrad course would also do well to adopt this book. I’d also recommend it to a serious Bible reader–no biblical languages are needed here, and I found that even with my own knowledge gaps in historical Jesus studies, Moyise explained everything I needed to know.

Though this survey is short (less than 150 pages), Moyise gives plenty of sample passages and insights that have challenged me. I know this is a book I will come back to and want to read again in the future.

This month Logos Bible Software is offering their edition of the book for free. It’s a fantastic book, and I look forward to being able to use it now electronically (with keyword searchability and hyperlinked Scripture references throughout). You can get the book here.