May 2016 Biblical Studies Carnival: School's Out Edition
Welcome to the May 2016 Biblical Studies Carnival. I hope all of you are finishing up your final papers, grading papers, and getting grades in as most Spring semesters are wrapping up. For your enjoyment listen to some classic Alice Cooper before diving into the carnival for this month!
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The world lost one of the greatest theologians of our time in the month of May. Several people wrote reflections on the impact that John Webster had on modern theology: Andy Goodliff, Resident Theology, Christian Today, Mark Gignilliat, Bobby Grow, Mere Orthodoxy, and more.
Old Testament
Marg Mowczko examines the translation issues of Malachi 2:16 and the phrase “I hate divorce.”
Dr. Claude Mariottini summarizes the book of Jonah’s message adapted from a teaching series he did at his local church.
Randy McCracken asks the question “How Tall was Goliath?” He also examines if David is portrayed as a New Adam.
Over at The Outward Quest David Corder writes a series of reflections on David Carr’s book, Tablets of the Heart.
Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg answers why Moses is pictured with horns by many famous artists.
New Testament
Larry Hurtado writes some thoughts about Rome and Christians after viewing the final installment of “Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit” on the BBC2. While you’re at it you should take a look at his recent short but helpful book Why on Earth Did Anyone Become a Christian in the First Three Centuries, which is from his recent Pere Marquette Lecture in Theology.
Pete Enns follows up after his provocative post about Paul “winging it” when it comes to writing Romans.
Over at the Dustin Martyr Blog, Dustin argues that “great is your reward in heaven” is speaking of the believers reward comes out of heaven at the return of Jesus.
Reflecting on the latest collection of essays in The Apostle Paul and the Christian Life: Ethical and Missional Implications of the New Perspective Scot McKnight discusses the holiness tradition and the New Perspective. You should also check out the excellent podcast with Scot McKnight titled, “The Kingdom Roots Podcast.”
Over at Corinthian Matters David Pettegrew has an interesting post on crowdsourcing Paul’s Letters to Corinth.
The Ancient Bookshelf asks the question are we interpreting women out of the New Testament?
Wayne Coppins, who has a must read blog German for Neutestamentler, translates a section of Oda Wischmeyer’s essay about the “Gradness” of N.T. Wright.
Brian Davidson posts is Friday the 13th practice Greek adjectival practice for his 7th and 8th graders. Good luck!
Michael Kok begins some writings on the Apostle Paul
Nijay Gupta points us to a debate between Bart Ehrman and Richard Bauckham about eye-witness testimony.
Peter Gurry asks if the longer ending of Mark is inspired.
Extrabiblical
The Ancient Bookshelf posted a 1 Enoch reading guide this month.
And Phil Long begins blogging through 1 Enoch.
Jacob Prahlow concludes his series on Women in the Apostolic Fathers.
George Aldhizer reflects about Polycarp.
Updated: James Pate shows of evil people performing miracles or impressive wonders to deceive others in the Apocalypse of Elijah and Gospel of Nicodemus. Also check out his post reflecting on who the Pastoral Epistles could be responding to and poses the question could they be responding to the “Acts of Paul and Thecla.”
Theology
Experimental Theology is trying to recover a Catholic imagination
Josh Carroll has a tongue-in-cheek post about biblical interpretation titled, Biblical Injunctions for Bearded Awesomeness.
Book Reviews
Shawn Wilhite reviews You Are My Son by Amy Peeler.
William Brown, over at The Biblical Review, reviews Goliath’s Legacy: Philistines and Hebrews in Biblical Times by Łukasz Niesiołowski-Spanò. Also check out his review of The Power of Myth by Daniel Gorman Jr.
Jacob Cerone reviews the recently released Going Deeper with New Testament Greek by Andres Kostenger, Ben Merkle, and Rob Plummer.
Susan Eastman over at the Marginalia Review of Books reviews John Barclay’s Paul and the Gift. She concludes,
For the present, Paul and the Gift is a stunning invitation to consider deeply, broadly and creatively the tremendous power of grace as divine gift, and its implications for every aspect of human life, from intimate family relationships to global politics. It certainly will change the work of Pauline scholars, but it deserves a wider readership as well. Anyone interested in Jewish as well as Christian theologies of grace and in the dynamics of human transformation, will benefit from the riches of this book.
Phil Long review John Collins’, *Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy
James McGrath reviews The Scepter and the Star: Messianism in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Ruben de Rus review the New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic
The Jesus Blog concludes their five-part series on Bart Ehrman’s Jesus Before the Gospels. Also see Michael Kruger’s review of the book as well.
Nijay Gupta reviews Francis Watson’s Fourfold Gospel and has a multi-post review of NT Wright’s Paul and His Recent Interpreters
Miscellany
If I have missed a post that you think should be added please send me a tweet @renshaw330 and I will go ahead and add it here!
Kris Lyle over at the Old School Scripts blog will be hosting the carnival for June 2016 so be sure to send him your links during the month of June.
Also, if you would like to host the carnival at some point please contact Phil Long (plong42@gmail.com or @plong42). It is a great way to get your site out there and contribute to the biblical studies genre of blogs in general. I love reading these each month but we can’t have a carnival without volunteers so please contact Phil to reserve your spot!