Merry Christmas!

To all those who visit this site, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may the peace of God be with you all this holiday season.


γινώσκετε γὰρ τὴν χάριν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅτι δι’ ὑμᾶς ἐπτώχευσεν πλούσιος ὤν, ἵνα ὑμεῖς τῇ ἐκείνου πτωχείᾳ πλουτήσητε. (2 Cor 8.9)

The Big Archaeological Announcement from Nazareth

Here is the "big" news--hmmmmm?!?!

Joel Marcus Interview

There is an extremely interesting article/interview in Divinity Magazine, a magazine for alumni and friends of Duke Divinity School, with Joel Marcus, who talks about his Mark commentary and what it means to him to be both Jewish and Christian among other things.

Check it out--it will be well worth your time.

Help! Galatians commentary recommendations

From time to time I take a personal inventory of what my library is lacking. This is particularly true when it comes to commentaries. My OT collection is rather sparse, so I won't even go there. However, it does surprise me from time to time that which is missing in my NT collection.

It recently dawned on me that I am severely lacking in my Galatians commentaries. I have two to be exact, Longenecker's WBC volume, and Fee's in the Penecostal series. A couple I have thought about are Martyn's Anchor Bible Commentary and Silva's Interpreting Galatians. My first question would be, for those of you who own these aforementioned volumes, what do you think of them? Secondly, what are some others that I should be looking into?

I know Moo's BECNT is on the horizon as well as Schreiner's ZECNT, but those are still some ways off. Let me know what you all think.

Christmas List Update: Santa (er) Eerdmans comes through!

The other day as I was about to leave for work, I found a package from Eerdmans at my door. It was a rather large package, so I surmised that it was either Deliverance of God or Keener's Historical Jesus of the Gospels. It proved to be the latter, and needless to say, I was very pleased. That makes one down and nine to go for those keeping score at home. I will have more to say about this volume rather soon.

New Ernst Käsemann Book

On Being a Disciple of the Crucified Nazarene: Unpublished Lectures and Sermons
Ernst Käsemann, Rudolf Landau (editor), Roy A. Harrisville (translator)

$30.00 Paperback

Not yet in print
Expected ship date: 4/29/2010

352 pages; dimensions (in inches): 6 x 9

ISBN: 978-0-8028-6026-2

Some cool news from the folks at Eerdmans.

Description


In this book Ernst Käsemann — celebrated initiator of the twentieth-century “New Quest of the Historical Jesus” — examines the problem of the relationship between discipleship and faith. These twenty-eight previously untranslated lectures and sermons delivered between 1975 and 1996 show a side of Käsemann not revealed so clearly in his more famous theological publications.

Käsemann carefully analyzes specific Bible passages and New Testament themes, using them to speak to the realities of his (and our!) modern world, in which the majority of people live in a hell effectively created and sustained by the unjust greed of the white race. He is personal, provocative, and even combative throughout. A fascinating “Theological Review,” written by Käsemann at age 90, is reprinted in the front matter.

Philippians Resurrected II: Philippians 1.3-5 Translation and Notes

This will be the last time "resurrection" is in the header. That is simply because there were no other posts to 'resurrect!'

Here goes:


Philippians 1.3-5 Translation and Notes

Here is my second installment of my Philippians translation: (Note: These verses are part of a larger subunit that stretches to v.11. This unit comprises of Paul's Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Philippians. I have decided to follow Silva [41-45] in breaking this in to smaller chunks).



Paul's Thanksgiving (vv.3-5 [8]): Initial Statement



3 Εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ μου ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ μνείᾳ ὑμῶν
4 πάντοτε ἐν πάσῃ δεήσει μου ὑπὲρ πάντων ὑμῶν, μετὰ χαρᾶς τὴν δέησιν ποιούμενος,
5 ἐπὶ τῇ κοινωνίᾳ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἡμέρας ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν,



My Translation:


3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you,

4 always in my every prayer for all of you, I make my petition with joy,

5 because of your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,


Notes (v3)


•"I give thanks..." A favorite Pauline stock opening (Rom. 1:8; 1 Co. 1:4; Eph. 1:16; Col. 1:3; 1 Thess. 1:2; 2 Thess. 1:3; Phlm. 1:4).

•"...for every rememberance of you." There has been much discussion as to the best possible translation of 1.3. The questions usually center around the preposition ἐπί and the sense of the genitive ὑμῶν. As Holloway notes (419-420), the majority view still considers the genitive objectively while rendering the preposition temporally to provide a reaading: 'I give thanks to my God whenever I remember you' (419, n.1; See references there). The second, and minority viewpoint, renders the preposition causally but renders the genitive subjectively, providing a reading: 'I give thanks to my God for your every rememberance [of me]' (Holloway 419-420; n.2; See references there.)

•Like Holloway (419), I have preferred the most natural way of expressing the Greek, namely, interpreting ἐπί causally and ὑμῶν objectively: 'I give thanks to my God for every rememberance of you,' (e.g. 1 Cor. 1.4; 1 Thess. 3.9; Holloway 420-421; Fowl 22 n.5).


Notes (v4)



•As Sumney notes, 'Paul uses forms of πᾶς more often in Philippians than at the beginning of any other thanksgiving' (8; e.g. Phil. 1.1,3,4[2x],7[2x],8). One could also include v.9, but this section (vv.9-11) is more geared to Paul's prayer.


•The adjective πάσῃ with the anarthrous noun ( 'a noun without the definite article') δεήσει('prayer') would translate as 'my every prayer for all of you' (Sumney 9).


•"I make my petition with joy..." Fee calls this phrase "awkward," writing:


The word order ('with joy the prayer making') gives this phrase special emphasis; indeed this is the first of 16 occurrences of this word group ("joy") in the letter. ...The very awkwardness of the phrase in this case forces it upon the Philippians'- and our-attention (81).

•In n.43 of the same page (81), Fee writes:


...Paul has already mentioned his standard 'thanksgiving for you always in every prayer of mine.' By adding the phrase 'with joy' he feels compelled to note that the joy comes in context of 'his every prayer.' Thus he repeats, 'the prayer making,' all of which means, 'thanking God for you always in every prayer of mine for all of you, making that prayer with joy.'



Notes (v5)

•"because of your fellowship in the gospel..." The noun κοινωνία might be better translated "participation" or "partnership"(Fee 82-83). This "participation"/"partnership" is not merely referring to the collection mentioned later in the letter (4.15-16), but to the broader concerns of the gospel and its proclamation and spread (Fee 83-84; Fowl 22-24; O'Brien 63).
•"from the first day until now," Fee says that this phrase refers to the Philippians' conversion (85), that is, they have been participating in the gospel in Philippi since the time of their conversion.
Bibliography

Holloway, Paul A. "Thanks for the Memories: On the Translation of Philippians 1.3."NTS 52 (2006).

Fee, Gordon D. Paul's Letter to the Philippians. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Fowl, Stephen E. Philippians. The Two Horizons New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005.

O'Brien, Peter T. The Epistle to the Philippians. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.

Silva, Moises. Philippians. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. 2d ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.

Sumney, Jerry L. Philippians: A Greek Student's Intermediate Reader. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007.

My Christmas Wish List

I have been fortunate to have either reviewed or am in the midst of reviewing (too many to count!) many of the books that I had on my own personal wish list. Being that Christmas season is upon us, I have been thinking of the many books that I would love to add to my already overcrowded library.




So here is my Christmas list(in no particular order of preference):





1) The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul by Douglas Campbell. Needless to say, with all the buzz surrounding this book and its importance, this is a must have for the serious student of Paul and his theology. This book might be the biggest landmark in Pauline studies since Sanders' groundbreaking Paul and Palestinian Judaism written some 32 years ago. 'Nuff said.






2) The Historical Jesus of the Gospels by Craig Keener. In a day of overspecialization, Craig Keener has continued to demonstrate his expert grasp on all things New Testament related. Here, Keener puts his encyclopedic knowledge of the ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman world to bear on Jesus, offering a clearer glimpse into his world. Plus, reading Craig is always a pleasure as he is a lucid writer.





3) Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul's Narrative Soteriology by Michael Gorman. For my money, Michael Gorman is one of the most articulate interpreters of Paul and his theology going today. This book should probably be read in tandem with Campbell's as they both arrive at similar conclusions concerning what justification is (i.e. 'liberative' and 'participatory') but by differing interpretive routes.





4) Mark 8-16 (The Yale Anchor Bible Commentaries) by Joel Marcus. After reading Scot McKnight's write-up in Christianity Today's Books and Culture , I was completely sold. Not to mention, I'm ashamed to only own one other commentary on Mark's Gospel.

5) Philippians (The Yale Anchor Bible Commentaries) by John Reumann. Although I disagree with Reumann on his various partition theories as he divides Philippians into three separate letters, this may be the most substantive Philippians commentary ever written as it weighs in at a hefty 805 pages. What makes this even more impressive is the fact that Reumann turned in over 2,000 pages before he was ordered to cut it down to size!



6) The New Interpreter's Bible: Acts- 1 Corinthians (Volume X). This of course, is the particular volume that contains N.T. Wright's Romans commentary. This is a landmark study that really bolstered the already sterling reputation of Wright as an interpreter of Paul. Interestingly, as an aside, I have heard or read somewhere that Wright has the entirety of Romans memorized in Greek! This just stresses to me how much he has wrestled with this particular letter and makes me eager to read his exegesis of it. Wright is also probably my favorite writer to boot.



7) Romans 1-8; 9-16 WBC by James Dunn. In my opinion, Dunn is easily one of the greatest New Testament scholars of all time. He is responsible for much of the 'New Perspective on Paul,' in fact, coining the term in 1982 during his Manson Memorial Lecture. Again, the man's prose is beyond repute, and everything else of his that I have read has been a pleasure from front to back.




8) The First Epistle to the Corinthians (New International Greek Testament Commentary) by Anthony Thiselton. I have wanted this commentary since it has come out, now nine years ago. Somehow this commentary has always alluded me. I'd like to end that trend asap. Thiselton along with Fee (NICNT) still have what are considered the top two commentaries on 1 Corinthians.




9) The Epistle to the Philippians (Black's New Testament Commentary) by Markus Bockmuehl.

Bockmuehl is one of the most well-rounded New Testament scholars going today. I have started to collect Philippians commentaries as this is the one epistle that I have tried to memorize in Greek. This commentary is very highly regarded and should find it's way to my shelf.




10) Philippians (Two Horizons New Testament Commentary) by Stephen Fowl. Fowl, much like Gorman, is about as an articulate interpreter of Paul and his theology as one would hope to find. Fowl has set the tone for this entire series with how to do theological interpretation of Scripture.

N.T. Wright interview about New Paul book

Many have been anxiously awaiting for some time N.T. Wright's latest in the Christian Origins and the Question of God series, namely, his big Paul book. I remember chatting with Scot McKnight when he was in Ashland and he mentioned to me that he was reading Wright's manuscript as it was in process (250 pages or so), and his goal was to have it wrapped by the end of this year.

Well, apparently, the good bishop has been spending time at CTI (Center of Theological Inquiry)in Princeton working on just that! Here is a two part interview recently posted on YouTube. Enjoy!

Off the Grid

Sungha Jung, who recently turned 13 years of age, is simply a prodigy. If you have never heard of this kid, do yourself a favor and listen to him. Here he is playing the Beatles 'Come Together.'

For Those of Us Yet to Read Campbell's D.O.G.

I just wanted to give the biblioblog version of a "shoutout" to my friend, Mike Gorman. If any of you, like me, have yet to purchase and read Douglas Campbell's groundbreaking Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul, I offer two suggestions concerning one, Michael Gorman. First, and perhaps most importantly, if you, like me, have yet to purchase the latter's Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul's Narrative Soteriology, please hurry and do so. Mike has always been an extremely careful scholar and it would be interesting to compare his readings of Paul to Campbell's. Secondly, Gorman has just wrapped his review of Campbell's D.O.G. over at his blog. These series of 7 posts are essential to have by one's side when reading Campbell's massive tome. Other than Campbell himself, no one is more familiar with the book's arguments than Gorman. Thanks once again, Mike!

Philippians Resurrected Part I

Many of you who visit this blog (BTW-Thanks!) will recall that I attempted to memorize Philippians in Greek. Well, I'm thinking of making another attempt at it, so I will repost my translations starting here:

Paul's Salutation to the Philippians (1:-2)
1 Παῦλος καὶ Τιμόθεος δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ πᾶσιν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Φιλίπποις σὺν ἐπισκόποις καὶ διακόνοις,2 χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

My translation:
1 Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints (lit. 'holy ones') in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Notes:(v1)

• 'Paul and Timothy' : These two are mentioned in tandem in other Pauline salutations (2 Cor. 1:1; Col. 1:1; Phm. 1) and also where Silvanus is brought into the fray (1 Thes. 1:1; 2 Thes. 2:1; O'Brien; 44). This marks the only place in Paul's letters where Paul includes another in the 'slave of Christ' designation. (Nod to John Byron!)
• 'slaves': A seldom used Pauline designation (Rom. 1:1; 2 Cor. 4:5; Gal. 1:10; Tit. 1:1). To oversimplify the issue, there are two camps that attempt to resolve what Paul had in mind with his 'slave' language. One would be the Greco-Roman background, as Fee nicely summarizes the background: "Indeed douloi were so common in Greco-Roman society that no one would have thought it to refer other than to those owned by, and subservient to, the master of a household "(63). The second posited background for Paul's 'slave' designation is to be found in its OT background, i.e. 'servant of God', which was an 'honorific title for those in special service to God' (Fee 63; n.25 and the references found there.) In the end, there is little point in choosing between the two options such as Hawthorne (5), O'Brien (45), and Silva (40 n.2) who decide in favor of a Greco-Roman understanding of Paul's 'slave' designation. As Byron has demonstrated throughout his work, there is a strong argument to be made for 'the slave of God' designations used widely throughout the OT and Second Temple Literature. It seems best to me to give a nod to Fee when he refers to this as a "double connotation"(63), i.e. Paul uses this designation to refer to both Greco-Roman slavery and its Jewish background simultaneously.
• "in Christ Jesus": A favorite Pauline expression (Rom. 3:24; 6:11,23; 8:1f,39; 15:17; 16:3; 1 Co. 1:2,4,30; 4:17; 15:31; 16:24; Gal. 2:4; 3:14,26,28; Eph. 1:1; 2:6f,10,13;3:6,21; Phil. 1:1,26; 2:5; 3:3,14; 4:7,19,21; Col. 1:4; 1 Thess. 2:14; 5:18; 1 Tim. 1:14; 3:13; 2 Tim. 1:1,9,13; 2:1,10; 3:12,15; Phlm. 1:23). O'Brien writes: It is a phrase denoting incorporation...believers are united with Christ in his death and resurrection, and the new corporate life into which they have entered is their share in his resurrection life. ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ frequently points to Christ Jesus as the sphere in which the Christian lives and moves. So the Philippians' glorying will abound 'in Christ Jesus' (1.26; 46).
• "bishops and deacons" : The only occurrence of ἐπίσκοπος in the undisputed Paulines (cf. 1 Tim 3.2; Tit 1.7). These were obviously recognized positions within the Philippians community. These positions, however, were probably not as developed as what is seen in the later church (i.e. the Church Fathers; e.g. 1 Cl. 42:4f; I. Ep. 3:2; I.Ph.l. 10:2; I.Ph. 10:2; Herm. Vis. 3 5:1; Herm. Sim. 9 27:2; Did. 15:1).

Notes: (v2)

• "Grace to you and peace": A Pauline adaptation to the standard Greco-Roman letter opening ( Rom. 1:7; 1 Co. 1:3; 2 Co. 1:2; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:2; Col. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:2; Phlm. 1:3)

References:

Byron, John. Slavery Metaphors in early Judaism and Pauline Christianity. WUNT II/162. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003.

Fee, Gordon D. Paul's Letter to the Philippians. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Hawthorne, Gerald. Philippians. World Biblical Commentary. Waco, Tex.: Word, 1983.

O'Brien, Peter T. The Epistle to the Philippians. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.

Silva, Moises. Philippians. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. 2d ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.