Scholarship's Great Loss

One of the disadvantages of not attending to the biblioblogosphere as often as I'd like is the news that I have missed. It has come to my attention today that two giants of scholarship have recently passed away, Gerald F. Hawthorne and Clark Pinnock. I knew neither man personally, but I was afforded the chance to meet Clark Pinnock in my early days of seminary. He delivered lectures that I took for a class credit in my introduction to Christian Theology class at Ashland. He was a proponent of the much discussed open view of God and I remember him signing his book Most Moved Mover for me. The impression that Dr. Pinnock left after those series of lectures was that he was very honest about where he was theologically in the past as well as the present. He was influenced by everything from strict Calvinism, Arminianism, and eventually to what was coined the 'open view' of God's sovereignty.

Gerald Hawthorne's influence on me was from a distance. From his co-edited Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, to his Philippians commentary, which set the standard for O'Brien, Fee, Bockmuehl, and others to follow in this Pauline letter.  His influence was epitomized by a standard of excellence for which every biblical scholar should strive.

Both men will be missed immensely. Thanks be to God their work lives on.

New Blog

John Byron, Associate Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary has started a blog worth checking out. The blog is called The Biblical World and has been running for about a month or so.

Many of you will remember the interview I did with John some time ago. Here are both parts.

John has been a great friend and mentor to me and is one whose scholarship I admire immensely, so check out his posts, they are thought provoking and interesting.

Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Latest

Galatians authored by Tom Schreiner (December 2010) and Ephesians (December 2010) authored by Clint Arnold are the two latest offerings in the immensely useful Zondervan Exegetical Series.

Schreiner's Galatians along with deBoer's (NTL?) and Moo's (BECNT?) are the commentaries I am most looking forward to reading on this epistle, while Arnold's Ephesians joined with Thielman's (BECNT) and Gombis' study should whet my appetite on this epistle.