The Biblical Canon: Its Origin, Transmission, and Authority
by Lee Martin McDonald
Hendrickson, Peabody, Mass. 2006. 546 pp. $29.95. ISBN 978-1-56563-925-6.
This book, the third edition of The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon (Hendrickson, 1980), has been revised and expanded to incorporate recent scholarship. The major role that rabbinic scholars from the second to fifth centuries played in the formation of the canon receives expanded treatment in this volume; a greater emphasis is placed on the centrality of the LXX in OT formation; and the text includes discussion of authoratative translations.This update edition of a classic work recognizes that a substantial part of NT formation took place between the second and fourth centuries.
A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
by John J. Collins
Fortress, Minneapolis, 2007. 324 pp. $30.00. ISBN 978-0-8006-6207-3.
This abridged version of Collins’s acclaimed Introduction to the Hebrew Bible with CD-ROM (Fortress, 2004) includes the same information as its predecessor, but excludes many of the prior version’s details and elaborations. Several of the Minor Prophets and deutero-canonical books have also been omitted for the sake of brevity. The text has been updated to incorporate recent HB scholarship, and suggestions for further reading are included at the end of each chapter.
Jewish Christianity Reconsidered: Rethinking Ancient Groups and Texts
edited by Matt Jackson-McCabe
Rethinking Ancient Groups and Texts. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2007. 389 pp. $35.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-8006-3865-8.
Jewish Christianity was a critical factor in the formative years of the Christian faith, but there is no scholarly consensus regarding the identity of Jewish Christians and their role in early Christianity. These questions receive attention in this collection of essays. Following an introduction to primary issues attending the topic, Part I discusses groups considered Jewish Christian (the church in Jerusalem, Christians who observed Jewish rituals referenced in Paul’s letters, the Ebionites and Nazarenes). Part II considers evidence from various historical sources including Q, Matthew, the Johannine community, and other extra-biblical sources.
Character Ethics and the Old Testament: Moral Dimensions of Scripture
edited by M. Daniel Carroll R. & Jacqueline E. Lapsley
Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2006. 260 pp. $29.95. ISBN 978-0-664-22936-8.
Character Ethics and the New Testament: Moral Dimensions of Scripture
edited by Robert L. Brawley
Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2006. 269 pp. $29.95. ISBN 978-0-664-23066-1.
The essays in these volumes were culled from presentations delivered over several years at SBL sessions of the Character Ethics and Biblical Interpretation group. Various texts (Creation, Torah, Prophets, and Diaspora/Exile) and their value for moral development receive attention, as well as a variety of modern contexts for practical application. The OT volume highlights overlooked voices and perspectives (from the Song of Songs, Guatemala, migrant workers, prisoners, and the struggle with HIV-AIDS in South Africa) on the formation of a moral life.
The NT volume explores scriptural guidance in the field character ethics, providing fresh insights into how the human being is formed as a moral agent in the world. The Gospels and the Pauline Epistles receive attention. The volume also provides focused consideration of the NT mandates of forgiveness, reconciliation, and peacemaking.
The Messiah in Old & New Testaments
edited by Stanley E. Porter
McMaster New Testament Studies. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2007. 282 pp. $29.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-0766-3.
This volume includes ten essays on what it means to call Jesus Messiah. Part one attends to the concept of Messiah from the pre-NT perspective (including OT, Qumran texts, and apocalyptic and related literature of early Judaism). Part two examines the concept in each Gospel, Acts, the Pauline Epistles and the General Epistles. The result is a comprehensive look at the biblical foundation of the concept of Messiah.
Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross: Contemporary Images of the Atonement
edited by Mark D. Baker
Baker Academic, Grand Rapids,2007. 208 pp. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-8010-2742-0.
In this edited volume, contributors engage atonement, one of the most complex of NT concepts, and its relevance for contemporary audiences. A variety of contexts for discussion of the story of the cross receive attention, including a coffee shop dialogue, a teen Sunday school drama, the Chinese-American family meal table, a Good Friday service in Zimbabwe, and a wealthy congregation in Silicon Valley.
The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Volume 6: The Modern Age
by Hughes Oliphant Old
Reading & Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2007. 1019 pp. $50.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-3139-2.
The sixth volume of Hughes Oliphant Old’s celebrated study of the history of preaching in the Western Christian tradition navigates the modern period (from the French Revolution to the fall of the Berlin Wall). The discussion is grounded in the critical issues of the age: the secularization of society, the advent of biblical criticism, and the missionary movement. A comprehensive treatment of major denominations and national movements is provided, along with specific attention to individuals who represented them.
Preaching the Old Testament: A Lectionary Commentary
edited by Matt Jackson-McCabe
Fortress, Minneapolis, 2007. 389 pp. $35.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-664-23068-5
The third and final volume of this lectionary commentary compilation examines use of the OT in Christian preaching. The authors provide readers an understanding of the Jewish context of the OT and Jewish understanding of it, insisting that this is a critical starting point for exegesis. Thus they caution against premature injection of Christology into sermon development. They also highlight explicit and implicit connections between OT and NT passages, and provide suggestions for preaching OT and NT texts together from the lectionary.
Touching the Altar: The Old Testament for Christian Worship
edited by Carol M. Bechtel
Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2008. 268 pp. $18.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-1848-4.
This volume highlights the relevance of OT texts for contemporary worship. Contributors engage the wisdom and practical insights that the OT offers to modern congregations. Key topics include: the Sabbath, dramatic traditions, corrective prophetic messages, sacred space, justice and human limitation. |
