The Best Strategy for Watching LOST: Just Roll with It

It's more fun when you stop trying to figure it out and just roll with it.

—J. Alston, "The End is Near," in Newsweek.

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He Once Stood in Our Midst

Mankind cannot be too often reminded that . . . a man of the name of Jesus Christ once stood in their midst.

 —Adolf Harnack, What is Christianity, p. 1.

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Sensitive Information

Sensitive Information:

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Things I have learned in the PhD Program (5)

5.  My daughter is not ready for text-linguistics.

Early this morning as I was reading aloud "A Discourse Analysis of the Letter to the Hebrews," Hope let out a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream that she was able to sustain for a surprising length of time.

Up until this point, she had been quietly munching on her "Emma the Purple Elephant," so the meaning and force of her "word of exhortation" to me was sufficiently clear.

After a bit of deliberation, we decided that for now, we'll stick with Moo! Moo! Goes the Cow: 

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The Sacrifice that Saved us was a Work of the Trinity

Contrasting the Old Covenant system of sacrifice with the New Covenant that Jesus inaugurated with his death, the author of Hebrews writes, 

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

(Heb 9:14)

Against the claim that the Father wrongfully unloaded his wrath upon an unwilling Son, the writer of Hebrews argues that Jesus became a voluntary sacrifice for the sins of his people. Jesus is indeed the sacrifice, but he is also the priest who offers that sacrifice.

A priest who needs no blood shed on his behalf, sheds his own blood on behalf of a people who have rebelled against him.

What is more, this unthinkable sacrifice is a work designed and carried out by the Trinity. The Son offers himself to the Father through the power of the Spirit.

The writer of Hebrews here sings for us the song of redemption, a song that can only be heard in three-part harmony.

And so, the writer beckons me to listen:

Poor, helpless pilgrim,

bound by your transgressions,

blinded by your sin,

confused by pain,

grieved by loss,

Take your hands down from over your ears,

And Hear the song of your redeemer.

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Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, Book Review

Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Edited by Kenneth Berding and Jonathan Lunde. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. 256 pages. Softcover, $16.99.

“Out of Egypt I called my son.” With these words from Hosea, Matthew seeks to demonstrate that Jesus’ escape from death into Egypt was in some way a “fulfillment” of Scripture. Understanding what Matthew is doing by quoting this Old Testament text entails a host of questions about the hermeneutical practices of the New Testament writers. Editors Kenneth Berding and Jonathan Lunde provide readers with a snapshot of the wide interpretive spectrum of answers given to these questions. As part of Zondervan’s Counterpoints Series, this volume features three views defended by Walter Kaiser, Darrell Bock, and Peter Enns. Each scholar makes a case for his position and briefly responds to the other two presentations.

Recognizing the complexity of the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament, Berding and Lunde have the “modest” goal of exposing their readers to “a range of approaches to some of the questions posed by this issue” (10). They focus the discussion on “the relationship between the meanings intended by the OT authors in their texts and those derived from those texts by the NT authors” (10). For the editors, this question possesses the “requisite density to lie at the center of the gravity in this discussion” (10). In analyzing the idea of intended meaning, the contributors also address the related issues of sensus plenior, typology, the Old Testament context, Jewish exegetical methods, and whether or not contemporary interpreters should replicate the approach of New Testament authors.

The essays themselves are brief but substantive engagements of the topic. Kaiser argues that between the Old Testament and New Testament text there is a single meaning with unified referents. He denies that New Testament authors employed sensus plenior or any other Jewish exegetical methods and affirms that the typologies they find are warranted from the Old Testament context. Bock argues for a single meaning but with multiple contexts and referents, which allows for a moderate use of sensus plenior, typology, and similar Jewish interpretive techniques. He still seeks to maintain a “stable meaning” that relates in some way to the Old Testament context. Enns argues that there actually is a fuller meaning in the New Testament text, thus affirming that New Testament authors freely employ sensus plenior with minimal relation to the original Old Testament meaning. For him, the two authors share a single goal (Christ) but not a single textual strategy.

One strength of this volume is its overall structural focus. Berding and Lunde concentrate the dialogue around the central question of authorial intent. Lunde’s introduction frames the discussion and introduces the important terms and concepts, and Berding’s conclusion summarizes and systematizes the answers given in the essays. This format allows for an orientation to the debate and enables the reader to interact critically with the positions. Though the presentations cover common ground, each author does have his own particular emphasis. For instance, Kaiser couches most of his essay as a strong polemic against the use of sensus plenior, and Enns spends the bulk of his essay defending the legitimacy of viewing Second Temple Judaism as the key to the whole debate. This unevenness in the presentations seems somewhat disconnected from the clear structure that Lunde sets forth in the introduction. Though the editorial bookends provide clarity and a balance of emphasis, the essays do not always share this trait.

Another strength is the amount of example texts used by the contributors. In the course of the book, quite a few of the important texts in this debate are exegeted or analyzed. However, because each author chooses to elaborate and focus on different texts in his essay and the responses are necessarily brief, it is sometimes unclear how each of the views would respond to a given text. Having each contributor deal with the same major case studies (e.g., Matthew’s use of Hosea 11), would have embedded the responses in the flow of the book, thus demonstrating what is at stake in exegesis more clearly. Despite this concern, in the overall interchange, there are numerous examples that enable the reader to see quickly the differing interpretations of the authors. To give one example, in Acts 4:25-26, Peter’s sermon includes Israel in the “nations” that rage against God’s anointed in Psalm 2. For Kaiser, Peter’s interpretation is “not too surprising” (154), while for Bock, it “only takes one reading to see the surprise here” (129). For Enns, Peter’s sermon exemplifies “the radical nature of the early church’s use of the Psalm 2” (163). Seeing this type of interpretive spectrum is helpful in analyzing the differing approaches and is common throughout the book.

Though the “panel discussion” format allows for a quick comparison of three views, it also inevitably omits several from the discussion. With this issue in particular, there are many nuanced positions worth considering (e.g., John Sailhamer’s emphasis on compositional strategy or Richard Hays’ interest in intertextuality). A further example of an unaddressed issue is the Old Testament’s use of the Old Testament itself. The Old Testament authors developed and employed patterns and techniques as they utilized texts and themes from the Pentateuch and other foundational passages. Some of these authors were even from the period of Second Temple Judaism (e.g., the Chronicler and the editor of the Psalter). The contributors do not typically consider the possibility that the writers of the New Testament may have adopted these previously established textual strategies.

There are limitations to this work, but the editors have anticipated most of them. They accomplish their modest aim of providing a basic framework and encouraging believers “to think more intentionally about broad connections between the OT and NT” (243), making this volume a helpful introduction to this key issue in biblical theology.

Ched Spellman

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What Happened to the Saints' Undefeated Season, Visually Depicted

"It's going to sting for a while."

 —Drew Brees, QB of the N.O. Saints  (Dec 19, 2009)

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The Writings of John Sailhamer (An Online Bibliography)

John H. Sailhamer is an evangelical Old Testament scholar/theologian who currently teaches at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California. Sailhamer was the president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2000, and he has been in the classroom since 1975 (Trinity, SEBTS, and GGBTS). His worked is characterized by a consistent focus on the canonical text of the Hebrew Bible and the compositional strategies of the biblical authors. The lion's share of his writing has centered on reading the Bible, and the Pentateuch in particular, as a unified, coherent whole.

The following comprehensive bibliography lists books, essays/articles, and reviews that John Sailhamer has written. Under each heading the works are numbered and listed in chronological order. This sequence will allow a reader to follow Sailhamer's thinking over the course of his career. Any relevant links are provided after the bibliographic entry.

Books

1. John H. Sailhamer. First & Second Chronicles. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1983. (Amazon) 
2. Genesis in The Expositor's Bible Commentary (Vol 2). Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990/2008. (Amazon)
   
3. The Translational Technique of the Greek Septuagint for the Hebrew Verbs and Participles in Psalms 3-41. New York: Peter Lang, 1991. (Amazon) 
4. NIV Compact Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994. (Amazon) 
5. The Pentateuch as Narrative. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995. (Amazon) 
6. Introduction to Old Testament Theology: A Canonical Approach. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995. (Amazon) (GBks) 
7. Genesis Unbound: A Provocative New Look at the Creation Account. Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books, 1996. (Amazon)
8. Biblical Archeology. Zondervan Quick Reference Library.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. (Amazon) (GBks)
9. Biblical Prophecy.  Zondervan Quick Reference Library.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. (Amazon) (GBks)
10. Books of the Bible.  Zondervan Quick Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. (Amazon) (GBks)
11. Christian Theology. Zondervan Quick Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. (Amazon) (GBks)
12. How We Got the Bible. Zondervan Quick Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. (Amazon) (GBks)
13. The Life of Christ. Zondervan Quick Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. (Amazon) (GBks)
14. Old Testament History. Zondervan Quick Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. (Amazon) (GBks)
15. The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation. Downers Grove: IVP, 2009. (Amazon) (GBks) (Intro PDF) 

Articles/Essays

1. John H. Sailhamer. "Exegetical Notes: Genesis 1:1-2:4a." Trinity Journal 5 (1984): 73-82. (pdf)
   
2. "Exegesis of the Old Testament as a Text." In Tribute to Gleason Archer, 27-96. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986.
3. "The Canonical Approach to the OT: Its Effect on Understanding Prophecy." JETS 30, no. 3 (September 1987): 307-315.
4. "1 Chronicles 21:1—A Study in Inter-Biblical Interpretation." Trinity Journal 10 (Spring 1989): 33-48.
5. "A Database Approach to the Analysis of Hebrew Narrative." MAARAV 5-6 (Spring 1990): 319-335.
6. "The Mosaic Law and the Theology of the Pentateuch." Westminster Theological Journal 53 (1991): 24-61. (pdf)
   
7. "2 Samuel 13:1-4 and a Database Approach to the Analysis of Hebrew Narrative." In Bible et informatique, 99-122. Paris: Champion, 1992.
8. "Evidence from Isaiah 2." In A Case for Premillennialism: A New Consensus, 90-101. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1992.
   
9. "Genesis." In A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible, 109-20. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993. (GBks)
   
10. "Cosmic Maps, Prophecy Charts, and the Hollywood Movie: A Biblical Realist Looks at the Eclipse of Old Testament Narrative." Criswell Theological Review 7.2 (1994): 65-81. (pdf)
    
11. "Compositional Strategies in the Pentateuch." In Introduction to Old Testament Theology, 272-89. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.
12. "What Have They Done to My Genesis?" Christianity Today, January 6, 1997, 46-47. (My Synopsis) (CT Archives)
    
13. "A Wisdom Composition of the Pentateuch?." In Way of Wisdom: Essays in Honor of Bruce Waltke, 15-35. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000. (GBks)
    
14. "Creation, Genesis 1-11, and the Canon." Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.1 (2000): 89-106. (pdf)
    
15. "The Hermeneutics of Premillennialism." Faith and Mission 18.1 (Fall 2000): 96-109.
16. "Hosea 11:1 and Mathew 2:15." Westminster Theological Journal 63 (2001): 87-96.
17. "The Messiah and the Hebrew Bible." JETS 44.1 (March 2001): 5-23.
18. "Johann August Ernesti: The Role of History in Biblical Interpretation." JETS 44.2 (June 2001) 193-206.
19. "Biblical Theology and the Composition of the Hebrew Bible." In Biblical Theology: Retrospect & Prospect, 25-37. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002. (GBks)
    
20. "Archaeology and the Reliability of the Old Testament." Contact (Winter 05/06): 7-10.
21. "Preaching from the Prophets." In Preaching the Old Testament, ed. Scott M. Gibson, 115-36. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006.

Reviews

1. John H. Sailhamer. Review of Systematische Theologie im Kontext Biblischer Geschichte und Eschatologie in Trinity Journal 6.1 (Spring 1985): 91-94.
2. Review of Genesis 1-15 in Trinity Journal 9.2 (Fall 1988): 231-36.
   
3. Review of The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17 in Hebrew Studies 33 (1992): 132-35.
   
4. Review of Eschatology in the Greek Psalter in JETS 42.4 (December 1999): 739-41.
5. Review of The Face of Old Testament Studies: A Survey of Contemporary Approaches in Faith and Mission 18.3 (Summer 2001): 110-11.
   
6. Review of Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Book 1-5) in Faith and Mission 20.1 (Fall 2002/2003).
7. Review of Israel's Messiah in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls in JETS 46.4 (December 2003): 711-12.
8. Review of Story as Torah: Reading the Old Testament Ethically in Faith and Mission 21.1 (Fall 2003): 90-92.

Interviews

1. John H. Sailhamer. "Finding Meaning in the Pentateuch," an interview by Colin Hansen at Christianity Today (January 2010).  

Notes: 

• Quick Link to this Page: http://tinyurl.com/JohnSailhamer 
• A PDF version for download or printing: Writings of John Sailhamer (PDF)
• I'll be updating this page periodically and as new information becomes available, so if you have any additions or see any omissions, feel free to drop me a line.

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Hope's New Trick, or The Beginning of a New Era, or "Uh Oh"

Yesterday, Hope started rolling over from her back to her stomach, which is like an 89% increase in mobility. We were wondering how long it would take her to start doing that in her crib.

Last night, I walked into her room when she was supposed to be snoozing and found her like this:

As if to say, "This is only the beginning."

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The Church's Guide for Reading Paul: The Canonical Shaping of the Pauline Corpus, Book Review

The Church’s Guide for Reading Paul: The Canonical Shaping of the Pauline Corpus, by Brevard S. Childs. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008. 276 pp. $28.00.

For those familiar with Old Testament studies, the late Brevard Childs needs no introduction. Though, his contribution to the field of New Testament studies is perhaps less prominent. In 1985, Childs wrote The New Testament as Canon in an attempt to stimulate the kind of discussion and dialogue generated by his work on the Old Testament. The response, however, was underwhelming, and his proposal was either dismissed or ignored among New Testament scholars (pp. 1-2). The present volume is Childs’ attempt to continue applying the canonical method to the New Testament and specifically to Paul’s letters.

In chapter one, Childs begins by indicating some of the problems involved in a historical-critical reading of Paul’s letters. He then outlines his arguments for a canonical approach to discerning Paul’s theology. Throughout the rest of the book and in each exegetical example, Childs will endeavor to draw out “the exegetical and hermeneutical implications of canon for understanding within the context of the church” (p. 3). Chapter two surveys alternative proposals attempting either to expand or modify the historical critical enterprise. Interacting with Ulrich Luz, Richard Hays, Frances Young, Luke T. Johnson, and Wayne Meeks, Childs evaluates their proposals in light of a canonical approach. In chapter three, Childs investigates the shaping of the Pauline corpus itself. For him, Romans plays a comprehensive role at the head of the collection by introducing Paul and the essence of his theology. The Pastoral Epistles, then, serve as a counterpart to Romans by consolidating Paul’s teaching for later generations of readers.

Chapter four functions as the centerpiece of the book and contains eight substantial case studies where Childs traces a theme as it develops canonically through Paul’s letters. These themes represent a broad spectrum of biblical theology and include the gospel, faith, life in the Spirit, the community, Israel, and the apocalypse. The development of these themes bears the weight of Childs’ approach, as he seeks to demonstrate the benefit and necessity of viewing the individual letters within the scope of the Pauline corpus.

In chapter five, Childs moves to the writings that bookend the Pauline corpus in the New Testament canon. Thus, he delineates the role that Acts and Hebrews play in introducing and concluding the content of Paul’s letters. They set the framework in which Paul’s letters are to be read and understood. For Childs, Acts legitimizes the message of the apostles and Hebrews grounds that apostolic gospel in the broader context of the Old Testament Scriptures (pp. 230-31, 250-51). Childs concludes the volume by offering several theological implications of viewing the Pauline corpus in the way he outlines in the previous sections. Here, he underscores the theological integrity of a canonical reading and the interpretive guidance the canon provides.

One of the most helpful elements of the book is Childs’ attempt to demonstrate the acute difference between a critical reading and a confessional/canonical reading of Paul’s letters. A common critique by those who have adopted Childs’ program is that he concedes too much to the critical approach. While he maintains that the two approaches should be held in a balanced “dialectic,” his specific task is to demonstrate the contribution of the canon and its relation to the church. For Childs, keen attention to the canonical shape of the biblical text and to its discernible “canon consciousness” adheres most closely with the nature of Scripture itself and the way it functioned in the life of the Christian community. Throughout the book, Childs consistently ties his analysis back to the confessional function of the canonical shaping of the New Testament. In this way, his introductory discussion is developed and the implications of focusing on the final form of the text are highlighted.

A significant aspect of the book is Childs’ discussion of the internal canonical shaping and framing of the Pauline corpus (chapters three and five). Surprisingly, his discussion here is relatively brief in comparison to his well-developed case studies. While some might consider this brevity a weakness, Childs nevertheless provides ample material and direction for further work in this area. To be sure, the approach to Paul’s letters he adumbrates here would benefit from sustained analysis in both the academy and the church. Anyone seeking to understand Paul’s letters and their broader connections to the New Testament canon would do well to consider Childs’ observations closely and carefully. In the introduction, Childs notes that his previous volume on the New Testament “languished in silence, largely unread” (p. 1). It would be a grave mistake for students and scholars to issue a similar response to this volume.

Ched Spellman

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Writer's Block

Writer's block is the ultimate nightmare of anyone who lives by his pen.

— Terry Teachout, "When Artists Dry Up: What makes great creators go silent? And is it always a bad thing?" WSJ (Nov 28, 2009).

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Christmas Music is for Christmas

Last week I was listening to the radio in my truck and heard a Christmas song.

I thought it was a joke.

It wasn't. And I wasn't laughing.

I will celebrate "the most wonderful time of the year," when it is the most wonderful time of the year.

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