About the Bible

Short Answers to Big Questions
A Helpful Resource Revised and Expanded

Answers? Perhaps. Responses? Yes. Earlier this month Augsburg Books released a revised and expanded edition of Terence E. Fretheim's About the Bible: Short Answers to Big Questions. I have personally benefited from the first edition and have recommended it to many friends and family members. This welcomed revision provides a highly accessible resource for laity, pastors, students, and general inquisitors concerning pervasive questions with respect to the Bible. Two of the additional questions addressed in this edition include: "Did God create the world good and not perfect?" and "Does God cause natural disasters in the Bible?" While the questions in this volume are not ones that all have asked, I would submit that all who think about the Bible deal with some formulation of these questions to an extent, and to that end, this collection of responses is pertinent.

http://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/item.jsp?clsid=196246&productgroupid=0&isbn=0806657677

SBL Annual Meeting - Boston 2008

The Boston Three Party

After a few hours on planes and in airports, hundreds of dollars, a taxi ride and a some quality time on the "T," we arrived at the Hynes Convention Center in downtown Boston, MA, for the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). Efficiency and frugality are keys to making such a trip possible. While at the conference I had the opportunity to take in portions the following sessions: Theological Hermeneutics of Christian Scripture: Learning Theological Interpretation from Premodern Exegetes; Future of the Past: Biblical Studies and Cognate Studies for the Twenty-First Century: What Biblical Scholars Should Know about Judas Iscariot; Ethics and Biblical Interpretation Consultation: The Bible, Ethics, and the Environment; Hebrews Group: Reading Hebrews in its Greco-Roman Context; Use of Cognitive Linguistics in Biblical Interpretation Consultation: Embodied Foundations of Biblical Metaphor. The conference was also a time to catch up with old friends and make some new aquantainces; both from the scholarly world and fellow students. Another aspect of the conference was the collection of book vendors. I have listed a few of my top picks below.

New Books to Consider:

The Child in the Bible. Eds. Marcia J. Bunge, Terence E. Fretheim, and Beverly Roberts Gaventa (Eerdmans 2008).

Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. Ellen Davis. (Cambridge University Press 2008).

Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Joel B. Green (BakerAcademic 2008).

Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture: Recovering a Christian Practice. Daniel J. Treier. (BakerAcademic 2008)

Psalms, vol. 3.: Psalms 90-150. John Goldingay. (BakerAcademic 2008)