Logos 7: Here is a Sampling of its Awesomeness

It has been two weeks since Faithlife launched Logos version 7, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it! But given my love for the software, you can bet that you'll be hearing more in the days to come.

The truth is that I don't get quite as excited as I used to, because I subscribe to Logos Now – so all of the shiny new features of Logos 7 have been released to me in six week cycles over the past 2 years. But it is still exciting, and I'm excited to talk to you about some of the new features in Logos 7. It is chalk full of awesomeness. Why do I say that?

Increased Access to Rich Data

Logos has spent many years adding rich data to the biblical text, but up until recently it hasn't always been that easy to access. This really started to change in Logos 6, and the trend continues in Logos 7. Faithlife has created so many awesome in-house resources that are available to users (like the Parallel Passages in the Pauline Letters that I helped create!). This is typified in the new interactive resources that are plentiful in Logos. Below shows off the new Bible Browser, as well as the Miracles in the Bible and the Speaking to God interactive resources. This video, by the way, is one of a number of new videos being added to my Logos Video Course that trains students on how to make full use of Logos, and I'm proud to say that it is still the best AND most affordable Logos training available.

Logos as a Learning Lab

Logos has always been a great place to turn for learning more about the Bible, but Logos 7 has really brought this to a whole new level. Two areas in particular highlight how Logos has really become a learning lab for users, guiding them into new knowledge and insight. The first spot is the new Courses feature. Here users will find a library of both video based courses (like Mobile Ed. courses) as well as text-based courses, where the student is guided through readings on a topic. While I know that Logos is pushing the mobile ed courses, I love the idea of a "guided reading" course, and I hope that Logos will continue to add to this section in the future. The second area which is focused specifically on teaching are some of the new interactive resources. Logos 6 introduced interactive resources like Who Killed Goliath and Counting the Ten Commandments. Logos 7 brings some great new teaching interactives like An Empty Tomb, Exploring Biblical Manuscripts, and Ancient Inscriptions.

Love for the Pastor and Scholar

Logos continues to keep both the pastor and the scholar in mind. The focus on media rich resources for pastors, as well as continuing to equip the Guides (passage guide and exegetical guide) with new features is great to see. I'm also excited to see the new Sermon Builder, and intend to write my next sermon with it so I can give a full review. and new datasets like the NT Manuscript Explorer, LXX Manuscript Explorer, Hebrew Bible Manuscript Explorer, and the Dead Sea Scrolls Interlinear Bible are awesome resources for scholars.

Have you had a chance to explore Logos 7? What's got you excited? Let me know in the comments.

Arguments for a pre-70 CE Dating of Matthew's Gospel

During my time of study under Craig Evans, he flirted with the idea of a pre-70 CE dating of Matthew's gospel at various times in class or in conversation. During my undergrad, I had for the most part come to follow the standard post-70 CE dating for most of the Gospels, with Mark being the only serious consideration of a pre-70 CE Gospel. During my dissertation work, I ran into this issue anew, particularly in the excellent Matthew commentaries by John Nolland (who was my external advisor) and Richard France. France in particular puts forth his case in his book Matthew: Evangelist and Teacher, which he regards as the fuller introduction to his NICNT commentary. Anyone who appreciates France's Matthew commentary should really have this prelude volume.

In reading the work of these scholars, I have become more persuaded that Matthew may indeed have been written before the destruction of the temple in 70 CE. This has important ramifications for the dating of at least Mark, pushing it perhaps to the 50s or even the 40s (as Crossley has argued). In addition, I have in the last few months stumbled upon the work of Alan Garrow, who puts together an excellent case for what he called the Matthew Conflator Hypothesis. Garrow argues that Matthew was the last of the synoptics written, utilizing Mark, Luke, and Q. I highly encourage you to watch his video presentations on his website. If both of these things are true (Matthew is pre-70 CE and is the last synoptic gospel written), this pushes Luke into the 60s as well. But that is an issue for another day!

 

A Survey of Recent NT intros and Matthew Commentaries

When discussing the dating of Matthew, it is good to get a sense of what modern scholarship is saying on the subject. The following introductions & Bible dictionaries date Matthew as follows:

• W. D. Davies (1969): 85 CE
• Ralph Martin (1975): 80-90 CE
• Ancho Yale Bible Dictionary (1992): 80-90 CE
• McDonald & Porter (2000): 80-90 CE
• Lea & Black (2003): pre-70 CE
• DeSilva (2004): post-70 CE
• Drane (2001): 80-100 CE
• Ehrman (2008): 80-85 CE
• Elwell & Yarbrough (2013): pre-70 CE
• Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 2nd ed. (2013): non-commital

A survey of the major commentaries on Matthew reveals similar diversity:

• Carson (1984): 60s CE
• Harrington (1991): 70s CE
• Morris (1992): 50s-60s CE
• Blomberg (1992): 58-69 CE
• Gundry (1994): 65-67 CE
• Hagner (1998): pre-70 CE
• Davies & Allison (1998): 80-95 CE
• Nolland (2005): pre-70 CE
• France (2007): pre-70 CE
• Luz (2007): early 80s CE
• Turner (2008): 80s-90s CE
• Keener (2009): late 70s CE
• Evans (2012): 66-69 CE

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This itself is interesting in that the NT introductory textbooks lean more to a late dating, with a majority of the commentaries leaning to an early dating. Obviously this is a sampling and not exhaustive lists. But I think it provides a solid sample of current discussion on the issue. Davies and Allison provide a thorough list of some of the older commentaries, and can be seen by clicking the image to the right.

Arguments for a Late Date

Without being too reductionistic, the main arguments for a late date of Matthew fall into 3 main points:

1. The date of Mark's gospel being 65-70 CE. Because Matthew used Mark, we need to allow for some time to pass.
2. Jewish-Christian Relations. The tension found in Matthew is thought to reflect a time closer to Jamnia (85-90 CE) and the  birkat ha-minim, a clause in the Eighteen Benedictions, attributed to the rabbis at the Jamnia council: “Let Nazarenes and heretics perish in a moment, let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be written with the righteous.” The counter this is, of course, the rest of the NT - namely Paul and the book of Acts. Tensions developed early on – there is no reason to push what we see in Matthew to after the temple's destruction.
3. More Developed Theology. Matthew seemingly contains more developed theology that better fits into a later time period. The areas most mentioned are christology (Matt 24:29-31, Matt 25:31-46), Ecclesiology (Matt 16:18, Matt 18:17), and the trinitarian formula of Matt 28:19. The counter to this is again the apostle Paul. Christology developed early, as evidenced by Paul (like Phil 2:1-11), and we have a trinitarian formula in Paul as well (2 Cor 13:14; Tit 3:4-6; 1 Pet 1:2)
4. Matthew 22:7: “the king was angry and sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city”. Scholars who argue for a late date point to this Matthean addition to the parable (compare Luke 14) as being reflective of the destruction of the temple in 70 CE. In my opinion, this is a poor argument, as it would therefore equates the king of the parable with Caesar, when it is very clearly God. There is a simple alternative: It is punitive military language drawn from the OT and similar to other Jewish literature.
5. Olivet Discourse?? Notable by its relative absence in arguments for a late dating is Matthew's Olivet Discourse. If the destruction of the temple were to leave any residue on the text, surely it would be here. Hagner states: “Matthew’s redaction of the Markan eschatological discourse makes no attempt to disentangle the references to the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the age (chap. 24). Luke very deliberately does so in his redaction of Mark 13, and we might expect Matthew to do the same had it been written after 70.” (Hagner 1998, lxxiv)

Arguments for an Early Date

There are a number strong arguments from internal evidence that Matthew was written prior to the destruction of the temple in 70 CE. In this list, I will put them in the order of strongest to weakest arguments.

1. Approving of the Temple Tax. Jesus in Matthew approves of the temple tax in Matt 17:24-27. While it is of course conceivable that Matthew is simply passing on Jesus tradition faithfully, the issue is that the temple tax after 70 CE became a tax for the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome. Bob Gundry states: “The distinctive passage 17:24 – 27 teaches that Jewish Christians should not contribute to their fellow Jews rejection of the gospel by refusing to pay the Temple tax. This exhortation not only shows Matthews concern to win Jews. It specifically favors a date of writing before AD 70; for after the destruction of God’s temple in Jerusalem the Romans shifted the tax to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome (Josephus J.W. 7.6.6 §218; Dio Cassius 65.7; Suetonius Dom. 12), and m. Šeqal. 8.8 says that the laws concerning “the Shekel dues … apply only such time as the Temple stands.”  Surely Matthew does not include this passage to support upkeep of a pagan temple, for then the argument implies that the disciples are sons of the pagan god! Nor can we suppose that Matthew is urging Jewish Christians to support the school of pharisaical rabbis that formed in jam yet during the aftermath of the Jewish rebellion, for he excoriates the Pharisees throughout his Gospel. The argument from 17:24 – 27 for an early date gains further cogency from the evidence that Matthew himself composed the passage.” (Gundry 1994, 606).
2. Swearing by the Temple. In a section unique to Matthew, Matt 23:16-22 talks about swearing by the altar and sanctuary. While again this may be a faithful passing on of Jesus material, it nonetheless becomes antiquated post-70 CE, and if Matthew was the composer, it would make even less sense.
3. Gift at the Altar. Like the previous passage, Matt 5:23-24 is unique to Matthew and would be teaching of Jesus that could no longer be followed if it was passed on, and make little sense for Matthew to compose after 70 CE if he composed it.
4. Den of Robbers. Matt 21:13 is a passage used from Mark 11:17, and paralleled in Luke 19:46. What is interesting about Matthew's version is that he makes a verb change to a present for the verb "saying,", making it a Historic Present that stands out. He then also edits Mark's verb "turning" to a present tense as well: "you are turning it into a den of robbers." This change to a historic present main verb and switch to a present in the reported speech may be to highlight the current situation - i.e. that the temple is still standing.
5. Jewish Persecution. If Matt 23:34 is reflecting current Jewish persecution of Christians by the synagogue, the verse implies an authority to punish that Jewish leaders did not likely have after the temple destruction.
6. Fleeing on the Sabbath. Jesus in Matt 24:20-21 tells his hearers that he hopes their flight in 70 CE won't be on a sabbath or in winter. Yet if Eusebius is trustworthy, we know what happened: “the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come thither from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men.” (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 3.5.3). If Matthew wrote after 70 CE, we could perhaps expect some revision to the words of Jesus to conform to historical reality.

To this internal evidence we can also add patristic evidence, as Irenaeus in Ag. Her. 3.1 states that Matthew wrote while Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome (i.e. in the 60s).

Taken all together, I think there is more evidence for a pre-70 CE dating of Matthew, and as I said, this has implications for the dating of the other synoptic gospels. Have I missed any arguments for the late or early dating? Let me know in the comments!

The Relationship Between John and the Synoptics

In preparation for my first time teaching the Gospel of John at ADC this year in my new role as Professor of New Testament, I have been reading scholarship on the Gospel of John. In particular, I have been enjoying Paul Anderson's work on John. I may be wrong, but a preliminary looks suggests to me that he has published more on John than any living scholar (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Part of his research that has fascinated me is his theory of composition  for John and his theory on the interrelationship between John and the synoptic gospels.

Anderson presents a diagram that he titles Johannine-Synoptic Interfluential Relationships in The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus (pg 126) and The Riddles of the Fourth Gospel (pg 151). I would like to represent this diagram here for your consideration (with some jazzing up), as well as explain the diagram somewhat. You can also read an article by Paul Anderson on this theory in more detail in this article. After the explanation, you will see 3 more diagrams. Anderson's diagram adopts the 2-source theory of the synoptic gospels. I thought I would also create alternative diagrams adopting some other prominent synoptic theories (Farrer-Goodacre, Matthew Conflator Hypothesis, and Holtzmann-Gundry) – you'll find them at the bottom of the post. What I have linked to are some summaries of these theories. I especially commend to you Alan Garrow's page on the Matthew Conflator hypothesis. I'm currently quite taken with Garrow's hypothesis of Matthean posteriority, and his video on the linked page is a great presentation of the argument.

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Paul Anderson rightly critiques the common discussion on the synoptic relationship (a discussion which I enjoy) while leaving John out of the picture. This is a valid critique. Most synoptic discussion assumes no relationship between John and the synoptic gospels, yet numerous scholars believe there is in fact some sort of relationship. Anderson labels this an Interfluential relationship, meaning that at numerous stages in the composition of John, there was mutual influence within the traditions, which ultimately shows itself in the final writings of the Gospels. For the Gospel of John, we do not have a textual relationship as we do the synoptics, but Anderson argues that John nonetheless displays awareness of the other gospels.

In regards to Anderson's understanding of the writing of John (right side of the image), Anderson believes that the early Johannine tradition and the first edition of John is rooted in the Beloved Disciple's work, the disciple John, and is written somewhat in response to the Gospel of Mark. He continued his ministry and tackled false teaching, as evidenced in 1-3 John. After the apostle John's death, John the Elder compiled the Gospel in its final form, adding the Prologue (John 1:1-18), the feeding and sea-crossing (John 6), the discourse material (John 15-17), the additional ending (John 21), and some other scattered material on the beloved disciple (John 13:23, 19:26, 19:34-35, 20:3, 21:7, 21:24). This additional material is what has interfluence with the Gospel of Matthew.

Some final notes on the diagram:

• Anderson's diagram displayed Q as entirely oral. I've added a green outline and lines to indicate that Q shouldn't be seen as only an oral tradition.
• I've also altered Anderson's "interfluence" lines to demarcate textual connection with interfluence connection. This helps to better understand the relationships between the gospels, as the synoptic connections are clearly textual.
• As with most discussion on the dating of the Gospels, the dates are flexible. I personally lean towards a pre-70 CE dating for Matthew (something I'll blog on at some point), which pushes Mark into the 50s or 60s.

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Saent – A New App to Keep You on Task

When I hear about apps that might help me be more productive, I'm always eager to try them out. And while I may be a bit of an app junkie, it means that I come across some really good apps that I can pass along to others.

Introducing Saent

Saent is actually two things: a device and an app. The device and app began as a Kickstarter project. The concept for the device is actually quite brilliant – activating it blocks distracting websites on any devices, be it tablet, smartphone, or computer. I have not (yet!) tried the device, but I have been using the app and really like it.

The app which you can download here is similar to the device, but is confined to your computer. Saent combines website and app blocking with a pomodoro timer, and combines that with gamification so that you earn points depending on how well you do. I had previously done these types of things with a combination of AntiSocial, Breaktime, and Toggl. But AntiSocial is no longer developed, and has morphed into Freedom, which is somewhat similar to Saent, but in app-form only.

With Saent, you start a work session, choosing how long you want the session to be (30 minutes should be the least amount of time you choose!). You tell Saent what you are working on, and then you hit start. At that point you start working, and Saent will keep an eye on what apps and websites you are using. If you go on something like Facebook, it will warn you that you shouldn't be on there, telling you that you only have 2 minutes left. If you go beyond, it will attempt to push you off or give you a big jarring red screen, telling you to stop. Saent will also encourage you to take breaks, which is important for productivity. After a session, you can refine the list of "blocked" apps and websites, so that in the future Saent can keep you accountable based on what you see as distractions.

So far, Saent has been great. It is still in its early stages of development, but so far I'm very impressed. I encourage you to check it, or Freedom, out.

What's In My Ears – The Podcasts I Listen to

I have earbuds in my ears a lot. I love reclaiming time, or multiplying my time, by listening to something while doing something that doesn't require my ear attention. Yard work, driving, watching my kids play soccer, walking to work, exercising – all of these are times when I can listen to podcasts without affecting whatever else I am busy with. Before I list the podcasts that fill my time, I'll also mention that you need to find the correct times for listening to podcasts, and when to turn them off. For instance, I started writing this blog post with a podcast on. Two sentences in and I realized that I hadn't really heard anything on the podcast. When you need to be paying attention and focused on what you're doing, don't distract yourself.

Biblical Studies (and other Academic)

Probably no surprise tha biblical studies podcasts are the ones I gravitate to the most. And there are some great ones out there that I can heartily recommend to you. There are probably more than this, and if you have a suggestion, please leave them in the comments.

Kingdom Roots Podcast: The Kingdom Roots podcast is a podcast by Scot McKnight. I find McKnight to be a great communicator, I actually find him most clear in speech over against writing. The podcast genre, with a host that asks him questions, really puts McKnight in his element.  

Naked Bible Podcast: Michael Heiser is a force of nature in my opinion – in fact I'd love to sit down with this man at some point to understand how he manages to produce so much. He works at Logos, he has a busy blog, a great podcast, and is publishing books and articles. The first dozen or so episodes are a little slower as it is strictly a monologue. But it becomes a little more casual and natural once the new format of having a host comes into play. Many of these podcasts are like audio commentaries on chapters of the Bible, and Michael is unapologetic in his desire to understand what the text meant. He eschews any theological or practical considerations. In short, he's my kind of guy!

The PaulCast: This is a new podcast but has already had some stellar episodes and I have no doubt the quality will continue. Kurt Willems is a pastor and a pauline scholar who really knows his stuff. The early episodes called "Entering the Convo" will help many to understand the state of discussion on Paul in scholarship today.

NT Pod: Mark Goodacre, as usual, was at the forefront of the new technology and has one of the first (perhaps the first?) podcast for academic Biblical studies. While I don't ultimately agree with Goodacre on all issues, he is a bright and articulate scholar whom I highly respect. A minor annoyance with the podcast feed is that the episodes are listed out of order (not sure why).

Reasonable Faith Podcast: WL Craig is the main apologist of our time and I appreciate that he covers a range of issues. This podcast also helps me stay somewhat current on apologetics in general, and the intersection of faith and science in particular.

Occasional Listenings

I subscribe and listen to every episode of the above podcasts. Here are some other biblical studies and academically related podcasts I cherry-pick from.

Theology in the Raw: A little shorter and a little less in-depth by nature, I nonetheless really enjoy Preston Sprinkle's podcast. His multi-part podcast on the issue of homosexuality (stemming from his book People to Be Loved) is quite good. However, and this is most unfortunate, the early episodes (including the ones I just mentioned) don't seem to be on the feed anymore. This kind of goes against the whole point of podcasts, but my guess is that the radio program that then publishes the podcasts doesn't want to pay for the storage space, which is very unfortunate.

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: A student turned me on to this one and I've enjoyed a few episodes of it so far and look forward to listening to more of them.

History of Christian Theology: This is a brand new one I've stumbled upon and so far I'm enjoying it. It may move soon to the "listen to every episode" list.

Church Leadership / Sermons

All of these podcasts sit in the "occasional listening" category for me, as I don't listen to every single episode of any of them.

Meeting House Sermon Podcast: Bruxy Cavey is a great speaker/preacher that is quite rich in content. I've listened to quite a few sermon podcasts, including all of the big names, and Cavey in my opinion seems to be the best read in the academic arena on the topics he preaches on. This is a breath of fresh air and I would love to see more preachers like this. He doesn't water down the content for his people, he provides a buffet and challenges them to go deeper.

Woodland Hills Sermon Podcast: Greg Boyd is another preacher who reads widely in academia and doesn't water things down in the sermon. I appreciate people like Boyd who stands in the old-school tradition of being a serious theologian/academic while also being active in ministry.

Leadership Momentum Podcast: I am not one who follows any one mega-church pastor religiously, but I'm also not one to bash these people and think they don't have anything worthwhile to say. The podcasts interacting with these people is enormous. So I've chosen one to subscribe to that has these big-named pastors on as guests.

Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast: Similar to the above podcast, but longer and published more frequently. I really respect Nieuwhof and I cherry-pick episodes on this podcast.

Parenting

There aren't a ton of parenting podcasts from a Christian perspective. The first one is newer and I listen to all of them, the second one I cherry-pick.

Parenting Great Kids: I got turned on to Meg Meeker when I read her book Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters. So I was happy to see her new podcast on parenting.

Growing Leaders Podcast: I've called Tim Elmore at times my at-a-distance parental mentor. I really enjoy his blog and his podcast. This is a bit of a blend between leadership, youth, and parenting. I cherry-pick the episodes more related to parenting and teens.

Productivity (and Business-type-stuff)

Readers know I'm a bit of a productivity and lifestyle junky. I've learned a lot from these podcasts, been inspired, learned skills, and have received tips on blogging and advertising (for things like my courses).

This Is Your Life: I'm not sure how I stumbled upon Michael Hyatt, but I've enjoyed his blog and podcast for a long time. A mix of business, leadership, and productivity, I'm subscribed to this one.

EntreLeadership Podcast: This is a lot like the above in that it has a wide range of topics, but mixed in with this is talk on stewardship that I enjoy (It is under the David Ramsey brand after all). I'm subscribed to this one as well.

Related more directly to online business-type stuff, I also cherry-pick from the Freedom Fast Lane podcast as well as the Smart Passive Income podcast. Related more to life-coaching and productivity, I cherry-pick from the Tim Ferris podcast and the School of Greatness podcast.

By way of conclusion, I want to mention that if you use an iOS device for podcasts, I'd recommend Overcast as your podcast app. While I love apple, the apple podcast app doesn't hold a candle to Overcast (which is free, but is happy to take a donation as payment if you want to). Lastly, you see that I listen to a lot. One way I get through a lot of listening is by speeding up the podcast, usually to about 1.75x speed. Your brain can process listening faster than most people speak. And with Overcast, you can set a speed for each podcast (if a speaker is especially slow or fast). It also has a setting that analyses the podcast and skips dead-air space.

There's my list! Let me know if I'm missing any stellar podcasts, particularly in the Biblical studies area.

photo credit: iPhone Headphones via photopin (license)

Hiatus Over! What I've Been Up To

For regular readers of my blog you may have noticed the sound of crickets the past few months – my apologies. Life has been busy but I intend to get to more regular blogging. So what better way to break the silence than by telling you what has been filling my time!

Hudson

My wife and I welcomed our fourth child on March 19. Pregnancy is always tough on my wife, but as usual she was a trooper. There were some further health complications during the birth and after, but I'm happy to say that everything is great now. He brings joy to the house, and one thing I really enjoy is seeing my older children interact with Hudson, as well as them seeing how hard their mother works for her children.

 

Ordination

During my MDiv & MA at ADC I worked towards my ordination during my field education, but I did not complete the process, as I began working on my PhD immediately. Now that I have my PhD behind me, I have returned to completing my ordination process. It has been a great time working at my home church New Minas Baptist Church, and this August I go before the convention council. It has been an enjoyable process and I have appreciated working with my pastors and with my intern mentor.

 

Parallel Passages in the Pauline Epistles

In 2015 I pitched an idea to Logos Bible Software to create a parallel pauline reader. Logos had a parallel reader by Rick Brannan just on the pastoral epistles. I was happy to have Rick Brannan champion the project, and I spent many hours on this project. I was also most grateful to have a handful of grad students at ADC assist me with this project. The module is now published. Currently it is confined to Logos Now subscribers only, but I suspect it may be part of Logos 7, or purchasable on its own, at a later time.

Surviving and Thriving in Seminary

Many of you know that I self-published a small eBook a couple of years ago that has done quite well, but I really wanted to get some wider distribution for it. I am now under contract with Lexham Press to revise the work under the title Surviving and Thriving in Seminary: An Academic and Spiritual Handbook, and I am happy that Ben Forest has agreed to co-author the book with me. It should be out by the end of the year.

Young Scholars Summit

The Ellis Foundation has for the last 5 years hosted a young scholars summit, an annual meeting at Tyndale House. It was an honor to be asked to participate in the discussion on how Matthew makes use of Isaiah with several other young scholars from the states. Being in Cambridge was a wonderful experience, filled with great things to see, new friends, great conversation, and the wonderful atmosphere of Tyndale House. Out of the summit will come a presentation at an IBR session during SBL as well as a publication. 

Job Transition

As many of you know, Craig Evans transitioned to Houston Baptist University at the end of 2015. This meant some additional work for me last semester, particularly in the form of thesis supervision. I'm happy to report that I have officially been made the Assistant Professor of New Testament, beginning July 1. In addition, my role as go-to guy for technology has ceased, as I assume two new roles as the Director of the Hayward Lectures and Direct of Online Education. As part of our new online education initiative, I spent several weeks preparing and recording lectures for ADC's Interpreting the New Testament course. Part of coming into this new teaching position is the teaching of courses I have never taught before, which means I will be creating several new courses over the next few years. As I am deep into the Gospel of John, I suspect I will spend some time on John related issues in blog posts.

Psalms of Solomon Commentary

I'm currently in the midst of writing  brief commentary on the Psalms of Solomon for a one-volume commentary on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha being published Eerdmans. Ps. Sol. 17 and 18 were the focus of my MA thesis, so I am appreciating the chance to revisit this important pre-Christian work.

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

I am currently in the midst of a major revision of the Greek Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. The Greek text and English translation was published by Accordance over a decade ago, back when I was just Craig Evans' TA. I am extremely grateful to numerous grad students who have assisted me in the revision process, and I look forward to completing this massive project and seeing this updated edition come to print.

Keeping on Top of New Testament Scholarship

We live in the information age and are continually bombarded by new information. For the majority of people, this information comes through the internet – specifically through content that is essentially curated by our friends (Facebook) or those whom we are interested in (eg. following someone on Twitter). I myself ditched ditched my RSS reader a long time ago in favor of those items that get into my social media feeds.

But there is no social media feed for scholars that apprise us of the latest research and scholarship. Unlike the 140-character world of Twitter and the YouTube hit sensations that are here today and gone tomorrow, scholarship and research is a slow and steady plod. And that is exactly how it should be. Publication and peer-review is where real advances are made in Biblical studies, not on Twitter, blogs, or YouTube.

So how best can scholars stay fresh in their field? I’ll be honest and tell you that I’m not perfect at this, but I’m learning along the way. And I have had several students ask me this very question - this blog is my answer.

Periodicals: General

Peer-reviewed journal articles is where new scholarship sets out and either gets accepted or sinks. The scholarship will then filter into wider scholarship and monographs.
The first and most basic thing someone can do is to at least see the titles of new articles, which can at least alert you to articles that you should read. Almost every journal has email alerts which you can subscribe to. Alternatively you can make use of my journal alerts feed.
More important than simply seeing the titles of new published articles is getting a better sense of the articles. In this regard, New Testament Abstracts and Old Testament Abstracts are essential. The first thing I do when I find a new article for research is grab its abstract from the OTA and NTA online archive. Every July NTA and every April OTA are updated in the online archives. The disadvantage of the online archives is that there is no way to read each issue of NTA or OTA (they are 3 published a year). This is why I recommend subscribing to NTA and/or OTA, this puts the abstracts in your hand 3 times a year and allows you to get a good sense of the ideas being published in your field on a regular basis. Both NTA and OTA also abstract books in the field.

Periodicals: Specific

Unless you are a speed-reader you can’t expect to read every article of every periodical that interests you. But you can be strategic and pluck a few which you will subscribe to. If you have institutional access to articles, then this is just a time commitment. But if you have to pay for your subscription, then you really need to be particular. Because every person’s interests are different, I hesitate to recommend which periodicals to get, but I’ll dip my toe into New Testament studies. If you had to only subscribe to 2 periodicals, I would recommend Journal for the Study of the New Testament and Novum Testamentum. I especially appreciate not only the high quality articles but also the book reviews in these periodicals.
The following is my attempt at a good list of Biblical studies journals. Please let me know what I missed.

• Aramaic Studies
• Biblica
• Biblical Interpretation
• Biblical Theology Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture
• Bulletin for Biblical Research
• Currents in Biblical Research
• Dead Sea Discoveries
• Horizons in Biblical Theology
• Journal for the Study of Paul and his Letters
• Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus
• Journal for the Study of the New Testament
• Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
• Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha
• Journal of Biblical Literature
• Journal of Hebrew Scriptures
• Journal of Semitic Studies
• Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies
• Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
• Journal of Theological Interpretation
• Journal of Theological Studies
• Novum Testamentum
• Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses
• The Expository Times
• Themelios
• Tyndale Bulletin
• Vetus Testamentum
• Vigiliae Christianae

Keep an Eye on Published Books

The big danger in keeping an eye on newly published books is the desire to put it on your to-read list, which is perpetually too big (at least mine is). You need to be safeguard that list of to-read books. Keeping an eye on newly published books is to make sure that you see the books you need to read, as well as what is current in your field.
There are several ways you can do this. Each publisher has a newsletter, and several also have email lists specifically  for their new catalog. You can also choose to get the actual catalogs in the mail. I only do this for a few publishers (I feel guilty for wasting the paper).
Another way to keep a (minimalistic) eye on recent releases is to read a “books received” list, the problem with this, though, is that not every publisher contributes to these lists. As a member of IBR I receive Bulletin for Biblical Research, and each issue ends with a list of books received. These are simple lists, but keeps us apprised of recently published books. Below is a list of the main academic publishers for Biblical studies (let me know if I missed any):

• B & H Academic
• Baker Academic
• Bloomsbury
• Brill Academic
• Cambridge University Press
• De Gruyter
• Eerdmans
• Eisenbrauns
• Fortress Press
• Hendrickson
• IVP
• Kregel Academic
• Mohr Siebeck
• Oxford University Press
• SBL Press
• Tyndale Press
• Vandenhoeck & Reprecht
• Westminster John Knox Press
• Wipf & Stock
• Zondervan

Book Reviews

Like most scholars, I love to read and would love to get paid for just reading books. But life doesn’t work like that. This is why book reviews are so valuable, they allow you to get a snapshot of a book to make sure it is worth reading, or to at least get something out of the book if it doesn’t make it on your reading list. Book reviews have already been mentioned, but just in case you missed it, NTA and OTA, as well as the periodicals offer book reviews by scholars. These are more valuable than reading the summary by the publisher, as it offers some critical feedback and interaction on the book. You simply cannot read every book in your field. Be a regular reader of book reviews.

Finally...

Do you need help reading? Well that's why I created my eCourse Reading for Information Extraction. I'd love to see you there!

Example Paper for Seminary and Bible College Students

I'll make a confession on behalf of all professors: we dislike poorly formatted papers. And while students may find it nitpicky, there are actually good reasons for properly formatting an assignment. It allows the professor to focus on your content, rather than getting distracted by the presentation. And most importantly, it helps us to see the ways in which you made use of sources and interacted with them.

Because of this, I spent a chunk of my time last summer creating an example paper for students at Acadia Divinity College. I'm happy now to offer up the paper here for other students, as well as professors who may want to use it as a resource for their own students. Enjoy!

photo credit: (302/365) Q W E R T Y via photopin (license)

Learning From Senior Scholars — What Would You Ask?

Biblical scholars, this one is for you.…

If you could sit down right now with a scholar you deeply respect, what would you ask? Now, before you start firing off theological, biblical, or exegetical questions that you can learn by simply reading their published works – what other questions would you ask? About teaching? About work habits? About writing? Publishing? Educational experience? Writing?

As a young and newly minted PhD, I desire to excel at my job. This means continuing to work at my skills as a teachers, as well as honing my skills as a researcher and writer. For me, this means learning from others. There are plenty of scholars I look up to and appreciate, scholars that I not only learn from but from whom I also desire to model my career after.

So I pose the question to you again: If you could sit down with a scholar whom you admire, what questions would you ask?

Why am I asking? Because I intend to ask these questions on your behalf to some senior scholars through the course of the next year. So I need your help so that I know what questions to ask.

Please leave the questions in the comments below. Thanks, Danny.

photo credit: My #AcWri #GetYourManuscriptOut process via photopin (license)

Encouraging Your Children to Read the Bible: 6 Options for Any Age

As Christians we are people of the Book. And as my children grow, one regular habit I want to cultivate in them is Bible reading. We often read the Bible together at dinner time, as well as talk about what we learn at church. The number one way to encourage your kids to read God's Word is to model it yourself. If you are able, do your Bible reading is such a way that they see you doing it regularly. In my case this doesn't work so well, because I get up early and part of my morning routine is reading the Bible. So I make sure that I mention what I read, or casually remind them every once in awhile that I read the Bible in the early mornings.

This year I have decided to challenge each of my kids to read the Bible. The common challenge to read the whole Bible can be daunting for adults, much less kids. I think that is a challenge that we can work up to. So I spent some time over the last few days to create Bible reading plans for each of my kids. Choose the option that best works for your child, but remember – they will develop this holy habit most effectively by seeing you do it.

Plan 1: Pre-Readers and Early Readers

My children were introduced to Bible stories first by me reading them. In this regard, I'd recommend Eugene Peterson's My First Message as well as the Jesus StoryBook Bible.

Plan 2: Young Readers

The Action Bible has been one of our best investments. Illustrated by a former comic illustrator, even I like looking at the pictures. This Bible is heavy on the visuals, but touches on most of the major stories. While my daughter never took to it, both my boys devoured it.

Plan 3: Bible Stories Reading Plan

This is the plan that I have challenged my two youngest children with this year. It goes beyond the previous options which are retellings of the Bible, and now encourages them to read the actual Bible on their own. I have chosen 110 stories from the Bible, with a few sections also covering some of Jesus' teaching and parables. Here is the PDF of this plan.

Plan 4: The Bible StoryLine Reading Plan

If you know your Bible, you know that a huge chunk of it is poetry as well as prophetic oracles. But children (well really, all of us) are especially drawn to stories. My oldest son is a reader, and I wanted to challenge him with something close to a chapter a day. This plan is just shy of that, so that if they miss a day here and there they will not be off track. I'm doing this plan with him this year, and I have enjoyed already the discussion we've had on the chapters. This plan goes through the entire story line of the Bible, with a focus almost entirely on narrative. Here is the PDF of this plan. If you would like to add a little more challenge, encourage your child to also read one psalm per day, and after that one chapter of Proverbs.

As your child (or yourself) begins to read whole books of the Bible (or almost whole books) with this plan, I'd highly encourage you to show them the awesome videos created by The Bible Project. This is a huge project and not every book of the Bible yet has a video, but the ones that are there are top notch. There is nothing else comparable, in my opinion, to these videos. Before your child begins reading a new book of the Bible, watch the video on that book with them first, so that they can see the overall picture of that book.

Plan 5: The New Testament

A good challenge, particularly I think for teenagers and up, is to read the New Testament. There are 260 chapters in the NT, so reading 1 chapter per weekday is more than doable. Encourage them to also take time to read the study notes from their Bible, and again I'd encourage watching The Bible Project videos that correspond to each book.

Plan 6: The Entire Bible

This takes commitment, but is of course well worth it. Before challenging anyone to this, the person really needs to recognize how much reading does need to be done per day, and make a plan for consistent reading. There are numerous options for doing this, with a popular one being a one year Bible like this one. Another option is to turn to our friends again at The Bible Project. They too have a reading plan for the whole Bible that you can find on their Tumblr page. As before, I highly recommend their videos. But I would also HIGHLY recommend a book called How to Read the Bible Book by Book. Only a few pages per book, this reading makes an excellent introduction to each book of the Bible before you read it. I teach the Bible Survey course at ADC, and this along with the Bible is the textbook.

Honorable Mentions

There are some great Bible apps for kids, and 1 in particular is worth mentioning because it is free. It is put out by LifeChurch.tv, and is called Bible for Kids. My daughter loves this app, as it is highly interactive. The other honorable mention is for those who may have read the Bible through before and are looking for a new way to do it – through an audio Bible. In this regard, the Inspired By audio Bible is fantastic. Read by actors, and well produced. I listen to this quite regularly.

Do you know of other good reading plans? Let me know in the comments.

photo credit: A little boy reads a big book with river at background via photopin (license)

A Reasonable Argument for Believing that Matthew is the Best Gospel

Heads up – this is a completely unbiased post. Yes, I completed a PhD with a thesis on Matthew. Yes, my students often hear me say "Matthew is the best Gospel." But after hearing one of my former PhD advisors mention that Mark is his favorite (I'm talking about you Mike Bird!), I needed to set the record straight for everyone out there. There are many reasons that Matthew is the best Gospel. Here are the reasons, in no particular order:

• Matthew has a nice clear incipit, unlike Mark whose manuscripts couldn't decide if Jesus should be called the Son of God or not.
• The early church liked Matthew best, and the early church was filled with brilliant people and very few heretics.
• Matthew, unlike Luke, mentions women in his genealogy (Luke was evidently too influenced by Paul's writing to Timothy).
• Matthew mentions the Magi in the birth narrative, and they rolled out the red carpet for the coming king!
• Sermon on the Mount!!
• Matthew makes careful use of the OT to show why and how Jesus is the promised messiah.
• Matthew like titles! Son of David, Son of Man, Son of God!
• Matthew is the originator of the Walking Dead! (Matt 27:52-53)
• Matthew's Olivet Discourse talks about the destruction of the temple AND the second coming (take that Mark!)
• Matthew used more sources than Mark (and cleaned Mark's material up)
• Matthew was an apostle (take that Mark and Luke!)
• Matthew helpfully arranges Jesus' teaching into 5 discourses, unlike Luke who scatters it like seed, and Mark who is lighter on teaching and just has Jesus "immediately" running around everywhere.
• John Collins stated that more has been written on Isa 7:14 than any other verse (Collins, “The Sign of Immanuel,” in Prophecy and Prophets in Ancient Israel, 225). We have Matthew 1:23 to thank for that! Matthew 1:23 has literally kept biblical scholars employed!
• Matthew was the first evangelist to say, "good going Mark! You neglected to mention any appearances by the risen Jesus!"
• Matthew loves typology, and there is no funner way to read the OT!
• As that lady from The Office counseled Michael Scott, "secret secrets are no fun, secret secrets hurt someone." Matthew tones down Mark's messianic secret.
• Matthew is the first to tell us that John didn't really want to baptize Jesus.
• No one understands "about the loaves" Mark, but I do know that you neglected to mention that Peter walked on the water a bit too! (Matt 14:28-31; Mark 6:52)
• Matthew (and Mark) mention BOTH large feeding miracles (he did it TWICE John and Luke!)
• We would have never known that Jesus was a trick donkey rider if not for Matthew (Matt 21:7)
• I don't think there is a more convicting passage for Christians than the separating of the sheep and goats – exclusive to Matthew! (Matt 25:31-46)
• We aren't left wondering what happened to Judas (Matt 27:3-10)

There are more, but really – need I go on? It is clear that Matthew is the best Gospel! If you have any addition you would like to add, or if you would like to posit that another Gospel is better, please do so in the comments.

How to Be Your Own Taskmaster: Tracking Inputs and Outputs

We all do it at some point – get off course. Whatever you might be working at or trying to work at, we get distracted and blown way off course. Perhaps it was a totally legitimate emergency. Maybe it was another important matter that required your attention. Quite often, though, it is us sabotaging ourselves. We either do it by convincing ourselves that something else is more important. Or we distract ourselves with YouTube or social media. Or we allow other people's priorities to supplant our own. We've all been there.

What is needed is course correction - pointing the nose of our ship back to the way we were trying to go in the first place. For me personally, my course correction has been about becoming my own task master again – intentionally choosing to do the the things that I want/need to do, and keeping on top of myself.

Inputs

In the busyness of a new semester, some extra responsibilities at home and at church, I began to pay far less attention to my inputs. What are my inputs?

1. Sleep. I intentionally relax on my schedule during the summer, but come fall I'm usually pretty good at getting to bed at a decent hour, and not shying away from a quick nap at my desk to recharge mid-day. I did not keep on top of myself.
2. Eats. I track my food on MyFitnessPal app. In the busyness of August, I slacked off and slowly stopped doing this all together. No surprise then that my eating has gotten worse, and while I am still losing weight, it has slowed to an unacceptable pace. And the increase in sugar in my diet has affected my stamina and quality of sleep.
3. Spiritual Food. Because of my bad sleeping habits, my morning routine has been erratic. This is my main time to focus on my priorities and set my heart toward God.
4. Exercise. The number of times a week I have been exercising decreased to unacceptable levels. And YES this is an input, not an output. Exercise increases your energy, stamina, and mental focus.

It really is incredible to me how inter-connected everything is. My eating affected my sleeping, which affected my morning routine, which affected my exercise. And once things were out of balance, I was off course. And this affected my output.

Outputs

A big part of my morning routine is placing priority on tasks that need to be done during the day which are directly connected to my bigger goals. One of the easiest ways for me to tell if I've been to simply look at my ToDo app (The Hit List) and see everything I've checked off. But neglecting to do that meant that I wasn't attacking each day with a plan.

Another thing I stopped doing was keeping an actual track of my time. I use a great free app called Toggl to keep on top of myself, so that I can look back and see what I did during the day. And if I see gaps in my timesheets, it is likely that I was slacking off. (Right now, the Toggl timer is set to "blogging").

However you decide to keep track, if you want to be productive, on task, and on course, you need a way to keep on top of yourself. Track your inputs and outputs, and you'll find yourself more focused and productive. Be your own TaskMaster!

photo credit: Outlet says oh via photopin (license)

PDF Workflows for Academics

I did a quick search on my Mac and I currently have 4, 832 PDFs on my computer. While not all of them are academic articles, a huge number of them are. PDF continues to be one of the most versatile file types and one that I prefer when passing files back and forth. Saving invoices, webpages — pretty much everything can now be saved as a PDF. As you work with PDFs here are a number of things you should know and tips you can use.

Creating PDFs from Digital Files

Many people are still under the impression that you need Adobe products in order to create and work with PDFs. While this was the case a while back, it is not the case anymore. On a Mac, you can "print to PDF" from anywhere on the computer. Simply hit print, and then hit the PDF button that appears in the bottom left corner. On PCs, in the export or save dialog boxes, you will have an option to save to PDF.

 

Creating PDFs from Hard Copy Files

At the beginning of my PhD studies, I already had a huge pile of PDF articles copied from many library visits. Except for being stapled, they were unorganized. Furthermore, I started preferring reading on my computer so that I could easily extract notes and organize my PDFs in my reference manager.

My solution was to digitize all of my articles (a long process but very worth it). Many new office printers can scan documents to PDF now. But if you do not have that ability, then getting a ScanSnap (which I now have on my desk) is the option for you. I purchased the smaller, cheaper option of the ScanSnap S1300, but if I had to choose again I probably would get the larger model ScanSnap iX500 as it can handle larger stacks of paper.

Apply OCR to PDF Files

OCR is short for Optical Character Recognition. It is the process of looking at an image and finding text in it. When you create PDFs from hard copy files, you are (usually) just creating images. In other words, you could not highlight any text in these PDFs, as there is no text there. OCR fixes this by finding the text and adding it to the PDF. There are several options out there for people to use.

1. Free. The free options are not as accurate (in other words the scan doesn't recognize the text as well) but free is sometimes all you can afford. There are several free online options, though not all of them will create for you another PDF (rather than giving you a text file). Here is one example.
2. Paid. There are several main companies that specialize in OCR. IRIS readiris, Abbyy fine reader, and OmniPage are the top choices. I personally make use of Abbyy, but it is because I use DEVONthink Pro Office, and Abbyy is built into that software. If you have need of major PDF software that can manipulate PDFs, options like Adobe Acrobat or PDF Pen on Mac also have OCR capabilities. 

Compress PDF Files

PDF files that are created from scans tend to be quite large, larger than they need to be. This is why you need to compress PDF files. Not only does it save hard drive space, but if you are using cloud backup  or a cloud reference manager, this will save you a lot of space. I compress every PDF file I create from a scan.

There are two ways that I know of for compressing a PDF, paid and free. The free option is an online option on the Small PDF site, check it out here. Another great free option right on your Mac is a service item. I created a simple service item on Mac. You can right-click any PDF file, go to "services" and choose this compress PDF option. I have zipped this service file for you. Place it in user>library>services. File here.  If you are using PDF software like Adobe Acrobat or PDF Pen on Mac you can compress as well.

Combine PDF Files

I sometimes need to combine PDF files into a single file. Again the big PDF software mentioned above can do this, but even Preview on a Mac can do this by simply dragging and dropping. I have also created a service for combining PDFs in the link above. On the great Small PDF site you can also merge PDFs for free.

Highlighting & Notetaking on PDFs

Because of my huge love of reference managers, I highly recommend working with PDFs within that environment. In this regard, Sente, Bookends, Papers, Endnote, Qiqqa, and Mendeley can all highlight and make notes directly on the PDFs (see my posts on reference managers here).

If you use Zotero or just don't use a reference manager, both Adobe Reader and Mac's Preview can highlight and make notes directly on PDFs. On an iPad GoodReader makes PDF style notes similar to Preview and Reader. Or you can use something like Notability if you want to draw freehand on a PDF.

Intelligent Searching Your PDF Collection

When you want to do some serious searching within your own PDF collection, you need to go a step beyond a general search. And, while you can search within individual PDFs in Reader and Preview, having an app that specializes in searching a larger collection and presenting it well is very valuable.

For this job, I personally use DEVONthink Pro Office. Within this app, I point to my PDF collection which is part of my reference manager library, and it can search it intelligently (DEVONthink probably has the most intelligent searching of any app). Another absolutely fantastic searcher on Mac is the FoxTrot Pro search tool. Qiqqa on the PC is the reference manager I suggest to PC users, as it does this very well too. (If you're a PC user and know of another good app in this regard, let me know in the comments!)

Collaborating via PDF

While MS Word might work for collaborating, not everyone uses MS Word. For example, I use Mellel as my word processor, and during my PhD I had to find a convenient way for my advisors to annotate my files, as Mellel is a Mac only app, and moving from Mellel to MS Word would muck up my process. The solution I found was absolutely perfect for my needs, it is a.nnotate. It allowed my two advisors to create notes, for them to see each others notes, and a way for me to quickly scroll through their notes. You need to pay for credits, but it is not expensive and was very worth it for me.

Another newer option which I haven't fully tested but seems to be a nicer, slicker, version of a.nnotate is Kami. Kami is free, but there are advanced options for pay as well. It also has a Chrome extension. In fact, Kami also does a lot of what has been mentioned above (OCR, combining, and splitting PDFs). I highly suggest checking out Kami if you need to do a lot of collaboration on PDFs, I certainly will be.

Is there anything I missed or any apps I should have mentioned? Let me know in the comments.

Josephus and New Testament Studies

Josephus is an essential source for our understanding of the world of Jesus. There are a number of important events and figures that we would know little to nothing about apart from his writings.

While it might not be necessary to sit and read through the entire Antiquities, students of the New Testament simply must be familiar with Josephus and recognize where we have significant information and parallels for the New Testament. Readers always ought to bear in mind that Josephus wrote with his own agenda and bias which needs to carefully scrutinized. The sections below will highlight some of the important passages, some essential works on Josephus, and some fantastic web resources for the study of Josephus.

Josephus Parallels, Similarities, or Points of contact with the New Testament

I am shamelessly pulling this list from the Josephus.org page:

1. King Herod: Luke 1:5 and Matt 2:1 // Ant. 17.7.1 191 and War 1.31.8 665
2. The Slaughter of the Innocents: Matt 2:2-16 // Ant. 17.2.4 43
3. Archelaus: Matt 2:22 // Ant. 17.8.1 188
4. The Census of Quirinius: Luke 2:1 // Ant. 18.1.1 1 
5. Jesus at Twelve: Luke 2:42 // Life 1.2 8
6. The Fifteenth Year of Tiberius: Luke 3:1 // Ant. 17.11.4 318, 18.2.2 35, 20.7.1 137; War 2.6.3 94
7. John the Baptist: Mark 6:17-29; Matt 14:1-12; Luke 3:3, 3:19 // Ant. 18.5.2,  18.5.3 136. See more on the Josephus page dedicated to this.
8. Pharisees: Matt 23:1, Luke 14:1-14 // Ant. 13.171-173, 18.1.2-3 11-13; War 2.8.14 162-166
9. Sadducees: Matt 22:23, Mark 12:18, Luke 20:27, Acts 5:17, 23:8// Ant. 18.2.4 16-17, War 2.8.14 162-166
10. All Things in Common: The Essenes: Matt 10:5-14, Mark 6:11, Luke 9:5, Acts 2:45 // Ant.18.2.5 18-22, War 2.7.4 119-127
11. Samaritans: Luke 9:51 // Ant. 20.6.1 118, War 2.12.3-4 232-235
12. Insurrection in the City under Pilate: Mark 15:7, 27; Luke 13:1, 23:18, 23:32; Matt 27:38 // Ant. 18.3.2 60-62, War 2.9.4 175-177
13. Render to Caesar: Matt 22:15-22, Mark 12:13-17, Luke 20:19-26 // War 2.8.1 118, Ant. 18.1.1 3
14. Jesus: Ant. 18.3.3 63-64 (for more on the testimonium flavium see the Josephus page on it.
15. James the Brother of Jesus: Mark 6:3, Matt 13:55, Gal 1:19, Acts 15:5-21 // Ant. 20. 9.1 199-203 
16. Theudas, and Judas the Galilean: Acts 5:33-39 // Ant. 20.5.1 97-99, 20.5.2 102
17. The Famine under Claudius: Acts 11:27-28 // Ant. 20.2.5 49-53, 20.5.2 101
18. The Death of Herod Agrippa I: Acts 12:20 // Ant. 19.8.2 343-361 
19. Expulsion of the Jews from Rome: Acts 18:1-2 // Ant. 18.3.5 81-84
20. The Egyptian: Acts 21:37-38 // Ant. 20.8.5 169-172, War 2.13.5 261
21. Ananias the High Priest: Acts 23:2, 24:1 // Ant. 20.5.2 103
22. Felix the Procurator, and his wife Drusilla: Acts 24:24 // Ant. 20.7.1 137-144
23. Festus the Procurator: Acts 24:27-25:2 // Antiquities 20.8.9-10 182-186
24. Agrippa II and Berenice: Acts 25:13, 26:27-28 // Ant.20.7.3 145
25. The Widow's Mite and Sacrifices: Mark 12:32-34, 41-44; Luke 21:2-4 // Ant. 6.7.4 147-149
26. The Circumcision Requirement for Converts: Acts 15:1-20 // Ant. 20.2.3-4 34-48
27. Living as a Pharisee: Acts 26:4-5 // Life 12
28. Inner Temple Forbidden to Foreigners: Acts 21:26 // Ant. 15.11.5 417; War 5.5.2 193-94, War 6.2.4 124-26

 

A Few Important Books for the Study of Josephus

Steve Mason is the scholar I rely most on for Josephus. His book Josephus and the New Testament is excellent. The more important book project that Steve Mason is editing is the new translation and commentary on Josephus. You can see the current list of published books in this series on the Brill page. A number of these volumes are available on Logos, yay!

Important Web Resources for Josephus

The Josephus page that has already been referenced is a great website for Josephus. However, by far the best web resource for Josephus is the work of, again, Steve Mason. The Project of Ancient Cultural Engagement is a website that every NT scholar should have bookmarked. Not only does it have a good bibliography, but it has the Greek text aligned with an English translation (including the Brill translation for some books!!). In addition to being able to access the Greek text and translation, there are textual notes, commentary notes, and bibliography related to the different sections. This is still an expanding project, but is already a very impressive site, and we are indebted to Steve Mason for his lifetime of work on Josephus.

Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments?

What You Can Do To Prepare For Your First Year Of Greek or Hebrew Study

I have taught introductory Greek for seven years now, and every year without fail I am asked via email at least once how a student can prepare beforehand. I thought it was about time I made the answer to that question a blog post so that I can point future students to my thoughts, and hopefully help many other students out there who may be asking the same question. So, without further ado, here are things you can do to prepare for your first year of Biblical Greek or Biblical Hebrew.

1. Get refreshed on English Grammar

Quite consistently the students who have the least amount of trouble with learning Greek grammar are students for whom English is a second language. This is because they have learned how English grammar works, so discussions about verbs, nouns, adjectives, dependent clauses, etc., is somewhat fresh in their minds. But native English speakers don't dissect their language as the speak and listen to it, they just do it. A lot of time in your introductory Greek and Hebrew courses will be spent referencing and comparing English grammar, and because grade school teaching of grammar is not up to par, new students are often relearning English grammar AND learning the new grammar of Greek or Hebrew at the same time. To reacquaint yourself with English grammar, I recommend a site like englishgrammar101.com.

If you are continuing to struggle with the grammar during your course, I also recommend some nice companion books. These books are short and connect Greek and Hebrew grammatical concepts with English grammar. The books are English Grammar to Ace New Testament Greek and English Grammar to Ace Biblical Hebrew.

2. Get an Overview of How Languages (particularly Biblical Languages) Work

Much like the previous point, students in grade school don't learn much about how languages actually work and why they work that way. Part of understanding how language works is learning some new terminology like "morphology," "phonology," "dialects," etc. Luckily, there is a great book for students who are preparing to study Hebrew and Greek called How Biblical Languages Work. I recommend picking this book up a month prior to starting your first course and read it through. This will be a heavy read for some students, but heavy reading will prepare you for the heavy work that is involved in learning these languages.

3. Get Your Textbook Early and Read (at least) the Introductory Chapters

Because introductory Greek and Hebrew courses have a lot of ground to cover, these courses hit the ground running. You will have assigned homework right in that first week. Too many students get hamstrung by not having the book when the class begins. Have it with you that first day and have at least the introductory chapter read. Even more ideal is reading the first chapter or two.

4. Get the Alphabet Down & Begin Pronouncing Words

Getting your feet wet prior to the course is a good idea, as the scary-factor that hits some students in that first class will be something that you are already passed if you took the time to learn the alphabet and started pronouncing words on your own. I of course recommend my YouTube videos for learning the Greek and Hebrew alphabet.

After that, start working on pronouncing some words. For this, I heartily recommend Logos Bible Software's modules for the Greek and Hebrew pronunciations. You can also practice reading along with some native readers. Again, Logos has a Greek audio Bible, or you can use a resource like Jonathan Pennington's Readings in the Greek New Testament. You can find readings of the Hebrew Bible here. (Would love to see a Hebrew audio Bible in Logos sometime Faithlife!)

5. App it Up!

While I confess that this is a shameless plug for my Greek apps FlashGreek and ParseGreek, I created these apps precisely because mobile devices are so prevalent and we spend so much time on them. FlashGreek will help you learn all that new vocabulary using a multimedia approach. There is no other app like it.  ParseGreek drills you on parsing, something you will be doing a lot of in Greek. And if you happen to not have a mobile device. I do have some other Flashcard options for Greek, and you can check out the desktop app Paradigms Master Pro.

For Hebrew, there is also several flashcard apps, though I confess that I am not familiar with them. As you check them out, make sure that they are compatible with the grammar you are using.

So there is my list! Do you teach Greek or Hebrew and answer this question too? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments!

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Flip Your Day for More Productivity

If you are a regular reader of the blog, you already know that I’m a staunch advocate of waking up early, so much so that I even have a course on it. One of the big reasons why I value getting up early is that I can do early in the morning things that are important to me before the day begins and other tasks and distractions come creeping in. Even with the best of intentions, our days can easily get highjacked by an email, a phone call, a knock on the office door, etc.

I am currently listening to an audiobook called “The One Thing.” It is probably the best productivity book I’ve read in the past few years. In this book, the author Gary Keller is also a staunch advocate of the philosophy of “the earlier, the better.” Reading this book has nicely coincided with some changes to my daily schedule that I have been trying hard to implement in my own day to day.

Basically, what has often happened with my day is that it can get side-tracked or high-jacked with other administrative tasks. And this happens as soon as I walk into my office. Now, of course, I need to check my email and tasks need to be done, but my intention when walking into the office almost always disappeared or was altered quite quickly. My main problem was (and still is) this - I believed that, if I could get those little administrative tasks done, the rest of my day will be freed up so that I can get to what matters most. Reality check! Things don’t work like that. Instead, administrative tasks and other calls for your time will expand to fit the available space. What we need to do is flip our day, so that the most important things are done first. There are two primary solutions that Keller suggests, and that I had already begun on working to implement:

1. Do your most important thing(s) as early in your day as you can
2. Create time blocks in your day – with the first one(s) being devoted to your most important thing(s)

Over the past few months, I’ve been working to implement a different routine into my day which builds off of these two ideas. Previous to this, the first thing I usually did upon arrival was check email, and responding (if it would take 2 minutes or less) or leaving it to deal with at a later time. I then would tackle some other small tasks in my to-do list that I know I needed to do, as well as any necessary paperwork. I confess to you that this has been my routine for so long, that I am having a lot of trouble breaking this habit.

The problem, like I mentioned earlier, is that this email and admin time quickly expands, sometimes filling my entire day. This ends up being incredibly frustrating on some days, as I  come to work with good intentions to get some reading/research/writing done, and leave having done none of it. The administrative work expands when I let it have my focus first thing in the day.

But today is a new day, and the book by Keller has given me a renewed resolve to aggressively block my time.  I want to intentionally give top priority to my most important things as early as I can in my day. My daily schedule goals which I have been working on are:

1. Not opening email when I first come in
2. Start my hour of academic reading first thing
3. Follow that with an hour of research and writing

This is a huge work in progress for me. I so easily get carried away with other admin duties. But this is the goal I’m working towards. What about you? What part of your day needs to be flipped?

photo credit: Truckfest via photopin (license)

The New Age of New Testament Text Criticism

Every once in awhile, in the midst of doing Bible study in Logos and looking up anything via Google, I stop and remind myself what an incredible age of information we live in. In the field of biblical studies, the ability to research and make use of original language texts in breathtaking. The types of searches we can do in the Bible now takes seconds. And these types of searches aren't just limited to the Bible - we can do full text searches of whole corpuses of ancient literature through TLG or Perseus.

What continues to excite me is the advance in textual criticism of the New Testament. Textual criticism is the "art and science of of reconstructing the text of a work that no longer exists in its original form" (Draper, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 2003). Not only do there continue to be classic books on this subject, but there are now fantastic websites and resources devoted to educating others about NT textual criticism. See, for example, the wonderful VODcasts by Daniel Wallace at the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts that 1) teach the basics of NT textual criticism, 2) look at some of the disputed passages, and 3) give an insider's look into the important work of the CSNTM.

Important work I think is an understatement. NT scholars from now to eternity will be indebted to Daniel Wallace for his ongoing work in the area of preserving NT manuscripts in high quality digital format. (To learn more about the CSNTM, check out the website or watch this video introduction to the work of CSNTM.) This is a labor of love for Wallace and his team, just this past year they digitized and published new manuscripts from the Chester Beatty Papyrus collection, and they are right now in the midst of digitizing 300 manuscripts at the National Library of Greece. Head on over to the CSNTM manuscripts page to see all that has been digitized and available in high definition picture format - this includes all of the major codices, like Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, Bezae, etc. Although not the NT, this type of high quality digitization is also available for the Dead Sea Scrolls.

There is also the H. Milton Haggard Center For New Testament Textual Studies, part of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. CNTTS has created and published through the three major Bible Software apps (Logos, Accordance, and BibleWorks) an absolutely fantastic critical apparatus for the NT.

But my favorite now has got to be the New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room. This is an awesome site that is very well organized, and updated regularly. In addition to having tons of high quality images, this site also provides a lot of transcriptions, which is very helpful (especially for us amateurs!). I'm still learning to use this site, but find it very useful. And while this site on its own is free and very useful to anyone, its usefulness has greatly increased with Logos's brand new New Testament Manuscripts Explorer resource (available only for Logos Now subscribers). I actually love this resource so much that I'll do a screencast on it at some point on the blog.

What was once reserved for only those who could get to famous libraries and museums in order to examine papyri and codices is now available for the world. Get your Bible-Geek on and dig in to NT text criticism right from your laptop.

More useful resources for NT Text criticism:

• Reference Charts for New Testament Textual Criticism. This is a helpful PDF for learning all of the different signs and sigla in text criticism. Shared by the author on viceregency.com
• Font that covers the text diacritical marks. The IFAO-grec font was made for those publishing in the area of text criticism, and makes all of the diacritical and signal marks easy-ish to use.
• Unicode key layout for IFAO. The accompanying unicode key map for the sigla.
• A great blog devoted to NT Text Criticism is Evangelical Textual Criticism.
• Top Ten Essential Works in NT Text Criticism. This is a great post from the ETC blog that highlights some of the top works in NT Text Criticism.

How to Find More Time to Read

We all have a list of books we want to read, whether it be an actual list written down, or a mental list that we frequently add to but rarely go back to. Almost all of us (certainly the majority of my audience) recognize the value of reading books. Even in the information age, we know that there is so much knowledge that still is accessed primarily through published books.

The problem is not that we don't see the value in books and reading, but it is simply finding the time and structuring our lives to start reading. And that is exactly why I made this video. I hope this video gives you the encouragement and actionable steps you need to start reading more. And if you find the video useful, please do me the favor of sharing it on social media. And see below the video for a special offer.

As you have heard in the video, I'm so happy to announce my newest course, Reading for Information Extraction. In this course, I walk you through my personal reading system that I learned through trial and error in my years of graduate and PhD studies. Let me help you to start conquering that reading list and make the information you find in books more useful to you in the future.

For this week only, I'm offering to my blog readers a 60% discount. With this link, you can get the course for only $10. Read more, and see the promotional video, on the course page.

What a Novel Idea! Historical Fiction Works by Biblical Scholars

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Ben Witherington III as he was at Acadia Divinity College to teach for our D.Min. program. Whenever an NT scholar comes to town, I try and make sure to get some time with them — usually be volunteering to drive them to and from the airport.

I asked Dr. Witherington about numerous things, in particular I wanted to understand how he was such a publishing machine. In the course of that discussion, he mentioned his latest manuscript that had just been completed called a "Day in the the life of Jerusalem." It is a historical fiction novel set into the last days of Jerusalem before the sacking in 70 AD  (p.s. I can't believe a movie hasn't been made of this yet!). The book will be part of IVP's "day in the life" series and I believe will hit the shelves early in 2016. Dr. Witherington has already published a similar book called A Week in the Life of Corinth.

I got to say, I like this: biblical and historical scholars who know the time and text the best putting their hand to some fiction. It is a great way to teach about these times, and could be great fodder for both classrooms and church small groups. I certainly hope to see more of these books, and look forward to hearing more about IVP's day in the life series — and maybe a historical fiction novel is in my future as well! For those interested in these types of historical fiction works, here are some of the recent publications that I am aware of:

Gerd Theissen's The Shadow of the Galilean (1987) is the forerunner to the current little wave of historical fiction by NT historians. Theissen is a historical Jesus scholar, and many not the de-theologizing he does in the book (e.g.: reducing of miraculous). Still, readers will learn a lot about that time as they follow along with Andreas the fictional character.

The Lost Letters of Pergamum (2002) is written by the very respected Bruce Longenecker. It is a story about a fictitious character named Antipas who is a Roman leader. Antipas reads the Gospel of Luke and begins conversing with Luke about Jesus.

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Apocalypse (2004) by Hays and Pate might be just the book needed to help readers understand the book of Revelation (namely, how to stop reading it like Left Behind). Follow the characters Flavius and Antonius as they find the book of Revelation and it starts to make sense of the craziness that was the end of the first century.

In The Flames of Rome (2014), ancient historian Paul Maier follows the mayor of Rome named Flavius Sabinus, describing the events in Rome preceding and following the Great Fire. It captures the arrival of Paul to Rome, the growth of the church, and the story of the persecution of the Jewish and Christian community under Rome.

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In Pontius Pilate (2014), Paul Maier fills in the historical details that we know concerning Pilate, including his rise to power and his later life after the crucifixion. Mair goes into the historic and political details surrounding the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The goal of Maier is to help readers better understand the political and social complexities of Pilate, Rome's man, trying to rule and keep the peace in Judea.

In A Week in the Life of Corinth (2012), Witherington follows a Corinthian man named Nicanor as he lives his life in Corinth, introducing readers along the way to ancient life and practice. During the story, Nicanor encounters the apostle Paul and enters the Christian community.

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Burge is a great NT scholar and a great writer. A Week in the Life of a Roman Centurion (2015) follows a Roman centurion encountering Jesus and Jewish culture in Capernaum. See Gary Burge discuss the book here.

Hottest off the press is David deSilva's newest book Day of Atonement (2015). This is another one of those "I can't believe hollywood hasn't made a movie on this" (Mel Gibson had planned to at one time I think) periods of history. This novel takes place during the time of Maccabean revolt when Judea fought off Rome and gained its independence.

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If I missed any please, let me know in the comments! Happy reading.

photo credit: Flat Eric on a Saturday Afternoon via photopin (license)

How Academics Can Have a Better Online Presence

In case you couldn't tell, that is a picture of an "ivory tower." And today it is easier than ever for academics to get out of the ivory tower and harness the power of the internet to educate, inform, and connect with people worldwide.

Unfortunately, many academics have no online presence beyond their faculty page on the university website. But there are some great options for expanding one's digital presence that does not take a lot of time or technical expertise. I will present these in order from smallest to largest undertakings.

Academia.edu

I recommend that every academic create an academia.edu profile page. Academia.edu is a bit like taking your universities profile page, putting you in charge of it, and beefing it up. You can see my Academia page here. Academia.edu groups its users by university, so you will see that my URL page connects me to Acadia Divinity College. You can also connect with and follow updates of other colleagues on Academia.edu.

Academia.edu is very much about you putting your academic work out there on the internet. While you may think that many students are using library websites to find information, most of the time they are just asking Dr. Google - and if your work isn't easily accessible via Google, there is almost no chance of non-students finding it. Academia.edu provides you a place where you can:

1. Share your CV (This is the the only place where I share my CV from)
2. List your book publications (and hopefully spurn some sales!)
3. List AND SHARE your published articles

This last one is really important. Most academics write things because they want to contribute to the body of knowledge in their field. But the amount of times a journal article may actually get read is pretty small, and usually confined to other specialists in the field. Academia.edu reports that "papers uploaded to Academia.edu receive an 83% boost in citations over 5 years." This is happening, not  because the best articles in the field are found there, but simply that they are being found! Now be sure to consult your publisher (honor the embargo, etc.), but once you can, and hopefully as soon as you can, upload those essays to your Academia.edu page so that they can enjoy a wider readership and have a greater influence.

Choose a Social Media Outpost

Many academics have at least one place that they are present on social media - be it Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. But don't be afraid to stick those links into your email signature so people can connect with you there. More than that, though, is actually using that space to share short thoughts. I have found that I have as much, if not more, of an impact on my current and past students through Facebook than I have while they were in the college. It is a way for me to share my life with them, share thoughts with them, and to forage for interesting reading for them too. Think of yourself as a funnel to share the knowledge that you find interesting with those who follow you.

Website

The next step up from an Academia.edu page is having your own website. More than the others, this requires some technical know-how. The good news, though, is that making great websites is easier than ever, and it isn't at all hard to find someone that for some $$ will build the website for you.

If you want a nice free option, check out Wix.com. It is a very simple drag and drop interface. The downside of a free option is that your URL would be something like "johndoe.wix.com." However, with Wix, you can upgrade to premium plans (Which have a yearly fee) to get your own domain name (i.e. johndoe.com). Another paid option that I have come to love is SquareSpace.com - this website and blog is a squarespace website and I think it's a pretty good website :-) If you are an academic and you are interested in having someone build a squarespace website, email me and I'll be glad to help you out (contact button at the very bottom of the site).

A website gives you a more permanent and nicer looking place on the internet that is all your own. You have the freedom to add pretty much anything you want to your webpage, and it increases your visibility online.

Blog

A blog is easier than a website to create (just go to blogger.com sign up and start posting!) but it is a bigger commitment. I post once a week on this blog, and I post on a wide variety of topics. There are times even for me when I'm not sure what to post on. But a blog that is not really maintained (you should post at least once a week) is pretty useless in my opinion. But if you have the energy and resolve to post more often, a blog is a great way to get more substantive thoughts out into the world.

One thing I do want to recommend to academics who take up blogging (including those who currently blog!) is to learn the medium. Just like we teach students to write academic essays, blogs are their own beast. There are WAY too many academic bloggers who are posting massive articles. The truth is that very few people are reading all the way through those posts (this post is getting too long already!). If your thoughts are that substantive, break it down into a 3 or 4 part series of posts. And learn to use lots of sub-headings, lists, and even pictures. For those interested in both blogging and a website - well, that is why I chose Squarespace. It powers both my website and my blog and is incredibly easy to use.

Podcast

Podcasts have exploded in popularlity - chances are that you listen to a few yourself. But, at least in my area of studies (Biblical Studies), there aren't yet that many podcasters out there — with the exception of apologetics podcasts which are to be heartily commended. Mark Goodacre did one for awhile, but hasn't kept it up (if I'm mistaken, please correct me!). I have thought seriously about doing a podcast in the past, but don't feel yet that I could handle the time commitment, as I would want to be consistent and do a good job. But perhaps you are the one to tackle a good podcast in your area of specialty! If so, all you really need is a decent microphone (this is a great one that I use). Go on to fiverr.com and hire someone to create an intro and outro, and then download Audacity on your PC, or use Garageband on your Mac. Libsyn.com is a great place for hosting a podcast, or if you go the website route, you can also have a podcast using Squarespace. If you are very serious about podcasting, I'd also recommend a podcast tutorial like this one, or check out the Podcast Answer Man.

Academics — put yourself out there! Attract more attention to your scholarly work and connect with new people online.

Do you have any other suggestions? Let us know in the comments.

photo credit: View of the UT Tower from University Avenue via photopin (license)