Thoughts on Antiquity

Welcome, everyone, to the the fourteenth monthly Biblical Studies Carnival! Here is a showcase of the best of January’s posts around the Biblioblog sphere. And trust me, we have plenty of great posts this month.

Biblioblog Scene:

I want to first congratulate James Crossley on being January’s Blogger of the Month. It’s a great interview and one which needs to be if you have not already done so. We also have some new bibliobloggers in January: The Forbidden Gospels Blog by April DeConick, a blog devoted to early non-canonical Christian literature, Gary Greenberg begun Bible and History, and James Darlack’s old James the Just blog is now Old in the New. Finally, Maurice Robinson, known for his textual work on the Byzantine tradition, joins Evangelical Textual Criticism blog.

Taking a quote from James Crossley and a post by John Lyons, Mark Goodacre ponders whether it is a good idea to publish pre-publication material, and Stephen Carlson remarks on his own experience on the idea. Patrick McCullough takes this idea and runs with it asking about the purpose of blogging. Possibly, Stephen wonders, hypertext?

Christian Origins:

Much is going on this month with the historical Jesus and early Christianity. The big story begins with James Crossley’s book, Why Christianity Happened, and Danny Zacharias’ initial review, to which a mini-discussion goes on in Crossley’s response’s comments. Danny again posts further thoughts, this time centering around Q, and again James answers. Danny posts his final thoughts, and James again responds. Others in the blogosphere post their thoughts, such as James Tabor.

Andrew Criddle blogs on the origins of Epiphany.

The NT Canon:

Loren Rosson answers the question, stemming from yet another great post, of what Paul thought of Jews and Greeks. Mark Goodacre chimes in with a further clarification. Ben Smith posts part 4b on the New Testament canon, continuing his series. Luke’s use of the Old Testament is the subject of two independent blogposts. Phil Harland suggests Luke models Jesus after Elijah (as well as Isaiah and Elisha), while Richard Anderson suggests Luke used Ezra. Also, Chris Price also looks back to a few Classical scholars for their views on the reliability of the New Testament.

Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Non-Canonical Works:

April DeConick incites the Non-Canonical world by her post Beyond the New Testament Canon, and later has a post on the Gospel of Judas in which she points out the small number of scholars, herself included, who think that Judas really wasn’t the “hero” after all. Rick Brannan also has yet another post on the Didache, eleventh in the series so far. A number of bloggers also have mentioned Andrei Orlov’s Slavonic Pseudepigrapha Project.

New Testament Archaeology:

There’s still news on the James Ossuary. James Tabor blogs on the latest developments, while Jim West continues to stand by the claim of forgery.

Textual Criticism:

Rick Brannan points out a textual note on Luke 6.4, and Stephen Carlson remarks on the textual criticism and Markan priority.

Scripture and Skepticism/The Jesus Project:

James Tabor mentions the conference Scriptures and Skepticism and its follow-up project The Jesus Project here and here. It will be good to see what comes out of this project. Already Tabor blogs on a paper he presented at the conference.

Richard Bauckham:

Richard Bauckham is a hot topic among bibliobloggers this month. Continuing his series, Chris Tilling puts up parts 9-17 on Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses; see the whole series outline here. Rick Brannan also has a paper he is presenting which began while reading Bauckham’s book. Tim Lewis has some good thoughts on form criticism as presented by Bauckham.

Old Testament:

Stephen Cook and Kevin Wilson have an in depth discussion on Ezra and his social setting. Cook opened the discussion with “Ezra’s Place among Yehud’s Priests“, and Kevin provides a lengthy response. It is well worth reading the entire conversation. Dave Beldman also compares Genesis and Job 3.

Michael Barber also begins a new series on Jesus and the Restoration of the Davidic Kingdom: part one, part two, part three, and part four.

Hebrew Archaeology:

Jim West begins and finishes an excellent series in four parts on the video production of The Bible Unearthed: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4. This also elicited Stephen Cook to post his review, and a mini-dispute breaks out. Jim West goes on the attack, and both Duane Smith and Christopher O’Brien offer their comments.

Jim Davila keeps us updated on the Semitic snake spells; Duane Smith again offers his comments. Tyler Williams begins a new series on Ideas on Creation and Origins in Ancient Mesopotamia. Meanwhile, Claude Mariottini keeps everyone updated on the latest in Qumran/Dead Sea Scrolls.

Also, Duane Smith raises questions on Asherah in his post which is, in part, a response to Stephen Cook’s post, which is in turn a response to yet another one of Duane’s post back in December. (Does this stuff seep out into other blogs? I keed, I keed…)

Rabbinics:

Michael Pitkowsky has an excellent book review of E. E. Urbach’s Baalei HaTosafot (which, sadly enough, I cannot find on Amazon…) in three parts: part 1, part 2, and part 3. Dan Rabinowitz blogs extensively and thoroughly about the change in the kaddish prayer.

Et Cetera:

Henry Neufeld lauds the merits of the Historical-Critical method, while Jonathan Erdman compares hermeneutics to jazz improv. M. Leary, from Ekthesis, also has an interesting post on Coptic bookbinding.

Claude Mariottini has an interesting post on the Old Testament book of Hezekiah and the mark of the Beast, and Chris Heard, with both levity and gravity, offers a response. Chris Tilling wonders if swearing is a sin, and of course, Jim West says that Chris is going to hell. Nothing new there.

I’d like to thank everybody who submitted nominations, and for all the great discussions this month. I was going to make this a dual-carnival, introducing Classical posts as well, but the sheer amount of Biblical posts does not allow me to do so. Instead, stay tune for another plan I have.

Next up for the Biblical Studies Carnival is Charles Halton at Awilum. Look for a call for submissions.nominations sometime this month.

EDITED: I fixed a typo or two, and added a couple of links that were supposed to be included, but somehow left off. Enjoy.