Biblical Studies Carnival LV (September 2010)

[Stephen Demmler, You Can’t Mean That!, 1 October, 2010, original URL: http://youcantmeanthat.blogspot.com/2010/09/biblical-studies-carnival-september.html]

Biblical Studies Carnival – September Edition

Welcome! “Let’s get this out of the way right up front so that it needn’t be mentioned again:  who was the” #1,542,617 “most beloved blogger of” September? “That’s right pilgrims – me!”  Joking aside (to be clear my rank is a joke, but also isn’t!), many thanks to Jim West for reviving the Biblical Studies Carnival and letting me have a go at hosting.  I am sure that both of my readers will enjoy the bevy of new sites to potentially abandon me for.

That being said, I feel a quick disclaimer and apology is in order: as a time-starved graduate student in the clutches of another heavy semester I only have so much time to spend in the blogosphere, so, if I missed an insanely informative, intriguing, funny, or utterly nonsensical post, forgive me.  If being left out really stings that bad by all means E-Mail me and I will include you after the fact.

A promotion and bitter comment: (Promotion) Next month’s Carnival will be hosted by Jonathan Robinson, so let’s make his job easier by sending him some of our better posts (bitter alert) instead of the three I received! :p

Away we go!

Systematic Theology
To begin with I would be hard pressed to ignore what is surely the most massive theo-blogging event of the year – The Karl Barth Blog Conference –  happening right now over at Der Evangelische Theologe.  This year’s theme is “Karl Barth in Conversation with…” and thus far the contributions have been of the highest quality.  Next up, Halden of Inhabitatio Dei questioned the actuality of a single, unified Postliberal theological project which ignited a wonderfully helpful and characteristically blunt conversation.  “New blogger, Jim East, who blogs atGrebelius Redivivus commemorated the 138th
anniversary of the death of Ludwig Feuerbach on September 13 with a concise summary of Feuerbach’s contribution to Christian theology.”  Steve Duby presents a brief meditation on the concept of “An Ever-Increasing Attribute”in his favorite theologian Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics.  Todd Walatka expresses some reservations about the way in which liberation theology is appropriated in this summer’s Kingdom-World-Church Theses.  For those interested, Erich gathered up some of the latest and most intersting recent articles in the field of political theology.  In the overlap of philosophy – specifically, epistemology – and theology, Stephen FitzMaurice at Scientia Et Sapientia, wonders if ‘justified belief’ exists, which is interesting because in my philosophical training the existence of the J and B legs of the Knowledge tripod (Justified True Belief) were uncontested, it was the T that people fought about.  The Anti-Moderate reflects on Barth’s “The Word of God and the Word of Man”in a post titled: “The Word of God and the Word of Man pt. 1: the Bible as Anti-religious, Ahistorical, Other-worldy, and Dialectical.”

Old Testament
Matt Flannagan responded this month to criticism of earlier essays which sought to deal with the Canaanite massacre in the book of Joshua by appeal to the greatest use of hyperbole all time, truly, Flannagan absolutely murders all of his competition, man, woman, and child, he murders the competition!  Jeremy Pierce at Parableman brings Paul Copan’s recent article to our attention and it happens to be on the same topic as Matt Flannagan’s – the Canaanite genocide.  Bob MacDonald works through a paper on the reception of Psalm 137 in Jewish and Christian tradition.  Soli Deo Gloria presents a quick but insightful meditation onthe promise of rest in Genesis.  Ross then goes on to explore someinconsistencies in the narrative of Joseph that provoke some important reflections.  From Free Old Testament Audio we are given a link to the audio from a class on titled the “Old Testament as Literature.”  In another multi-category type post, Dave Stark directs our attention to the latest RBL newsletter.  Christian Brady wonders, if God let it be or made it so?  Jason of Per Crucem Ad Lucem continues his series On the Cost and Grace of Parish Ministry.  This week’s post kicks off in Exodus and leads us through Genesis, and for anyone considering official work in the Parish, I highly encourage you to spend a few minutes reading this!

New Testament
Tony explores the method and politics surrounding Bible translation and denominations endorsement of specific ones.  Dale offers two brief and quick-hitting posts this month: the first explores the idea that “Romans is a Theodicy” and the other interacts with Brian Rosner’s latest article on “Paul and the Law”. This next post from Michael F. Bird could justifiably be cross listed in several of the sections here, as he is concerned with the justification of the phrase “original autographs” and its relationship to the doctrine of inspiration.  Chris Tilling continues his utterly massive review of Doug Campbell’s equally massive work on ‘justification’.  Brian meditates on the Gospel’s theological stylewhile providing link’s to multiple posts dealing with similar issues.  “Boo to a Goose” brings us a wonderful sermon on Luke 17:1-10 – “A Community of Rebuke and Service“.  Michael Westmoreland continues his immensely helpful series on his favorite commentaries; if you are on the fence or in the dark as to where to begin examining the Biblical text, here would be a great place to start.  Mark Goodacre posts on the much debated (read: never talked about) topic of “Biblical Gynecology“.  James McGrath challenges Earl Doherty – who is apparently one of the preeminent mythicists – on his proposed cosmology and the implications in Paul, the Gospel, and Isaiah (he gets quoted enough in the New Testament to warrant a posting in this section).

Christian History
Questing for the “historical Antony” is the topic of a reflection posted here based on my classwork in an early Christianity course I am taking with Dr. Charles Stang at Harvard currently.  In addition, my classmate Kait reflects on the same course.  Both of our posts have “The Life of Antony,” a piece of hagiography written by Athanasius as our focal point.  The discussion of divine theosis at Theology Forum spawned an intense and fun conversation, be sure to check it out!  Nick Byrd of “Critique My Thinking” explores regeneration and justification by faith in Luther and Wesley through William James’ lectures (now famous book) “The Varieties of Religious Experience.”  For those interested in philosophical theology and psychology, Nick’s is a blog I would pay close attention to, he really is a brilliant young mind!

Curmudgeons
Making a second appearance this month is the “Theophiliac” Tony, in his hard-hitting post exposing the seedy underbelly of the ever-present ‘Meathead Christianity‘ movement.  If you have teenagers I highly recommend you do not miss this! Adam at AUFS discusses the types of academic diseases that hinder an assiduous work ethic. Super-blogger Jim takes on the “Theocratic Republic of Texas” with characteristic wit and intelligence.  Robert Cargill expresses frustration with the academic conduct of  Dr. Ed Wright’s response to an article of Robert’s.  This raises an important issue regarding the ever ascending and totally permeating nature of blogging and “non-scholarly” mediums and their contribution to academia.  Scotteriology offers up “Mark Driscoll Worships Demons.”  Jonathan says something about Zwingli and Jim doesn’t like it!

The Other
Biblioblog nomad extraordinaire Kim Fabricius brings us a sermon titled, “Repenting about Repenting” – I laughed, I cried, I cured, I repented.  In a truly entertaining post Brad confesses to crucial pieces of writing in his field that he has not read.  Naturally, the comment thread has become a group confession of glaring literary abuse! Don’t waste your time on this.  In the aftermath of Stephen Hawking’s latest book Evan examines the importance of ‘spontaneity’ and ‘freedom’ for the furthering of productive dialog between ‘us’ and ‘them’.  Also, Evan at Clavi Non Defixi has posted multiple reflection on the state of libraries and the future of publishing that deserve your attention.  Daniel of Thinking Blue Guitars presents an extremely interesting essay (in three parts) on the concept of ‘cliche’ and the work that the term does in the writings of Proust and Derrida.  Brian LePort reviews Diogenes Allen’s outstandingly helpful “Philosophy for Understanding Theology,” if you are just beginning to dig into the world of theology and lack any formal training in philosophy, this book works wonders at filling in the category-gaps that might prevent initial comprehension!  James McGrath directs our attention to two hysterical Biblical Studies jokes.  In short, it’s two nursery rhymes read through the hermeneutical lenses of Rudolf Bultmann and N.T. Wright’.  Matt embarks on a journey of interpreting Tolkien’s masterpiece “The Lord of the Rings,” so head over and toss in your two cents so he doesn’t abuse the shire too badly ;)!

Posted by Steven Demmler at 10:08 PM Labels: Biblical Studies, Biblical Studies Carnival,Theology

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