Published articles, books and book reviews by The Scholars Corner
Do you feel sad, guilty, unworthy, or ashamed? Does it seem that no matter what you do, you can’t live up to God’s standards? Are you always trying to be on your best behavior, but still feel like you aren’t being good enough? If you always have the feeling you are being watched and judged, then you know what it means to be living on parole. God does not want you to live that way. He wants you to know his love. He wants you to feel freedom and joy.
The Role of Jewish Feasts in John’s Gospel ( vol 162) by Gerry Wheaton, Cambridge University Press. A monograph The Role of Jewish Feasts in John’s Gospel (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series) Hardcover – March 9, 2015 https://smile.amazon.com/Jewish-Society-Testament-Studies-Monograph/dp/1107079683/ ISBN-10: 1107079683 ISBN-13: 978-1107079687 First of all, let me say this is a very thorough scholarly work and it is definitely not for the layman. It has untranslated quotations from German, French, Greek and Hebrew, as well as a plethora of footnotes. I borrowed this book from the library because I am interested in how the Gospel writers used types from the Hebrew scriptures to show how Jesus was the fulfillment of those signs, symbols, and festivals (the study is called Typology). For instance, Matthew, in the book of Exodus, draws a parallel between Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness ending in the Sermon on the Mount to Moses’ 40 days on the mountain with God and the giving of the Law from Mt. Sinai. I was primarily interested in understanding how John uses the Hebrew Holy Festivals as a thematic structure in the Gospel. Gerry Wheaton’s thesis is that John’s Gospel is written to show Jesus as the fulfillment … Read more
Book Review: The Jewish Gospel of John: Discovering Jesus, King of All Israel by Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg Shows Samaritans as a primary audience for the the Evangelist’s outreach. Uncovering the political meaning of the word Judean (Jew) as representative of the ruling class, not of the entire Jewish people.
Slavery would have lasted much longer….
Paul & the Law: A Contextual Approach by Frank Thielman, InterVarsity Press, 1994. They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. “My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes. They shall dwell in the land where your fathers dwelt that I gave to my servant Jacob; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever; and David my servant shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in … Read more
What’s With Paul & Women? By Jon Zens 1 Timothy 2:11-12 has been used as a “clear” mandate to silence women in the church for over 1500 years. In What’s With Paul & Women? Jon Zens exposes the fallacies of this interpretation, and opens up the meaning of 1 Timothy 2:9-15 using insights gleaned from the Artemis-saturated Ephesian culture where Timothy was left to stand against false teaching (1:3). Going beyond 1 Timothy 2, this book covers the major issues in gender inequality with three Appendices: one on the Ephesian social world in which 1 Timothy was written, another on 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 and an extensive review of John Piper’s What’s the Difference? Manhood & Womanhood Defined According to the Bible. If 1 Timothy 2:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 have puzzled you, What’s With Paul & Women? will help in your quest to discern the mind of the Lord as the gender debate continues. I was hoping this book would be better than it is. Jon Zens raises a lot of good points and issues, but makes a mess of his argument, relying too heavily on an untenable translation of the Greek verb tense as a pivotal point of his … Read more