Month: February 2009

Biblioblogger?

Am I a Biblioblogger? Probably not; at least I am not included among those on this photography of publications by Bibliobloggers. Or maybe, he just didn’t have my books available. Who knows. No hard feelings anyway……..

Update:

Wow; I think I have to update this. I just discovered that on the Top 50 list of Bibliobloggers, I am ranked as number 25th. So maybe I am  a biblioblogger after all!

Unconnected

I have been away for a week at my cabin, and returned tonight. A lot of bibliobloggers postings listed on my Bloglines. I subscribe to ca. 40 blogs (ca, because some new are added, while others have to go…almsot every week), and there were about 150-200 postings (I admit I read some on my Iphone in the middle of the week while having a trip to the nearest town where I got phone connection).
Jim West was on the top with over 50 postings (does he live in front of a computer?), while others had no postings this week (like Philip Harland and 6-9 others…). Hope some of these latter had a good and a relaxing week like myself, even away from any phone og computer connections. But, of course, with a pile of books by their side..

The Shema and The First Commandment in First Corinthians

waalerThe Norwegian scholar Erik Waaler now has his dissertation published at Mohr-Siebeck. I was one of the opponents at his final exam – what we here in Norway call disputation – in 2005, and it will be interesting to see how our praises and criticisms have been dealt with in this revision of his thesis.
Erik Waaler,
The Shema and The First Commandment in First Corinthians
An Intertextual Approach to Paul’s Re-reading of Deuteronomy.
WUNT II 253. 2008. XIII, 563 pages.

The publisher presents his work in this way:
“Erik Waaler takes a somewhat modified intertextual approach to the relationship between Jewish monotheism and Pauline Christology. His focus is on Paul’s Christological reuse of Shema in 1Cor 8:1-6. He argues that the statement “there is no God but one” (8:4a) is a combined echo of Shema and the First Commandment, and that v. 4a might be associated with the Second Commandment. This fits with Paul’s constant use of Deuteronomy in 1Cor 5-10. Admittedly first century non-Christian Jews did not use the term one about other beings together with the one God, thus combined phrases such as ‘one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ’ are without Jewish parallels. Apart from this Christological twist, Paul’s reuse of such phrases is in line with Jewish custom. He uses phrases like one God and one Lord as arguments for unity, although he speaks of unity in the Church. In the Old Testament, themes like God’s fatherhood and His oneness are associated with creation and salvation. Paul echoes this, but when Shema let the phrase ‘one Lord’ signify Yahweh, Paul let it signify Jesus, who like Yahweh is contrasted to the idols. Additionally, both Shema and 1Cor 8:1-3 speak of love directed at God. The Christological twist is supported by Paul’s Christological re-interpretation of the divine epithet the Rock (Deut 32). In the context, Paul makes membership in the Christian in-group dependent on the confession: “Jesus is Lord.” Erik Waaler concludes that Paul in 1Cor 8:1-6 sustains a relatively high Christology. Paul achieves this effect by a contextual and binitarian re-reading of Shema.”

Intro to 1 Peter

Several new book reviews are published today again on bookreviews.org; I will not comment on all of them, just direct your attention to a brief introductory book on one of my favorite NT works,- 1 Peter:
David G. Horrell,
1 Peter.
Series: New Testament Guides
New York: T&T Clark, 2008 pp. vii + 126. $19.95
The volume is reviewed by Peter H. Davids, and he provides a very favourable review.

Naturally Speaking Software

I am considering buying Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 (preferred edition), probably the most praised speech recognizing software.

I used an earlier version several years ago, but had some conflicts with my hardware. Now I have a rather new laptop and is getting a new strong desktop, I thought it might be time for giving this software  a new chance.

But I would like to hear if any of you have any experiences with the software already. Please use the comments field below and give me some suggestions..

Philemon readings

I have now posted to Bookreviews.org my review of

Larry J. Kreitzer
Philemon
(Readings: A New Biblical Commentary
Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2008).
It will probably appear there in 2-3 months.

I personally found this book very helpful, and I think it will be useful too as an introduction to the letter to Philemon both for students of the New Testament and for lay people in general. I especially appreciate his integration of scholarly New Testament studies with a presentation of the letter’s ‘wirkungsgeschichte’ in literature and film. The present volume is the seventh in a series called “Readings: A New Biblical Commentary.” The publisher does not state who are the intended readers of the series. If the other volumes are tailored in the same way as this one, they might very well serve a wide range of readers, and spark an interest in a further reading of the biblical text itself. And that, in my view, is no small purpose and reward at all.

Some articles on Philo

A search on MUSE this morning revealed some articles on Philo I had to add to my personal Philo bibliography. I list them here; some other readers might find them interesting too. Or you might do a search for yourself by going to MUSE.

Robertson, David G.
Mind and Language in Philo
Journal of the History of Ideas, Volume 67, Number 3, July 2006, pp. 423-441.
Abstract
The Late Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria has been neglected in studies of theories of mind and language in Post-Aristotelian Philosophy. Philo’s dualism distinguishes immateriality and materiality in our language (logos). His arguments about the nature of mind and his explanations of the relation of speech to the mind, divine or human, draw heavily from Stoics and Platonists. Philo appears to present contemporary Platonist, anti-Stoic arguments that mind is of a different nature than body. Also, Philo deserves credit as our first detailed, surviving expositor of the view that meanings are thoughts, presented to the world in speech.

Runia, David T.
The Idea and the Reality of the City in the Thought of Philo of Alexandria
Journal of the History of Ideas, Volume 61, Number 3, July 2000, pp. 361-379
Abstract
The theme of my paper is the conception of the city as a social and cultural phenomenon held by the Jewish exegete and philosopher Philo of Alexandria (15 bc to 50 ad). There can be no doubt that the city occupied a central position in his own life. As an inhabitant of Alexandria he was thoroughly immersed in a highly urbanized form of life. From a more theoretical angle the city has an important place in his thought because of what it represents: of all physical products of human activity the city is the largest and most complex (here there is in fact little difference between Philo and us, although there is an obvious difference in scale). It is not my aim to examine Philo’s political philosophy, i.e., his views on how the city should be governed, nor his views on the actual political administration of the Roman Empire in his time. These subjects have already been treated with sufficient competence by others. I will argue that, though as an Alexandrian Philo was very much a homo urbanus, he nevertheless reveals a significant ambivalence towards the city. This attitude is related to his dual ideological background (Jewish and Greek), and anticipates developments in later antiquity.