theLAB

The Logos Academic Blog

A Strategic Approach to Reading Background Texts of the New Testament

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While many NT scholars may know a whole lot about Matthew–Revelation, many lack the ability to pick up and read Josephus and Clement in the original Greek, or Seneca and Cicero in Latin. This reveals not just a severe lack of language ability, but, more importantly, a lack of familiarity with the ideas and historical contexts of Early Jewish, Greco-Roman, and Early Christian authors and texts.

My belief (and I’m not alone in this) is that, as a NT and Early Christian scholar, I must do more than be mindful of the vast body of literature outside the NT; I actually have to read it.

Let me show you how I developed a plan to read every background text to the New Testament.
[Read more…]

Call for Papers: “The DSS 70 Years Later,” University of Lublin

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Here at theLAB we just received word of an exciting DSS conference taking place later this year at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland.

The conference, The Dead Sea Scrolls Seventy Years Later: Manuscripts, Traditions, Interpretations, and Their Biblical Context, is aptly timed to coincide with the 70-year anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The focus of the conference is wide in scope, including archaeological, paleographic, literary, historical, social, biblical, and religious topics.

Proposals are being accepted until July 15, 2017.

If you’ve been following theLAB, you’ve noted our love for all things DSS. We hope the following resources help in preparing your proposal (and paper) for a trip to Poland this Fall:

Two Significant Uses of the DSS (Drew Longacre)

How to Use the DSS in Biblical Studies (Tavis Bohlinger)

Why Should We Care about the DSS? (Tavis Bohlinger)

Parchments Found at New DSS Cave (Craig Evans)

Warmly,

the Editors

 

Academic Jobs: June 19–23 2017

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Full-Time Faculty in Theology/Religious Studies, Maria College, New York

Professorship in the Study of Religion, Aarhus University, Denmark

Lecturer in Theology and Religion, University of Wales, UK

Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Culture and Ideology of Writing in the Ancient Mediterranean, Brown University, Rhode Island

Research Associate, University of Cambridge, UK

Tutor (part-time), Cranmer Hall, Durham, UK

Any relevant job adverts we missed? Send a note to tavis.bohlinger@logos.com and we’ll update the list right away.

Abraham’s “allegiance” to King Jesus? Part 4 of the Matthew Bates interview

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Welcome to the fourth instalment of our Hot Seat interview with Matthew Bates, author of Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017).

In this segment, we discuss Bates’ interpretation of Abraham’s pistis in Romans 4:1-25, Teresa Morgan’s definitive work on pistis in the ancient world, and the potential contribution of “allegiance alone” to recapture the heart of the Christian gospel in the church today. [Read more…]

Writing a Biblical Theology? You need to discuss these references.

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Top References Discussed in Biblical Theologies

An earlier post discussed how systematic theologies use the Bible to discuss the classic topics of systematic theology. We looked at the most frequent references found in contexts discussing the primary topics of systematic theology. It was a popular post at theLAB, and Christianity Today even interacted with us by asking several prominent theologians what they thought about the results.

It’s no surprise that theologians were disappointed at the lack of interaction with the Old Testament. Two commenters, Kevin Vanhoozer and Michael Allen, noted dismay specifically that Exodus 34:6–7 is not included in the top 100 list. My guess is that Vanhoozer and Allen (as well as Craig Keener, John Stackhouse, Michael Bird, William Dyrness, and others) will be pleasantly surprised with the reference data from Biblical theologies. [Read more…]

Academic Jobs: June 12-16 2017

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This week the academic job market for Biblical Studies and Theology was light, so we pulled a few adverts from the last few weeks that are still timely: [Read more…]

How to Build a Solid Bibliography in Biblical Studies

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This post is designed mainly to help students build an effective and robust bibliography for any research project they undertake. Although focused on New Testament works, it should also be useful for other readers who may wish to pursue a writing project of some kind. [Read more…]

Job alert: Oxford University Post-Doc

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New Testament and Early Christian scholars take note: the Faculty of Theology and Religion is soliciting applications from now until July 14 for a 1–2 year Fellowship beginning 2018 (see PDF below). This looks like a great opportunity to participate in a paid, multi-year research project with Markus Bockmuehl (and others). [Read more…]

Why the Reformation Still Matters: An Interview with Matthew Barrett (Part 2)

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In this post, we interview Dr. Matthew Barrett, Lecturer of systematic theology and church history at Oak Hill Theological College in London, and the general editor of Reformation Theology: A Systematic Summary. For the first part of our interview with Matthew, visit the LogosTalk Blog. [Read more…]

Defending “Allegiance Alone” – Part 3 of Bates’ Hot Seat interview

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Welcome back to the third instalment of theLAB’s Hot Seat interview with Matthew Bates on his new book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone. In this segment, we engage Matt on his perception of the gospel message, whether “allegiance alone” can correct current errors in popular soteriology, and where the gospel actually “climaxes.” We end part 3 with a challenge to his translation of pistis based upon the ancient evidence outside the Bible. [Read more…]