Rick BrannanUsing a commentary like you use a lexicon — it’s not really a far-fetched idea. There are scads of context-sensitive discussions of Greek and Hebrew words locked away in commentaries.
Benj PetroeljeIn its modern form, the study of Christian origins has been dominated by the study of the apostle Paul. Take, for instance, Johannes Weiss’s précis of nineteenth-century scholarship on Christian origins, written in 1917: ‘’The history of...
Tavis BohlingerI’ve been asking biblical scholars at every level the following question: “What makes a good biblical scholar or theologian?” Over the next few years (or longer, perhaps), I’ll be posting their responses every Monday...
We are honored to have Drs. Peter Williams and Dirk Jongkind of Tyndale House, Cambridge, join us on theLAB to discuss the Tyndale House Edition of the Greek New Testament (THGNT).
Max BotnerThe fuller version of this article was just published in the Journal of Biblical Literature as “The Messiah Is ‘the Holy One’:ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ as a Messianic Title in Mark 1:24” JBL 136, no. 2 (2017): 417–433. The Messiah is the Holy One of God...
Daniel StevensIt is inevitable that every student of ancient Greek will find a time when they feel out of their depth. Greek literature, as with literature in any language, ranges from relatively easy to read to frustratingly complex. And, since literary Greek...
garetrobinsonMichael Bird has just released a new book (surprise!), Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology. As the subtitle makes explicit, the book confronts adoptionism, which is the idea that Early Christianity believed Jesus was adopted...
Mark WardἈγωνίζομαι is a Greek word commonly abused by Bible interpreters; and I think it raises an interesting test case for what to do when major Bible translations differ. In this post, I want to try to discern what that word is used to mean in its...
The following post is by Dr. Dale Brueggemann, Contributing Editor at Faithlife Corporation. Christ in the OT Do we know for certain that Jesus can be found in the OT? In our efforts to “read backwards,” are we finding Christ where perhaps he...
Shawn WilhiteWhile 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...
Welcome to the fourth installment 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...
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...
Not since the Reformation has there been a challenge to the five solas as persistent and potentially persuasive as Matthew W. Bates’ third book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids:...
Drew LongacreSince I began actively working with the Dead Sea Scrolls over a decade ago, I have become increasingly convinced that they are fundamental to understanding the Bible. In this post I would like to explore two of the more significant ways that the...
As the writer of Ecclesiastes mourns, and as John the Evangelist hints, there is no end to the number of works one might consult for acquiring knowledge. When commencing research for a paper or sermon, a critically important skill is that of...
Joey Dodson“Revisionist history” is inherently redundant, since all history is revised. As George Bernard Shaw writes: “History is always out of date,” and is rewritten to lie, to burn, and to stick in our throats. That is to say, a revision may seek to...
Paul HimesThis is the second of a two-part series on words and their meanings. Part 1 discussed the difference between “words” and “concepts.” In Part 2 we will examine the interaction of “context” (the words surrounding a particular word) with “semantic...
The big news of last week was the announcement by Hebrew University, and Craig Evans here on theLAB, that a 12th Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) cave was discovered just last month.
But why are the DSS important?
Craig EvansA New Cave, an Old Controversy: Dramatic New Discovery in Israel will Re-Ignite Debates The last Dead Sea Scrolls cave, linked to the ruins on the marl shelf at the mouth of Wadi Qumran, was discovered in 1956, bringing the total number of caves to...
Larry Hurtado, Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, has just written an eloquent post on the significance of January 25th in the church’s calendar: the Feast of the Conversion of Paul.
Josh WestburyThe following is Part 1 of a two-part guest post by Josh Westbury (PhD, Stellenbosch), a scholar-in-residence at Logos Bible Software. What comes to mind when you hear the word “Oath”? Perhaps you think of a politician taking an oath of office, or a...
The great NT scholar, Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J., passed away in December. America has a moving tribute to him, “Remembering Joseph Fitzmyer,” written by three respected scholars who knew him well, including John Martens, John Meier, and...
If you haven’t heard already, OT scholar John Sailhamer has passed away.
Matt Emerson writes a touching and personable memorial about him over at Biblical Reasoning.
Requiescat in pace, John.
The High Definition Commentary on James has just been released. Here’s what I like about the idea of the High Definition Commentary, which focuses on the field of “Discourse Grammar”: this field (and this commentary) does for a somewhat unfamiliar...
The newly updated New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis was updated because of the assiduous work of one man, Moisés Silva, whose work I have admired for a long time. Because of that admiration, I was both excited about...
Kris LyleI remember the first time I got a Hebrew lexicon. I was so eager to find the “real meaning” of important theological words. I quickly turned to ברך (barak) and קדשׁ (qadosh) only to find one-word glosses (“bless” and “holy,” respectively) that I had...
Jennifer GuoIn just over a week I will be heading to Atlanta to attend ETS/SBL for the first time. One of the sessions I’m most excited about is A Dialogue with Francis Watson’s Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective in the Matthew section on the afternoon of...
Jake MailhotThe Unseen Realm by Dr. Michael Heiser is out now! Discover how The Unseen Realm illuminates Scripture today! A few weeks ago, while Dr. Darrell Bock was in town filming for Logos Mobile Education, we had Michael Heiser sit down with him to discuss...
Steve RungeHow is your summer going? How is your summer reading of Scripture going? Here’s another quick tip that can help you more deeply engage and understand what you are reading. As with all of the Summer Reading Challenge posts (here and here), the...
Michael S. HeiserA while back on Unfiltered Fridays I blogged about how bad Bible interpretation really can be harmful. I mentioned that I’m exposed to my share of interpretive incoherence because I’m known on the internet for my paranormal fiction and blogging on...