"By their fruit you shall know them"

Scot McKnight has had an ongoing series of posts on the Sermon on the Mount. The most recent one is called Follower or fraud and discusses how you will know a false prophet. We were just talking about that on Sunday. Miracles and things like that don't prove that someone is from God. The scripture is very clear that you will know them by their fruit. As Scot says, "It may take time; and we may find ourselves committed to them and listening to them and learning [from] them but, eventually so it seems, character will win out and we will see them for who they are by the way they behave."

First new Eisenbrauns title of the year

Just arrived yesterday afternoon, fresh from Israel (it's a co-publication with Magnes Press). We were told it would be here at the end of January, and you can't get much closer than the 30th :)

Biblical Hebrew in Its Northwest Semitic Setting
Typological and Historical Perspectives
Edited by Steven E. Fassberg and Avi Hurvitz
Eisenbrauns,
324 pages, English
Cloth
ISBN: 1575061163
Your Price: $45.00
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~FASBIBLIC

Here's a list of what's in it:

Preface
Moshe Bar-Asher The Qal Passive Participle of Geminate Verbs in Biblical Hebrew
Joshua Blau Problems of Noun Inflection in Arabic: Reflections on the Diptore Declension
John A. Emerton 'The Kingdoms of Judah and Israel and Ancient Hebrew History Writing
Steven E. Fassberg Sequences of Positive Commands in Biblical Hebrew
W. Randall Garr The Paragogic run in Rhetorical Perspective
Edward L. Greenstein Forms and Functions of the Finite Verb in Ugaritic Narrative Verse
John Huchnergard On the Etymology of the Hebrew Relative
Avi Hurvitz Continuity and Change in Biblical Hebrew: The Linguistic History of a Formulaic Idiom from the Realm of the Royal Court
Jan Joosten The Disappearance of Iterative WEQATAL in the Biblical Hebrew Verbal System
Menahem Zevi Kaddari Homonymy and Polysemy in the New Modern Hebrew Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible
Geoffrey Khan Some Aspects of the Copula in North West Semitic
André Lemaire Hebrew and Aramaic in the First Millennium BCE in the Light of Epigraphic Evidence (Socio-Historical Aspects)
André Lemaire and Ada Yardeni New Hebrew Ostraca from the Shephelah
Mordechay Mishor On the Language and Text of Exodus 18
Adina Moshavi The Discourse Functions of Object / Adverbial-Fronting in Biblical Hebrew
Alviero Niccacci The Biblical Hebrew Verbal System in Poetry
M. O'Connor The Human Characters' Names in the Ugaritic Poems: Onomastic Eccentricity in Bronze-Age West Semitic and the Name Daniel in Particular
Frank H. Polak Linguistic and Stylistic Aspects of Epic Formulae in Ancient Semitic Poetry and Biblical Narrative
Elisha Qimron The Pausal Patah in Biblical Hebrew
Gary A. Rendsburg Israelian Hebrew in the Song of Songs
List of Contributors

Idle musings about a different Sunday

Yesterday morning (Sunday) we woke up with a leaking roof. Consequently, we were late to our house church gathering, showing up in time for the meal following. As we sat around the table, church happened. One person offered a can of roofing patch, another person, who had worked in roofing, offered to come and help me find the leak if I couldn't. All that is neat, but what really was nice is that they had delayed having communion until we got there. After the noon meal and some time talking and discussing various and sundry subjects, everyone (including the children, of which there are many) gathered again. It was observed that the early church celebrated communion during the love feast and that the modern church during the "worship service," but it seemed especially appropriate that communion should happen in the midst of our normal daily doings. After all, communion is celebrating Christ and what He did for us, and that happens right in the middle of life.

Late afternoon, we headed home. I made pita bread for supper, which we enjoyed with tomatoes, broccoli sprouts and colby cheese, and then proceeded to locate the leak, I think... On the whole, a most enjoyable, but different day.

Forgiveness

Earlier this week our church had a prayer meeting and during the meeting one of the men felt God was convicting him that he had to seek forgiveness from his ex-wife. They had been divorced for over 16 years and he had let the unforgiveness go, thinking time would make it go away. While I was thinking inside myself, "How can anyone let unforgiveness fester that long?" God "hit me up the side of the head" as they say around here. I needed to seek forgiveness from a co-worker for something that I had done in November. I knew it, but had been putting it off. Talk about an object lesson in the Sermon on the Mount and the speck versus the log!

I confessed my sin to the group in letting unforgiveness go. But, now the tough part, asking the person to forgive me. I put it off until today, and was on my way home when I felt that nudge. I turned around and went back. But, did I do it? NO! I got distracted by some other things, talked to the person and left. Totally forgot why I had come back. As I was walking across the parking lot, I felt that nudge again. "I'll look like a fool if I go back now," I said to myself. Well, the option was a weekend of misery because of disobedience. I turned around again and walked back. This time I did it, I managed to ask forgiveness. And the other person lit up and forgave me. They knew I needed to do it, I knew I needed to do it and they were more than willing to forgive.

Compolo

I just ran across this post on a recent sermon by Tony Compolo:

"What should you buy for someone who has everything? Nothing!" Dr. Campolo said in the keynote address at St. Andrew Presbytery's "Tapestry" training event. "But we just came through Christmas, and you didn't have the guts to pull it off, did you?"

"A whole generation is being seduced by consumerism into a lifestyle diametrically opposed to Christian values," he said, lamenting that even education is sold as a way to make more money to buy more consumer goods.

"No!" he thundered, invoking Paul's admonition to Timothy. "An education is 'to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

Campolo challenged audience members to aim for doing the most good, not having the most comfortable life...

Campolo said some critics have labeled the Christianity he preaches - that eschews war and supports the poor and demands a life sacrificed to the service of others - "dangerous."

"When did Christianity cease being dangerous?" he asked. "That's when it ceased being Christianity."

<idle musing>
Yes! What more can be said? Let the flames commence :)
</idle musing>

Training of the Twelve

I have had this book for about 27 years, Debbie gave it to me on my first birthday after we got married. I started it at the time and got to page 200; there was still a calendar bookmark for the year 1979 there. I don't remember why I stopped there, it is over 500 pages.

Anyway, I have always heard this book praised as a good read. Well, I have managed to get to page 70 in about a week. I find it to be overly wordy and stating the obvious. Perhaps its just me. I will continue to wade through it, but won't be surprised if I give up again—probably at about page 200 :)

Has anyone else read the book? If so, what were your reactions? It is considered a classic, and has been reprinted many times by different publishers.

No fear in love

Jim West's new blog has a decidedly pastoral slant to it, as opposed to the more academic slant of his previous one. He had a good post on Friday on I John 4:18. Here's a portion of it:

"...those who know the love of God know that everything that happens has to receive God's permission first. And if God permits it, he knows what he's doing and that "all things work together for good to those who love God" as Paul reminds his Roman readers. Indeed, for such persons, terror is a toothless dog. It barks, it growls, it may even bite- but it's bite is ineffective; nothing more than a shadow of a jest.

"Perfect love casts fear aside because fear is the absence of love, and trust. Leave fear to those who do not trust God. It's their territory. Let them have it since it's a desert anyway that no one in their right mind would want to inhabit."

<idle musing>
As I commented on his site:
"Excellent observation. This text has been coming to my mind many times lately with the avian flu scare and the terrorist scare and the price of gasoline and natural gas rising and... One could go on and on. But, with God in control, there need be no fear. It ties in very nicely with Matthew 6 about the birds and flowers--we need a heavenly perspective."
</idle musing>

What is an adult?

Just ran across this post over at A Place for the God-Hungry about what it means to be an adult (thanks to Scot McKnight for pointing it out).

Here is his list:

So what does it mean to be an adult?

* An adult is learning to take responsibility for her life. An adult learns to say, "I did it" or "I was mistaken" or "I was wrong." An adult is not forever blaming people for where she is in life. An adult does not spend the workday whining about this and that. An adult learns to take responsiblitiy for what she has control over and move on.

* An adult does not use people to prop up his sagging ego. An adult can focus on another person, compliment and affirm without always turning the conversation to himself. Even the person who is always denigrating himself may be doing that in an effort to keep the attention focused on himself.

* An adult considers the implications of his behavior on other people. "If I don't come through with my part of the project, how will that impact the other team members?" An adult considers the schedules of others instead of being consistently and regularly late (which communicates to others "I care more about what I am doing than causing you to always have to wait on me."

* An adult follows through. "I'll give you a call." "I'll put you in my prayers." "I'll bring this book right back." Do you follow through? Do people know that when you say you will call that you will call? Do they know that when you say, "Let's have lunch" that you are serious? Or do they know that you rarely follow through on what you say? I was visiting with a friend the other day. He told me of a mutual friend who one day said to him, "Let's all get together for dinner soon." My friend said, "I knew that would be the last I would ever hear of that unless I took the initiative to make it happen. That guy is always saying such things but doesn't follow through."

<idle musing>
I hope he grades on a curve :)
</idle musing>

Just arrived at Eisenbrauns, Enuma Elish

I love my job, it gives me the chance to drool over all the new books as they arrive. This one has been asked for by many people for a long time and it just arrived. Of course, if you don't read French, it won't help you much. But, French is a whole lot easier than Akkadian! Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project does very good work.

The Standard Babylonian Creation Myth
Enuma Elish
State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts - SAACT
Edited by Philippe Talon
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 2005
xx + 138 pages, English and French
Paper , 175 x 250 mm ,
ISBN: 9521013281
Your Price: $34.00
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~TALSTANDA

Luke 12

"13 One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (RSV)

I read yesterday that 40% of those who have credit cards are within 5% of their credit limit. Scary thought. Interesting that I saw on Scot McKnight's blog that he had a post from Matthew 6 entitled "Master Mammon." Ties in very nicely with Luke 12.

How do we make moral decisions?

That is the question Scot McKnight is raising on his blog today. Here is an excerpt:

"Let me suggest at this point that there are five elements, and each interacts with one another rather than being a simplistic conveyor belt series of actions:

1. Biblical statement (and interpretation)
2. Church tradition (shaped by denomination or “brand of Christian”) and resolution
3. Cultural context and the legal system (don’t deny it)
4. Experience and individual conscience
5. Reason: penetrating, at some level, everything above."

<idle musing>
Of course number 1, right? But, numbers 2-5, even though we don't acknowledge it, are probably just as strong. In fact, numbers 3 & 4 are probably stronger than any of the other ones, unless we consciously exclude them. Personally, seeing some of the decisions being made, I doubt that 5 has much say in a lot of people's lives :(
</idle musing>

History and Theology

Lawson Stone who is in Israel right now has a good post on the interplay between history and theology, here is a paragraph from it:

"For me, the connection between history and faith mirrors the integration of life and faith. I never made a very good dualist, separating the concrete world of time, space, politics, economics, appetites, ambitions, hopes,and dreams, from "the faith." So history and faith are possibly just facets of one reality. In an era when more and more theologians, even evangelical biblical theologians, are claiming that "theological" interpretation should break away from reading the Bible in its historical setting, this becomes a vital issue. I wish I had a definitive way of stating and resolving these hard questions. An awful lot of awfully easy answers are out there, often masquerading as the latest in epistemological and philosophical insight. But even though I can't give a quick-and-dirty, sound-bite friendly answer, I believe more than ever that to read the Bible detached from the human, flesh-and-blood, incarnational realities that gave it birth, opens up not a door of hope, but of illusion, for biblical theology. Historical work is hard work. I don't blame theologians for their loss of nerve. Many times I've wanted to give it up myself. But again and again, I remember that St. John did not say "the word became text" or "the word became story" but "the word became flesh and dwelt among us" which means...God deigned to enter history, to become history, and so if we are to be able to proclaim God's historically incarnated word across cultures, we must first listen to this word across cultures. Indeed, historical study is the first step in genuine cross-cultural communication of the biblical message."

Tozer on Worship and Entertainment

Tozer is one of my favorite authors. He never fails to stimulate my thoughts and convict me. This book is a bit different from other ones by him, it is a collection of excerpts from other books and sermons by him on the theme of worship and entertainment. Here is a nice snippet:

"If you do not know the presence of God in your office, your factory, your home, then God is not in the church when you attend."

<idle musing>
There is a tendency among Christians to divide the world into secular and sacred realms. There is no biblical basis for this, but we do it anyway. What Tozer is reminding us of is that all the world is a temple to worship God in. There is nothing that a Christian does that is not meant to be worship. Nothing is secular anymore, because we have God indwelling us in the form of the Holy Spirit.
</idle musing>

Affordable at last!

Continuum/T & T Clark has finally released the long promised paperback version of The Tel Dan Inscription: A Reappraisal and a New Introduction by George Athas.

The Tel Dan Inscription
A Reappraisal and a New Introduction
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series- JSOTS 360
Edited by George Athas
T & T Clark, 2005
352 pages, English
Paper ISBN: 0567040437
List Price: $49.95
Your Price: $34.92
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~ATHTELDANP

Things that make you go "hmmm"

Over at Jesus Creed, Scot has posted this:

"Town May Make Carrying Condoms Mandatory

By SERGIO DE LEON (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
January 11, 2006 5:34 PM EST
BOGOTA, Colombia - A western Colombian city councilman wants to require everyone in town 14 or older to carry a condom to prevent pregnancy and disease, outraging local priests."

Go see it for the details...

Amusing Ourselves to Death

I finished reading Amusing Ourselves to Death over the weekend. If you haven't read it, you should. Here is a quote from the chapter entitled "Shuffle Off to Bethlehem:"

"The executive director of the National Religious Broadcasters Association sums up what he calls the unwritten law of all television preachers: 'You can get your share of the audience only by offering people something they want.'

"You will note , I am sure, that this is an unusual relitious credo. There is no great religious leader—from Buddha to Moses to Jesus to Mohammed to Luther—who offered people what they want. Only what they need. But television is not well suited to offering people what they need. It is 'user friendly.' It is too easy to turn off. It is at its most alluring when it speaks the language of dynamic visual imagery. It does not accommodate complex language or stringent demands. As a consequence, what is preached on television is not anything like the Sermon on the Mount. Religious programs are filled with good cheer. They celebrate affluence. Their featured players become celebrities. Though their messages are trivial, the shows have high ratings, or rather, because their messages are trivial, the shows have high ratings.

"I believe I am not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another religion altogether.

"...I think it both fair and obvious to say that on television, God is a vague and subordinate character. Though His name is invoked repeatedly, the concreteness and persistence of the image of the preacher carries the clear message that it is he, not He, who must be worshipped..."

<idle musing>
Wow, Pretty heavy statements. There are many other observations in the book related to how television has shaped the way we view reality. The scary thing is that this book was written in 1985. Think how much worse it is 20 years later, an entire generation has been raised since then who have been put in front of the tube as a babysitter.
</idle musing>

Eisenshirt day

Eisenbrauns bought all of its employees embroidered shirts recently. We could choose what shirt we wanted, and Eisenbrauns bought it and put the logo on it. They arrived on Tuesday and we decided to celebrate Friday the thirteenth as "Eisenshirt" day. We have various other "Eisen" days, the favorites being Eisentreat and Eisenbrownie day (food!!!). Anyway, Amy (accounting) and Marti (customer service) ended up getting shirts that matched their Eisenmugs. We just had to take a picture. In the background is "Rex the Ibex" and a bookcase of Eisenbrauns publications. Marti is on the left, Amy on the right.

New commentary series

Baker/Brazos Press has come out with a new commentary series. I know what you're thinking, "Not another set of commentaries, there are already too many."
Well, this one has a different focus. It is a theological commentary, and the first volume is done by Pelikan, so it isn't going to be the average run of the mill commentary.


From the prospectus:

"Jaroslav Pelikan initiates this forty-volume commentary series with his work on Acts. This commentary, like each in the series, is designed to serve the church--through aid in preaching, teaching, study groups, and so forth--and demonstrate the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible.

"Pastors and leaders of the classical church--such as Augustine, Calvin, Luther, and Wesley--interpreted the Bible theologically, believing Scripture as a whole witnessed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Modern interpreters of the Bible questioned this premise. But in recent decades, a critical mass of theologians and biblical scholars has begun to reassert the priority of a theological reading of Scripture."

So, what do you think? Give me your feedback (ok, I confess, I bought deep on this title...did I make a mistake?).

Here's the bibliographical stuff:

Acts
Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible - BTCB
by Jaroslav Pelikan
Brazos Press,
2006
320 pages, English
Cloth
ISBN: 1587430940
List Price: $29.99
Your Price: $20.96
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~PELACTS

Amusing Ourselves to Death

I am finally reading Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. I have been looking for it for a while now and found it on clearance two weeks ago. There is a newer edition that just came out, so they were dumping the old one. Well, since Postman died last year, I suspect it is just a new cover. No, I see that it has a new introduction by Andrew Postman. Oh well.

Anyway, the introduction starts right in, "Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy...the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right."

<idle musing>
I, for one, am convinced that Huxley was right, as is Postman. But, I have always like Postman's stuff, going all the way back to The Soft Revolution
</idle musing>

Quote of the day

I received this from Jim Eisenbraun, who got it from Infoworld.

"Never take customers for granted. That’s it. If you adopt that as a mantra, you’ll either succeed and stay successful or you’ll go out of business because you say it but don’t really believe it." -- Tom Yager

<idle musing>
I would like to think that is what we believe here at Eisenbrauns. For over 30 years we have been doing it successfully enough to still be here :) But, nevertheless, we don't take any of our customers for granted, especially with the competition these days. Think about it, how often do you hear from a live person at some of the other booksellers?
</idle musing>