April first

We created a few interesting books for April first over at Eisenbrauns. Hope you enjoy them:

First Compendious Near Eastern Grammar
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
Edited by A.P. Ril
Winged Bull Press,2006
12000 in 12 volumes with CD-ROM and numerous charts,
Cloth,18 x 24
Your Price: $14,650.00
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~APRILFIRST

A Proto-Semitic Grammar and Textbook
Supplements to First Compendious Near Eastern Grammar
1A
by H.J. Shem
Edited by A.P. Ril
Winged Bull Press,2006
300 pages + CD-ROM,
Cloth
List Price: $900.00
Your Price: $720.00
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~SHEPROTOS

Monuments of Ancient Assyria
A complete collection
by Karen Oh
Winged Bull Press,Forthcoming, 2006
1500 pages + CD-ROM, numerous illustrations,
Cloth
Your Price: $12,000.00
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~OHMONUFELL4IT

Mazdaism and the Art of Chariot Repair
Where'd I Put that Ankh?
by Suzuki Kawasaki
Scribes of Ecbatana,Forthcoming, Fall 500 B.C.E.
10 tablets,
Skin
Your Price: $20.06
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~KAWMAZDAI

Pharaoh Tachos and His Nefarious Barrio Brothers
All My Friends Have Low-Riders
Special introductory price is 25 gold sicles
Alternate History of the Persian Empire
by Michael Brown
Old Potato Peel Press,Forthcoming Fall 2006
1-50 pages,
Paper
Your Price: 25 gold sicles
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~BROPHARAO

To see the whole thing, follow this link:
http://www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~~~04012006

Quote for the day

“Each new frontier of Christian mission requires fresh theological pursuit. We are not called to rest on our laurels, to speak of, discuss and implement the theologies of our forebears as if they are determinative for all contexts everywhere.” — Alan Mann in Atonement for a "Sinless" Society

When to send your e-mail newsletter

I love these marketing e-mails I get. No, not the spam ones, but the ones that tell me how to have a more effective e-mail newsletter. The one I just received is a bit more realistic than most. They look at the most recent statistics, which say that Friday is the best day to send an e-newsletter, and 9:00 AM is the best time. They then say that they won't change, because everyone else will, thus glutting the inbox and making a new survey necessary.

They then give a piece of real advice (rare these days!):

"Here’s one more piece of advice on how to get your e-mail opened.

"Provide compelling content."

Now that is real advice!

Of course, at Eisenbrauns we have the unique advantage of having customers all around the globe, so whenever we choose to send it will be good for some and in the middle of the night for others...

Useless post

Just a note to mark the 201st post. You may now return to your regularly scheduled activities :)

Loons

I am a displaced Minnesotan, not that I don't like Indiana, I do. But, there are some things I miss. One of them is loons. Loons are a funny looking bird with a strange call. But, it evokes the backwoods in my mind—a campsite on a lake with canoes pulled up and a nice campfire with pancakes cooking over it and fog rising from the waters as the sun begins to rise. The lonely call of a loon from somewhere over the water in the fog, answered by another one.

Well, you don't see loons much except in the northwoods because they are solitary and shy birds. So, imagine my surprise when I was walking to work yesterday morning, looked out over the lake and saw a loon! Yes, it was a loon, funny looking thing, riding low in the water, then gone. A minute or two later, up it comes, quite a distance from where it went under. It was close enough that I could see the plumage clearly. It was migrating and had stopped at Winona Lake for the night. It made my day.

Why I am not an Arminian chapter 5

The authors seem to be at their best when they are doing historical theology. Right now I am reading the chapter on the Synod of Dort. They trace the history, beginning with Beza and progressing through the debate involving Arminius. They make it sound like Arminius disagreed with Beza even when he was studying with him. That is not how I have read it, the way I have heard it several times previously is that Arminius was one of Beza's star pupils and it was only after moving to Leiden that he changed his views. The reason he changed them was because he was enlisted to write a refutation of those who rejected the hyper-calvinism of Beza. In the process of researching, he himself came to disagree and developed an alternative—Arminianism.

Does anyone out there know which version is correct? I have read this version in several places, but have never gone back to the sources. If this version is true, then why did the authors use the version they did? Is it because it would give too much credence to the Arminian argument? If so, that is intellectual dishonesty. If, on the other hand, the version I have heard before is false, then the perveyors of it are being dishonest...

<idle musing>
Why do we think that the ends justifies the means? Another checkmark for total depravity. But, as Christians we should trust God enough to tell the truth and let Him handle the results. Unless, of course we have a god that is too small...
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

“A soldier who, discounting the words of his captain, goes out to meet a well-armed foe with a toy pistol, ought to meet the fate that will surely be his. The Church today is quite impotent in the face of the overpowering forces of evil, because she refuses to take seriously the Word of her Heavenly Captain as regards the nature of the foe.” — F. J. Huegel

Quote for the day

"Jesus' commandment is harsh, inhumanly harsh for someone who resists it. Jesus' commandment is gentle and not difficult for someone who willingly accepts it." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Another new book from Eisenbrauns

We just got done unloading the truck containing this new book:

The Edited Bible
The Curious History of the "Editor" in Biblical Criticism
EIS - Eisenbrauns
by John Van Seters
Eisenbrauns, 2006
xvi + 428 pages,English
Cloth
ISBN: 1575061120
Your Price: $39.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~VANEDITED

Trinity and subordination

There is an interesting post about the Trinity over at Ben Witherington's blog (thanks to The Community of Jesus for the link) discussing the role of the Son with respect to the Father. Thought provoking and disturbing. It is long (and it's not even Witherington writing it!) but worth the read. Short quote:

"Paradoxically, in this same thirty-year period in which the co-equality of the divine persons has been powerfully reaffirmed and the implications of this teaching for our human social life recognized, many conservative evangelicals have been moving in the opposite direction. They have argued that the Trinity is ordered hierarchically, with the Father ruling over the Son. The Father is eternally “head over” the Son just as men are permanently “head over” women. In this model of the Trinity, the doctrine of the Trinity, rather than being a charter for emancipation and human liberation, becomes a charter to oppose social change and female liberation."

And, on a related note, the top 10 reasons men shouldn't be ordained can be found here (thanks to Ben Myers for the link). These are my favorites:

"4. To be ordained pastor is to nurture the congregation. But this is not a traditional male role. Rather, throughout history, women have been considered to be not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more frequently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

"3. Men are overly prone to violence. No really manly man wants to settle disputes by any means other than by fighting about it. Thus, they would be poor role models, as well as being dangerously unstable in positions of leadership."

<idle musing>
It is scary how often we let political and/or social presuppositions influence our theology. We stand in judgment on scripture instead of letting scripture stand in judgment of us—or to put it another way—we assume that culture is the Holy Spirit and can't be wrong. Dangerous presupposition that leads us to lose our saltiness. Perfect environment for a demogogue to arise and lead us.
</idle musing>

Technology and the Church

Fascinating post over at Vintage Faith about the use of technology at a church he was speaking at.

<idle musing>
Personally, I am a small group kind of guy. I would have found this environment very difficult to worship in. It raises the question of where does technology distract from rather than enhance our time of corporate worship.

Mind you, I am not against technology, I used to be in charge of IT at one company I worked for, but—and it is a big but—when does technology distract from the glory of God and enhance the glory of man? Corporate worship is supposed to draw our attention to the creator of the universe, the only one worthy of worship.

Just something to think about...
</idle musing>

Pigs Fly!

When I first started here in October, 2004 (oops, that should be 2003!), I was told that there were two things that would never happen.

One, Hendrickson's long awaited release of:

A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature

and second:

The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra

Well guess what?


Hendrickson released Jastrow in February, and we just sent the final revisions of Yon to the printer! Watch out for those pigs!

Atonement and evil

Scot McKnight has a good series on Atonement going on, today's post is about justification and atonement. The discussion following it is about imputation, impartation, Eastern Orthodox theosis and other similar items.

Scot's post ties in nicely with the latest Blogthings quiz making the rounds—How evil are you? And that, of course ties in with the book I am currently reading: Why I Am Not An Arminian and total depravity.

Of course, the million dollar question is to what extent the death of Jesus is efficacious in removing the sinful bent in a person's heart...

I come down strongly on the Keswick side here as popularized by such authors as Andrew Murray (a Reformed pastor), Watchman Nee (a Plymouth Brethren pastor), Hudson Taylor (of China Inland Mission fame) and, although he predates Keswick, Charles Finney (Arminian in theology). In a nutshell what they say is that by faith we can allow the Holy Spirit to keep us from sinning (see I John). Mind you, if is all God's grace, not anything of human ability.

Comments?

Why I am not an Arminian Chapter 2 "Augustine versus Pelagius"

As I said in the disclaimer here, I am not a Calvinist, but a classic Wesleyan/Arminian, therefore I read this chapter expecting to be accused of being a Pelagian. I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did the authors not level the charge of Pelagian, they even said that semi-Pelagian is a misnomer. They called the classic Wesleyan/Arminian position "semi-Augustinian."

Without a context that can be taken several ways, but the context was that a semi-Augustinian sees that salvation is all by God's grace, from the first stirrings of the soul until the final glorification at death. Where they differ from Augustine's views is in their views on predestination. I can live with that definition. I find much about Augustine that I like. Total depravity is not a problem for me, I don't need to read much history to confirm it. The human soul is definitely bent on doing evil, to quote from another book I'm reading ( First, Break All the Rules), citing the parable of the frog and the scorpion. The scorpion convinces the frog to give him a ride across the pond by saying that it would not be in his best interest to sting the frog, since they both would die. He then proceeds to sting the frog anyway. The frog asks why he did it as they both begin to drown: "I know," relied the scorpion as he sank into the pond. "But I am a scorpion. I have to sting you. It's in my nature." It is the same with humans...

The next chapter is on predestination with a subtitle "Conditional or Unconditional." As I mentioned in a previous post, this book seems to be balanced and free from polemics. I doubt I will be convinced, since reading Calvin himself didn't convince me, but at least they aren't creating a straw man of the other viewpoint.

Christmas in March

Well, not quite Christmas :) I love my job, I get to see all these new books come past. Today we got the new Word Biblical Commentary on Isaiah (revised edition) and the latest `Atiqot and you saw that yesterday we got the newest edition of Rosenthal's Aramaic Grammar. The best part is that there are still some more boxes to receive this afternoon. Off to lunch!

Isaiah 34-66
2nd edition
Word Biblical Commentary - WBC 25
by John D. W. Watts
Thomas Nelson,2005
xvii + 503-958 pages,English
Cloth
ISBN: 0785250115
List Price: $39.99
Your Price: $27.95
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~WAT2ISAI

Atiqot 50 (2006)
Atiqot 50
Edited by Zvi Gal
Israel Antiquities Authority,2006
English and Hebrew
Paper
ISBN: 9654061856
Your Price: $36.00
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~ATIQOT50

Blogging tools, part 2

Andy, our webmaster, has been at it again. He has added another little tool for our blogging pleasure.

Now there are three ways you can link to a book:

1. Full bibliographic information:

The Edited Bible
The Curious History of the "Editor" in Biblical Criticism
EIS - Eisenbrauns
by John Van Seters
Eisenbrauns,Forthcoming March 30, 2006
xvi + 428 pages,English
Cloth
ISBN: 1575061120
Your Price: $39.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~VANEDITED

2. Just a simple text link:

The Edited Bible

3. Just a small graphic:

Enjoy the new toys! I know I will.

New edition available

We just received the latest edition of A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic yesterday:

A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic
7th expanded edition, augmented with an index of biblical citations compiled by Daniel M. Gurtner
Porta Linguarum Orientalium - PLO 5
by Franz Rosenthal
Harrassowitz Verlag,2006
x + 107 pages,English
Paper
ISBN: 3447052511
Your Price: $38.00
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~ROSGRAMMA

The main difference is the addition of the index of biblical citations.

Just for kicks, I looked at my copy: 5th printing, 1983. It must have just been printed when I bought it, because I took Aramaic in the summer of 1983. That is a scary thought :)

Quote for the day

"In a word, much of the teaching, both of the pulpit and the Christian press really amounts to this: sanctification is by works and not by faith." C.G. Finney

Quote for the day

“It is heartbreaking to see the way professed Christians today are being swept into the swirling rapids of worldliness. Believers today do not distinguish themselves by ‘the victory which overcomes the world.’ Worldly pleasures, worldly fashions, worldly lusts and ambitions are only too apparent today in the life of the Church and the manner and outlook of Christians. Is there no way out of what the Germans call the ‘Weltgeist?’ We live in the world as a fish in water—must the water soak in, or is there hope that the Saviour’s high-priestly prayer: ‘they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world…Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me’—be answered? Must ‘the prince of this world,’ who according to Jesus our Lord is the devil, hold sway over Christians in spite of God, the Church, the Cross and the Empty Tomb?” — F.J. Huegel

Why I am not a Calvinist finished

The final chapter of Why I Am Not A Calvinist sums up their arguments. I found one section to be particularly good, beginning on page 218:

“In a fascinating historical study, British theologian Colin Gunton identifies key points at which he believes some central Christian doctrines got off track. One particularly interesting development is that in Western theology since Augustine, ‘the theme of love becomes subordinate to that of will.’ Gunton sees this manifested in the way the doctrine of double predestination is understood in some traditions. Part of the fundamental problem, Gunton believes, is a deficient understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity above all shows that God necessarily exists in an eternal relationship of perfect love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit…

“When love is subordinated to will, then the fatherhood of God, which is emphasized in the Trinity (Mk 1:11; Jn 1:18; 5:19-20; 17:20-26; 20:17; 1 Cor 15:20-28), takes a back seat to the image of God as King or Ruler. God’s essential relational nature as a being who exists in three persons becomes secondary to the notion that God is a sovereign monarch whose will cannot be thwarted.”

<idle musing>
This reminds me very much of Brunner in A Christian Doctrine of God, where he develops a fascinating image of the eternal love that flows between the persons of the Godhead from eternity to eternity, a wonderful and awesome image. I think this captures the essence of who God is and why the doctrine of predestination as expounded by Calvinists is a faulty image of God.

Over all, a very good book. I just started its companion, Why I Am Not An Arminian, and so far it is very good also. I was very glad to see that they refuse to take the extremes on the Arminian side as normal, just as they would wish for no one to take the extremes on the Calvinist side as definitive. I will post more as I read more.
</idle musing>