Fountain of Youth discovered at Eisenbrauns?

We have an interesting and creative group of people working here at Eisenbrauns. This was driven home to me today when all employees received the following e-mail:

Intrigued by the urban legend that Twinkies have a shelf life of 30 or 40 years and presented with an opportunity to (partially) test the theory when Dave put Twinkies in the break room on sale for $.10 last summer, I began my own version of myth busters. Not wanting to let an opportunity like this pass me by I put $.50 in the money box and secured 5 Twinkies. The stack of Twinkies was then put into the back of a desk drawer with a post it reminding me of the year I put it in the drawer and the date to take it out and test it eatableness--if that is even a word.

One year later and the first Twinkie is ready to be tested. All I can say is that it sure doesn't *feel* like a Twinkie anymore. I am not sure I want to taste it. Feel free to stop by desk if you want to see what [a] one year old Twinkie looks like.

The last Twinkie in the myth buster experiment is scheduled to be opened July 6, 2010.

<idle musing>
And you thought we only published and sold books!

I felt the thing, it certainly doesn't feel spongy. It still looks like a Twinkie, though:


Not sure if I would try it. I'll let you know if we have a sudden sickness in customer service, or–worse yet–a strange metamorphosis of an employee into some different life-form.
</idle musing>

Zealotry part 2

Scot McKnight hits hard again. I'll quote the summary to whet your appetite:

Zealotry, however, is afraid of freedom. Freedom opens the windows, tosses up the doors, and lets the winds blow in and the people go outside.

Zealotry, at its bottom layer, is the unwillingness (1) to trust God to work in others, (2) to trust others to listen to God, and (3) to trust ourselves to do what God wants. The ambiguity created by freedom is fearful to many, so they make fences and laws — and in so doing, they create a bounded society of zealots who convince themselves that, even though the Bible does not say something, what they are saying is really what the Bible wanted after all.

<idle musing>
How dare he? Actually, how dare he not! It is about time someone with a wide listening audience attack the sacred cows of christianity in the U.S. Too often we allow our cultural lenses to influence our christian conduct.
</idle musing>

Zealotry at Jesus Creed

Never one to shy away from controversy, Scot McKnight is taking on zealotry here. Definitely worth the read, as I'm sure the whole series will be.

One paragraph, to give you a taste:

Trotting alongsie this zeal is a friend named immunity: Zealots think their zeal makes them immune to criticism because they are so zealous for God; their zeal never to get close to breaking any commandment makes them better than others. In other words, zeal shows just how deeply committed a person is to God and therefore immune to criticism. What, they reason to themselves, is wrong with doing more than the Bible? Does not God recognize our zeal?

Biblical Studies Carnival VII

Wow, I never thought it would happen, but I made it into the Biblical Studies Carnival. Check it out here. Look for this:

Archaeology in Pictures
Check out the pictures from the Tell es-Safi/Gath Excavations.
Ancient pottery inscriptions found in Indiana (pictures).
The Tel Gezer Blog is replete with action shots.

Of course, he is referring to my picture of the broken mugs. But, hey, it got me listed :)

New browser

I have been experimenting with a new web browser for the last few weeks: Flock. It is beta and based on the Mozilla engine that powers Firefox.

I was not unhappy with Firefox, but there are some very nice features in Flock. Even though it is beta, it is stable. I haven't managed to crash it yet :) Of course, there are rough edges, like the tabbed browsing extension doesn't work right. But, that is minor compared to two really sweet features:

RSS reader built-in

Just push Ctl-Shift-N and up pops a tab with all your RSS feeds plus a "Home Page" with the unread items

"Blog this" feature

Highlight something on a webpage, right click and select "Blog this".
I use this, but edit the source HTML and then paste it into the blogger "create post" window. But, you can publish directly if you wish.

There are other features that seem interesting, but are largely irrelevant to me. Definitely worth a look and download. After all, it's open source and free.

July special at Eisenbrauns

For July we are offering Carta titles on sale at 15-25% off. I haven't run a Carta sale since November 2004. You can chase the sale down here.

But, to make the summer more interesting, we are offering an additional July incentive:

Order 2 or more books via our website during the month of July and get free shipping within the continental United States, or half price shipping outside the continental United States. This offer includes used books, books on sale, as well as regular books.

Enjoy!

Programmer

We recently hired a programmer—Travis. He has been spending his time getting used to our system (and us!). But today he made a small change that I think is really nice. Before now you wouldn't be able to tell whether an item was in stock or not on our item detail page. Travis changed that. Now it will tell you not only if it is in stock, but how many.

I know, small detail to some of you, but progress. Now if we could just get the thing to move faster...Anybody got any squirrels we could borrow? We feed them well, all they do is run in circles. The faster they go, the more power to our webserver. Just kidding :)

The latest doping scandal in cycling

Since most of you don't follow cycling, and I don't much anymore either, you probably don't know that there was a raid in Spain recently. It uncovered extensive doping, involving many big names. My feelings on the matter are expressed very nicely by the Boulder Report

The Tour de France could disappear, and sports fans the world over would shrug and change the channel. What’s more telling, the Tour and the entire sport of professional road cycling could stop tomorrow and millions of cycling enthusiasts would still wake up tomorrow morning and ride their bikes. This is the warning that the UCI faces: either remake the sport, or risk it becoming irrelevant, a sideshow like pro wrestling. And all it would mean to most people, even ardent cyclists, is that they’d have more time to do things like ride their own bikes.

Well put!

More on the broken Mugs

Charles over at Awilum has one upped me! His press release is great. Mine seems weak in comparison. Here's an excerpt:

"Archaeologists from Indiana University assert that this is finally the definitive proof that an enclave of people devoted to ancient Near East studies lived in Winona Lake, while archaeologists from Tel Aviv University and the University of Copenhagen state that there never was a group of ANE devotees in the third millenium. Instead, ANE studies flourished in the mid fourth millenium and this interest was retrojected back onto the early third millenium in order to give fourth millenium scholars more prestige."

Who would have thought? Minimalists/Maximalists in 4154 CE!

BHQ on sale

At Eisenbrauns, we are running a special sale on BHQ Megilloth this week. The only place we announced it was BookNews. As far as I can tell, this is the lowest price anywhere. Here are the details:

General Introduction and Megilloth
Biblia Hebraica Quinta
Biblia Hebraica Quinta - BHQ 18
Edited by Adrian Schenker, et al.
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart,2004
368 pages,Hebrew, Paper
ISBN: 3438052784
List Price: $98.00
Your Price: $53.90
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~BHQMEGILL

Sherds?

We had quite a few damaged mugs in the shipment to us. The vendor wanted a picture as proof. I thought maybe you would enjoy it.



And here is a closeup:


We are considering burying them on the property. Wouldn't archaeologists have a blast in 2000 years? :) I can just see the report now:

"Obviously a ritual destruction of the cup once it has been used. The destruction almost certainly guarantees the continuation of the world. Undoubtedly the ritual was held every year at the summer solstice. The fact that it is in cuneiform proves that this method of writing was in continuous use from its invention through this period, 6000 years later. It must have been used only on ritual vessels at this time period, since it is relatively rare..."

What do you think?

ATLA

The conference hall is nice and big; everyone fits easily in the same room this year. There is wi-fi right in the hall, too. Very nice!

Here is a picture of our display. Way too many books and not enough room. I always think I can get more on a table than I actually can.



If you look carefully you can see 3 of the new mugs on display, but this is a better picture

ATLA conference

I got into the hotel late tonight. As usual for Chicago, a freeway was torn up. This time it is the Dan Ryan, so the last 10 miles took me almost as long as the first 100 did :(

I ran into Timothy Smith, the guy who runs ATLA conventions, in the lobby and he told me that the exhibit hall opens tomorrow at 7:00 AM for setup, which is nice; I won't have to rush to get set up in time. Once I have it set up, I hope to post some pictures before it opens. The hotel has free wireless in the rooms, so hopefully it will be in the meeting rooms as well. If not, I can come back to the room or lobby and use the the Wi-Fi there.

Time for bed now.

The mugs are here

The mugs arrived today.

Here's our website blurb:
"We're at it again. We have created the perfect mug for scholars in ancient Near Eastern studies. Show off your knowledge of Akkadian with this cuneiform mug from the "merchant of the 4 corners" Eisenbrauns. There is no transliteration or translation on the mug—although we include a slip of paper with that information—just the cuneiform text of the first two lines of the Enuma Elish. Impress your friends and dazzle your enemies, impress the dean, intimidate the new graduate students, there is no end to the uses for this mug. Of course, it works great for coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, too."

Get yours here. I could add some cheap marketing thing like, "Hurry supplies are limited." But, I won't; really, I won't.

Book Buyers take note

Charles over at Awilum has a great note on packing books home from SBL. I love the picture :)

How-to-Pack for SBL

Another new book

It's like Christmas today! I love my job.

This one just arrived:

Conspiracy and Imprisonment
1940-1945
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Works - DBW 16
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Edited by Mark Brocker
Translated by Lisa E. Dahill
Fortress Press, 2006
xxv + 882 pages,English
Cloth,6 x 9
ISBN: 0800683161
List Price: $60.00
Your Price: $49.80
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~BROCONSPI

Interesting new book

I had an interesting looking new book just come across my desk today:

Holy Spirit and Religious Experience in Christian Literature ca. AD 90-200
with a foreword by James D.G. Dunn
Studies in Christian History and Thought - SCHT
by John Eifion Morgan-Wynne
Paternoster Press,2006
xxi + 381 pages,English, Paper
ISBN: 1842273191
List Price: $39.99
Your Price: $35.19
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~MORHOLYSP

From the back of the book:

"Holy Spirit and Religious Experience seeks to find out how far the centrality of the Holy Spirit in Christian experience during the earliest period of the church was maintained or diminished in the third to the fifth generations (ca. A.D. 90-200). Three themes are explored. First, the sense of encounter with the divine presence, the numinous, a sense of being caught up into the divine being or being overwhelmed by the One who is beyond us. Secondly, a sense of being illuminated in respect to the truth, given deeper understanding of God's purpose, whether for the individual or the congregation, or guided in decision-making. Thirdly, a sense of ethical empowerment, an awareness of being helped by divine power, assisted in a course of action or development of character, in grappling with temptation, or in the ultimate test of loyalty, martyrdom.

"The book is arranged geographically, from Syria and Asia Minor in the east to Rome and Gaul in the west, including North Africa and Egypt. Christian authors within these areas are examined chronologically, from the later New Testament writers through the second century to Clement of Alexandriia and Tertullian of Carthage, for the evidence they supply. The varegated picture which emerges, it is contended, reflects second-century Christianity."

Which theologian are you? quiz

OK, I usually ignore these, but I did this one. The quiz is here. Which theologian am I? Well, they didn't include two of my favorites, Bonhoeffer and Wesley. But, I thought I would place close to Finney, with his Arminian oriented theology. But, who did I place as? John Calvin! That is hilarious, I am a confirmed Wesleyan. Maybe Calvin was just a confused Arminian?

You scored as John Calvin. John Calvin 87% Jonathan Edwards 80% Anselm 73% Charles Finney 60% Friedrich Schleiermacher 60% Augustine 60% Karl Barth 60% Paul Tillich 60% Juergen Moltmann 53% Martin Luther 47% Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Conferences

In one week I will be in Chicago for the American Theological Librarians Association meeting. I have been deciding which books to take and showcase. It is always hard to know what to take to these conferences. You want people to see what is new, but you also want to remind them of what you have as backlist that they might have missed. Plus, you want to make sure to take theology, but include a mix of ancient Near East; and don't forget the languages, and the distribution partners... It goes on and on.

I only have a 10 foot table, so the field is limited. I usually end up just taking the newest stuff and having an order form with the rest. A compromise at best.

So, if you are going to be at the ATLA next week, be sure to introduce yourself to me. Or, if you live in the Chicago area and have some free time and want to see our display, e-mail me for a free pass. We will be at the Holiday Inn Market Plaza right downtown.

This conference is the first in the summer conference schedule. Jim and John will be at the International SBL in July, then Jim goes on to the RAI in Muenster. While he is there, Marti will be going to the ICRS—International Christian Retail Show (formerly CBA) in Denver. Right after that, she heads to England for two shows back to back on Persia. While she is over there, the Catholic CBA is happening in Chicago. And that takes us to the middle of August, the summer is gone. Oh, and I am taking a two week vacation in there somewhere. And we have two catalogs to get in the mail before the end of August. Summer, the time to relax and enjoy life :)

Wimp that I am

I finally got a replacement seatpost (for my bicycle) for the one that broke 7 weeks ago. I have been using a standard metal seatpost, and could I tell the difference. Monday I got the replacement carbon one and yesterday I went for a ride. Wow! It is hard to believe the difference. Call me a wimp, but I don't want to go back to a non-carbon seatpost again. 220 miles has spoiled me forever.

Latest Biblical Archaeology Review

The latest edition of Biblical Archaeology Review just arrived. I know many of you are recoiling in horror at the thought of me subscribing :) I usually get so angry with it by the end that I want to burn it.

Anyway, this month Hershel decides he is the "hype police." In his column "First Person" he takes the National Geographic to task for the way they hyped the Gospel of Judas. He is right, of course. But, talk about the pot calling the kettle black! I think he is just jealous that it didn't come his way first. Can you imagine the hype? It would make what the NG did look tame.

In fairness, he does end his column by acknowledging that some will see this as the pot calling the kettle black, which it is.

Pastoral burnout

A bit old, but I just ran across this today.

This is the scary stuff:

The following statistics were presented by Pastor Darrin Patrick from research he has gathered from such organizations as Barna and Focus on the Family.

Pastors

* Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
* Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.
* Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
* Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
* Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
* Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.
* Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
* Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons.

Pastors' Wives

* Eighty percent of pastors' spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
* Eighty percent of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
* The majority of pastor's wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.

He goes on a gives some advice to avoid it. Worth a read, even if you aren't a pastor.

Eisenbrauns 10 day sale

<idle musing>
I have been experimenting with a new style of sale the last 2 weeks. I offer 7-10 books at a very low price—$5.00-$15.00—with the condition that they purchase a book—any other book—at regular web price. It has been getting mixed results. Some people try to order the books without ordering any other book. Some people think they have to order a different book at full retail, even if it is discounted on the web site.

What do you think? I'm offering books with retail prices in the $35-$60.00 range for $5.00-$15.00. Is it unreasonable to ask the purchaser to buy another book at regular web price? Or is it more a case of overlooking the condition? Everyone wants a deal, me included, and I don't want to sound stingy by adding a condition. But, these are top quality books that we just have too many of right now—look at our forthcoming and just published books. We just plain don't have a lot of room left. Where is Joe Cathey with his pickup? :) Now that's an idea: Truckload sale. You come and pick them up. Any takers?
</idle musing>

New catalogs arrived!

The part of my job I like almost as much as seeing (and reading) the new books is when a new catalog arrives. Doubly so when a new resource catalog arrives. So, yesterday was a great day, because the newest Scholar's Source arrived and the newest Biblical Studies Resource catalog arrived.

These catalogs take a lot of time to put together—although since we started using XML it is faster—so I really like it when they turn out nice. I especially like the cover on the Biblical Studies catalog. Andy did a nice job, don't you think?

Enjoy!

Blatant marketing

OK, ignore this post if you hate blatant marketing :)

Eisenbrauns has started doing the publishing for the Oriental Institute, Moscow. The first book we are doing is the annual Babel und Bibel. At 792 pages, this is no small book! It will be in hardcover, good paper, excellent binding—you know the Eisenbrauns quality.

But, I digress. The volume is a memorial volume to I.M. Diakonoff with a table of contents that is a virtual "who's who" of Semitic studies. If you have any interest in Semitics, this volume is sure to have something for you. Here is the "official" blurb:

"The year 2005 marked the 90th anniversary of the birth of Igor Diakonoff (1915-1999). A classical Semitist in educational background, Diakonoff was most influential in his principal field of research--Assyriology. However, Diakonoff was also broadly interested in various aspects of ancient Near Eastern studies, notably Mesopotamian history, Semitic and Afroasiatic linguistics, and biblical studies. Although not major domains of Diakonoff's scholarship, Biblical Hebrew and the ancient Near Eastern background of the Old Testament were areas of expertise that made him one of the leading figures of biblical studies in Russia. For several decades Diakonoff was a "live bridge" between ancient Near Eastern and Semitic scholars working in Russia and the international scholarly community. Fittingly, this volume of Babel & Bibel in memory of Diakonoff contains essays, short notes, and reviews by scholars from the Russian and international scholarly community on topics in ancient Near Eastern, Semitic and Afroasiatic, and Old Testament studies. The contributors include A. Archi, G. F. del Monte, G. del Olmo Lete, J.-M. Durand, B. R. Foster, P. Franzaroli, S. Loesov, J. Marzahn, J. Pasquali, W. Sommerfeld, K. Markina, N. Roudik, M. P. Streck, M. V. Tonietti, W. R. Garr, K. Jongeling, M. Seleznev, V. Blazek, M. Bulakh, T. Frolova, J. Huehnergard, R. M. Kerr, L. Kogan, A. Militarev, J. Sanmartin, G. Takacs, A. Zaborski, N. V. Koslova, S. Loesov, and L. M. Dreyer."

And here is the bibiliographical stuff:

Babel & Bibel 2: Memoriae Igor M. Diakonoff
Annual of Ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic Studies
Babel & Bibel -- B&B 2
Edited by Leonid Kogan, et al.
Eisenbrauns,Forthcoming, June 2006
xii + 792 pages,
Hard cover,6 x 9 inches
ISBN: 1575061236
Your Price: $79.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~BABELBIBEL2

Mug details revealed

For all of you who waited so patiently over the weekend, here is what the mug says:

Akkadian:

e-nu-ma e-liš la na-bu-ú šá-ma-mu
šap-liš am-ma-tum šu-ma la zak-rat

Recognize it? It's the first 2 lines of the Enuma Elish. Duane got it right; however he missed the colophon (see below). He was right that it is a later addition. The Enuma Elish is a good 2500-3000 years earlier than Eisenbrauns :)

Update, 8:00 AM: I missed this for the original post, but I see that Charles over at Awilum also got the text right.

English translation:

When on high no name was given to heaven,
nor below was the netherworld called by name

The smaller inscription next to "eisenbrauns.com" has the determinative LÚ.DAM.GÀR (merchants) plus the phrase kib-rat erbe-tim "of the four corners [of the earth]," which was a classic epithet of the Neo-Assyrian kings. We think it's quite appropriate.

Now, how do you get one?

Enuma Elish cuneiform mug
Pre-orders are welcomed!
Eisenbrauns,Forthcoming mid-June 2006
Ceramic
Your Price: $7.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~EISMUG2006

Or, watch BookNews for special offers, and I will have them with me at the American Theological Librarians Association June 22-23.

If you think you can wait until November, we will have them with us at AAR/SBL, too!

New Eisenbrauns mug now "in press"

Yep, we're at it again. Taking to heart some of the suggestions by other bibliobloggers back in December and January, we have designed a new mug:



OK, what does it say and where is it from? Find out on Monday how you can get yours! They should be arriving in about two weeks.

Yon City of Ugarit

Yes, The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra arrived yesterday afternoon at about 2:30; seven pallets full, 200 boxes, 90 degrees Fahrenheit. We don't have a dock that trucks can back up to, the street is too narrow, so we end up doing it by hand. Each case weighed 19 kg (42 pounds), handed off to the next person in line, 160 times. We kept 40 boxes for the shipping warehouse to cover backorders and new orders that will come pouring in—won't they?

The backorders should start shipping today, so look for yours in the next several days (unless you are international). I have mine at my desk and it is a beautiful color book with updates from the French version inserted at the end of most chapters, both bibliography and text.

BHQ Ezra-Nehemiah update

For those of you who are anxiously awaiting the next fascicle of BHQ, Ezra-Nehemiah, here is the latest update, direct from Richard Weis, who is one of the editors:

"The proof-reading for Ezra-Nehemiah took rather longer than anticipated, so it missed the March date... The proof-reading was completed earlier this month, so the fascicle should be in production -- soon if not even as we write."

Ezra-Nehemiah
Biblia Hebraica Quinta
Biblia Hebraica Quinta - BHQ 20
Edited by David Marcus
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart,Forthcoming July/August 2006
296 pages,Hebrew
Paper
ISBN: 3438052806
List Price: $98.00
Your Price: $73.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~BHQEZRANE

Quote for the day

“The absence of revival in evangelicalism today certainly does not reflect a lack of activity and opportunities. We have more Christian concerts, conferences, programs, strategies, media events, books, tapes, magazines, and radio/TV ministries than any generation in history. In fact,we have more prayer gatherings and more events and resources geared toward ‘spiritual awakening’ than ever. But something is missing.

“I remember discussing this matter with a ministry leader who observed, ‘Lots of people are praying, and lots of people are repenting, but so few are changing their lifestyle.’ A light went on in my mind when I heard that statement. The fact is, if people are not changing their lifestyle, they’re not repenting. And if we’re not repenting, then all our singing and praising and praying and producing are useless—perhaps worse than useless, because all the noise and activity may deceive us into thinking that we’re OK and that we are actually experiencing revival.”

Nancy Leigh DeMoss in Holiness: The Heart God Purifies. (italics hers)

More on Yon City of Ugarit

The continuing saga of an international shipment...

The seventh day of the 5-7 days on the train from California to Chicago was up on Wednesday. Today I was informed that the product is available. What that means is that our customs broker now has to find a truckline to bring it to us in Warsaw, Indiana. Of course with Monday being Memorial Day, we won't see it until at least Tuesday, more probably Wednesday.

It now becomes a race against the calendar. After all, the world is going to end on 06-06-06 (see previous post here). It would be nice for people to be able to read this long-awaited book before that :)

If the world ends first, you can at least see the cover and the details:

The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra

by Marguerite Yon
Eisenbrauns,Forthcoming May 2006
viii + 188 pages,English
Cloth
ISBN: 1575060299
Your Price: $34.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~YONCITYO

Update, 3:00 PM Friday: We now have official word that the truckline will deliver it on Tuesday, so it might beat the end of the world after all!

Self-portait?

Renee, Joel and Joshua (our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson) left yesterday. We had a blast with them. Renee fell in love with the digital camera and took this picture. She says it is the best one of me yet. Don't you love daughters? :)


This is a picture of Joel playing with Joshua.

Funny link

One of the things I do a few times a week is search Blogger for all of the occurrences of Eisenbrauns. I must have missed this one, because it is dated April 29.

It is a site called "toronto dermatologist specializing in black skin"

Judging by the other links, someone took ANE to be a mistake for Acne! Anyone following the link to us and looking for dermatology will be mightily disappointed :)

Just arrived

The latest Hermeneia volume just arrived. It wasn't supposed to be released until June, but here it is:

1 Chronicles
Hermeneia
by Ralph W. Klein
Fortress Press,2006
xxi + 561 pages,English
Cloth,8.25 x 9.25
ISBN: 0800660854
List Price: $55.00
Your Price: $49.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~KLE1CHRON

Weekend

Well, I managed to get through a weekend without reading a single page, not a word of Greek, Hebrew or Latin. I didn't even make bread. But, I had a blast. Why? Because we are taking care of our 14 month old grandson, Joshua. Joel and Renee are at a wedding in North Carolina and they entrusted him to us on their way through. Here's what he looks like now:


<idle musing>
I spent Saturday at a convention. I have always been of the opinion that if you make good quality biblical resources available to people, they will buy them and use them. Well, I am starting to rethink that opinion. I now think people want to be entertained. They no longer want to think. If it takes longer than a sound bite to explain something, then it must be too difficult or unimportant. Below is a picture of the Carta half of the booth. One of the other exhibitors told me we had the nicest looking booth at the show. Unfortunately, that didn't transfer into sales. This was my second year at this convention, last year went well for a first year, so I decided to try it again and take more stuff. It is a cheap convention to attend, and only an hour drive.



Well, initial reaction is I should have stayed home and played with Joshua. I don't think I even covered my expenses. Which is why I am now becoming convinced that people only want entertainment. People were spending money, but it was only on stuff that was predigested and follow the dots. We sell primary material that requires effort on the part of the person to digest it. Too highbrow. One of the organizers told me that our stuff was good, but he still hadn't read the stuff he bought last year, so why buy more?

Oh well, I got Sunday with Debbie and Joshua and we had a blast together. 14 months is a fun age. They can walk and babble and love to play with you.

But now it is time to go to work and empty the van of all the leftover books...
</idle musing>

The vagaries of international shipping

We printed The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra overseas, something we don't usually do. We did it because of all the color used in the book. We couldn't have done it at a reasonable price – Eisenbrauns reasonable :) – here in the states.

The shipment was supposed to arrive in Chicago yesterday. We would then get it in about 2-4 days. Well, it was delayed in customs for checking. Ugarit is in the Middle East, so you never know, could be dangerous :) Anyway, I digress.

It is now being loaded onto a train bound for Chicago. It will arrive in Chicago in 5-7 days. Just in time for the Memorial Day holiday, which will delay it another few days. All in all, we should see it either May 31 or the beginning of June.

Speaking of which, I saw the worst advertising piece the other day. A certain Christian publisher is putting out a fictional book on the dispensational view of the endtimes. The date of release is 06-06-06. Guess how they are advertising it? Yep, 666, be ready.

Which caused one of the customer service representatives to quip, "I knew the end of the world would come before Yon got published!" Now you know.

How many elephants?

The year 2005 saw 172,000 new books released in the United States, according to Bowker, the world's leading provider of bibliographic information. but what does 172,000 titles mean?

"To transport one copy of each title, the vehicle would have to be capable of hauling 86 tons or 21 full grown elephants. Laying the books down in a straight line would require a little over 16 miles of railroad tracks."

<idle musing>
That's a lot of paper! Eisenbrauns contributed about 12 of them :)
</idle musing>

Idle musing for the day

"If a man strikes me, I should not pull out a revolver and shoot him. The Spirit of the Lord doesn't teach me revenge; He doesn't teach me that it is necessary to draw the sword and cut a man down in order to defend my rights. Some people say, 'You are a coward if you don't strike back.' Christ says, 'Turn the other cheek to him who smites.' I would rather take Christ's teaching than any other. I don't think a man gains much by loading himself down with weapons to defend himself. There has been enough sacrificed in this country to teach men a lesson in this regard. The Word of God is a much better protection than the revolver. We had better take the Word of God to protect us, by accepting its teaching and living its precepts." — D.L. Moody (a raving liberal?) 1847-1899.

Forthcoming this week from Eisenbrauns

We are releasing a paperback version of From Cyrus to Alexander. It is supposed to arrive this week from the printer.

There is an interesting story on this one. It was originally supposed to arrive today, but the paper delivered to the printer was thicker than specified. Normally that isn't too much of a problem, but when the book is 1200 pages long it becomes significant. They ended up having to reprint the covers with a wider spine, which delayed the delivery a few days. But, it isn't supposed to be raining as much the next few days, so at least we won't have to unload in the rain. I hope :)

Here are the details, for those of you interested:

From Cyrus to Alexander
A History of the Persian Empire
Translated from the original French by Peter T. Daniels
by Pierre Briant
Eisenbrauns,2006
xx + 1196 pages,English
Paper
ISBN: 1575061201
Your Price: $49.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~BRIFROMCP

Short book review

A Student's Guide to Textual Criticism of the Bible
Its History, Methods & Results

by Paul D. Wegner
InterVarsity Press - IVP,2006
334 pages,English
Paper
ISBN: 0830827315
List Price: $18.00
Your Price: $13.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~WEGSTUDEN

I just finished this book recently. It was delayed for over a year, originally planned for late 2004/early 2005 which may explain the inconsistency in some of the chapters. For instance, on page 102 he states (incorrectly) that only Jeremiah and Isaiah of the Hebrew University Bible Project have been published, but on page 112 he correctly states that Ezekiel is also published (2004).

I found the book quite good as an introduction to both Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and New Testament textual criticism. There are better books for each, but this puts them both together. Because of the layout of the book, there is quite a bit of redundancy. For example, he has a chapter on determining the most plausible reading and then a chapter on the sources. Of necessity there is a large overlap in what is covered by the two chapters (both OT/HB and NT).

One nice feature is the bibliographies at the end of each section. He also includes a glossary, as well as name, subject, and scripture indices. I did notice a real howler on page 274 where he states the Diatessaron was created about A.D. 70 (it should be 170). The font is also different for names with diacritics, but other than that, the book is well done.

It would make a good introductory textbook for a class that needs to cover the basics of text criticism for both testaments. For more serious work, you are going to need the other references listed in his bibliography.

I'm back, sort of...

OK, I'm going to start blogging again. But, it is going to be more limited.

Eisenbrauns recently published this little gem that I am currently reading:

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

As a classicist by training, I found the chapters on the Alexandrian Homeric scribes fascinating. I am now on chapter 3, moving slowly through the book.

Book Prize for an Eisenbrauns Book!

I promised to post interesting book announcements, so here is one:

Eisenbrauns Book Wins 2006 Irene Levi-Sala Prize

Eisenbrauns is pleased to announce that The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine by Jodi Magness has won the Irene Levi-Sala Prize for Books on the Archaeology of Israel for 2006. The purpose of this prestigious prize is to encourage and reward high quality publications, both scholarly and popular, on the archaeology of Israel against the wider context of Near Eastern history and archaeology.

Blogging hiatus

With the arrival of Spring, I am re-evaluating how I spend my time. I am going to suspend blogging for an indefinite amount of time. I will probably post book announcements periodically, but for now this blog is on a moratorium. Thanks for all your support and comments.

James

Spring at Eisenbrauns

This tree is right in front of the building. Don't you love it?

Theology of Work

I had high hopes for this book. It started out so well. He described the problem so precisely: "Church on Sunday or church meetings during the week were the only places they expected to meet with God and become themselves the new creatures that they now were. Daily work only got in the way." He goes on to describe how this led him to decide to come up with a theology of work that was all-encompassing. Well, it has been downhill ever since.

<rant mode on>
Yesterday did it. He is critiquing Moltmann's theology of work and says, correctly, "A person simply cannot justify him or herself." But then he goes on to say, "However we need to go on and introduce the doctrine of sanctification, not merely the question of justification. If sanctification rather than justification is in view, then theologically it is less problematic to argue that what a person does (including work), in some qualified way, contributes either positively of negatively to what he or she is or becomes." He goes on in the next page to argue that sanctification is more our part.

STOP! Now, I am a classic Wesleyan and have been accused of believing that I can somehow work my salvation and sanctification out on my own power. But, I don't believe that we can do anything apart from God's empowering presence in us. We are not able to do anything but sin, whether we are justified or not! It is all of God. That is why Paul is continually saying "in Christ" (EN TWi XRISTWi).

I realize that about 85% of the Christians in the U.S. probably act and believe that they can work for their own sanctification. You know what I'm talking about: read your Bible, pray, go to small groups, church groups, program yourself to death, etc. All of which are not bad in and of themselves, but it feeds the mentality that we do the work and God watches us. Bad theology! So along comes this book and actually endorses that view!

People, get it straight. Check out Galatians 3:1-5 (NIV)
"You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?"

Of course, if you don't believe God can work miracles, then I guess you have the right to throw out the whole section and do your works sanctification. But, don't call it Christianity!
<rant mode off>

OK, I'm done, I think I'll read a different book now, probably The Gospel of Judas. At least there I know it is gnostic and not Christian theology.

Fog day

This is my third spring in Indiana, and I am still getting used to some things. For example, in Minnesota we had school canceled or delayed because of snow or excessive cold (wind chill colder than 50 degrees below zero F), but that was about it.

Well, here they delay school because of fog. The first time I heard that, I laughed. Then I went out and tried to ride my bike in it. Talk about zero visibility! It was scary, the cars couldn't see me until they were almost on top of me. I didn't do that again.

Today was a "fog day" and the visibility at 7:30 AM was about 50 feet, not a good thing for school buses. By about 9 it was all burned off and now it is clear and beautiful. Now you know :)

More bicycling-try 2

Blogger is acting up today, this post appeared 3 times and then disappeared totally. Let's try again...

Lest you be too dismayed, I took the seatpost in to the bike shop. They looked at it and said it shouldn't have broken. It will be covered by warranty and I will get a new one. Meantime, they gave me another one to use. It isn't carbon, but that's ok.

So, you ask, what is the big deal about carbon? It absorbs bumps and smooths out the ride. So why did I not get a carbon frame, then? I tried a carbon frame last spring. I borrowed it from a friend when we were in Minneapolis last year, visiting our son. I put about 200 miles on it. Man, it is fast! But, I didn't like the ride. You don't feel the road, except when there is a big bump, then it is jarring. With steel, you feel the road better and the big bumps are not as jarring. When I say steel, I actually mean a hybrid like chrome-molybdenum. It weighs a pound or two more, but I prefer the ride. Debbie has an aluminum bike, and it is nice, but I don't like the ride as well. A friend of mine told me to try titanium. I looked at the price of frames and said, no way. I don't want to put that much money into a bike. If I did, it would become an idol to me. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be." I don't want my treasure to be in a bicycle! Or a library, for that matter, and that is a tougher one for me, especially working for a bookseller.

Idle Musings on an 8 month anniversary

Eight months ago today at 6:35 AM I had an encounter with an F-150 pickup truck while riding my bicycle. I was T-boned by the truck while going 19-20 MPH. Needless to say, I lost in the encounter and was thrown between 20-30 feet in the air. I ended up with 12 staples in my head, multiple cuts, a fractured left leg and the whole right side of my body was purple with bruises from the waist down. In short, I was a mess and the pain was pretty intense as I lay on the pavement.

When I got to the ER, they stapled my head and then Debbie (my wife) arrived. They told her it would be 45 minutes while they took X-rays, etc. So, she went over the Eisenbrauns and told them what had happened and asked for prayer. Then she went home and called people in the church to pray. By the time she got back to the ER, Dave (Eisenbrauns' business manager) was there. They prayed together, then people from the church started arriving and they let them into the ER. As they gathered around me they started praying. The pain started dropping as they were praying. It went from a 8-9 down to about a 5-6.

After everyone left, they put me in a leg immobilizer and told me I would probably require surgery for the knee. Later that afternoon a long-time prayer partner (back from University of Chicago days) called and we prayed over the phone. We both believed God that the pain would disappear and that I wouldn't need surgery.

The physical therapist and the nurses all kept telling me that I would need surgery and so, they wouldn't allow any food after 10:00 PM. I guess that was a forced fasting! They also assured me that I would be in extreme pain the next day from muscles tightening up and the knee.

I slept poorly that night, the staples in my head were very uncomfortable. But, next morning I woke up and the pain was gone. No pain, none whatsoever, no muscle tightness, no sore leg. The surgeon came in, felt my leg, had me move it, looked at the x-ray, shook his head and said I wouldn't need surgery. He told me I could go home that day, should keep the leg immobilized for 4 weeks and that he would see me in a week. He asked how the pain was, I told him there wasn't any. He offered to give me a prescription for painkillers, which I declined.

When I went to see him the next week, they did x-rays and asked me how the pain was. I said there wasn't any. I saw what they wrote on the chart and laughed. They wrote "denies pain." Now anyone who knows me knows I am a sissy when it comes to pain. I don't do very well with it, I grimace and groan, etc. If I am in pain, you know it. There was no pain.

I firmly believe that God answers prayer, and he answered the prayers so that I did not require surgery and did not feel pain.

In celebration of the 8 month anniversary yesterday I rode 50 miles. I figured that was an appropriate celebration. It was beautiful, the red bud, plums, pears, etc. Even the lilacs are starting to come out. God is wonderfully creative and he is faithful to his children.

Two miles from home, I went over an unusually rough railroad track and the seatpost on my new bike (compliments of the insurance company!) broke. This is the best bike I have ever owned, carbon fork, carbon seatpost, Ultegra components, steel frame. It cost me $30, the insurance company paid the rest. Anyway, the seatpost broke. I walked the last 2 miles home of what would have been a 52 mile ride, but suddenly became a 50 mile ride and 2 mile walk. How did I react? I praised God (I Thess. 5), after all he is in control!

Another new Anchor Bible volume

Wow, they changed the publication date of an Anchor Bible volume. No, not the way you are thinking...they moved it one month closer, November instead of December! Here's the skinny:

Exodus 19-40
A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
Anchor Bible - AB
by William H. Propp
Random House,Forthcoming November 2006
704 pages,English
Cloth
ISBN: 0385246935
List Price: $49.95
Your Price: $34.92
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~PRO2EXODUS

No graphic yet, but you all know what a Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Anchor Bible volume looks like, the blue one. Look for it at AAR/SBL in Washington, D.C. We'll have it.

Quote for the day

"Human beings have lost their own, God-like essence, which they had from God. They live now without their essential purpose, that of being the image of God. Human beings live without being truly human. They must live without being able to live. That is the paradox of our existence and the source of all our woes. Since then, the proud children of Adam have sought to restore this lost image of God in themselves by means of their own efforts. But the more seriously and devotedly they strive to regain what was lost, and however convinced and proud they are of their apparent victory in achieving this, the deeper the contradiction to God grows. Their distorted form, which they modeled after the image of the god of their own imaginative projections, resembles more and more the image of Satan, even though they may be unaware of this. The image of God, as the Creator's gracious gift, has been lost on this earth."—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible

Abingdon recently (finally?) announced that the first volume of the New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible will be released this November. After looking at the flier, I would suggest that those of you who have submitted articles had better proofread them carefully. The flier had several different dates on it for volume 1, none of which matched and were different from the dates given on Abingdon's website. The flier said in big print that volume 1 would be available "late 2006." The information next to volume 1 said "Available January 2007." Their website says November 2006. November is late 2006, and I suppose that if it is available in November, it will still be available in January 2007, but that seems to be special pleading :)

Enough rambling, here's the stuff that matters:

New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible
Volume 1, A-C
New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible - NIDB 1
Edited by Katharine Doob Sakenfeld and A. Andrew Das
Abingdon,Forthcoming November 2006
Cloth
ISBN: 0687054273
List Price: $75.00
Your Price: $52.43
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~NIDB1

Quote for the day

"The only thing left for us is to look away from ourselves and to look to the one who has already accomplished everything for us, and to follow this one."—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Spring

Yes, spring really is here. I went for a bike ride last night after work and was amazed at how much the leaves have popped since my Saturday ride. It was as if the trees were exploding with leaves and blossoms. There are quite a few red bud, plum and other flowering trees on the route I ride, and I love watching them as they come to fullness this time of year.

I love spring. Well, I love seasons is a better way of putting it. I love to see the Creator's handiwork in nature and then reflect that He knows us by name and loves us.

"Amazing love! How can it be, that Thou my God shouldst die for me?"–Charles Wesley

The biblio-blog community

Jim West has a post today about the "Dis-integration" of the biblioblogging community. This spurred a response by Chris Heard. I haven't seen any others yet, but I am sure there will be.

As one who has always considered myself as an outsider (not in an excluded sense, but I have tried to keep my posts more general, which is why I chose ANE Books as the title), here are a few comments:

Chris's comment about the lack of ease in following comments is well taken. Scot McKnight's site has the ability to track comments if you post them, but that is the only one I know of. Scot has a custom built site. I don't think most people would be willing to go to that trouble. So, strike the interaction via comments.

Another aspect is that there is no "central" blog that people interact on. What do I mean? When I worked in IT, the first thing I did every day was check Slashdot.org. It was the equivalent of the water cooler. Everything was posted there and the interaction was sometimes good, sometimes (usually?) bad. But it was a central location that everyone knew. Biblical Studies is not like I.T. It is made up of individuals who make contributions over the course of time and interact with each other. Should it have more interaction? Probably. Will it ever get the interaction of a Slashdot? Probably not. It is a different animal.

A third aspect is the sprawling nature of blogs. I spend almost an hour a day reading blogs, and I don't read all that I know of. I follow the ones I need to in order to keep my finger on the pulse of what's going on for listing the needed books. I follow some other ones for personal enjoyment (there is a lot of overlap there). But, there is no way I could keep up. I suspect others are like that also.

So, what is the answer? Or is there one?

Update:
I just saw Eric Welch's post. Hilarious! You have to read it.

Atonement theory

Scot McKnight has been doing an off again on again series on the atonement. He is writing a book on it and sharing his thought on his blog along the way. Today he is discussing penal substitution. Here is a brief excerpt:

"So let’s also think together about how an “image” speaks: if these are the two terms we bandy about [penal substitution] when we talk about what we believe, and I used to do this myself, then we are creating an image of atonement as something that settles justice [God’s just retribution against sin] — the image, as it is often used, is not being used to say something positive about the atonement, even though I know full well that many who use these terms do have in mind many other good things. Like forgiveness and reconciliation and justification and a lot of other good things.

"Let me ask if the image conveyed by penal substitution excites those good things? I don’t think it does.

"Now let’s also admit that our churches are filled with folks who have embraced the gospel that Jesus died for my sins (understood in terms of guilt) and that in so believing or accepting that gospel the problem has been taken care of — and they need not get any further than that. I am suggesting that a reduced gospel emerges from a reduced atonement theory"

<idle musing>
Good stuff. You should read the whole post. I am looking forward to his book, if he would just tell us the name of it :)
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

"He who can sit with ten open commentaries and read the Holy Scriptures — well, he is probably writing the eleventh, but he deals with the Scriptures contra naturam." — Kierkegaard

Two new Hermeneia volumes announced

Augsburg/Fortress just announced two new volumes in the Hermeneia series:

Romans
A Commentary
Hermeneia
by Robert Jewett
Edited by Eldon J. Epp
Fortress Press,Forthcoming November 2006
1000 pages,
Cloth with dustjacket, 7.25 x 9.35
ISBN: 0800660846
List Price: $90.00
Your Price: $81.00 (10%)
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~JEWROMANS

And, a bit more portable:

Hermeneia on CD-ROM
All 38 published volumes
CD-ROM with case, includes brochure with system requirements, installation instruction, technical support contacts, and notice of future publications.
Hermeneia
Fortress Press,Forthcoming November 2006
ISBN: 0800661990
List Price: $1,000.00
Your Price: $800.00 (20%)
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~CDWHERMEN

<idle musing>
Interesting, a check over at the other big bookselling site shows the first one at list price, and the second one not listed at all. They also have the latest Anchor Bible volume (Exodus 19-40) listed at full retail–Eisenbrauns sells it at 30% off. Hmm, is there a pattern here? Could it be that they use loss-leaders on the popular titles and get it back on the specialty titles? Just an idle musing...
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

"Some like to read their bible in the Greek, some like to read it in the Hebrew. I like to read mine in the Holy Spirit."—Smith Wigglesworth

Resurrection!

Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids Him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Sing we to our God above, Alleluia!
Praise eternal as His Love; Alleluia!
Praise Him all ye heavenly host, Alleluia!
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Alleluia!

Charles Wesley

<idle musing>
This is one of my favorite hymns. I want it sung at my funeral, just to remind people that death is swallowed up in victory!

Have a great Resurrection Sunday!
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

“True Christian change works more like an oak tree in the spring, when the new life inside pushes off the old dead leaves that still hang on.”—John Perkins in Let Justice Roll Down

<idle musing>
I grew up in an oak woods. The oak doesn't drop all its leaves in the fall, they just hang on until spring. We used to joke that you could rake leaves year round with oak trees. Anyway, I like the word picture, the new life within pushing off the old dead leaves. We can try to fix ourselves by pulling off leaves, but there are always more leaves to pull off. It is only as the new life becomes real within us that the old leaves are forced off. A much more effective way, don't you think?
</idle musing>

A new Anchor Bible volume announced

Random House just announced this new volume, coming out in December, they don't even have a graphic for it yet!

Exodus 19-40
A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
Anchor Bible - AB
by William H. Propp
Random House,Forthcoming December 2006
704 pages,
Cloth
ISBN: 0385246935
List Price: $49.95
Your Price: $34.92
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~PRO2EXODUS

"New" books from Eisenbrauns/Harvard Semitic Museum

Thanks to the magic of print on demand, Eisenbrauns has made two Harvard Semitic Museum books available again:

I must confess I never studied any Ethiopic, in fact I never even opened a grammar of it! The alphabet looks upside down to me. I was very glad when HALAT/HALOT used transliteration for it in their etymologies. I never could make sense of the script in either BDB or KB2. I think I finally figured out what shin looked like. But, for those of you who need to learn it, one of the standard grammars is available again:

Introduction to Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez)
Harvard Semitic Studies - HSS 24
by Thomas O. Lambdin
Scholars Press,1978
x + 452 pages,English
Paper
ISBN: 0891302638
Your Price: $69.50
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~LAMCLASSI

And for the historians out there:

The Chronicler's Use of the Deuteronomistic History
Harvard Semitic Monographs - HSM 33
by Steven L. McKenzie
Harvard Semitic Museum,1985
219 pages,English
Paper
ISBN: 0891308288
List Price: $39.50
Your Price: $36.74
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~MCKCHRONI

Confessions of a grammar junkie

I have to come clean. I am a grammar junkie. Yes, that's right, I read grammars for the fun of it. Right now I am reading by Stan Porter's Idioms of the Greek New Testament. No, you won't find it on the sidebar, I just read a few pages a day. I've been doing it for years, reading grammars that is. I can't help it. When I was in second year Greek, we were using Brooks & Winbery's Syntax of New Testament Greek. I read it for class, but secretly, I was reading Dana & Mantey with their idiosyncratic 8 case system. I used to take Smyth's Greek Grammar and read sections of it just for fun. For a while I was collecting Latin first year teaching grammars. I can't help it. I read LaSor's inductive Hebrew grammar just for the historical grammar notes.

Is there any hope for me? Is there a "Grammars Anonymous" chapter near me? "Hi, I'm James. I read dead language grammars. I need help!"

The role of "pastor"

This is from a blog I discovered over the weekend— The M Blog (thanks to The Heresy for the link). This is only a brief excerpt from a lengthy post by a missionary to Ecuador, the whole post is here:

"In many of the house churches shepherding/leadership is shared amongst several without anyone filling the role of 'the pastor.' Responsibility is mutual amongst ALL the church, not just the pastor. Our team does not have any problem with churches selecting one of their own and calling them to be one of their pastors/elders. But we have noticed a pattern that has emerged within those church plants where they have singled out and called a pastor.

"Of the 4-5 house churches we relate to where they did name an official 'pastor', all are suffering right now. Not because they called a pastor, but becuase the church looks to their named 'pastor' as the one to do all the work of teaching, leading, evangelism, preaching, etc.

"Everyone of these pastors has come to me complaining that they cannot get the church to do the 'work of ministry'. They expect the pastor to do everything (sound familiar?) Quite a number have even left because their 'pastor' was not as dynamic and educated as some of the others around in the more established churches. The work of "being the church" has been replaced by "going to church.""

Quote for the day

“Being a messenger of Jesus does not grant any personal rights; it does not entitle one to respect or power. That does not change even when the free messenger of Jesus has turned into an official pastor. The rights of a man with a university education and the privileges of social standing are no longer valid for anyone who has become a messenger of Jesus. ‘You received without payment!’ Or was there something else which attracted us besides the call of Jesus which took us, who did not deserve it, into his service? ‘Give without payment.’ Let it become clear that with all the riches you have to give, you covet nothing for yourselves: no property, but also no respect or acknowledgment, not even gratitude! From where would you get such expectations? Any honors we claim for ourselves are stolen from him to whom they rightfully belong, the Lord who sent us out.”—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I saw a scary statistic today over at Chief Marketer:

"Consumers today encounter from 3,500 to 5,000 marketing messages daily, vs. 500 to 2,000 in the 1970s."

<idle musing>
That is a very scary thought. As Christians we are commanded to "take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). 5,000 marketing messages a day isn't exactly helpful to that end—perhaps our society really is the Babylon of the book of Revelation...
</idle musing>

Quote for the day

"If my intent in passing judgment were really to destroy evil, then I would seek evil where it really threatens me, namely, in myself. But the fact that I seek evil in another person reveals that in such judgments I am really seeking to be right myself, that I want to avoid punishment for my own evil by judging another person. All judging presupposes the most dangerous self-deception, namely, that the word of God applies differently to me than it does to my neighbor. I claim an exceptional right in that I say: forgiveness applies to me, but condemnation applies to the other person."—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Church Planting--the middle-class way?

Ran across this post at lunch today, from Next-Wave Church and Culture (thanks to House Church Blog for the link). There are 10, of which two jump out at me as insane and dependent on man and not God, the comments are not mine, but from the Next-Wave blogger:

3. Location, location, location

Yeah, okay. I hear you. I think our outside-the-box meeting space has done huge things for us (we meet in a pub). But...

I want to differentiate between planting a service and actually planting a community. Planting a service is easy. You just need a bunch of dough, a few people willing to work themselves to death and voila'... and yes, that's all about the location.

Planting a community, however, is a bit more ephemeral... a bit harder to quantify into easy-to-follow steps. It's a partnership between the Spirit and desperate people trying hard to listen to that Spirit. It usually results in a Sunday morning (or other time) gathering, and often people are told about it/invited to it... but that's not the heart of a true community is it?

5. It takes big money to plant a church.

Okay...

If you'll excuse my language, that's a load of shite. And a dangerous lie to tell to church planters. I wish to God (literally) that people would stop saying this. Is it easier to plant with "big money"? In some ways... And I'm really glad for churches that are able to start with a lot of support. Seriously. The fact that someone is willing to put up that kind of money on a venture that statistically has an 80% or more chance of failure is amazing in the best sense of the word. A lot of people are putting their wallets where their mouths are to plant churches.

But.

It's not necessary. You don't have to have "big money" to plant a church... In fact, you might be better off without it.

You should definitely look over the whole list, he goes on further about the money.

<idle musing>
If you decide you want to plant a church, then you will need all this. Notice the pronouns—you, you, you. If God tells you to plant a church, then He is responsible to make it work, as long as He is allowed to have control of it. Notice the pronouns this time—God, He, He (ok, God isn't a pronoun, but you get my idea). Human centered christianity is the bane of this culture, and the sooner we realize it, the better off the church will be.

In case you haven't noticed, I get steamed up about this topic. If Christianity is real, and I believe it is, then it has to be supernatural from beginning to end. I am convinced that the sooner we stop trying to do our things our way in our timing the sooner we will begin to see God doing His things in His way in His timing. The result will be genuine revival in the form of changed lives and by extension changed communities. Love is the key, not laws, and when God moves, He fills people with His love. Of course, it might not look the way we expect it and it certainly won't be controllable (praise God), but we have to be willing to let God have His way.
</idle musing>

Why I Am Not An Arminian final summary

I finished Why I Am Not An Arminian yesterday. Their best chapters were definitely the historical theology ones. When they talked about divine sovereignty, they seemed to be arguing mainly against open theology and didn't really address traditional Wesleyan-Arminian beliefs.

They are infralapsarian, as the chapter on predestination made clear. This makes their version of Calvinism less rigid and closer to a Wesleyan-Arminian understanding. In several places they say that they can't explain the doctrine, but leave it as a mystery. While I am all in favor of leaving things as mysteries, I was left wondering why it didn't make more sense to agree with the traditional Wesleyan understanding and leave things as a mystery which are unexplainable. What I mean is, there are many verses which seem to imply that we must persevere, that it is possible to make genuine choices (not just in a compatibilist way). If you are going to leave things as a mystery, why discount these verses with tortured exegesis? Why not accept them and leave the exact outworkings as a mystery? Why redefine "all" in a limited way to defend a limited atonement? To their credit, they do acknowledge that many Calvinists have done a less than good job in exegeting these passages, but I was left wondering how their exegesis was any better.

On the whole, the book was OK, but I was disappointed. I expected a more robust defense of Calvinism. Perhaps I was looking for something they weren't trying to deliver, after all it is an introductory book. Most people who read it will not have read Calvin or any other Reformed theologian, with the possible exception of a "pop-theologian."

Now the question is, what to read next...

Quote for the day

“…I remain convinced that whatever else God is, God is not a capitalist…First and foremost, from a capitalist point of view, God has a lousy business model. Consider the parable about hiring workers for the vineyard at different times of the day and paying them all the same wage (Matt. 20:1-16). Any businessperson reading this as a straightforward description would conclude the obvious: there’s no way in which this is an economically competitive practice. Overpaying the latecomers results in a wage bill higher than one’s competitors; no extra payments for the all-day laborers invites resentments and its sequalae—shirking, sabotage, and more. It also provides no material incentives for working hard, for loyalty to the boss, for reliability. It’s bad labor utilization and is certain to put God’s vineyard out of business sooner rather than later.” — Michael L. Budde “God is Not a Capitalist” in God is Not...Religious, Nice, "One of Us," An American, A Capitalist

Gawwada (it's a language)

Eisenbrauns is working on Morphologies of Asia and Africa, a companion volume to Phonologies of Asia and Africa. I pass along to you some tidbits:

Some important vocabulary from Gawwada (Cushitic).

c’óq: the noise of dripping water, or, with a causative verb, of a finger stuck into an eye;
hófhóf: a soft noise, as, e.g., when a knife enters flesh;
lumá?: the action of swishing away, said of a snake;
túrr: the action of farting with no noise but bad smell;
t’úup: a suckling noise made when drinking, in appreciation.

Enjoy :)

Thought for the day

A friend of mine sent me this:

On Wednesday at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06. — Of course, that only works for the U.S. way of abbreviating the month/day/year. Europeans will have to wait another month :)

2 week sale at Eisenbrauns

I'm running a 2 week sale on selected Brill titles, but not announcing it on BookNews until April 6. Don't you feel special?

Discounts are from 30-40% off. Here's what I've got:

Sumerian Grammar
Handbook of Oriental Studies, Part One: The Ancient Near East and Middle East - HOSANE / HOSNME 71
by D. O. Edzard
Brill Academic Publishers,2003
xviii + 191 pages,English
Cloth
ISBN: 9004126082
List Price: $126.00 Your Price: $88.20 30% off
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~EDZSUMERI

The Context of Scripture
only available in 3 volume set
Context of Scripture - CS
Edited by William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger, Jr.
Brill Academic Publishers,2003
xxviii + 599; xxvi + 438; liv + 406 pages,English
Paper
ISBN: 9004131051
List Price: $199.00 Your Price: $119.40 40% off
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~SETCONTEP

Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon Old Testament: Study Edition, 2 Volume Set
Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament - HALOT
Edited by Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner
Brill Academic Publishers,2002
cxii + 2094 pages,English
Cloth
ISBN: 9004124454
List Price: $179.95 Your Price: $107.97 40% off
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~KOESTUDYE

A Phoenician-Punic Grammar
Handbook of Oriental Studies, Part One: The Ancient Near East and Middle East - HOSANE / HOSNME 54
by Charles R. Krahmalkov
Brill Academic Publishers,2001
xix + 309 pages,English
Cloth
ISBN: 9004117717
List Price: $116.00 Your Price: $81.20 30% off
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~KRAGRAMMA

A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition
2 volumes
Handbook of Oriental Studies, Part One: The Ancient Near East and Middle East - HOSANE / HOSNME 67
by Gregorio del Olmo Lete and Joaquin Sanmartin
Translated by Wilfred G. E. Watson
Brill Academic Publishers,2003
xliv + 1007 pages,English
Cloth
ISBN: 9004136940
List Price: $295.00 Your Price: $206.50 30% off
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~OLMDICTIO

The Bible in Aramaic
Based on the Old Manuscripts and Printed Texts
One Volume Edition

Edited by Alexander Sperber
Brill Academic Publishers,2004
700 pages,English
Paper
ISBN: 9004140387
List Price: $140.00 Your Price: $98.00 30% off
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~SPEBIBLEI

A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law - 2 volume set
2 volume set
Handbook of Oriental Studies, Part One: The Ancient Near East and Middle East - HOSANE / HOSNME 72
Edited by Raymond Westbrook
Brill Academic Publishers,2003
1248 pages,English
Cloth
ISBN: 9004129952
List Price: $399.00 Your Price: $279.30 30% off
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~WESHISTOR

Quote for the day

“Listen carefully to most children’s sermons, and the gospel you hear proclaimed is ‘God is nice. You should be nice, too.’ To which the clever child should respond, ‘Let me get this straight. Jesus was crucified for saying that God is nice and we can be, too?’ … Imagine the extreme makeover this would give Isaiah’s vision of God: ‘…I saw the Lord sitting on a lawn chair, close and friendly; and the emblem of his ballcap said Chicago Cubs. Seraphs called to one another and said: ‘Nice, nice, nice is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his niceness’’ (Isaiah 6:1-3, altered a little).” — D. Stephen Long, “God is Not Nice” in God is Not...Religious, Nice, "One of Us," An American, A Capitalist

Simple Obedience

"Or Jesus would say, do not worry; but we would understand: of course we should worry and work for our families and ourselves. Anything else would be irresponsible. But inwardly we should be free of such worry. Jesus would say; if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. but we would understand: it is precisely in fighting, in striking back, that genuine fraternal love grows large. Jesus would say: strive first for the kingdom of God. We would understand: of course, we should first strive for all sorts of other things. How else should we survive? What he really meant was that final inner willingness to invest everything for the kingdom of God. Everywhere the same—the deliberate avoidance of simple, literal obedience.

"How is such a reversal possible? What has happened that the word of Jesus has to endure this game? That it is so vulnerable to the scorn of the world? Anywhere else in the world where commands are given, the situation is clear. A father says to his child: go to bed! The child knows exactly what to do...The situation is supposed to be different only with respect to Jesus' command. In that case simple obedience is supposed to be wrong or even to constitute disobedience. How is this possible?" — Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Discipleship

<idle musing>
Ouch!
</idle musing>