First things first, Happy Reformation Day (slightly belated)! Dust off your Luther costume and enjoy this 492nd anniversary of Luther’s 95 thesis. It’s way better than Halloween: Several times more cultural importance with none of the empty calories!
A few weeks ago Danny had the great idea of paying homage to my favorite television show (and achilles heel?) The Simpsons, by way of a “138th Post Spectacular.” So I don’t know what he was thinking when he posted on Tim Keller’s sermons, because technically, that is our 138th post. I take solace in the fact that The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular is actually the 155th episode. So who’s really counting? Be that as it may, 139 is as arbitrary a number as any for us to celebrate meaningless, self-congratulatory milestones, and thank our tens of readers.
Danny also had the great idea of listing our “Top 10” favorite posts (5 from each of us) with some comments for each. They are in no particular order, but we hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane.
Brian’s Top 5
(1) Happy Winter Solstice from the Humanists! This post is a year old, and has a close friend in my latest thoughts on popular atheism. I list this among my favorites because humanism, which may go by many names, is very common in my present context. The ultimate aim is “just be a good person,” which is nice enough, were it not for the fact that in the absence of God (or even a god), it is an incoherent, indefensible statement.
(2) Facebook: You’re Dead to Me Now. This post has very little theological or cultural value, save that it was great catharsis for me.
(3) Defending Apologetics. Apologetics has a special place in my heart, thanks in part to the fact that the work of apologists is what helped me see the truth of Christianity, and come to Christ.
(4) What Would Jesus Play? (Posted on my son’s first birthday, no less.) The interaction of Christianity and culture has always been a great interest to me. After all, it is something that I have to confront every day. I’m still waiting for a book of answers, but even if one came, I’d miss the discussion.
(5) The Starting Point of Missions. In my experience, missions is very easy to talk about, and very hard to do. In a way that is a non-statement, because much of Christian life falls into the same category. None the less, Danny and I both attend a church with a strong missions focus, and I’m always reminded in this context where missions got its start, and why its important.
Danny’s Top 5
First, allow me to set the record straight about the BBG 138th Post Spectacular controversy. I did say something to Brian about writing this in honor of the Simpsons. He, however, never replied and I figured it fell by the wayside of his packed schedule of engineering, bacon eating and tomfoolery on the drums. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time Brian went a prolonged period of time without posting on this blog (cheap shot). Tim Keller stole Brian’s glory, so let that be a lesson to all of us. Anyway, on with patting on our backs. My top 5:
(1) I had a hard time deciding between Crafting a Crazy King and Why I Am A Premillennialist: Some Thoughts In Progress, but figured if I mention them I can get them both in here (cheating, I know, but Brian did it first). I’ll go with the premillennialism post, mainly because it’s been debated recently on some prominent blogs and despite the fact that it isn’t a particularly well written post. While I still maintain that all these positions have holes in them, I’m still convinced that premillennialism is the best option. It seems to me that amillennialism is a theologically derived position rather than an exegetically derived position.
(2) Easter is my favorite holiday, and you can see why in What Are We Celebrating on Easter Sunday.
(3) Brian suggested I put this one in the list, so here you go. It’s called The Spirit, the Law & Pentecost, where I take a look at how Exodus 19, Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36 and Joel 2 all intersect in Acts 2 and the Spirit’s coming on Pentecost.
(4) Back in June I wrote something regarding the potentially deceptive way we use the word “worship,” in post called Worship: A Most Dangerous Word. Interestingly, in the Christian Carnival in which this post appeared it was attributed to Brian. Nonetheless, I’ll include in my Top 5.
(5) Our most popular post was something I wrote called The Strange Comfort of the Rod and Staff, based on the ever popular Psalm 23. Honestly, I never would have thought this would be our most read post. I rarely write devotional type stuff, and I wasn’t necessarily intending to here, either. I had just been pondering something for a few days, and had only been writing about books for a couple weeks and thought I’d throw this on our site. I’m glad I did.
While the fourth wall is down, I (Brian) did want to make a few comments other about this blog:
Danny and I do take God’s Word seriously, even as we take our faith and its interaction with the world seriously. Writing posts that interact with matters of supreme importance (i.e., God) is not something we take lightly. Our mission states, “We are a website devoted to equipping and edifying Christians around the world to understand God’s Word more fully, and thoughtfully apply it to their daily lives and cultural context.” We cannot judge our success in this matter, but it is certainly our hope that we’ve not strayed too far from this purpose. There is a sarcastic quote about blogs from despair.com: “Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.” Hopefully this does not apply to us…entirely, at least.
Also, please note that we do appreciate your comments and suggestions, be they favorable or not. In fact, civil, thoughtful exchanges of differing views can be some of the most enlightening. Muscles do not grow unless they are challenged, so please call us on something if you disagree.
Finally, do know that it is humbling for us both to consider that a few dozen people check in here every day. It encourages us to think that others find our thoughts worth reading, and we hope the exchange is mutually beneficial. I can say from personal experience that having to write about something can certainly benefit the author as much as the reader. Codifying and expressing a thought without the body language or feedback of a conversation is challenging, helping one to think more clearly about the subject matter, and better articulate their views in the future.
From all of us (read: both of us) here at BBG, thanks again.
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Book Review: ZIBBCOT Vol. 5
Posted in book review, tagged commentaries, historical background, ZIBBCOT on Thursday, November 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Special thanks to Jesse Hillman at Zondervan for the review copy of this book.
I received volume 5 of the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary on the Old Testament (ZIBBCOT) a few weeks ago. This volume covers the Minor Prophets, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. (You may also want to read Danny’s review of volume 3). As my volume notes on the back cover, “Many today find the Old Testament a closed book.” The purpose of this series of backgrounds commentaries, then, is to illuminate the cultural context in which the Old Testament was written.
Zondervan sets out to accomplish this goal with style: thousands of pictures, maps, charts and other graphics are scattered throughout every glossy, full color page. Each chapter (which covers an entire book) opens with a page or two of historical background before proceeding to the commentary proper. As for the commentary itself, it is important to remember that this is a backgrounds commentary. As such, it should be noted that these volumes are only one (essential) piece of the library one would consult when doing sound exegesis.
The information provided in my volume largely lived up to its promises, and indeed each page serves as a great start to uncovering the cultures in which the Old Testament books are couched. I was particularly impressed by the “sidebars” that make frequent appearances. These dive deeper into a particular concept, and are immensely helpful. Consider, “To Whom do Hosea’s ‘The Ball’ and ‘The Balls’ Refer?” (pp.16-18), “The Early Days of the Persian Empire” (p.207), or “Community Lament in the Ancient Near East” (p.356). Taken with the commentary text, they are an excellent addition that is often lacking in other background commentaries. One would miss a large benefit of these commentaries if they were ignored.
Although all of the pictures are interesting, at times, I couldn’t help but feel that many of them were the commentary equivalent of eye candy. That is, they’re fun to look at, but ultimately contribute little in the way of nutritional value to the text. Do several pictures of various ancient clay tablets with indecipherable writing add much in the way of understanding? Perhaps one or two do, but the return in small, in my opinion. The graphics do add an overall sense of approachability to the text: It’s far less overwhelming to open to a colorful page full of interesting pictures than a page of plain text. They also contribute to an overall atmosphere that some may find helpful, albeit in a subconscious way. If the graphics are the nudge that an otherwise hesitant reader needs to consult a commentary, then they’re worth it. If you’re unintimidated by hundreds of pages of plain text, and you’d rather the sandwich without the parsley garnish, this may not be the commentary for you.
That said, many of the pictures are very helpful (e.g., a threshing sledge (p.60), a lamp (p.271), or the modern reconstruction of the Israelite view of the cosmos (p.264)). As for the maps and charts, they’re often worth their weight in gold.
As Danny noted, the text can sometimes be uneven, since there are so many contributors, but I doubt I’d notice if I used the commentary as a reference (as I would), rather than reading it through. Given the wide range of genre in my volume, differences should be expected anyway. In all, I was very pleased with the choice of authors (especially the excellent Duane Garrett for Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs), and what they had to say.
Finally, I should mention something about the price tag. Colorful glossy pages aren’t cheap, and neither are these volumes. All 5 are selling for $158 on Amazon, and when I consider that IVP’s 800+ page single volume OT backgrounds commentary is $24, it makes it a hard sell for me. The pictures and illustrations are indeed helpful, and I won’t deny that they set Zondervan’s commentary apart from others, but are they $134 more helpful? The answer is ultimately a subjective one that likely enjoys direct proportion to your annual book budget, and how you best engage with a book. If you have the money, and vanilla text makes you cringe, these are a great addition to your library. Pastors, teachers and students alike will certainly benefit. If you’re on a tight budget (financial, shelf space or both), and text alone will scratch most of your itch, I would look elsewhere.
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