April Giveaway - 3 Issues of Tyndale Bulletin

This month's giveaway consists of 3 issues of Tyndale Bulletin:

46.1 (1995)
46.2 (1995)
47.2 (1996)

You will find a table of contents for these issues here.

To enter leave a comment below saying which issue you would like (one per person please). I will pick the winners at random and post their names sometime in the week of the 7th April. Remember to check my blog entries or subscribe to my site feed so you don't miss the announcement.

F.F. Bruce on Daniel's First Verse

The following article is now available on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "Daniel's First Verse," The Bible Student ns 21.2 (April 1950): 70-78.

The material in this article has been repeated in other sources many times since it was written, but it remains a good treatment of Daniel 1:1 from a conservative viewpoint.

F.F. Bruce on the Wisdom Literature of the Bible

The f0llowing articles are now available on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "The Wisdom Literature of the Bible: Introduction," The Bible Student ns 22.1 (Jan. 1951): 5-8.

F.F. Bruce, "The Wisdom Literature of the Bible: The Book of Proverbs," The Bible Student ns 22.2 (April 1951): 76-77.

F.F. Bruce, "The Wisdom Literature of the Bible: The Book of Proverbs (continued)," The Bible Student ns 22.3 (July 1951): 116-118.

F.F. Bruce, "The Wisdom Literature of the Bible: The Book of Proverbs (continued)," The Bible Student ns 23.1 (Jan. 1952): 5-8.

F.F. Bruce, "The Wisdom Literature of the Bible: The Book of Job," The Bible Student ns 23.2 (April 1952): 57-60.

F.F. Bruce, "The Wisdom Literature of the Bible: The Book of Job (continued)," The Bible Student ns 23.3 (July 1952): 99-103.

F.F. Bruce, "The Wisdom Literature of the Bible: The Book of Ecclesiastes," The Bible Student ns 23.4 (Oct. 1952): 144-148.

A very helpful series of articles giving an overview of the wisdom books of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes.

F.F. Bruce on the Christian Approach to the Old Testament

The following booklet is now available on-line:

F.F. Bruce, The Christian Approach to the Old Testament. London: The Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1955. pp.20.

Many Christians have a great problem with the Old Testament. F.F. Bruce has some positive suggestions.

F.F. Bruce on the Period Between the Testaments

The following articles are now on-line:

F.F. Bruce, "The Period Between The Testaments: I, Political Development," The Bible Student ns 20.1 (Jan. 1949): 9-15.

F.F. Bruce, "The Period Between The Testaments: II, Religious Development," The Bible Student ns 20.2 (April 1949): 59-64.

Quotable quote (from pp.61-62):

While Greek-speaking Jews were the first and direct beneficiaries of the Septuagint, others profited by it as well. It performed a sort of missionary function, for by its means Gentiles were able to read the Old Testament Scriptures in their own tongue. In this way the Septuagint helped to pave the way for the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentile world. For the Septuagint was the Bible which the earliest Christian missionaries took in their hands as they went on their journeys through the provinces of the Roman Empire, in the earliest decades of Church history when as yet there was no New Testament. The Septuagint provided the form in which most of the New Testament writers quote Old Testament Scripture, and it also provided them with a theological vocabulary. The New Testament writers did not have to invent a Greek theological vocabulary; the words they required to express the great concepts of divine revelation such as righteousness, mercy and truth, sin and atonement, and the [p.62] like, lay ready to their hand in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. When we meet such terms in the New Testament, we must remember that their background is not to be looked for in the senses which they bore in pagan Greek speech, but in the senses which they bear in the Septuagint as the equivalents of the corresponding Hebrew terms.

Alan R. Millard on Archaeology and Ancient Israel

The following article is now on-line:

Alan R. Millard, "Archaeology and Ancient Israel," Faith & Thought 108.1, 2 (1981): 53-62.

Alan Millard's articles are always engaging and this one is no exception. For more information about Solomon's gold see:

Alan Millard, "Solomon in all his Glory (Laing Lecture for 1979)," Vox Evangelica 12 (1981): 5-18.

What is the "Wizard of Oz" of Biblical Studies Articles?

It is a little known fact - at least it was to me - that The Wizard of Oz (1939) is the most quoted and alluded to movie of all time. Think of how many times you hear lines like "Well Toto, we're not in Kansas any more!", "There's no place like home", "I'll get you my pretty..." and "I'm melting!"

If we applied the same criteria to articles in the field of biblical studies, which article would be the most cited? Well, my suggestion is this article by Samual Sandmel:

Samuel Sandmel, "Parallelomania," Journal of Biblical Literature 81 (1962): 1-13.

Not only have I seen it cited many times but it deserves credit for adding a new word to the English theological dictionary.

Sandmel writes:

We might for our purposes define parallelomania as that extravagance among scholars which first overdoes the supposed similarity in passages and then proceeds to describe source and derivation as if implying literary connection flowing in an inevitable or predetermined direction.

Surely the exhortation to avoid the error of parallomania is as valid today as it was in 1962?
Perhaps you have a nomination for the title - I'd love to hear it.

Many thanks the Society of Biblical Literature for their kind permission to reproduce this article.

F.F. Bruce on Bible Translations

The following article is now available on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "New Bible Translations: A Short Survey," Inter-Varsity (Autumn 1953): 15-19.

Although the translations dealt with can hardly be thought of as 'new' today, the principles dealt with are certainly still valid.

F.F. Bruce on the Canon of Scripture

The following article is now on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "The Canon of Scripture," Inter-Varsity (Autumn 1954): 19-22.

FFB outlines the history of both formation of both the Old and New Testament canon of Scripture in an article originally writer for undergraduate students.

Some vouchers that might be of use to you

I'm having to buy new glasses this month and was searching on-line for a good deal. I didn't find a discount voucher for glasses, but did find this:

CouponDeal offer a range of vouchers redeemable at on-line stores, including £5.00 off books at Play.com and free delivery from Waterstones. Well worth looking at before you place an order.

Tyndale House Toolbar Available

Dr. David Instone-Brewer announces in his latest Tyndale Tech mailing that Tyndale House have developed a browser toolbar for Bible students. He writes:

The Tyndale Toolbar is freely available to any Bible student. It has been designed specifically for members of the Tyndale Fellowship and others who use the resources of Tyndale House. Adding News, Events and Opportunities to the notices is restricted to members of Tyndale Fellowship and Tyndale House, but everything else (including reading those notices) is unrestricted. Please feel free to share this with colleagues or students who might find it useful.

The toolbar features translation, bibliography, Bible look-up tools, plus useful links and news updates. It appears well worth trying out to see if it would be of help to you.

F.F. Bruce on Some Implications of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The following article is now available on-line in PDF:

F.F. Bruce, "Some Implications of the Dead Sea Scrolls," The Christian Graduate 9 (1956): 127-128.

This is another pithy summary of the significance of the discoveries at Qumran.

Results of March Giveaway

I have picked three winners from those who left comments indicating that they would like a copy of Vox Evangelica. They are:

Vol. 7: mwh
Vol. 9: p-ray
Vo.18: mike

Would the winners please e-mail their postal addressed to me at rob(a)biblicalstudies.org.uk

I will have another giveaway next month. Thanks for entering.

14/3/08 update. I have not heard from p-ray or mike and have no way of contacting them. I will wait until the end of the month and then offer them to others who wanted them.

Breaking News: Jim Packer Suspended by his Bishop

The breaking news from Vancouver Canada is that Professor James I. Packer and David Short, rector of St John's, Shaughnessy are facing what is being widely reported as 'suspension' from ministry. Please read the full article here. The article refers to several clips of Dr Packer on You Tube, which I have located and posted below. A line has been drawn in the sand tonight.

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Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 2.1 now on-line

The following article is now available in PDF:

Warren C. Young, "1958 Presidential Address: 'Whither Evangelicalism'," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 2.1 (Winter 1959): 5-16.

It seems that in 1959 Warren Young was asking many of the same questions that many are still asking today.

Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.4 now on-line

The following articles are now available on-line:

Leon J. Wood, "Present Trend to O.T. Theology as Represented in the Albright Influence," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.4 (Fall 1958): 1-5.

Warren C. Young, "Is There a Christian Philosophy," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.4 (Fall 1958): 6-14.

Bernard Ramm, "The Apologetic of the Old Testament: The Basis of a Biblical and Christian Apologeic," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.4 (Fall 1958): 15-20.

Gordon H. Clark, "Can Moral Education Be Grounded On Naturalism?" Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.4 (Fall 1958): 21-23.

My websites where down for approximately 10 hours today because of a problem with my ISP's webserver. Fortunately such outages are rare and I hope that those who were unable to reach the material they were looking for have now been able to do so. Currently I am receiving over 1,250 visitors a day on www.biblicalstudies.org.uk, a significant increase which is very encouraging.

March Giveaway - 3 issues of Vox Evangelica

I have three issues of Vox Evangelica to give away. Vol. 7 (1971), 9 (1975) and 18 (1988). If you would like a copy just leave a comment below saying which issue you would like. I will pick 3 winners at random on Sunday 9th March and post them out on Monday 10th. To see which articles they contain click here.

Articles from the Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.2 & 1.3 on-line

The following articles are now available in PDF:

1.2

Kenneth Kantzer, "The Christology of Karl Barth," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.2 (Spring 1958): 25-28.

Charles Russell Gresham, "The Christology of Current Religious Education," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.2 (Spring 1958): 29-37.

1.3

Francis I. Anderson, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Formationof the Canon," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.3 (Summer 1958): 1-7.

Joseph H. Dampier, "The Scrolls and the Scribes of the New Testament," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.3 (Summer 1958): 8-19.

Martin J. Wyngaarten, "The Servant of Jehovah in Isaiah and the Dead Sea Scrolls," Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 1.3 (Summer 1958): 20-23.

I now have photocopies of the majority of articles from BETS, thanks to Tyndale House Library and hope to spend this week working on putting more on-line.