D.A. Carson on the "Trial of Biblical Studies"

Thanks to Andy Naselli, available on-line is D.A. Carson's popular level essay, "The Trials of Biblical Studies" where he warns of several potential pitfalls in doing biblical studies: Integration, Work, Pride, Manipulation of Scripture, and Priorities. The section on pride is definitely worth the read. The biggest temptation for seminary students and biblical scholars is to take pride in their career of advanced learning as setting them apart from others. I try to offset this temptation with my daily citation of 2 Cor 4.5 and Rom. 12.3, though others will determine if that rote citation is effective in my own case. Carson's essay finishes with a call for humility in the study of the Bible. All those engrossed in biblical studies should read this short essay!

Generalist vs. Specialist - SBL Forum

Sometime ago (in fact, a long time ago) I wrote a blogpost on specialists and generalists in biblical studies. More recently, at the May issue of SBL forum, I've teamed up with Craig Keener to write:

Jack of All Trades and Master of None: The Case for “Generalist” Scholars in Biblical Scholarship Michael F. Bird with Craig Keener

Let us know what you think!

Darrell Bock responds to Tony Burke on "Heresy Hunting"

DTS Prof. Darrell Bock responds to Tony Burke's article on "Heresy Hunting" at SBL Forum. This is a very apt response by Bock and my own response can be found here.

Blogging and Biblical Studies

A new book published by Crossway is out called The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ edited by John Mark Reynolds and Roger Overton with a stack of interesting contributors. Should be one to read! In addition, James Crossley's new volume Jesus in an Age of Terror: Scholarly Projects for a New American Century (and from eyewitness accounts an alternative title should be, “How to be a Nigel No-Friends in Academia: Offending Colleagues and Ticking Off People Who Have Never Heard of You”) also has some stuff on biblical studies and blogging. That one I intend to read out of a morbid curiosity and as to how many relationships James can sever and how many enemies he can make in one book.

Topics that bore me

In the land of theological, biblical, and religious studies, I find the following subjects boring unto death:

5. Greek accents.
4. Queer hermeneutics.
3. Divine aseity.
2. The ANE roots of Hebrew words.
1. Baptist Church History.