Happy Holidays Break

Greetings friends and fellow bloggers. Well, blogging has been slow these last few months. I've finished up the first half of my MTh, and am now in the process of writing courses for next year. So I've decided to take a bit of a break from blogging and return in the New Year. So to everyone, have a great break, take a rest, enjoy your friends and families and read some good books.

Ciao for now...

Great Resources

There are some really helpful resources, podcasts and general stuff around at the moment, so here's a list of a few.

• Scot Hahn articles, many of them published elsewhere.
• Phil Harland has uploaded a podcast series on Paul and his communities, and the imperial background to early Christianity.
• Doug Chaplan discusses leadership in Corinth.

• Greg Carey deals with neglected passages of Scripture.
• Matt has a good interview with Larry Hurtado.
• Biblical Studies Carnival 45 – Bible Theme Park

Now go and enjoy these!

Graham Stanton Passed Away

This is sad news indeed. We have lost two giants among New Testament scholars this month! I was reading Stanton's Jesus and the Gospels just yesterday - thinking that his contribution, although cautious, was an outstanding example of biblical scholarship. I was looking forward to his ICC contribution to Galatians! Stanton was an outstanding scholar, and I'm glad that Paul's promise will apply to him.

ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος·

Martin Hengel

John Dickson has a wonderful tribute to the late Martin Hengel. What a scholar! I was dipping into his books this week as I prepare a lecture on the historical Jesus, it's still some of the most helpful material written thus far.

Do make sure you read as much of Hengel as you possibly can, you will be a better informed thinker!

NETS Available Online

For those wanting to read an english translation of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament the first Christians (most likely) read, The New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS) is freely available online. This translation surpasses the old one of Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton (1851). See also The Septuagint online for the Greek texts. These are invaluable resources for those doing inter-textual study of the two testaments.

Enjoy!

EDUCE Project

Michael Halcomb has a brilliant post on Virtually Unwrapping Ancient Scrolls. This is an exciting development that may yield some astonishing discoveries! Check it out!

Off to New Zealand

So, Susan and I are off to New Zealand, hence the little activity on the blog recently. We've decided to move there so that I can begin to explore further options of studying, see my family, get involved in a Church plant, and have some fun. This blog will probably resume activity in May. With our arrival in NZ, I have several friends to catch up with, a supervisor to hound, and book-shops to peruse.

Incidently, this is my blogs 4 year birthday, so happy happy to me! I'll make sure I bye myself a book to celebrate this achievement!

Ciao... s. D.

Ethos Resource

Ethos is a fantastic resource that allows you access to certain theses from UK universities. Make sure you check it out. I typed in the name of every epistle in the NT and there are stacks already ready to download. And the one's that interested me, that aren't yet available, I've ordered, so in 10 days, I'll be SUPER HAPPY!

News

December and January have been utterly crazy! The South African National Baptist Summer Camp was the highlight of my speaking engagements, and then January allowed me the opportunity to share at the Jubilee Summer Camp for NewFrontiers.

All this to say, blogging will resume in Feb...

See you then...

Guess who's back?

ME!... So watch out blogosphere...

the exile and return

of sean D. Well, some big things have been happening in my life lately. Changing jobs, leaving Primal, joining the staff @Jubilee. And now a travelling schedule that keeps me away quite a bit. So unfortunately there has been no time for blogging or anything else. Studying 1 Peter has been put on the shelf. But January holds hopes of returning to academic life, or at least a life where I can read academic books...! So for those of you who pray, please continue to do so, and include Susan and myself in them.

1 thess 2:12

Reflections on SBL 7-11 July 2008

Well, SBL International 2008 was fantastic. The academic environment was superb, and the bookshop – especially BRILL- made the experience fantastic. The highlight for me was probably hanging out with Warren Carter, and then Bruce Winter. Both men were friendly and very forthcoming with helpful ideas and critiques of my suggested research areas. Carter alerted me to some material he had written on 1 Peter, and then invited me to respond to him. I’ll be distilling my thoughts and then blog my response. Bruce Winter was so kind and helpful, a stunning example of scholarship and piety. Winter has done quite a bit of work on 1 Peter, but hasn’t published much of it. As my interests are now focussed on 1 Peter, he offered to review some of the stuff I’d be working on.

The best session for me was the Symposium on Bob Jewett’s Roman’s commentary. Doug Campbell, Paul Trebilco and Jewett’s response were outstanding. Eddie and I walked out thinking “do we know anything?” The level of discussion was just superb. Jewett even made his way over to us to find out what we were studying, how we found the session and what our thoughts were. WOW! My friends have now graciously agreed to buy me this commentary for my B-day. I love my friends…

The bookshop was quite helpful, especially the Brill titles that were heavily discounted. My semi-embarrassing moment came when I began to chat to a guy about Reinhard Feldmeier’s newly translated commentary on 1 Peter (which I’m hoping to review soon). This guy was quite persistent that this was one of the best commentaries on 1 Peter. I was a bit hesitant, and I’m quite happy that Achtemeier and Green are the best commentaries on 1 Peter, with Elliott a close second. The banter when back and forth for a while and then we parted ways. Later on, I was told that the person I was talking to was Carey C. Newman, who is down to write a commentary on 1 Peter for the Smyth & Helwys series! Next time I’ll be more careful before I just start blabbing… PS: I still think I’m right about Achtemeier and Green. Feldmeier is helpful, but nowhere near as helpful or insightful as the former two.

After SBL, I had lunch with my former mentor Mark Keown, lecturer in New Testament at Bible College of New Zealand. Mark had just come back from the Tyndale fellowship where he presented a paper on gospel proclamation in 1 Peter. I’m hoping to interact with Mark’s paper in a forthcoming blog.

SBL HOLIDAY!

Well, Sue and I fly out to NZ tomorrow for the international SBL in Auckland, and a great [and much needed] snowboarding holiday! For all those who've been emailing, I'll try get back to you, but otherwise, see you in August!

Dr Barth and Dr Seuss

There's some amazing stuff going on around the web, and I'd love to chat about all that I've been up to here, but time doesn't permit such joys just yet. So here's a poem to cheer you up!

Dr Barth and Dr Seuss

For those who are familiar with Barth's major themes, this is really done well.

HT: Ben Myers.

Xenophobic Attacks in SA

Please pray for us.

The violence in South Africa is now only 2km down the road from our community offices, and many of our people are fleeing the violence and uncertainty. I had to instruct our volunteer staff from the UK not to go into our townships today, as the tension escalated. Our building is now being used as a Safe-Haven for those seeking a hiding place. This could entail our building becoming a target for violence.

Please pray for us: we need wisdom and God's intervention.

Finally - Achtemeier!

Finally, after waiting nearly 16 weeks, Paul J. Achtemeier's commentary on 1 Peter has finally arrived on my desk... Even with the silly mistakes on the back of the commentary [it has recommendations for Attridge's commentary on Hebrews, instead of this commentary on 1 Peter] this will prove to be a valuable contribution to my studies.

Although I'm half way through 1 Peter already, I couldn't delay research/preaching any longer, this commentary will still prove to be useful. Perhaps I'll be able to blog more about it soon. But work here is keeping me thoroughly busy... take care, ciao

Off to Zambia

Greetings Friends...

Well, Susan and I are off to Zambia for 10 days, so I'll be outta of blogging action - leaving my laptop behind...

We're helping friends with the launch of our new Church: Jubilee Community Church in Livingston, Zambia.

Susan and myself will also take a couple of days to see the Victoria Falls, and enjoy the people.

I'll be taking along Joel Green's commentary on 1 Peter, as well as Ruth Anne Reese's THNT commentary on 2 Peter, Jude. Both of these are really good...

Have fun, I'll blog some photo's when I get back...

SBL International Meeting 08

Well, I've just booked our plane tickets to Auckland, New Zealand and we're so excited! This will afford me the opportunity to attend the SBL International Meeting, hosted by Auckland university this year! We'll be in NZ for a month, where I'll be able to try out my new ROME ANTHEM (For those who don't know what that is, it has nothing to do with ancient history, but rather soft powder and killer airs... It's the otherside of my life, besides books! {and my wife, if she is reading this...}).

Is anyone else from the blogosphere going to SBL in Auckland this July? I'd be happy to connect and show you around, and even show you where a couple of really good bookshops are!

Otherwise, see you there! And sorry for those who will be missing out...

Eddie and I plan to have as much fun as possible! I'm really hoping for a great line up!

My Students!

This year, I had the privilege of teaching these fine students the first nine chapters of Acts. We had a great, but rather intense time, of working through all the introductory issues, and some exegesis!

They were a great bunch of people, and I look forward to hanging out with them in March, for the next installment - Acts 10-19!

So if you're one of them, get cracking!

Restoring what was Taken

Well, my study of Thessalonians may now resume, with my books being happily replaced by someone in my Church being frustrated that I could no longer continue with my series on Thessalonians due to my car being stolen with my laptop and all my commentaries and books on Thessalonians inside! God's people are so good, and gracious!

I'm hoping to explore 1 Thess 2:13-16, that tricky little piece which some have assumed and argued is an interpolation. I'm also wanting to explore further the view that 1 Thess 5:14ff. is addressed to the leaders. I'm trying to get my paws on a copy of Jeff Weima's book: Neglected Endings: The Significance of Pauline Letter Closings. Incidently, Weima is writing the Baker commentary on Thessalonians which should be quite good. I'm also looking forward to finishing Fee's tome, which I only got half way through!

As you can see, my summer reading will consist of books on the epistles of Peter. I'm hoping to plough through Green, Jobes and McKnight (or Michael's) and then move on to Davids, Bauckham and Neyrey (perhaps adding Reese) on 2 Peter. This is for a series we're doing at Primal. Should be good, and informative. Hopefully, Thessalonians won't distract me further [nor will Michael Pahl, who's posts on Thessalonians were the first to entice me to survey and study, briefly, these letters!].

Anyway, back to studying...