Archive | May, 2008

New Covenant Commentary Series (NCCS)

By Phil Gons on May 28, 2008 in Books

Michael Bird announces a new commentary series called The New Covenant Commentary Series (NCCS). The series will be edited by Craig Keener and Michael Bird and published by Wipf & Stock between 2009 and 2014.

Here are the projected volumes and authors:

Matthew, Joel Willitts (North Park University, Chicago)
Mark, Kim Huat Tan (Trinity Theological College, Singapore)
Luke, Jeannine Brown (Bethel Seminary, St. Paul)
John, Jey Kanagaraj (Hindustan Bible Institute & College, India)
Acts, Youngmo Cho (Asia Life University, South Korea)
Romans, Craig Keener (Palmer Seminary, Philadelphia)
1 Corinthians, Bruce Winter (Queensland Theological College, Australia)
2 Corinthians, David deSilva (Ashland Theological Seminary, Ohio)
Galatians, Brian Vickers (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville)
Ephesians, Lynn Cohick (Wheaton College, Wheaton)
Philippians, Linda Belleville (Bethel College, Indiana)
Colossians, Philemon, Michael Bird (Highland Theological College, Scotland)
1-2 Thessalonians, David Garland (George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Texas)
Pastoral Epistles, Aida Besancon-Spencer (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Massachusetts)
Hebrews, Tom Thatcher (Cincinnati Christian University, Ohio)
James, Pablo Jimenez (Pastor, Puerto Rico)
1 Peter, Eric Greaux (Winston-Salem State University, North Carolina)
2 Peter, Jude, Andrew Mbuvi (Shaw University Divinity School, North Carolina)
1-3 John, Sam Ngewa (Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, Kenya)
Revelation, Gordon Fee (Regent College, Canada)

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Before You Buy Online . . .

By Phil Gons on May 26, 2008 in Deals

Before you make your next online purchase, you may want to use Live Search Cashback. Microsoft will pay you anywhere from 2–10% cash back—those are the numbers I’ve seen—on any qualifying purchases from participating stores. No strings attached. Before cashing in on your rewards you have to wait 60 days and accrue at least $5 of cash back rewards. Once you meet both of those stipulations, you can get your funds sent to you via (1) PayPal, (2) a bank account, or (3) a paper check in the mail.

This is Microsoft’s attempt to get Googlers to start using their Live search. I’m not about to switch permanently from Google, but why not save a little more on my online purchases?

Update: Just got an email, 60 days after my purchase, notifying me that my $13.74 in cashback rewards are ready to be claimed. I visited my page, clicked Pay Me, entered my bank information, and got this message:

Your cashback is on its way! Microsoft will initiate a payment of $13.74 to your Bank account XXXX in approximately 14 days. We will send an e-mail message to you at [email protected] with these details.

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“When I’m stumped . . . I go to Henry Alford.”

By Phil Gons on May 23, 2008 in Exegesis

Dan Phillips, who blogs at Biblical Christianity and Pyromaniacs, emailed me about a month ago and asked me about making Henry Alford’s The Greek Testament: With a Critically Revised Text; a Digest of Various Readings; Marginal References to Verbal and Idiomatic Usage; Prolegomena; and a Critical and Exegetical Commentary available for Libronix. In that email he told me that “John Piper names it as the one he always consults.” Recently I asked him if he knew the source for Piper’s statement. He didn’t, but said he’d do some hunting. He asked his blog readers for help, and it was Pilgrim Mommy to the rescue.

I think it might be . . . during the Q&A at the end of Piper’s talk on John Owen.

I just listened to the end of Piper’s biographical lecture on Owen, and here’s what he says in the Q&A in response to a question about commentaries that he finds helpful:

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More Thoughts on Regret

By Phil Gons on May 20, 2008 in Theology

About two months ago I wrote a blog post on the subject of regret, in which I raised some questions about whether regret will be a part of the experience of the glorified in the new creation. I suggested with some uncertainty that I’m inclined to think that it will not be. My thoughts were in response to some of the things that Piper said in the second chapter of Life As a Vapor, “Suffering, Mercy, and Heavenly Regret.”

Recently, David Wayne, the JollyBlogger, picked up my post and expressed basic agreement with my concerns.

Just tonight Jon Bloom’s latest post at the Desiring God blog, 2 Kinds of Regret: Godless and Godly, caught my eye. Jon doesn’t address regret after this life, but some of his comments make me wonder if he’d agree with Piper. Here’s his conclusion:

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Gunton on Taxis in the Trinity

By Phil Gons on May 16, 2008 in Theology

I know I’ve been doing a lot of quoting recently, but my blogging time is limited and quoting is easier than writing—not to mention that you’d probably rather read Gunton’s perspective on the Trinity than mine anyway.

I stumbled across this relevant bit from Colin Gunton in his The Promise of Trinitarian Theology, which I have as part of the Colin E. Gunton Theology Collection. (I sure do love having a digital library!)

It is often said that when the New Testament writers use the word ‘God’ simpliciter, they are referring to God the Father, so that Irenaeus is true to Scripture in speaking of Son and Spirit as the two hands of God, the two agencies by which the work of God the Father is done in the world. Indeed, Paul’s account of the progress of the risen and conquering Christ in 1 Corinthians 15 ends with the confession that when he hands the Kingdom over to the Father, God will be all in all (v. 28). Here, however, the priority of the Father is not ontological but economic. Such talk of the divine economy has indeed implications for what we may say about the being of God eternally, and would seem to suggest a subordination of taxis—of ordering within the divine life—but not one of deity or regard. It is as truly divine to be the obedient self-giving Son as it is to be the Father who sends and the Spirit who renews and perfects. Only by virtue of the particularity and relatedness of all three is God God.

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Barth on the Son’s Subordination to the Father

By Phil Gons on May 14, 2008 in Theology

In Barth’s section on “God the Father” in volume one of his Church Dogmatics, he makes some interesting statements about the relationship between the Father and the Son.

He opens his discussion with this affirmation of the deity of the Son:

Who is the Lord and therefore the God to whom the Bible is referring? As we have seen already, it is typical of the Bible in both the Old Testament and the New that its answer to this question does not point us primarily to a sphere beyond human history but rather to the very centre of this history.

The answer is that at the climax of the biblical witness Jesus of Nazareth is the Kyrios. He is the One who approaches man in absolute superiority. He is the self-revealing God. (I, 1, 384)

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What to Do When a Baseball Is Thrown a Foot from Your Head

By Phil Gons on May 9, 2008 in Miscellany

Not this!

http://www.youtube.com/v/AzGywBeWT6Q

I don’t like baseball and normally wouldn’t post something like this, but I was at this game last night, sitting directly behind home plate (albeit quite a few rows up) with my coworkers in the marketing department at Logos. This was certainly the most exciting part of the night. The Mariners lost 5-0 and haven’t scored in 22 innings.

Update: Looks like the original video is no longer available, but check out this one at MLB.com.

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Xobni for Outlook

By Phil Gons on May 7, 2008 in Technology

I recently downloaded and installed a cool new plug-in for Microsoft Outlook called Xobni (inbox spelled backwards). It’s a collapsible sidebar that instantly provides lots of helpful data.

There are two main features:

Search: Find contacts, emails (organized by conversations!), related people, and shared files in an instant—all organized nicely in a sleek sidebar. Since Outlook 2007 has a built-in search for email messages, I wasn’t sure how helpful this aspect of Xobni would be. However, the ability to see not only emails but also contact info (which is even extracted from email messages!), file attachments, and related contacts makes it very handy.

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New NSBT Book on the Trinity

By Phil Gons on May 3, 2008 in Books, Theology

There’s a new book on the Trinity that I’m looking forward to picking up in a couple of months. Andres J. Köstenberger and Scott R. Swain have coauthored Father, Son and Spirit: The Trinity and John’s Gospel, volume 24 in the New Studies in Biblical Theology (NSBT) series, edited by D. A. Carson. It’s 224 pages and due to be released sometime in July.

Here’s how Köstenberger summarizes the book:

Part One situates John’s trinitarian teaching within the context of Second Temple Jewish monotheism. Part Two examines the Gospel narrative in order to trace the characterization of God as Father, Son and Spirit, followed by a brief synthesis. Part Three deals more fully with major trinitarian themes in the Fourth Gospel, including its account of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and mission. A final chapter discusses the significance of John’s Gospel for the church’s doctrine of the Trinity, and a brief conclusion summarizes some practical implications.

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