Pooh Community and Jack and Jill Exegesis in the latest BSB

The latest Biblical Studies Bulletin from Grove Books is now available online:

BSB 58 (December 2010)

It features two pieces of exegetical humour, Richard Bauckham's "Reconstructing the Pooh Community" and Michael B. Thompson's "Initial Critical-Exegetical Notes on 'Jack and Jill'".

Biblical Studies Bulletin latest

Grove have updated their website so that now all the Biblical Studies Bulletins for 2009 are online. The most recent one, for December 2009, includes reflections on the SBL Annual Meeting 2009, and reviews of books by Francis Watson and James D. G. Dunn. Thanks to Dr Richard Briggs for letting me know.

Biblical Studies Bulletin is back

The Biblical Studies Bulletin from Grove Books is back online with new content:

Biblical Studies Bulletin

I had thought that there had not been any new issues for a year, but the good news is that the latest editions are now available online, as follows:

BSB 47 (March 2008)
BSB 48 (June 2008)
BSB 49 (September 2008)
BSB 50 (December 2008)

It is now edited by Dr Richard Briggs of Cranmer Hall, St John's College, Durham University.

Biblical Studies Bulletins 45 and 46

There are two new Biblical Studies Bulletins online at Ridley Hall, Cambridge:

BSB 45 (September 2007)

BSB 46 (December 2007)

As usual there is lots of material of interest. BSB 45 includes a review of last year's British New Testament Conference, particularly welcome for those of us who can't make it any more.

Biblical Studies Bulletin 43

The missing Biblical Studies Bulletin is now online:

Biblical Studies Bulletin 43 (March 2007)

The bulletin includes some nice comments about the biblioblogs, including this one, in the computer corner.

Biblical Studies Bulletin 44

The latest Biblical Studies Bulletin, edited by Michael Thompson, is now online at Ridley Hall, Cambridge / Grove Books:

Biblical Studies Bulletin 44 (June 2007)

The title states that it is 42, but I think that that is a typo. 43 does not appear to be online. This edition features several things of interest, including some remarks on Richard Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, and some of the standard gushing about the Accordance Bible Software.

Biblical Studies Bulletin 42

It looks like I missed this one at the time. Edited by Michael Thompson, it is the latest Biblical Studies Bulletin from Grove Books and based at Ridley Hall, Cambridge:

Biblical Studies Bulletin 42

This issue includes a report on the last British New Testament Conference, Book Reviews, Comments on Commentaries and Computer Corner.

Biblical Studies Bulletin 41

The latest Biblical Studies Bulletin from Grove Books and connected with Ridley Hall, Cambridge is now available on-line:

Biblical Studies Bulletin 41 (September 2006)

If features the good news of a delay of the eschaton -- the BSB will continue after all, and there is a useful piece on Hebrews commentaries by Peter Head.

Biblical Studies Bulletin 40

The latest Biblical Studies Bulletin, for June 2006, is now available on-line. It's edited by Michael Thompson at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and is connected with Grove Books, and is always worth reading:

Biblical Studies Bulletin 40

There's one slightly troubling note to regular readers:

This is your opportunity to stand up and be counted! For ten years now I have spent roughly four days per year editing BSB. My boss and others are urging me to simplify my lifestyle. One way to do so would be to give up BSB. But would anyone miss it? If you think the tradition is worth continuing, please send a postcard or an email to me (mbt2@cam.ac.uk). If I hear from thirty righteous people (not including Grove employees, group members, or Ridley Hall staff or students), before the next issue is due, I’ll keep doing this for a while. Otherwise, it’s the eschaton.

Here's my vote: please keep it going, Mike, if you can. I'd like to delay the eschaton.

By the way, the link on the main page to BSB 40 points to BSB 39, but I managed to sniff out the actual link.

Biblical Studies Bulletin latest

The latest edition of the Biblical Studies Bulletin from Grove Books and edited by Michael Thompson is now availbale on-line. It's always worth a look:

Biblical Studies Bulletin 38

I particularly enjoyed the report of the British New Testament Conference 2005, but it's all worth reading.

Biblical Studies Bulletin 36

I thought that I'd have more time to blog since getting back to Birmingham, but alas, I spend all day every day either working (after all, the University of Birmingham are still paying me) or preparing in different ways for the move. Anyway, you don't want to know about that. Here's a link to the latest Biblical Studies Bulletin from Grove Books:

Biblical Studies Bulletin 36

Ignore the "35" at the top of the page -- it's an error. The guest editor this time is James Blandford-Baker and, as usual, there are several items of interest.

Biblical Studies Bulletin 35

Ridley Hall, Cambridge / Grove Books have their latest Biblical Studies Bulletin on-line:

Biblical Studies Bulletin 35

The BSB is edited by Michael Thompson and, as ever, it is full of items of interest.

Biblical Studies Bulletin 34

Grove Books' quarterly newsletter, Biblical Studies Bulletin, edited by Michael Thompson, now has its December issue on-line:

Biblical Studies Bulletin 34 (December 2004)

It includes some book notices and book reviews and the latest in its "Comments on the Commentaries" series, focusing on recent commentaries on Ephesians. One comment of my own -- I found the remarks about John Muddiman's commentary disappointing -- it is not helpful to characterise it as "fairly thin", nor is it really correct to say "He holds to pseudonymous authorship".

Speaking of the "Comments on the Commentaries", section of the BSB, there is now a helfpul index available to these:

An Index to "Comments on the Commentaries"

Biblical Studies Bulletin 31

Grove Books' Biblical Studies Bulletin is a very useful occasional newsletter edited by Michael Thompson of Ridley Hall, Cambridge. The latest is now available on the web:

Biblical Studies Bulletin 31 (March 2004)

As usual, there is plenty of interest. It begins with the editor's review of The Passion of the Christ and I am happy to see that his viewpoint is quite similar to mine. The violence is graphic but not pornographic, the film is "not an attempt to portray 'what really happened,'" and the anti-Semitism charges are overstated:

For those who do not share Gibson's particular tradition, this well-acted film still has much to offer, and I am very glad that I saw it. The crucifixion did not move me as much as Peter's denial, the scourging, and a scene when Jesus stumbles and Mary in a flashback remembers running to rescue him when he was a child. Satan is present as tempter in Gethsemane at the start, and his repeated appearances effectively emphasize the constant temptation Christ endured of seeking a way of escape.

No one can see this film without being reminded that our redemption was costly and painful. If I were an incumbent, I'm not sure I would take my congregation to view The Passion, but it deserves to be seen. I would certainly plan an adult education programme to help people reflect on what it does and does not tell us about the death of Jesus. His crucifixion is a fact of history; rather than playing a game of distraction with side issues about the film, Christians have been given a brilliant opportunity to discuss the meaning of that fact.

The editor also has a software review of Accordance 6, which he obviously likes:

What makes it so good? Simplicity of use, intuitive controls and layout, powerful and sophisticated search criteria, speed, quality and range of available modules (far too many to begin to list here), easy import and export of data in a variety of formats, excellent online help, and a responsive development team immediately come to mind . . . .

. . . . . Full details can be found at the Accordance website (www.oaksoft.com). The good news for PC owners is that a free Mac emulator is available to enable them to join the Accordance party (http://www.torahresource.com/Accord.html). But there's a better way: simply get a Mac and say goodbye to computer worms and viruses!

And say goodbye to a few other things too, like right-clicking your mouse! I am one of those who is always a little taken aback by the sheer passion some have for Accordance and the Mac. I can't say that I am convinced that Accordance is so obviously superior to the Gramcord PC alternative. When we bought Gramcord for Windows for use here in Birmingham, I wondered whether it would be preferable instead to purchase Accordance and get an emulator to run it, but it was not clear to me that this represented any substantial advantage over Gramcord for Windows. I feel a bit like an unbeliever looking in when I hear the Mac devotees celebrating the wonder of Accordance. It is probably something we PC users simply will never understand unless we convert. And let's face it, that's not going to happen.

BSB 31 also has a useful computer corner, in which Mike Thompson is kind enough to mention this blog. He also draws attention to Paleojudaica and Hypotyposeis. There are a couple of other links that look very useful but require some more exploration:

Dr Constable's Bible Study Notes and Commentary

and

Bible Research
By Michael Marlowe

I know that I have visited this latter site before, but I fear that I've never listed it or blogged about it and it clearly is a particularly useful site. Constable's site is essentially hundreds of pages of commentary on the Bible in PDF files from a conservative perspective.

Update (23.56): in Bible Software Review Weblog, Rubén Gómez makes some sensible and balanced remarks about Accordance and Macs. I bow to Rubén's superior knowledge here; I just get a bit taken aback by the passion that the Accordance supporters like the review references above exhibit, especially when the old chesnut of "Get a Mac and you can run Accordance and do without viruses" comes out.

Biblical Studies Bulletin

Quite by chance, while looking for something else, I ran across a useful resource:

Biblical Studies Bulletin

It's a kind of quarterly "newsletter" on issues connected with academic Biblical Studies and is edited by Michael Thompson of Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Each issue has some news, some book notices and reviews, some humour, some computer resources and so on. All 29 issues are available on-line, from 1996 to the present. The most recent is September 2003.