Historical note – I first did a post like this about AARSB/ETS 2017 – I was at both in Fort Worth/San Antonio but didn’t blog. Perhaps a symptom of a less blogging year! Regardless, this makes it more interesting to me personally, in terms of what interests have continued. Perhaps an interesting challenge would be to write a year-on update…
Once again my job meant I had the privilege of being in Denver for the Evangelical Theological Society and American Academy of Religion (at which I presented for the first time) and Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meetings. As well as manning a stand, I spent time wandering around, meeting with folk, and buying/begging/blagging/getting a stack of new books. These can be broadly divided into two parts – commentaries, and not commentaries.
1. Commentaries
Wanamaker’s NIGTC volume on 1&2 Thessalonians is not new (1990) – but the Thessalonian corpus is a weak spot in my library, and I’ve got at least one Thessalonians commentary landing on my desk in the near future.
Sean M. McDonough’s ‘Philippians’ in Hendricksen’s new ‘The Preacher’s Greek[/Hebrew] Companion Series. Interested in the idea of a ‘select commentary’, and also the format.
Kellum’s ‘Acts’ and Quarles’ ‘Matthew’ in B&H’s Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament – both books are on my to-do list in terms of work projects, and the EGGNT is a series I’ve wanted to look at for a while.
Brueggeman’s ‘The Message of the Psalms’ – not a BST, but something I’ve been told is worth reading as I prep to oversee a major 1 volume Psalms commentary soon. Hopefully I’ll enjoy it more than his Genesis commentary.
Spencer’s ‘James’ in the Kregel Exegetical Library. James is a book I keep coming back to and one I don’t have many physical commentaries – keen to see this format, too.
Carpenter’s two volume commentary on Exodus in Lexham’s Evangelical Expository Commentary. Exodus is a foundational book, and this is a series I am keen to understand better, not least in Old Testament format.
Ashley’s ‘Numbers’ in Eerdmans’ NICOT – a second edition, which I’m hoping an unreleased commentary will challenge, but a book of the Bible that I’m coming to appreciate immensely. Read my review here!
Goldingay’s ‘Ecclesiastes’ in Wipf and Stock’s new ‘The Bible in God’s World’ series. Keen to see what Goldingay makes of Ecclesiastes, and also understand this new commentary series.
Hamilton’s two volume ‘Psalms’ in Lexham Academic’s ‘Evangelical Biblical Theological Commentary’. Having had mixed views format-wise about an NT volume in the series, but aware of rave reviews on this, I’m keen to take a look. Also, it’s on Psalms.
Wright’s Story of God volume on ‘Exodus’ from Zondervan – this is a series a lot of people I rate highly either have contributed to or rate highly, so I’m keen to read this. Likely to be a bit different from Carpenter in the EEC!
Rata’s entry on ‘Ezra & Nehemiah’ in the Mentor series from Christian Focus. I’ve appreciated this series and publisher before, but before working on Ezra & Nehemiah next year, wanted to pick up this more conservative commentary and see what it’s like.
Wilson’s two volume ‘Matthew’ in Eerdmans’ sporadic but high level Eerdmans Critical Commentary. As with Quarles above, this is for a work project, but I’m also interested in seeing how this series/format differs from other Eerdmans series, and where it ‘fits’ in the wider commentary world. Read my review here!
2. Not Commentaries
I was pretty chuffed to ‘win’ a copy of Zondervan’s new ‘The Concise New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis’, edited by Beetham. This is a resource I’ve coveted since it came out, and it looks to be a useful tool.
Ben Gladd’s ‘From the Manger to the Throne’ covers Luke for Crossway’s New Testament Theology series – I’m looking forward to reading it, probably before Christmas!
Trevin Wax’s ‘The Thrill of Orthodoxy’ from IVP USA is a book I’m glad to see in print – a lovely little hardback too.
Patrick Schriener’s ‘Political Gospel’ is a book that’s piqued my interest since I’ve been aware of it, not least having edited Tim Farron et al’s ‘A Mucky Business’, which looks to be doing something similar from a UK context. We shall see.
John Piper’s ‘What is Saving Faith?’ was given to every ETS attendee – so I’m excited to find out why.
Amy Peeler’s ‘Women and the Gender of God’ is a book that I’m intrigued by, and want to read for myself.
Porter and Laird’s ‘Five Views on the New Testament Canon’ looks like a good multi-view ‘way in’ to an interesting debate, from Kregel.
It’s exciting to see Davenant doing their own publishing – ‘Protestant Social Teaching’ has some great contributors and good topics. I love me a multi-contributor volume, too. Read my review here!
J. V. Fesko’s ‘Death in Adam, Life in Christ’, in Christian Focus’s REDS series is a topic I’m interested in, and I’ve not red a volume from this series, either.
Another multi-contributor volume, ‘To Be Welcomed as Christ’ looks like an interesting set of reflections on evangelicalism. Read my review here!
Herman Hoeksema may need no introduction to some, but ‘Communion with God’ was a freebie from a publisher new to me, so I’m interested to see what Hoeksema says about this vital topic. Nice hardback edition.
Harvey and Woodhead’s ‘Unknowing God’ is a wildcard – I may well not like it – but it’s important to read things that you might not like!
Scott Rice’s ‘Trinity and History’, in Wipf and Stock’s Princeton Theological Monograph Series (Which I’ve enjoyed a couple of volumes of before) looks fascinating, not least in bringing together Dorner, Barth, Pannenberg and Jenson.
B&H Academic have started a new series of Christian classics – ‘Augustine on Christian Doctrine’ is something I’ve engaged with before, so I’ll be glad to see how this format presents it, Timothy George as series editor offers some reassurance, I think.
David Firth and Brittany Melton are two OT scholars I respect, so I’m excited about the contributors they’ve pulled together for Lexham Academic’s ‘Reading the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets’. Read my review here!
Erica Monge-Greer’s ‘So Say We All’ I thoroughly enjoyed, finished reading before I finished this post, and have reviewed. A nice little book.
David McKay’s ‘Humanity’ in Christian Focus’s Christians Pocket Guide Series is a good Reformed overview of humanity – does what it says on it’s specific tin. I think Mark Meynell’s little volume with TGBC is probably the gold standard for short books here, so far…
Lucy Peppiatt’s new Cascade Companion on ‘The Imago Dei’ is excellent, I enjoyed reading it and have posted a review. A great little intro to an enormous topic.
Timothy Tennent’s ‘For the Body’ from Zondervan is a good book, if a little US-centric. I won’t review it, but it’s great to see US evangelicals starting to write more positive stuff on the body – this book is readable and wide-ranging.
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