IVP - Addenda & Errata - ETS/IBR/AAR/SBL Debriefing

ETS/IBR/AAR/SBL Debriefing

The academic conventions have come and gone. And I’ve recovered. But now it’s time to catch up in my office—before the Christmas holiday descends upon me. In my “own” time, I’m diving into some of the books I brought back from the convention.

Karel van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible (Harvard University Press, 2007). After John Walton told me of the interesting SBL session centered on this book, I happened by the Harvard booth when they were opening a newly arrived shipment. I bought a copy. And it’s fascinating, both with regard to how the Bible may have taken its present textual form (though van der Toorn is of a different mind from evangelical scholars such as Millard) and for this 21st-century “scribe” trying to imagine how the profession was engaged way back then. There is blogging material here.

Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.3.1 and IV.3.2. I’m set up again with my daily readings in Barth. I feel whole again. 5:00 A.M., a cup of coffee and five pages (or more) of Barth. What a way to start the day! Naturally, as an editor I read—even linger over—prefaces. And in IV.3.1 Barth is grousing about the fact that this part volume had to be split in two—at the publisher’s insistence, of course! Since the entirety of IV.3 had swollen to 964 pages in the English, I’m guessing that it was an issue of book binding. I hope he realized his good fortune to have a publisher that was not urging him to trim down his tome. Still, he does remind us that the theologians of the 17th century produced even longer volumes. I’m going to blog one of these days on whether, had I been Barth’s editor, I would have advised him to cut to the chase. My current opinion: No, Barth gets a free pass.

In addition I picked up a few books on Barth: T. F. Torrance, Karl Barth: An Introduction to His Early Theology, 1910-1931 (T & T Clark); John Webster, Barth’s Earlier Theology (T & T Clark); and Colin Gunton, The Barth Lectures (T & T Clark). I’ve dipped into all three already. Gunton’s book consists of posthumously transcribed, and presumably edited (by P. H. Brazier), lectures that Gunton gave. I say “presumably edited” because I can’t figure out why on earth the lectures were not cleaned up more than they are. Here’s an example: “On the face of it, it looks, before the Incarnation, that the Word is without flesh, alright, and then at the Incarnation the Word takes on flesh—the logos ensarkos, enfleshed, okay” (p. 167). That’s a ridiculous instance of a thoroughly modern attitude toward the ipsissima verba of the revered master. And there are other instances throughout. Alright? Okay? Maybe it’s endearing to former students. But let it be noted that none of van der Toorn’s ancient Near Eastern scribes (above) would have let that go—precisely out of regard for the revered master’s honor!

John Webster’s Confessing God (T & T Clark). I dumped a wad at Continuum!

Christopher Seitz’s Prophecy and Hermeneutics (Baker). We’ve got a prophets dictionary to get underway soon!

Gordon Fee’s Pauline Christology (Hendricksen). This looks good! Fee moves from letter to letter, focusing in exegetically on key texts within context and then backing out for synthesis.

Howard Marshall’s Aspects of the Atonement (Paternoster). Mike Bird’s blog made me aware of this one. Marshall collects some essays here that, among other things, offer some correctives to the current debate.

Veli-Matti Kärkkäinan’s One with God: Salvation as Deification and Justification (Liturgical). Having lunch with Veli-Matti reminded me to ask him where he’d published this book. This is the ecumenical side of Kärkkäinan, but it raises an interesting perspective for the intramural evangelical debate.

Scot McKnight’s A Community Called Atonement (Abingdon). Some of the books I’m listing here I got for free, but I paid good money for this, Scot! I’m counting on it’s being as balanced as it looks!

John Piper, The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright (Crossway). I’m trying to understand Piper’s concerns. He has tried hard to understand NTW—but does he get it? Personally, I think NTW should respond (and I told him so).

Oh, and a new Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece to replace my battered copy. Why do they no longer publish it in the handy 4 ½ x 6 ½ pocket size?

That’s not as many books as usual. And this is the first year in over twenty that I walked away without a bag of Eerdmans books. This is inexplicable. Though I should note that the new Thiselton volume was sold out by the time I arrived.

And do I need to say that I’m also browsing through some excellent new offerings from IVP Academic? But you can see those on our website. I’m particularly happy with the Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters, which my colleague Joel Scandrett brought to its present glory.

I also met some fellow bloggers: Mike Bird of Euangelion, Ben Myers of Faith and Theology, Chris Tilling of Chrisendom, Ed Cook of Ralph the Sacred River, and of course my old friend and blogger extraordinaire, Scot McKnight of Jesus Creed.

There was a lot of IVP Academic business to conduct, including meal appointments with authors, plenty of stimulating conversation, our IVP Academic reception on Sunday night (focused on The Legacy of John Paul II, edited by Tim Perry—a fine event!) and much conversing with folks stopping by at the IVP Academic display—as well as picking up publishing scuttlebutt on the convention floor. It was good to see some of our newest books well received. Plus I managed to get in a handful of sessions at both AAR/SBL and ETS.