From the Big Brown Truck
Posted by Chuck Grantham on July 9, 2009
Recent UPS deliveries include:
The Letter of James, Anchor Bible Commentary, by Luke Timothy Johnson
The Letter of James, Pillar New Testament Commentary, by Douglas Moo
The Epistle of James, New International Greek Testament Commentary, by Peter Davids
So there’s the list of commentaries for the next round of Sunday School Notes, through August. I’ve gotten so used to Ben Witherington III’s commentaries I may go ahead and get his James volume, too. I’ve very little clue about Psalms commentaries for the quarter afterward, as they are either unrecommended or multi-volume.
Also from the big brown truck are some Apostolic Fathers:
Ignatius of Antioch, Hermeneia Commentary, by William Schoedel
Shepherd of Hermas, Hermeneia Commentary, by Carolyn Osiek
I will likely order Kurt Neiderwimmer’s The Didache to polish off my Apostolic Fathers commentaries (I can’t get into Apostolic Tradition or 1 Enoch 1 that much).
And in DVDs I received
Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen
Doctor Who: The Rescue/The Romans
I will likely soon order The Call of Cthulhu, which mixes my interests in horror and silent film. Of course, there are also Criterion re-releases I’m thinking about upgrading as well, but DVDs, like books, are so many, and time/money so slight….
tc robinson said
Still want to get that James commentary by Moo (one of my favorite NT commentators).
Eric said
What a splendid mix of items!
LTJ is some good reading.
Chuck Grantham said
TC: Moo and Davids are pretty resonable, especially in comparison to the Hermeneia series, or, of course, anything from Brill.
You put a shipping address on your wish list, you might accidentally get stuff, you know. Or you could just mug Nick Norelli on the way from his mailbox.
Eric: I like mixing things up so I don’t get too bored. My only real exposure to LT Johnson is his anti- Jesus seminar books last decade, but he has that big rep as a James scholar. I also have a collection of his essays on James I paid too much for at Lifeway.
All this time I’m spending scouring commentaries is making it hard for me to just read Biblicalish texts without commentary of some sort.
Eric said
My exposure to LTJ is from The Writings of the New Testament which I thought was pretty decent. Also, anyone who slams the Jesus Seminar gets a few bonus points to boot
tc robinson said
Chuck, I only used Hermeneia in Seminary for research papers. Too technical for a low profile pastor like myself.
Let me insert an address now, because I never know!
Chuck Grantham said
Eric: The Jesus Seminar made themselves targets by all that publicity. To say nothing of the notion of voting on scholarly disputes. It was a sort of dare, which they shouldn’t have been surprised when people responded.
TC:I only use Hermeneia because they are the only available recent commentaries on those books. One can buy two other scholarly books for the cost of one Hermeneia, after all. I can’t say these look all that technical, but then, some of the NT commentaries I’ve used are pretty technical, I suppose, so I’m no judge.
Nick Norelli said
Chuck: One could always contact Fortress Press and ask for a review copy of a Hermenia title. In fact, your Sunday School notes are a review of sorts and given how many you post for any given book I’m sure that publishers would be thrilled to see their titles getting such exposure and attention. Something to ponder…
Eric said
I once had a copy of the Jesus Seminar’s “Five Gospels” (they include Thomas) which had the text color-coded by their sense of its authenticity. Not sure what I did with it but it is not on my shelves.
Chuck Grantham said
Nick: Goshdarnit golly willikins. Too late. Bought all the Hermeneia volumes I plan to, unless I actually develop an interest in 4 Ezra, 1 Enoch 1, or Odes of Solomon. Though come to think of the Daniel volume is recommended, as I recall.
Eric: I have a copy of the Seminar’s Complete Gospels, because it was a very cheap way to get the noncanonical gospels.
Eric said
Ahh yes, I have Oxford’s edition of The Apocryphal New Testament for that which I found in a used bookstore for a buck!
Chuck Grantham said
Eric: Great book, greater price! I got mine on sale a few months back, but of course, not THAT good a sale!
I confess I prefer to pay as little as possible for much noncanonical/apocryphal collections, because I tend to want to toss them across the room after reading fifty or a hundred pages. That also means I don’t get much read in non-orthodox early Christian literature.
Gospel of Thomas I can handle, but most of the rest of Nag Hammadi annoys me. My favorite book in this vein is Stroker’s Extracanonical Sayings of Jesus.
Eric said
Not heard of that one, I’ll have to look it up.