1995 Log of "Books I Plan to Finish Someday..." (partial)

• Evil and the Cross, Henri Blocher, IVP: 1994. [A good critique of most theodicy positions.]
• The New Testament Background, C.K.Barrett (ed), Harper Collins: 1987. [Source documents from that period.]
• The Religion of Jesus the Jew, Geza Vermes, Fortress: 1993. [Prominent Jewish scholar's analysis of the teachings of Jesus.]
• The History of Gnosticism, Giovanni Filoramo, Blackwell: 1990. [good, balanced treatment.]
• The Real Jesus, Luke Timothy Johnson, Harper Collins: 1996. [Don't let the title fool you--the subtitle is something like 'the misguided quest for the historical Jesus'; argues for the 'Christ of faith' instead of the 'Jesus of history'...I think the technical term is 'false dichotomy'!]
• Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Baigent, Leigh, Lincoln. Dell: 1982. [I had heard that these folks were really infantile in their use of resources and pathetically superficial in their judgments, so I bought one of their books to find out...will let you know when I have checked it out.]
• Pagans and Christians, Robin Lane Fox, HarperCollins: 1986. [I am still in search of the alleged classical library burnings by early Christians, plus now I am getting interested in the historical implications of late 1st-century apologetics.]
• Deceptions and Myths of the Bible, Lloyd Graham, Citadel Press: 1975. [I am discovering a cluster of books that seem to be fatally inbred and incestuous in their mutual citations--this one, the Baigent-Leigh series, Barbara Walker's stuff, Ellerbe...most of which are simply lacking in the historical/cultural background information about the period.]
• Believers in Business, Laura Nash, Nelson: 1994. [Surveys of Christian executives in U.S. organizations, plus analysis. Organized by topics.]
• The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Barbara Walker, HarperCollins: 1983. [I have only read two articles and was initially disappointed in the caliber of the research and documentation.]
• The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, Robert Wilken, Yale: 1984. [A great little book--examines the writings by 'pagans' ABOUT Christians in the period--WITHOUT seeing the discussion thru Christian perspectives...I am most interested in the Celsus one...]
• Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, R. Travers Herford, KTAV: 1903. [Surprising research work that scours the rabbinical literature of both Tannite and Amoraite periods. Finds some VERY interesting passages. I hope to summarize these in later articles.]
• Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality, John Gibbon, Little/Brown: 1995. [Another book waveform on quantum stuff...collapses into a book every time I look for it...heh, heh. Tries to fathom the unfathomable and unscrew the inscrutable.]
• God and the Philosophers, Thomas Morris (ed.), Oxford: 1994. [A UK version of 'Philosophers who believe'--more generally focused on general theism...could be very encouraging for students.]
• The Book of Acts in its First Century Setting: Ancient Literary Setting, Bruce Winter and Andrew Clarke (eds.), Eerdmans: 1993. [More research material for my impending study of 30-60 AD]
• Essays on Women in Earliest Christianity, volume 1, Carroll Osburn (eds), College Press: 1993. [Just what it says...has the best discussion of the female apostle Junia (Rom 16.7) I have found so far.]
• Evidence of Purpose, John Marks Templeton (ed.), Continuum: 1994. [Collection of essays by respected Christian scientists, on the issue of design in nature.]
• Aspects of Rabbinic Theology, Solomon Schechter, Jewish Lights: 1909/1993. [One of the better analyses of Rabbinic thought, demonstrating the complexity thereof.]
• Judaisms and Their Messiahs at the Turn of the Christian Era, Neusner, Green, Frerichs (eds.), Cambridge: 1987. [Some people argue that there were NO messianic expectations on the part of 1st century Palestinian Jews(!); this work demonstrates the exact opposite.]
• Christianity and Paganism, 350-750, J. N. Hillgarth (ed.), Univ of Penn Press: 1986.
• Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements at the Time of Jesus, Richard Horsley and John Hanson, Harper & Row: 1985. [Similar to the above, but also goes into detail about the alleged messiahs of the period.]
• The Structure of Scientific Theories, 2nd ed., Fredrick Suppe (ed.), Univ of Illinois: 1977. [A major anthology, discussing the overall demise of the 'world-view' theories of in sociology of science domains. Social constructionists need to interact with this material.]

12/5/95

• The Book of Acts in its First Century Setting, vol 2: Graeco-Roman Setting, David W. Gill and Conrad Gempf, eds. Eerdmans: 1994.
• The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels, Vintage: 1979.
• The Social Psychology of Science, William Shadish and Steve Fuller, eds. Guilford: 1994.
• The Philosophy of Science and its Discontents, Steve Fuller, Guildford: 1993 (2nd ed).
• Journeys to the Centers of the Mind--Toward a Science of Consciousness, Susan Greenfield, Freeman: 1995.
• Essential Sacred Writings from Around the World, by Mircea Eliade, HarperCollins:1967. [This, and the next two books, are ones I bought for research into my study on 'deciding between competing revelations'.]
• The Eliade Guide to World Religions, by Mircea Eliade and Ioan P. Couliano, HarperCollins: 1991.
• Our Religions, Arvind Sharma (ed.), HarperCollins: 1993.
• The Dark Side of Christian History, Helen Ellerbe, MorningStar: 1995. [This and the next 3 books were acquired as further research for my upcoming piece on 'Did the Christians destroy all the Classical Manuscripts?'--a question that came in to the Tank. This work was the most polemical anti-Christian one I could find, which DID furnish a couple of incidences and allegations for my study. Its general low level of argumentation and credibility, however, would probably embarrass most of the heavy-hitter skeptics on the Web.]
• The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance, John Hale, Simon and Schuster: 1993.
• The Vanished Library: A Wonder of the Ancient World, by Luciano Canfora, Univ. of Calif: 1987. [Deals with the question of 'who' or 'what' destroyed the Library of Alexandria.]
• Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, Edward Peters (ed.), Univ. of Penn: 1980.
• Feminism and the Bible, Mardi Keyes, IVP: 1995. [This small booklet is the best thing I have read on this subject! Outstanding work...I recommend it to all thoughtful folk.]
• Deceived by the Light, Douglas Connelly, IVP: 1995. ["A Biblical Response to Betty Eadie's 'Embraced by the Light'"]
• The Gay Debate, Stanton L. Jones, IVP: 1994. [A small booklet on this difficult subject...a must read for all who have wrestled with the various viewpoints.]
• Women, Authority, and the Bible, Alvera Mickelson (ed.), IVP: 1986. [14+ essays by leading thinkers in this field.]
• Women in Ministry--Four Views, Bonnidell and Robert Clouse (eds.), IVP:1989. [Just what the title says.]
• Sociology Through the Eyes of Faith, David Fraser and Tony Campolo, HarperCollins: 1992. [Part of the series by the Christian College Coalition].
• Psychology Through the Eyes of Faith, Jeeves and Myer, HarperCollins: 199x. [same as preceding.]
• God for Us: The Trinity and Christian life, Catherine Mowry LaCugna, HarperCollins: 1973. [An innovative look at the Trinity--won some awards.]
• Insight, Bernard Lonergan, Harper and Row: 1958. [An old classic. I worked through his Theological Method a decade or so ago, and have always wanted to go back and do this work. Some of the articles I am reading on Postmodernism tackle Lonergan.]
• Christianity and Philosophy, Keith Yandel, IVP//Eerdmans: 1984. [Christian Analytic Philosopher!]
• Jesus and the Jews: The Pharisaic Tradition in John, Alan Watson, Univ. of Georgia: 1995. [Argues for a pharisaic anti-Christian source for the Gospel of John! Can hardly wait to read this one!]

11/7/95

• The Gnostic Scriptures, trans. and annots. by Bentley Layton, Doubleday: 1987. [Good indices.]
• The Nag Hammadi Library, ed. James M. Robinson, HarperCollins: 1988 (3rd ed.) [The best translation and introductory material on the Gnostic scriptures.]
• Gnosticism and the New Testament, by Pheme Perkins, Fortress: 1993. [great, careful book.]
• The Rise of Christianity by W.H.C. Frend, Fortress: 1984. pp1022. [Best/most helpful recent work on early Church history!]
• Jewish Responses to Early Christians, by Claudia Setzer, Fortress: 1994. [focuses on 30-150ad]
• Who Wrote the New Testament?--the Making of the Christian Myth, by Burton Mack, HarperCollins: 1989. [Subtitle says it all--I am looking forward to how he deals with the incredibly 'rapid' growth of this 'myth'!]
• Priest, Prophets, Diviners, Sages, by Lester Grabbe, Trinity Press: 1995. [subtitle: A socio-historical study of religious specialists in Ancient Israel. I am interested in comparing this work with my own 'amateur' constructions of their role in the transmission of OT information--see the Global Sunday School.]
• The Jewish New Testament Commentary, by David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications: 1992.
• The Force of Symmetry, by Vincent Icke, Cambridge: 1995. ["gives an elementary introduction to the spectacular interplay between the three great themes of contemporary physics: quantum behavior, relativity and symmetry."...Hey, if symmetry is a major feature of the universe, then why is my life out of balance so often?! ]
• Gospel Truth? by Graham Stanton, Trinity Press: 1995. [a VERY quick and skeptical response to the controversial work by Thiede on papyri finds of Matthew's gospel, dated MID-FIRST century!]
• Approaches to Old Testament Interpretation (2nd ed), by John Goldingay, IVP:1990.
• When Women were Priests by Karen Jo Torijesen, HarperCollins: 1995. [Subtitle: "Women's leadership in the early church and the scandal of their sub-ordination in the Rise of Christianity"--first 15 pages are dead-on...I have always wondered about the obvious women leaders in early church documents--from the 4 prophetesses in Acts to the 2 martyred female slave 'deacons' in the Pliny-Trajan correspondence....]
• A History of Private Life: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium ed. Paul Veyne (trans. A. Goldhammer), Belknap-Harvard: 1987. [This and the following three books I bought to research a question on 'did the church destroy all the classical manuscripts?']
• The Mind of the Middle Ages, by F.B. Artz, Univ. of Chicago: 1980.
• The Medieval Experience:300-1400, by Jill Claster, NYU Press: 1982.
• The History and Power of Writing by Henri-Jean Martin (trans. Lydia Cochrane), Univ. of Chicago: 1994. [fascinating book on the history of writing, books, libraries, the booktrade, etc.!]
• The Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy by C. Dennis McKinsey, Prometheus:1995. [taken from the magazine]

10/8/95

• Old Testament Parallels, Matthews and Benjamin, Paulist: 1991, 276. [Source material for studies in parallel ANE dox. Sorted by biblical book, with several good appendices.]
• A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, Emil Schurer (6 vols), Hendrickson: 1995, (reprinted from T&T Clark: 1890) [An old classic that I have always wanted.]
• Middle Judaism: Jewish Thought 300BCE to 200CE, Boccaccini, Fortress: 1991, pp275+.
• Textual Criticism--Recovering the Text of the Hebrew Bible, McCarter (Jr), Fortress: 1986. pp.94.
• Revolution in Judea, Hyam Maccoby, Taplinger: 1980, pp.250. [A work cited by J. Still in his response to "BIAS?"... I wanted to get it to see if the data adduced supported the way it was used...save your money...mostly undocumented assertions and speculation. ]
• Jesus the Jew, Geza Vermes, Fortress: 1973, pp.284. [Jewish scholar dissects the NT and "discovers" that the NT titles applied to Jesus only describe a teacher and healer...surprise, surprise!...FANTASTIC section on the messianic hope, though.]
• The Gnostic Paul--Gnostic Exegesis on the Pauline Letters, Elaine Pagels, Trinity Press: 1975. pp.179. [Incredible book: from the back cover: "Pagels demonstrates how evidence from gnostic sources may challenge the long-established assumption that Paul writes his letters to combat 'gnostic opponents' and to repudiate their claims to secret wisdom. Drawing upon evidence from a variety of gnostic sources, including the Nag Hammadi documents, Pagels demonstrates how gnostic writers not only failed to grasp the whole point of Paul's writings, but dared to claim his letters as a primary source for their anthropology, Christology, and sacramental theology."]
• Jesus in the Qur'an, Geoffrey Parrinder, Oneworld: 1995. pp.187.
• Jesus Under Fire--Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus., Wilkins and Moreland (eds), Zondervan: 1995. pp.243. [A MUST HAVE for those with questions about the "Jesus Seminar"! Does a good job of 1) demonstrating that the "Jesus Seminar" is NOT a 'majority' position in today's non-evangelical scholarship and; 2) that their methods and conclusions are quite specious and dubious.]

9/26/95

• The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Alfred Edersheim, Hendrickson:1993, 1110pp. (my previous copy had been destroyed--but what a treasure of a book!)
• Risen Indeed--Making Sense of the Resurrection, Stephen T. Davis, Eerdmans: 1993, 220pp. [An integrated treatment of the resurrection--apologetic, theological, philosophical]
• Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, William Lane Craig, Crossway:1994 (2nd ed.), 350pp. [I've heard good things about this book.]
• Two Kingdoms: The Church and Culture Through the Ages, Clouse, Pierard, Yamauchi, Moody: 1993, 667pp. [I have needed to look farther into how the Church and its host cultures interacted, specifically during the 'dark ages'. This book looks promising for that area.]
• The Book of Acts in its First Century Setting: Vol 4--Palestinian Setting, ed. R. Bauchkham, Eerdmans: 1995, 526pp. [Serious piece of scholarship! I have a special research interest at this point in the years 33-45 AD, concerning the interaction of the church (and Her argumentation) and the dominant intellectual communities of the day. This works looks to be a great start in probing deeper into it.]
• Mind, Matter, and Quantum Mechanics, Henry P. Stapp, Springer-Verlag: 1993, 248pp.
• The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts, G. K. Beale (ed.), Baker:1994. [Series of articles on OT in the NT, and backgrounds. I used this book in the typology piece.]

• Judaism: Practice and Belief 63BCE-66CE, E.P. Sanders, SCM: 1992, 595p.
• The Messiah in the Old Testament, Walter Kaiser, Jr., Zondervan: 1995, 256p.
• What the Bible Teaches about the Promised Messiah, James Smith, Nelson: 1993, 522p.
• Wittgenstein-A Religious Point of View?, Norman Malcom, Cornell:1994, 140p.
• Metaphor and Thought, Andrew Ortony, ed., Cambridge: 1993 (2nd ed), 678p. [A Major find for me!-- some of you know that I believe the nature of 'reality' is metaphorical, after the notion of analogy...

• The New Testament in its Social Environment, Stambaugh and Balch, Westminster: 1986.
• Early Biblical Interpretation, Kugel and Greer, Westminster: 1986.
• From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, Cohen, Westminster: 1987.
• A Marginal Jew--Rethinking the Historical Jesus, John P. Meier, Doubleday: 1991 (two vols of a trilogy) [incredible resource--esp. its interaction with the scholarship]
• Gospel Parallels, Burton Throckmorton, Nelson: 1992 (5th ed.) [excellent ref. material for studying the synoptic passages]
• Documents for the Study of the Gospels, Cartlidge and Dungan (eds.), Fortress: 1994 (2nd ed). [a book of extra-biblical 'parallels' to gospel events.]
• Rhetorical Criticism, Phyllis Trible, Fortress: 1994. [well written, well organized, well-spirited]
• The Synoptic Problem--An Introduction, Robert Stein, Baker: 1987. [excellent book from an evangelical perspective, showing the value of careful application of form-critical and redaction-critical approaches to the scripture.]
• Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, Bivin and Blizzard, Destiny Image: 1994 (2nd ed). [Interesting book--argues that the original words of Jesus and the original synoptic gospels were written in HEBREW!]
• The Historical Figure of Jesus, E.P. Sanders, Penguin: 1993.
• The Canon of Scripture, F. F. Bruce, IVP: 1988.
• The Text of the New Testament, Aland and Aland, Eerdmans/EJ Brill: 1989 (2nd ed).
• The Text of the New Testament--Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, Bruce Metzger, Oxford 1992 (3rd ed).
• Early Manuscripts & Modern Translations of the New Testament, Philip Comfort, Tyndale: 1990.
• The Text of the Old Testament, Ernst Wurthwein, Eerdmans: 1994 (2nd ed).
• An Introduction to the Old Testament, Dillard and Longman III, Zondervan: 1994.
• Peoples of the Old Testament World; Hoerth, Mattingly, Yamauchi (eds.), Baker: 1994. [Note: intended as the 'new standard' in the field, replacing the 'old' one by D.J. Wiseman.]
• Introduction to Old Testament Theology--A Canonical Approach, John Sailhammer, Zondervan: 1995.
• Bones of Contention, Marvin Lubenow, Baker: 1992. [I have long understood that all of the fossil data presented at the famous Scopes Trial has been discredited, but I wanted to get a 'snapshot' of where the data was on all the NEWER fossil finds. It's in this book, apparently.]

• Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and its Quarrels with Science by Paul Gross and Normal Levitt. John Hopkins U. Press, 1994. (deals with cultural constructivism).
• Classical Apologetics by Sproul, Gerstner, Lindsley. Zondervan (Academie Books), 1984. (I was interested in its analysis of the Van Tillian school.)
• Did Jesus Exist? by G.A. Wells. Pemberton (London), 2nd Ed. 1986. (Best/standard argument AGAINST the existence of Jesus)
• Darwin on Trial by Phillip E. Johnson. IVP, 1993 (2nd ed.). (The book by the law professor at UC Berkeley, that drew responses from some of the very 'notables' in the various evolutionary camps.)
• Scientists Who Believe: 21 Tell their own stories ed. By Barrett and Fisher. Moody, 1984.
• Atheism: A Philosophical Justification by Michael Martin. Temple U. Press, 1990. (Supposed to be one of the best contemporary works in the field.)
• Legacy-the Search for Ancient Cultures by Michael Wood. Sterling (NY), 1994. (Another book on ancient civs).
• Dynamic Patterns: The Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior by Scott Kelso. Bradford (MIT), 1995.
• The Modular Brain by Richard Restak. Scribners, 1994. (another book on neuro-science? My brain is so incredibly self-absorbed!)
• The Gospels and Jesus by Graham Stanton. Oxford, 1989.

7/23/95

• Principles of Gene Manipulation: An Introduction to Genetic Engineering (5th ed.)by R.W. Old and S.B. Primrose. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994.
• The Case Against Christianity by Michael Martin. Philadelphia: Temple University, 1991. [Supposed to be THE premier anti-Christian work.]
• The Evidence for Jesus by R.T. France. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. [One of the best analyses of the extra-biblical evidence for Jesus.]
• Thinking in Complexity: The Complex Dynamics of Matter, Mind, and Mankind by Klaus Mainzer. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1994. [Applies non-linear complexity theory to the 'evolution' of matter (!), life, mind-brain, etc.]
• The Making of the New Testament: Origin, Collection, Text & Canon by Arthur G. Patzia. Downers Grove: IVP, 1995.
• Easter Enigma--Are the Resurrection accounts in Conflict?(2nd ed.) by John Wenham. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992. [The best (IMHO) work on the order of events around Easter Sunday--with explicit concern over resolving the 'tensions' in the text...]
• Knowing Jesus through The Old Testament by Christopher J.H. Wright. Downers Grove: IVP, 1992. A well-written book, dealing with the only Bible Jesus knew on earth--the OT...deals with prophecy as a focus. [NB: no references/footnotes for researchers.]
• Truth is Stranger than it Used to Be--Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age by J. Richard Middleton & Brian J. Walsh. Downers Grove: IVP, 1995.

5/22/95

I got my first two copies of the Journal of Consciousness Studies. Incredible!!!! There is some serious work going on in the area of the mind-brain problem, especially at the quantum interface! (Remotely like some of my musings...)

5/13/95

• The Redaction of Genesis, Gary A. Rendsburg, Eisenbraus:1986. [I bought this today and read almost all of it. Its arguments concerning the unity of Genesis--over against the documentary hypothesis--are EXTREMELY DETAILED and powerful, being based on hard-core linguistic data.]
• The Book of Joshua, Marten Woudstra, Eerdmans: 1981. One in a series of commentaries: New International Commentary on the Old Testament (NICOT)...looks GREAT so far; I will be checking out the others soon hopefully..
• Philosophy, Mathematics, and Modern Physic: a Dialogue, E. Rudolph, I.-O. Stamatescu (eds), Springer-Verlag: 1994. More dialogue between philo and physics over implications of quantum-stuff--generally heavy reading.
• Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World, T. Phillips and D. Okholm (eds.), IVP: 1992. Essays from a Wheaton-conference on Postmodernity.
• Not a Chance: The Myth of Chance in Modern Science and Cosmology, R.C. Sproul Baker: 1994. I have had this book suggested to me so many times, I finally submitted to the will of the people, and took a chance on it.
• A Theology of Word and Spirit, D.G. Bloesch, IVP: 1992. and Holy Scripture, D.G. Bloesch, IVP: 1994. Two works that include a survey of what the vocationals are saying about His Book.
  

• I also got three representative books on the 'origins of complexity' in the scientific arena, with special focus on evolutionary biology:
  • The Origins of Order: Self-organization and Selection in Evolution, S. A. Kauffman, Oxford: 1993. [I am hoping to glean some major hints on self-organization from this book--you should SEE my apartment and daytimer now! ;>) ]
  • How the Leopard Changed its Spots, Brian Goodwin, Scribner: 1994. [Complete with a home recipe for club soda, for those of you who try it at home and fail.]
  • Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imperative, Christian de Duve, Basic Books: 1995. [Looks juicy, in spite of the Nike-sounding subtitle and the less-than-subtle allusion to the music of Kansas..."all we are is dust in the wind..."...anyway...]
  
  

• I also got another biblical reference tool set: Theological Lexicon of the New Testament by Ceslas Spicq and translated by James D. Ernest. Hendrikson: 1982, trans 1994. 3 vols. [I will use the abbrv. TLNT in my works.]

4/7/95

• The Creation Hypothesis, J. P. Moreland (ed.), IVP:1994.
• The Natural Limits to Biological Change, Lester & Bohlin, Probe Books: 1989. [Just finished it--outstanding book! 7/23/95]
• Before Abraham Was: The Unity of Genesis 1-11, Kikawada and Quinn, Ignatius: 1985. [NOTE: incredible book! I just finished it and the publisher's subtitle--"A provocative challenge to the documentary hypothesis" seems very appropriate.]
• Powers of Darkness: Principalities and Powers in Paul's Letters, Arnold, IVP: 1992.
• Testing the Spirits, Hillstrom, IVP: 1995. [NOTE: a careful discussion on NDE's, UFO's, altered states of consciousness etc. by a professor of psychology.]
• Behind the Scenes of the New Testament, Barnett, IVP: 1990.
• The Ancient Near East, Vol II: A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures, Pritchard, Princeton: 1975.

• The Contours of Christian Philosophy Series (C. Steven Evans, ed.)
  • Metaphysics (Hasker)
  • Philosophy of Religion (Evans)
  • Our Idea of God (Morris)
  • Ethics (Holmes)
• The Rediscovery of the Mind by John Searle. MIT: 1992, 270pp.
• Apologetics to the Glory of God by John Frame. P&R: 1994. 260+pp.
• The Cognitive Neurosciences ed. by Michael Gazzaniga. MIT: 1995, 1447pp!