1996 Log of "Books I Plan to Finish Someday..."

• The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Robert Audi, ed.; Cambridge: 1995. [882pp.--excellent work.]

11/22/96

• [AHSG]Archaeology, History, and Society in Galilee--the Social Context of Jesus and the Rabbis, Richard A. Horsley, Trinity Press: 1996. [Excellent new book interacting with the current thinking on the social world of Galilee--a non-trivial issue!]
• [NIEBF]Nelson's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Facts, eds. Packer, Tenney, White. Thomas Nelson: 1995 (2nd ed)
• [AB]Atlas of the Bible, John Rogerson, Facts on File: 1985.
• [WOTT]Wisdom in the Old Testament Traditions, Donn F. Morgan, John Knox: 1981.
• [WS:WBC]The Womens' Bible Commentary, Carol A. Newsom and Sharon Ringe (eds.), WJK:1992.
• Jesus: Lord of Space and Time, Lambert Dolphin, New Leaf Press: 1988
• The Creator and the Cosmos (2nd ed), Hugh Ross, Navpress: 1995. Beyond the Cosmos, Hugh Ross, Navpress: 1996.
• Deconstructing the Mind, Stephen P. Stich, Oxford: 1996.
• Evolving the Mind: On the Nature of Matter and the Origin of Consciousness, A.G. Cairns-Smith, Cambridge: 1996.
• Kinds of Minds: Towards and Understanding of Consciousness, Daniel Dennett, Basic Books/Harper: 1996. [supposed to be highly accessible.]
• The Signature of God, Grant R. Jeffrey, Frontier Research Publications: 1996. [Makes some rather bold claims on the cover--esp. in the archeology arena]
• Immortality: The Other Side of Death, Gary Habermas and J.P. Moreland, Nelson:1992.

10/2/96

• [TEOM] To Each its Own Meaning: An Introduction to Biblical Criticisms and Their Application, Steven L. McKenzie and Stephen R. Haynes (eds.), WJKP: 1993.
• [ISAI] In Search of 'Ancient Israel', Philip R. Davies, JSOT:1992.
• [ICGSL] An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages, Sabatino Moscati (ed), Otto Harrassowitz: 1980.
• [AEL1,2,3] Ancient Egyptian Literature (3 vols), Miriam Lichtheim, Univ of Cal:1973, 1976, 1980.
• [BHDL] Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics, Robert D. Bergen (ed.), Summer Institute of Linguistics: 1994.
• [SPP] Sage, Priest, Prophet: Religious and Intellectual Leadership in Ancient Israel, Joseph Blenkinsopp, WJKP:1995.
• [HM] Hittite Myths, Harry Hoffner, Jr., Scholars Press: 1990.
• [SCAP] The Synagogues and Churches of Ancient Palestine, Leslie Hoppe, The Liturgical Press: 1994.
• [AILCC] Ancient Israelite Literature in its Cultural Context, John H. Walton, Zondervan: 1989. [OUTSTANDING! from the back cover: "This unique book surveys within the various literary genres the parallels between the Bible and the literature of the ancient Near East. Each section begins with a survey of the available ancient literature, continues with a discussion of the literature, and concludes with a discussion of cases of alleged borrowing."]
• [DTX] A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, Marcus Jastrow, Judaica Press: 1971. [of Hebrew/Aramaic]
• [CP] The Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Peter A Clayton, Thames and Hudson:1994 [a reign-by-reign order, highly pictorial]
• [BFC] Beyond Form Criticism: Essays in Old Testament Literary Criticism, Paul R. House (ed.), Eisenbrauns: 1992.
• [NHTB] Nag Hammadi Texts and the Bible: A Synopsis and Index, Craig Evans/ Robert Webb/ Richard Wiebe (eds.), E.J. Brill: 1993 [$154!...but the scripture index is superb!]
• [COWA1,2] Chronologies in Old World Archaeology (2 vols), Robert W. Ehrich (ed)., Univ of Chicago: 1992. [Massive detail--includes ALL the Old World areas, ALL radiocarbon dates, etc.]
• Alice in Quantumland--An Allegory of Quantum Physics, Robert Gilmore, Springer-Verlag: 1995. [cute book! illustrated in that Alice-style...I am looking forward to reading this!]

8/25/96

• [AHANE] Archeological History of the Ancient Near East, Jack Finegan, Barnes&Nobles:1979. [Looks substantial. Divided into geography, then chronological. Very detailed.]
• [CRCST] Classical Rhetoric and Its Christian & Secular Tradition, George A. Kennedy, Univ. of N.Carolina: 1980.
• [CS] Caesars and Saints--The Rise of the Christian State, Stewart Perowne, Barnes&Nobles: 1962.
• [JAAC] Jesus in an Age of Controversy, Douglas Groothuis, Harvest House: 1996. [Looks promising--has chapters dealing with Jesus Seminar, Jesus in India?, New Age stuff...might be a good book to check out...]
• [FBI] Foundations for Biblical Interpretation, Dockery, Mathews, Sloan (eds.), Broadman&Holman: 1994. [Looks fantastic! An intermediate Biblical Intro course, from an evangelical perspective! Covers all the topics in biblical criticism and various biblical background issues. Contributors are a veritable Who's Who of evangelical scholarship--includes Bock, Waltke, Yamauchi, Kaiser, Blomberg, Hoehner...]
• [WR:JWGRP] Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Palestine, Tal Ilan, Hendrickson:1995.

8/15/96

• [ANL] Archeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins, Colin Renfreq, Cambridge: 1987.
• [BABY] Babylon, Joan Oates, Thames and Hudson: 1986 (rev.ed.)
• [HSC] Hellenistic Science and Culture in the Last Three Centuries B.C. , George Sarton, Dover: 1959.
• [ATRD] As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History, Jo-Ann Shelton, Oxford: 1988.
• [ChRE] Chronicle of the Roman Emperors, Chris Scarre, Thames and Hudson: 1995.
• [HAD] The Historian and Detective: Essays on Evidence, Robin W. Winks (ed.), Harper: 1969. [I have recently been intrigued by the issue of 'independent historical confirmation' relied on so heavily by quasi-historians (e.g. G. A. Wells). I have found almost no discussion of this as a real issue in ANY recent books on the methodology of historical investigation! My statement here will probably be construed as an argument from silence, but it think that criticism will be off the mark when dealing with works INTENDING TO cover ALL the basic methodological issues in historical inquiry! They certainly raise issues of bias and fraud, but this pseudo-principle of "independent confirmation" receives not even a mention in the works of the last 30-40 years! Methinks it smacks of convenience...but I am still looking...]
• [PREC] Pagan Rome and the Early Christians, Stephen Benko, Indiana University Press: 1984.
• [ROC] The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History, Rodney Stark, Princeton: 1996. [From the back jacket: "The thesis--that Christianity was a success because it provided those who joined it with a more appealing, more assuring, happier, and perhaps longer life--may anger many readers and force all readers to stop and think. It is a marvelous exercise in the sociological imagination and a warning to those who like simple explanations--such as that Constantine was ultimately responsible for the success of Christianity when he made it the official religion of the Roman Empire."]
• [RPWAH] Reading Papyri, Writing Ancient History, Roger S. Bagnall, Routledge: 1995. [Some prep materials I need for the Thiede discussion.]
• [TTC] The Twelve Caesars, Michael Grant, Barnes&Nobles: 1975.
• [WR:HBP] A History of Buddhist Philosophy, David Kalupahana, Univ. of Hawaii: 1992. [background material for assessing the epistemic claims that a 'dependently originated' entity could reach reliable conclusions that a transcendent Mind (i.e. God) and a transcendent self (i.e. the soul) does not exist.]
• The Particle Hunters, Ne'eman and Kirsh, Cambridge: 1986 (2nd ed). [bought it by mistake--thought it was about Paintballing--(just kidding)...still pushing on the linguistic wall, you know.]

8/7/96

• [WR:WTBT] What the Buddha Taught, Walpola Rahula, Grove:1974 (2nd ed.)
• [WR:BS] Buddhist Scriptures, Edward Conze, Penguin:1959.
• [WR:IB] Introducing Buddha, Jane Hope and Borin Van Loon, Totam:1995.
• [WR:BIG] Buddhism--an Introduction and a Guide, Christmas Humphrey, Penguin: 1962 (3rd ed.)
• [WR:WTB] The World of Tibetan Buddhism, The Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), Wisdom Pubs: 1995.

8/2/96

• [AAA]Atlas of Ancient Archaeology, Jacquetta Hawkes (ed), Barnes and Nobles: 1994. [short pieces on major arch. sites-organized by geography!]
• [ACH]Atlas of Classical History, Michael Grant, Oxford: 1994.
• [BTM]Before the Muses--An Anthology of Akkadian Literature (2 vols), Benjamin R. Foster, CDL Press:1996.
• [CAM]Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Michael Roaf, Facts of File: 1990.
• [MWR]Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods, Jean Bottero, Univ of Chicago:1992.
• [SAI]The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East, John Gammie and Leo Perdue (eds.), Eisenbrauns: 1990. [I bought this to explore the relation of Sage to writing and to survey scholarly thought on women Sages (e.g. Tekoa, Abel in the OT)--to 'unpack' the significance of that terminology. This books looks outstanding, from the little I have read of it so far.]
• [Sumer]The Sumerians, C. Leonard Wooley, Norton:1965.
• [TS]The Tablet and the Scroll: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William W. Hallo, Cohen, Snell, Wiesberg (eds.), CDL Press:1993.
• [WF]A Witness Forever: Ancient Israel's Perception of Literature and the Resultant Hebrew Bible, Isaac Rabinowitz, CDL Press: 1993. [Argues that any understanding of the Hebrew Bible MUST take into account the Israelite non-Western view of the nature of words and language...]
• [AEC]The Archaeology of Early Christianity--A History, William Frend, Fortress:1996. [A history of the science of archeology in ANE studies!]
• [CRE]Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100-400, Ramsay MacMullen, Yale:1984.
• [HAWH]The Harper Atlas of World History , Pierre Vidal-Naquet (ed.), Harper: 1992 (rev. ed.)
• [HR]History of Rome, Michael Grant, Prentice-Hall:1978.
• [KTJM]Knowing the Truth about Jesus the Messiah, John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Harvest House:1996.
• [PsC]Pseudonymity and Canon, David G. Meade, Mohr (Siebeck): 1986 (Tubingen)
• [RW]The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community, William McNeill, Univ. of Chicago:1991. ["challenges the Spengler-Toynbee view that a number of separate civilizations pursued essentially independent careers, and argues instead that human cultures interacted at every stage of their history."]
• [TK]Two Kingdoms: The Church and Culture through the Ages, Clouse, Pierard, and Yamauchi, Moody:1993.
• [VAI]Vital Apologetic Issues, Roy Zuck (ed.), Kregel:1995. [reprints from BibSac...I bought it for the articles on Luke, Ebla, Patriarchal Chronology]
• [WS:AST]An Anthology of Sacred Texts by and about Women, Serinity Young (ed.), Crossroad: 1995. [great source book for studies of women in religion.]
• [WS:PPW]Praying with Passionate Women: Mystics, Martyrs, and Mentors, Bridget Mary Meehan, Crossroad: 1995. [Sweet book, with meditations taken from/based on the lives of godly women.]
• [WS:TSOS]Their Stories, Our Stories--Women of the Bible, Rose Sallberg Kam, Continuum: 1995. [interesting historical analyses of the biblical characters.]
• [WS:UWAT]Uppity Women of Ancient Times, Vicki Leon, Conari Press (Berkeley): 1995. [Brief bio sketches of visible women in ancient times (includes OT figures like Deborah and Jezebel; also asserts that "J" of JEDP was a woman!).
• [WS:WIC]Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry, Stanley Grenz and Denise Kjesbo, IVP:1995.
• [WS:WLT]"Women Like This"--New Perspectives on Jewish Women in the Graeco-Roman World, Amy-Jill Levine (ed.), Scholars Press: 1991.

7/16/96

• [JTLTA]The Jews in Their Land in the Talmudic Age, Gedaliah Alon, Magnes Press-Hebrew University: 1984.
• [FJC]From Jesus to Christ, Paula Fredriksen, Yale:1988.
• [FTT]From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple & Rabbinic Judaism, Lawrence H. Schiffman, KTAV:1991.
• [FUC]The First Urban Christians, Wayne A. Meeks, Yale:1983. (Shows that the main contingent of the early church was the merchant class--with basic literacy skills, for example)
• [TAM]The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook, Marvin Meyer (ed.), HarperCollins:1987.
• [WS:TCP]The Creation of Patriarchy, Gerda Lerner, Oxford:1986. [The next set of books concerns a piece I am doing on 'women in the bible/early church' for my Sunday school class...I am personally examining the various feminist positions as well in this process.]
• [ WS:WIP]Women in Prehistory, Margaret Ehrenberg, Univ. of Oklahoma:1989.
• [ WS:WB]The Woman's Bible, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Northeastern Univ. Press:1895.
• [ WS:WLGR]Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A sourcebook in translation, Mary Lefkowitz and Maureen Fant(eds.), John Hopkins: 1992 (2nd ed).
• [ WS:AWB]All the Women of the Bible, Edith Deen, HarperCollins:1955.
• [ WS:AHTO]A History of their Own: Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present (vol 1), Bonnie Anderson and Judith Zinssser, Harper&Row:1988.
• [ WS:WWR]Women in World Religions, Arvind Sharma (ed.), SUNY:1987.
• [ WS:WAP]Women in Ancient Persia (559-331 BC) , Maria Brosius, Clarendon-Oxford:1996.
  

• [FCBC]The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon, Lee M. McDonald, Hendrickson:1995 (revised ed.) [supposed to be one of the better works on the subject--I will give you my opinion after I have used it some.]
• The Conscious Mind--In search of a Fundamental Theory, David J. Chalmers, Oxford:1996.
• [SC2]Scripture in Context II: More essays on the Comparative Method, Willaim Hallo, James Moyer and Leo Perdue (eds.), Eisenbrauns:1983.
• [ACAEC]Early Civilizations: Ancient Egypt in Context, Bruce G. Trigger, American University in Cairo:1993.
• [EBLA0]Ebla: A New Look at History, Giovanni Pettinato, John Hopkins:1991.
• [LCMAM]Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, Martha T. Roth, Scholars Press:1995.
• [HDT]Hittite Diplomatic Texts, Gary Beckman, Scholars Press:1996.
• [EAL]Egypt, the Aegean, and the Levant: Interconnections in the Second Millennium BC, W. Vivian Davies and Louise Schofield (eds.), British Museum Press:1995.
• [LOF]Living on the Fringe--The Archeology and History of the Negev, Sinai and Neighboring Regions in the Bronze and Iron Ages, Israel Finkelstein, Sheffield Academic:1995.
• [NTA]New Testament Apocrypha, Wilhelm Schneemelcher (ed) and R. McL. Wilson (trans.), Westminster/John Knox:1991 (2 vols).

7/4/96

• [TANT] The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation based on M.R. James, J. K. Elliott's, (Oxford: 1993)
• [ABH]Archeology and Bible History, Free and Vos, Zondervan:1992. [An update of the classic by Free. Mostly OT, but has some NT stuff. Recommended.]
• [AL]Ancient Literacy, William V. Harris, Harvard:1989.
• [ANT]The Archeology of the New Testament-The Life of Jesus and the Beginnings of the Early Church, Jack Finegan, Princeton: 1992 (revised edition). [A MUST HAVE for the student. Substantial photos, illustrations, details.]
• [BIAI]Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel, Michael Fishbane, Oxford: 1985. [I used this earlier as a research source in my article on Typology.]
• [CGWR]The Compact Guide to World Religions, Dean C. Halverson (gen. ed.), Bethany: 1996. [RaviZ on cover: "...the most insightful and practical guide I have seen on this subject."]
• [GB]The Golden Bough, Sir James George Frazer, Macmillian:1922. [Started gathering materials for a piece on "Comparative Christs"...I still get the strange "Jesus was just a cheap knockoff of countless other Savior Gods..." argument (as if the Jews would even REMOTELY be open to adopting pagan gods at the time of Jesus!!!!!!).]
• [HLWW]History of Libraries in the Western World, Michael H. Harris, Scarecrow:1995.
• [INT]Introduction to the New Testament-Revised and Enlarged English Edition, Werner Georg Kummel, Abingdon:1973. [The classic non-evangelical NT Intro text.]
• [JLBBM]Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah, George W.E. Nickelsburg, Fortress:1981. [A historical and literary intro to each loci of the intertestamental lit.]
• [NTF]New Testament Foundations: A Guide for Christian Students--Vol.1: The Four Gospels, Ralph P. Martin, Eerdmans: 1975. [Good overview of many of the areas of NT research.]
• [PE]Prophets and Emperors: Human and Divine Authority from Augustus to Theodosius, David Potter, Harvard: 1994. [Looks good--a socio-historical study of the role of prophecy in the power structures of the Roman empire, during the first 4 centuries of the Christian era.]
• [PMT]Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Culture, Gene Edward Veith, jr., Crossway: 1994.
• [RNE]The Roman Near East: 31BC - AD337, Fergus Millar, Harvard: 1993. [Awesome work! Very detailed.]
• [SC]The Supremacy of Christ, Ajith Fernando, Crossway: 1995. [He is an Asian scholar, working in Sri Lanka since 1976. "Here is a book of solid apologetics that grapples with the best of contemporary non-Christian thinking in the East as well as the West, yet is based on solid biblical exegesis" (from the inside quotes)]

6/2/96

• [CKC] Chronos, Kairos, Christos: Nativity and Chronological Studies Presented to Jack Finegan, Jerry Vardaman and Edwin Yamauchi, eds. Eisenbrauns:1989. [Has an excellent article on the lunar--not solar--eclipse on the night of the Crucifixion!]
• [NHAAC] The Norton History of Astronomy and Cosmology, John North, Norton:1995.
• [EBLA1] Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language (Vol 1), Gordon/Rendsburg/Winter (eds.), Eisenbrauns: 1987. [It is becoming increasingly obvious to me how very much the ancient cultures of the ANE were based on literary means, instead of oral means. I decided to shell out the shekels for some REAL data on these ancient archives. So I bought all three vols. published to date.]
• [EBLA2] Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language (Vol 2), Gordon/Rendsburg (eds.), Eisenbrauns: 1990.
• [EBLA3] Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language (Vol 3), Gordon/Rendsburg/Winter (eds.), Eisenbrauns: 1992.

5/17/96

• [BREC] Books and Readers in the Early Church, Harry Y. Gamble, Yale: 1995 (Awesome book so far!--argues persuasively that the early church was NOT an 'oral tradition' community--overturns quite a bit of the foundation for form-critical assumptions...)
• [BTE] The Bauer Thesis Examined: The Geography of Heresy in the Early Christian Church, T.A. Robinson, Edwin Mellen: 1988. (Very detailed and exacting book showing the basic inaccuracy of the Bauern hypothesis, and generally also the works dependent on it --e.g. Koester).
• [DAW] Discipleship in the Ancient World and the Gospel of Matthew, Michael J. Wilkins, Baker: 1995 (2nd rev of original by Brill: 1988).
• [EFT] The Evidence for Jesus, James D.G. Dunn, Westminster: 1985. (This eminent scholar wrote this book in response to some of the more sensationalist claims of the Jesus Seminar. Easy reading and Good stuff, IMO)
• [EPMM] Essential Papers on Messianic Movements and Personalities in Jewish History, Marc Saperstein, ed. New York Univ: 1992.
• [GAG] The Gospel and the Gospels, Peter Stuhlmacher, ed. Eerdmans: 1991. (great authors in this one.)
• [HJ] The Historical Jesus--a Sheffield Reader, Craig Evans and Stanley Porter, eds. Sheffield: 1995. (Some of the best stuff on Jesus research comes out of this group-JSNT)
• [MSECT] Miracle Stories of the Early Christian Tradition , Gerd Theissen, T&T Clark: 1983.
• [PLG] The Preface to Luke's Gospel--Literary convention and social context in Luke 1.1-4 and Acts 1.1, Loveday Alexander, Cambridge: 1993. [Supplies argument and evidence that Luke was NOT following Hellenistic historiography style in these two works, but was using the preface-styles in medical and scientific works of his day!]
• [RNC] The Rise of Normative Christianity, Arland J. Hultgren, Fortress: 1994. [devastating critique of the 'heresy before orthodoxy' position!]
• [RS] Related Strangers: Jews and Christians 70-170 C.E., Stephen G. Wilson, Fortress: 1995.
• [SHJ] Studying the Historical Jesus: Evaluations of the State of Current Research, Bruce Chilton and Craig Evans, eds. Brill: 1994. [VERY Serious work!]
• [WAG] What are the Gospels: A comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography, Richard A. Burridge, Cambridge: 1992.
• [CBGR] Civilization before Greece and Rome, H.W.F. Saggs, Yale:1989.
• [EPIANE] Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East, Frederick Greenspahn, ed. NYU: 1991.
• [OWC] Old World Civilizations--the Rise of Cities and States, Goran Burenhult, gen. ed. Harper/American Museum of Natural History: 1994.
• [PAK] Pharaohs and Kings, David Rohl, Crown: 1995. [Fascinating book-argues for an early date for the Exodus, well put together]
• [RTG] ReThinking Genesis, Duane Garrett, Baker: 1991. [From a scholarly reviewer on the back: "Provides not only the most convincing refutation of the documentary hypothesis now in print, but also suggests a convincing alternative analysis of how the Pentateuch came to be..."]
• [STB] Sacrifice in the Bible, Roger Beckwith and Martin J. Selman, eds. Baker/Paternoster: 1995.
• [STOT] The School Tradition of the Old Testament, E.W. Heaton, Oxford: 1994. [The 1994 Bampton Lectures: documents the existence of early schools and libraries in the OT times.]
• [TAW] Smithsonian Timelines of the Ancient World, Chris Scarre, Dorling Kindersley: 1993.
• [TOH] The Timetables of History (3rd ed), Berhard Grun, Touchstone/Simon-Schuster: 1991.
• Ten Problems of Consciousness--A Representational Theory of the Phenomenal Mind, Michael Tye, MIT/Bradford: 1995.
• Brain Repair, Stein, Brailowsky, and Will, Oxford: 1995. [Bought this thinking it would help me fix my head after heavy travel schedules...chuckle, chuckle...]
• Contingencies of Value--Alternative Perspectives for Critical Theory, Barbara H. Smith, Harvard:1988.
• Truth in Philosophy, Barry Allen, Harvard: 1993.

• [GASC] Greek Apologists of the Second Century, Robert M. Grant, Westminster: 1988. [The early apologists made assumptions about the literary and information context of their day. I am interested in what the implications are for the argumentative context of the NT period.]
• [TCQ] Three Crucial Questions about Jesus, Murray J. Harris, Baker: 1994. [Includes a popular version of his GP work on the extra-biblical refs to Jesus.]
• [OB] The Origin of the Bible, P.W. Comfort (ed.), Tyndale: 1992.
• [JE] Jesus, Craig A. Evans, Baker: 1992. [A bibliography of current Jesus research.]
• [BVS] The Bible, Violence, and The Sacred: Liberation from the Myth of Sanctioned Violence, James G. Williams, HarperCollins: 1991. [I have always wanted to see how these arguments proceeded.]
• [LE] The Linguistics Encyclopedia, Kirsten Malmkjaer (ed.), Routledge: 1991.
• [IB]The Infamous Boundary: Seven Decades of Controversy in Quantum Physics, David Wick, Birkhauser: 1995.
• [NC] What is Narrative Criticism?, Mark Allen Powell, Fortress: 1990. [This type of biblical criticism, along with Discourse Analysis, has all but replaced the antiquated Form, Source, and even much of the redaction criticism methods of the past 50 years. Redaction criticism that focuses on the tangible product of redaction, and NOT on the speculatively reconstructed process of redaction, is closely related to these two current methods.]
• [Crux] Crucifixion, Martin Hengel, Fortress: 1977. [Incredible book on the historical background of this type of execution. I personally knew it was BAD, but not THIS bad! ]
• [DABL] Discourse Analysis of Biblical Literature, Walter Bodine (ed.), Scholars Press: 1995.
• [ISI] "I Studied Inscriptions from Before the Flood": Ancient Near Eastern, Literary, and Linguistic Approaches to Genesis 1-11, Richard Hess and David Tsumura (eds.), Eisenbrauns: 1994.
• [IES] I Enoch and Sirach: A Comparative Literary and Conceptual Analysis of the Themes of Revelation, Creation, and Judgment, Randal A. Argall, Scholars Press: 1995. [This work provides evidence that these two works were produced by rival communities, well aware of each other's position and literature. This may provide some important info for me on my argument-context study.]
• [JAG] Judaic Approaches to the Gospels, Bruce Chilton, Scholars Press: 1994.
• [TTT] Tracing the Threads: Studies in the Vitality of Jewish Pseudepigrapha, John C. Reeves (ed.), Scholars Press: 1994.
• [MTJL] The Messiah Texts--Jewish Legends of Three Thousand Years, Raphael Patai, Wayne State: 1979. [Collection of messianic texts from the vast range of Jewish literature! Arranged topically.]
• [OTEC] The Old Testament in Early Christianity: Canon and Interpretation in the Light of Modern Research, E. Earle Ellis, Baker: 1991.
• [OCS] The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, B.D. Ehrman, Oxford: 1993.
• [MEOT] Messianic Expectation in the Old Testament, Joachim Becker, T&T Clark: 1977.
• [ WS:ISNW] I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking I Timothy 2.11-15 in Light of Ancient Evidence, Richard and Catherine Clark Kroeger, Baker: 1992. [Argues that the Timothy passage is a minor exception--not a general rule--used to deal with a proto-Gnostic heresy.]
• [LANTH] Luke-Acts & New Testament Historiography, Joel Green and Michael McKeever, Baker: 1994. [A biblio on the subject.]
• [PTS] The Place is Too Small for Us: The Israelite Prophets in Recent Scholarship, Robert P. Gordon (ed.), Eisenbrauns: 1995. [Includes new material on the ANE backgrounds.]
• [NTPG] The New Testament and the People of God, N. T. Wright, Fortress: 1992. [I have heard awesome things about this series--dying to get into it.]
• [Ping] How to Play Theological Ping-Pong: and Other Essays on Faith & Reason, Basil Mitchell, Eerdmans: 1990. [Looks like a delightful work, continuing (deliberately) some of the work of C.S. Lewis]
• [TAPA] Through the Ages in Palestinian Archeology, Walter E. Rast, Trinity Press: 1992.
• [GLA] The Galilee in Late Antiquity, Lee Levine (ed.), Jewish Theological Seminary of America: 1992.
• [CRJ] Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A Parallel History of Their Origins and Early Development, Hershel Shanks (ed.), Biblical Archeology Society: 1992.
• [IJT] Images of Jesus Today, James Charlesworth and Walter Weaver (eds.), Trinity Press: 1994. [Discussion of the 3rd Quest initiatives.]
• [WWRJ] The Wisdom and Wit of Rabbi Jesus, William Phipps, Westminster/John Knox: 1993. [I bought this for the sections of Jesus' use of humor.]
• [JAGNT] Jesus as God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus, Murray Harris, Baker: 1992. [In-depth analysis of the 16 passages in which theos MIGHT be applied to Jesus, with chapter-length discussions on the BIG NINE.]

3/26/96

• [CAE] Constantine and Eusebius, Timothy D. Barnes, Harvard: 1981.
• [CTEC] The Early Church, Henry Chadwick, Penguin: 1993 (2nd rev).
• [NHAGR] The Nature of History in Ancient Greece and Rome, Charles W. Fornara, Univ. of Calif Press: 1983.
• [PJC] On Pagans, Jews, and Christians, Arnaldo Momigliano, Wesleyan Univ. Press: 1987. [on issues of historiography shared by biblical and classical scholars.]
• [UDNT] Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, James D.G. Dunn, Trinity/SCM: 1990 (2nd ed). [Foundational book, "inspired" Lemcio's work]
• Is There a God?, Richard Swinburne, Oxford:1996. [I have always enjoyed his work...this looks to be good too...very high on the airplane list!]

3/20/96

• [HCNT] Hellenistic Commentary to the New Testament, Boring, Berger, Colpe (eds.), Abingdon:1995. [Serious resource--translations of almost 1000 Hellenistic texts, arranged by NT passage order!]
• [PFJFC] Paul--Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity?, David Wenham, Eerdmans: 1995. [Exactly what you'd think it was about!--a perennial issue for NT studies, of course.]
• [DSSTQTE] The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English, Florentino Martinez, Brill: 1996 (2nd ed.). [From the cover: "The most comprehensive one-volume edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls available"]
• [OTP] The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (2 vols), Charlesworth (ed), Doubleday: 1983. [The standard reference work on these varied texts.]
• [PUT] Philosophy for Understanding Theology, Diogenes Allen, John Knox:1985. [I often get asked to recommend a book on the philosophical underpinnings of theology. Bought this to check it out for that.]

3/10/96

• [LPJG] The Past of Jesus in the Gospels, Eugene Lemcio, Cambridge: 1991. [130 pages of text for $58! But worth every penny to me...great book...makes a powerful case that the gospel writers worked diligently at NOT 'painting over' the historical Jesus with the 'Christ of Easter Faith'. I haven't finished it yet, but it has been very informative for me.]
• The Foundations of Knowledge, Timothy McGrew, Littlefield Adams: 1995. [A defense of traditional epistemology. I found out about the book from the author, who came thru the Tank and left messages, and actually left a piece I have yet to post in the Readers' Contribution section.]
• [Sigal] The Jew and the Christian Missionary: A Jewish Response to Missionary Christianity, Gerald Sigal, KTAV: 1981. [Bought this book because Lippard referenced it heavily in his "Fabulous Prophecies" piece. I wanted to see what caliber the book was. I have only read a few sections so far, but I am already disappointed (and a little surprised) by the author's lack of awareness of even current Jewish scholarship and research in the area under discussion. Plus...he doesn't seem to be aware of the huge diversity in 1st century Judaism, nor represent the various currents in his arguments. For example, in his repudiation of Psalm 110 as being messianic, he doesn't even acknowledge that the Rabbinical literature interpreted it messianically--in Targums, Midrash, and pre-Christian Jewish literature. This, unfortunately, leaves me personally with grave doubts about its claim to represent anything fairly.]
• [DJEC] The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity, John Carroll ad Joel Green, Hendrickson: 1995. [From the back cover--note by Raymond Brown: "They serve as an excellent antidote to the facile dismissal of the New Testament picture of Jesus' passion as propagandistic fictional invention".]
• [TM] The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity, James Charlesworth (ed.), Fortress: 1992. [from the First Princeton Symposium on Judaism and Christian Origins.]
• [NWNTI] Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation, Craig Evans, Hendrickson: 1992. [A Must-Have for NT researchers--surveys ALL the extra-biblical materials that bear upon NT interpretation!--excellent resource.]
• [DSST] The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, James VanderKam, Eerdmans:1994. [Good intro and analysis. Not a compilation of texts.]
• [DGNT] The Defense of the Gospel in the New Testament, F.F. Bruce, Eerdmans: 1977 (2nd ed.). [A brief study of apologetics WITHIN the NT.]
• [NTD] The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, F. F. Bruce, Eerdmans: 1943. [I read this 25 years ago...and lost my copy a few years later...just had to buy another copy.]
• [Jacobs] A Guide to the Study of Greco-Roman and Jewish and Christian History and Literature, P. W. Jacobs, University Press of America: 1994. [VERY helpful book. Chronological outline of events and ancient literature from 200 BC to 250ad, with biblio.]
• [JTJ] Jews in the Time of Jesus--an Introduction, Stephen Wylen, Paulist Press: 1996. [by a Rabbi.]
• [AM] Ancient Mesopotamia, Leo Oppenheim-completed by Erica Reiner, Univ.Chicago: 1977 (2nd ed).
• Predestination and Free Will--Four Views, ed. by Basinger and Basinger, IVP: 1986. [Discussion and debate by four leaders in 4 different positions.]
• [EAMH] Essays in Ancient and Modern Historiography, Arnaldo Momigliano, Wesleyan: 1975.
• [EHANE] The Early History of the Ancient Near East: 9000-2000 B.C., Hans J. Nissen, Univ.Chicago: 1988.
• [HEA] A History of Education in Antiquity, H. I. Marrou, Univ.Wisconsin: 1956.

2/27/96

• Quarks, Chaos, and Christianity, John Polkinghorne, Crossroad:1996. [A book by a former Cambridge Professor of Mathematical Physics, now president of Queen's college, an Anglican priest, a Fellow of the Royal Society...from the back cover: "If C.S. Lewis were a physicist, he might have written this book"...maybe so, but I am thankful he was NOT--the Stone Table of Narnia, and the sad eyes of Aslan, have provoked more moments of worship, gratitude, and tears than probably ANY book on mathematical physics ever will!]
• [SS] The Scepter and the Star--The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature, John J. Collins, Doubleday: 1995. [Looks fantastic! Has usurped all other airplane reading candidates!]
• [PRRE] Polybius: The Rise of the Roman Empire, Penguin Classics: 1979. [One of the major contributors to the science of historiography--I bought it for research into the historian-ethos of the 1st century, in the research work on Extra-Biblical references to Jesus.
• [GRH] Greek and Roman Historians--Information and Misinformation, Michael Grant, Routledge: 1995. [Although Grant is a bit TOO skeptical for me, I nonetheless appreciate his critical thinking and surfacing of the issues.]
• [HAMM] Historiography--Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Ernst Breisach, Univ.Chicago: 1994 (2nd ed).
• [LoebSue] Suetonius I, Loeb Classics.
• [PCSue] Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars, Penguin Classics.
• [PCTAIR] Tacitus: The Annals of Imperial Rome, Penguin Classics. [Although I already have Tacitus as part of the Great Books collection, I needed versions with more extensive indices.]
• [PCTTH} Tacitus: The Histories, Penguin Classics.

2/22/96

• Rekindling the Word: In Search of Gospel Truth, Carsten Peter Thiede, Trinity Press: 1995. [Incredible book...a papyrologist gives the data and arguments in favor of dating a mss fragment of Mark 5 around 50ad!...I found the arguments very convincing--largely because they had NO theological position embedded. I hope to summarize some of this material in my discussions with Still. NOTE: his work has come under criticism (predictably!) by various sectors. One book criticizing his work was published BEFORE this one! (GTQ) and there is a criticism of him on the Web as well. But, it should be noted that Thiede is winning a growing number of strict and leading papyrologists to his camp--see his references in the book.]
• Answering Islam: The Crescent in the Light of the Cross, Norman L. Geisler and Abdul Saleeb, Baker: 1993.
• At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity, Stuart Kauffman, Oxford: 1995.
• Parallel Myths, J.F. Bieflein, Ballantine: 1994. [Describes many of the Flood traditions in non-western cultures.]
• Death and the Afterlife, Robert A. Morey, Bethany: 1984.
• The Jewish and Christian World: 200 BC to AD200, A.R.C. Leaney, Cambridge: 1984.
• Roman Law and Roman Society in the New Testament, A.N. Sherwin-White, Oxford: 1963, reprinted Baker: 1992. [I have seen this referenced in the literature so many times, I HAD to buy it.]
• The Openness of God, by Pinnock, Rice, Sanders, Hasker, Basinger. IVP:1994. [Challenges to the traditional, almost metaphysical, views of God.]
• Creation and Time, Hugh Ross, Navpress: 1994.
• Paul the Letter-Writer, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, The Liturgical Press: 1995. [Comparison of Paul to other letter writers of his culture/day.]
• What is Postmodern Biblical Criticism?, A. K. M. Adam, Fortress Press: 1995.
• Conscious Experience, Thomas Metzinger (ed.), Schoningh: 1995. [Sorta 'state of the union' on consciousness studies--with articles from all relevant disciplines: physics, neuro-x, philox, etc.]
• Gospel Perspectives, volumes I, II, III. Edited by R.T. France and David Wenham. JSOT: 1980-1983. Incredible books! Serious and scholarly books on the historical issues in the Gospels. Highly recommended.
• Infinity and the Mind: The Science and Philosophy of the Infinite, Rudy Rucker, Princeton: 1995.
• In Search of Infinity, N. Ya. Vilenkin, trans. by Abe Shenitzer, Birkhauser: 1995.

1/28/96

• Answering Islam, Norman Geisler and Abdul Saleeb, Baker: 1993.
• the NIV Study Bible. Bought it for the reference notes--looks good.
• Difficult Sayings in the Gospels: Jesus' Use of Overstatement and Hyperbole., Robert H. Stein. Baker: 1985.
• The Sages: The World and Wisdom of the Rabbis of the Talmud., Ephraim E. Urbach. Harvard: 1975, trns. 1987.
• Cynic Sage or Son of God?, Gregory Boyd, Bridgepoint: 1995. [Another scholarly response to the "Jesus Dreaming-ar"...oops, I mean "Jesus Seminar"...;>)...glowing back-cover recs from Carson, Blomberg, Witherington, Habermas!]
• Paul the Convert, Alan F. Segal, Yale: 1990.

1/24/96

• The Death of the Messiah, Raymond E. Brown, Doubleday: 1994, 2 vols. [Impressive work--ranks up there in literature coverage and detail with Meier's A Marginal Jew. I found the recommendation for this book in The Jesus Quest, below.]
• Josephus and the New Testament, by Steve Mason, Hendrickson: 1992. [From the back: "Unfortunately we have often strip-mined Josephus for selfish reasons and have left the message of this first-century Jewish historian in shambles...his contribution to our understanding of the ancient world has been twisted to suit modern needs and answer questions Josephus never intended."]
• New Testament Theology: The Theology of the Gospel of John, by D. Moody Smith, Cambridge: 1995. Has a thematic approach, which I hope to study in prep for my NT trinity piece.

1/15/96

• Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton, Shaw:1994. [His classic story of his conversion.]
• Nature's Numbers, Ian Stewart, BasicBooks:1995.
• The Whimsical Christian, Dorothy L. Sayers, MacMillan: 1978.
• Apology to Women: Christian Images of the Female Sex, Ann Brown, IVP:1991.
• Gender & Grace, Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, IVP: 1990.
• The Physics of Immortality, Frank J. Tipler, Doubleday:1994.
• The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth, Ben Witherington III, IVP: 1995. [another critical look at the sensationalist "Jesus Seminar", in the light of ACTUAL mainstream NT scholarship.]

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