Yearly Archives: 2006

Under the Weather and Somewhat Irritated

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I have been fighting a bug or something this week — aches, no energy, and a developing cough. To top it all off, Friday when I left work to ride my mountain bike home I discovered someone had ripped it off! Talk about irritating! And I just had the front tire studded to give me more traction on the icy roads up here in Edmonton.

Talk about a bummer!

Christian Kitsch and Jesus Junk 6 – Philosophical Kitsch

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I came across this the Unemployed Philosophers Guild website via Felix Hominum and it is chock-full of humorous kitsch.

Previous instalments of my “Jesus Junk and Christian Kitsch,” may be found here. Take special note of volume 4, the “What is Kitsch?” volume. Enjoy!

On the snack food side of things they have Nietzsche’s Will to Power Bar:

They also have a full assortment of mints including After Shakespeare Mints, After Therapy Mints, Anti Establish Mints, IndictMints, nlighten Mints, Kiss Mints, Manly Mints, Morning After Mints, National EmbarrassMints, and the theological pièCE de résistance (move over, Testamints!): Atone Mints

In addition, the Sin-O-Mints are also quite clever, as are the Forbidden Fruits sour apple flavour candies:

In the doll department, you can purchase plush dolls of many different thinkers such as Bach, Beethoven, Che Guevara, Darwin, Einstein, Freud, Galileo, Marx, Nietzsche, Shakespeare, and Socrates. On the religious side of things they have Buddha, Gandhi, and of course, Jesus — complete with a “WWID” bracelet:

One of the most “kitschy” items they have (which someone’s grandma may in fact want!) is the Last Supper Pillow with a wind-up music box that plays “Hey Jude” by the Beatles! I really think a more appropriate song would be something like Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.”

They also have a variety of finger puppets and puppet sets, tee shirts, coffee mugs, among other things!

Check it out — and feel free to buy me whatever you think I may want! Seriously…

Jim West’s Biblical Theology Blog No More!

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No, I don’t think the rapture has happened (and even if it did, I imagine Jim West would be down here with me!). No, maximalists haven’t kidnapped Jim (right, Joe?). What has happened is that Jim West has pulled the plug on his Biblical Theology Blog.

Do not dismay, however, Jim has started up a new blog connected to the church he pastors: First Baptist Church of Petros weblog. Here is what Jim says in regard to his decision to shut down Biblical Theology and start up the new blog (I quote his post pretty much in full):

… Readers of various weblogs will know that most recently I redacted the Biblical Theology blog. That blog, it seemed to me, had run its course and it was time for a re-evaluation of its purpose, and my own efforts in the use of this important web communication tool.

So today I laid the Biblical Theology weblog to rest. It’s time had come. Though enjoyable, and I believe useful to many, I thought it important to refocus. It has been my very strong feeling since my College days that people in the pew are in need of serious, disciplined, concise, and well researched biblical and theological information. Hence, with the new year comes a new direction in my own efforts in the blogosphere. The former blog focused on Biblical Theology for the academic community — and this blog will focus on biblical and theological studies for the Church itself — the community of faith.

I hope that those who valued the previous incarnation will also enjoy visiting here. Many things will remain the same. Many things will change. Stay tuned!

….

I am exceedingly hopeful that amidst the sea of biblical and theological mis-information presently online this page and the companion Biblical Studies Resources pages will be an island of what the author of Timothy had in mind when he described Pastor’s as those who “rightly divide the word of truth”.

Jim’s Biblical Theology blog was informative and insightful (and controversial at times!). I wish Jim all the best on his new blog and as you can see, I have updated my blogroll to reflect the change. I for one will be a regular reader of the First Baptist Church of Petros weblog. (Otherwise, how will I know about significant days in the life of Zwingli?)

A Survey of Commentaries on the Book of Proverbs

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OK, so I’m on a Proverbs kick tonight. In advance of the online colloquium entitled on recent trends in the interpretation of the Book of Proverbs on the Biblical Studies discussion list, I thought I could offer a modest survey of commentaries available on the Book of Proverbs.

Proverbs is one biblical book that is better to take in small doses, rather than read straight through. That being said, there have been some recent scholarship on the composition and redaction of the book of Proverbs that suggests it was not compiled haphazardly (see my post on the compilation and redaction of the Book of Proverbs here). Most of the more recent commentaries also explore the connections and smaller collections within the book of Proverbs. In this regard note especially Garrett, Van Leeuwen, and Waltke.

When we turn to commentaries on the book of Proverbs there are a lot of different options. Murphy is one of the preeminent scholars on the wisdom literature of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. His three works on Proverbs are all worth consulting, though his WBC is perhaps the best of his work. Fox is also excellent for scholars and pastors, as is Clifford. I would be remiss to not mention the excellent and extremely thorough (albeit somewhat conservative) commentary by one of my former professors, Bruce Waltke. I highly recommend it. Hubbard is a good popular commentary, and I have been impressed with Farmer and Koptak. Wright‘s volume is invaluable for a historical perspective.

For more listings and evaluations of commentaries on other biblical books, see my Old Testament Commentary Survey.