Biblioblogs Carnival XXXIII

Let’s be honest already, biblical studies is the spice of life! That’s why I’ve spent a portion of the last month keeping tabs on biblically-oriented conversation that has taken place in the world and more particularly, in the blogosphere. Needless to say, a lot of ground has been covered many, many people. Below, for Biblioblogs Carnival XXXIII, you will find 31 days worth of links to thought-provoking posts. Over 150 different bloggers are mentioned (so, if you need to update your rss readers or blogrolls, now might be the time to do it) even though only 5 were nominated (as of 08.31.08, 8pm). Scattered throughout, you will find some familiar names as well as unfamiliar ones. I hope the less familiar ones will find a niche and a place in biblica/biblio-blogdom. Finally, after you’ve read and clicked through links, take note that next month’s carnival will be hosted by Doug Chaplin over at MetaCatholic. Enjoy the carnival and blessings to you and yours! -TMWH

08.01 – At the beginning of the month, big news surrounded some important archaeological finds. A few people including Chris Heard, NT Wrong, Jim West and Michael Halcomb weighed in with their thoughts. The following day, 08.02 proved to be an interesting one as Glenn Penner shared his thoughts on Boycotting the Beijing Olympics. Just as well, Jeff Rudy continued his illuminating series on C. S. Lewis & The Atonement while Ben Byerly offered some thoughts on Why Jesus Turned Water Into Wine.

On 08.03 Suzanne McCarthy ruminated on the relationship between Women and Bible Translation while Alan Knox, typically insightful, challenged believers with another addition to his “Scripture As We Live It” series. 08.04 found Nijay Gupta pondering what it takes to Become A More Well-Rounded Theologian, while at the same time, Scot McKnight issued some thoughts on what it takes to Become a Good Teacher. Not to be forgotten, Zondervan announced its new blog “Koinonia”.

08.05 – Something, perhaps the Holy Spirit (who knows!), got hold of Scott Bailey and led him to start his “The Worst Preacher Ever” contest. A little more on the serious side of things, Celucien Joseph dove headfirst into issues pertaining to African Americans and Racial Reconciliation. Owen Weddle spent the afternoon dwelling on the meaning of the account concerning the “Thief on the Cross” and Julie Clawson made A Case For Junia, The Lost Apostle.

On 08.06, Chris Tilling shocked the world when he announced that someone hired him. Who’d have thought… Michael Bird, whose mind seems to always be in deep thought, talked about 10 Critical Topics in Pauline Research while the great Pauline scholar Ben Witherington took some time to post a playful article about an “Inflatable Church”. JC Baker offered SBL-goers some tips on how to prepare and Eric Sowell (who wishes he were a native Greek!) gave an update about the CSNTM. Aside from Frank Viola’s intriguing post “Stripping in the Church”, I also found Ken Brown’s posts on What It Means to Trust the Bible, Dunelm Road’s thoughts on Scripture and Tradition and Peter Liethart’s Reflections on The Our Father quite fascinating. Tia Lynn had some great thoughts on Women & Headcoverings.

08.07 saw some more fruitful work as Mark Driscoll posted his conversation with Wayne Grudem and Dan Trabue spoke of the importance of Embracing Mindful Living. Locusts & Honey added a comical tint to the day with a Humorous Look at the Boyscouts. 08.08 proved to be a busy day as David Instone-Brewer pointed bloggers to Greek Literature on the Net and Chris Van Allsburg talked about Internet Assaults on the Mind. Jen wrote about the Church’s reluctance towards Inner-City Ministry and Polycarp questioned whether or not Westboro Baptist can even be called a ministry. Ferrell Jenkins offered some Reflections On China, Bill Heroman continued to draw up First Century Calendars, Ben Myers put in his two cents on How Not to Preach the Parables and Mark Altermann focused on Christ & the Nonreligious.

Come 08.09, Greg Boyd was traveling Around the World while Rafael Rodriguez was busy translating Genesis 1. Rob Reid surfaced with some great thoughts on what it takes to be a great teacher and Leen Ritmeyer voiced his concern about models of the Gamla Synagogue. On 08.10, Chris Brady was thinking about what we all were, the relationship between Lamentations and the Tisha b’Av. David Ker shared his disgust with Intenet Porn while Sean the Baptist explored Barth’s Thoughts on Church & Scripture. James McGrath’s blog must have evolved (or devolved?) or something as he took a break from scientific discussion to point out that Christians Can Disagree. Oh, and congratulations to Kevin Wilson on Landing A New Job.

08.11 welcomed a post from aspiring cultural and ecclesial critic Jon Eerdman who shared his thoughts on what it means to be “In The World”. Over at Ricoblog the long-awaited post on A Love for Glagolitic was put up while Esteban Vazquez perused some Russian works covering the topic of Salvation History. With the arrival of 08.12, Hall Harris announced his return to the blogosphere. James Darlack provided the sphere with some Starting Points for Biblical & Theological Research, Tim Ricchuiti was Mezmerized By Fast-Moving Cups (No, he wasn’t being perverted!) and Dan shared some heartfelt thoughts on Tragedy, God & Adoption. Zach thought Focus on the Family Lost Focus, Loren Rosson delineated what constitutes TULIP of the NPP, Daren Wendell continued to talk of how he’s Praising God With His Feet and Michael Barber took A Look At Christian Prophecy.

08.13 was a good day as Airton reviewed “The Messiah Before Jesus” and Freedom Log recounted the Content of the Gospel. Aaron Chambers took note of a new ruling here in the U.S. that concerns the Denial of College Graduation to Students for Reading Creationism Texts (James, stop drooling on your keyboard!) while Phil Harland brought up another issue that is quite pertinent to college-age persons: Sexual Indulgence. On 08.14, Emmanuel was finally brought up to speed on the Gabriel Tablet. Mike excavated the mind of Rowan Williams digging up some pointers on grace. Pat McCullough reflected on Life At Fuller and Stephen Carlson visited the topic of: The Many-Languaged World of Bible Blogs. Melissa interprets Prov. 25.28.

On 08.15, Daniel Kirk offered some thoughts on Reviewing Books & Ideas while Chuck Jones made a few comments on Open Access & Anthropology. In the Spirit of the Olympiad, David Ritsema took a concise look at the History of the Olympics. E. P. Sanders’ name cropped up in Rick Sumner’s Discussion On Righteousness. As the middle of the month approached (08.16), Bryan L. graced the world with some political insight, while, on the other side of the world, Liz Hooks was thinking on Protests, The Present & Mission Work. Jason Von Ehrenhook reminded everyone of The Toruousness of PhD Work and Tyler Williams asked the age-old or wait, maybe it's new age, question: Is Yahweh A Hemaphrodite?

Leading into the latter half of the month, on 08.17, Drew Tatusko wondered how Justifying Adultery works? Michael Spenser provided us with his Interview With Dr. David Powlinson. The following day (08.18), Claude Mariottini announced that a Pagan Temple Had Been Found in Israel. D. Miller sheds some light on Greek Pronunciation, Kevin Edgecomb relays some Random Bible Thoughts and John Hobbins, in lieu with Bryan L., posts some Reflections on the Saddleback Forum.

08.19 had a thoroughly Jewish tint to it as Bob Hyatt was found Continuing the Obamessiah Watch, Ken Schenk was found mulling over Jewish Monotheism and James Crossley was dwelling on Jews and Non-Jews Eating Together. On 08.20, Timothy Ministries took a brief look at Comparative Religion while Peter Kirk and his keep on keeping on mentality, provided some more thoughts on the magical Todd Bentley. Chris Rosebrough imagined what it would be like if Michael Phelps Went Up Against Jesus. Doug Groothius put on some new glasses and took a look at The Moral Life in 3D. Iyov was one among many who took A Look At Genesis.

As 08.21 crept on to the scene, one Greg reviewed another as Greg Dungan shared his conclusions on Greg Boyd’s The Myth of a Christian Nation. Another review was offered by Chris Zeichman as he critiqued Malina & Pilch’s view of Ioudaio. Tommy Wasserman seemed to offer a “Ditto” to Zeichman. As Steven Harris announced that he was returning to blogdom, Josh McManaway, in his bi-annual post, put up some thoughts on Studying Religion in a Public University. Jacob Stein, who has a perfect name for a Jewish Philosopher, turned our attention to a chilling interview where The Link Between Murder & Porn is discussed. At the end of the day, one of the most interesting posts was from Brian McLaren who aired his Vlog (video / blog) Conversation with Dr. Richard Land. Who’d have guessed that would have ever taken place?

08.22 – Something in Phil Sumpter prompted him to explore the Juxtaposition of the Two Testaments while Ben Simpson asked questions of Bill Maher’s “Religious”. Nick Norelli also posed a question: Do Doctorate Holders Like Being Called Dr.? In an indirectly related post, Donn Johnson talked about Eschewing Titles. Dave Black, in his always brilliant fashion, pondered True Church Hierarchy and Jeff challenged the Church with a “Counter-Cultural Verse of the Day”. Roger Mugs exegeted Jn. 15.9-11 and Doug Mangum laid out a brief list of popular Bible blogs.

With the advent of 08.23, Peter Chattaway continued with Reviews of Bill Maher’s Film. Another film review was offered by Brian Fulthorp who had just watched The Great Debaters. Andrew Criddle found the time to talk about The Letters of Clement, Michael Kruse, The Mission of God, Barry Taylor, Church Decline in Wales, Grace, Why We Should Resist Revival. Shaun Tabatt, always privy to what Mark Driscoll is up to, provided a link to an Interview With Driscoll in Sydney. Chris, thinks he has found Biblical Tips for Getting Promotions. Hmmm. On 08.24, Jake Caldwell reflected on Mt. 16.13-28 while Brian Lilly was steeped in 2 Cor. 1.15-24. Roland Boer’s “Spoof On Left Behind” was quite funny whereas Matthew Malcom’s The Nature of Ethics took on a more serious tone. Wyman Richardson linked to an Interview Between Mark Devers & Os Guiness and April DeConick posted some more on her Conversations With Israel Knohl.

08.25 produced a number of insightful posts. Among those was Al Mohler’s discussion on The Plausibility of God, Matt Wardman’s Defense of Cartoonist Dave Walker and John Mark Hicks’s “Thoughts On Brokenness”. John Alan Turner announced his forthcoming book, Danny Zacharias directed us to some Greek Flash Animations and Todd Bolan told us why he likes touring Golan Heights. On 08.26 Hopeful Daniel wasn’t too hopeful about Christians & Voting this coming election. Carlos Stouffer offered some input on Why Christians Shouldn’t Vote Obama. Jim Davila noted that More Testing on the Shroud of Turin is commencing. Eric at Scatterings encouraged us to think about Worshipping in 2nd Person and Hardy broke down Genesis 30.14-15. Meanwhile, Mark Goodacre announces that his site has received 4 Million Visits. Peter Enns finds himself Talking About Inerrancy and Steven McCoy has a few ideas about the Relationship Between Suburbia & The Election. Another Steve, Mr. Pfann that is, takes some time to make clarifications regarding his recent CBN Interview.

On 08.27 John Barach set out to talk about the growing trend of "Video Pastors" while Stephen Webb was contemplating humanity's imperative to Bring Adam's Task to Completion. Byron Smith shares with us what Life in Edinburgh is like. Cynthia Nielsen wraps up her Series on Augustine and at the ReturningKing blog, Kluttz concludes a series titled Divisions of the Law. Come 08.28 Dot Porter asks for Help With the Greek /Latin Treebank at Perseus and Vern Poythress posts a sermon titled "Dealing With Lions". Eric Lee begins his multi-part review of "GloboChrist" (what a title!) while Jim Martin has his mind on Busyness Vs. Peace.

08.29 - Today, John Schoettler wonders if the chains of the future will be The Numerati, Phil Johnson posts some blogosphere humor, Bill Williams reminds us to Read With Fresh Eyes and Tim Challies reviews the book "Prophecy Today". Oh, and 30-years later, David Neff digs up a bunch of books by Howard Snyder and offers some review on them. Meanwhile, John Piper posts a few words about Christians & The Election (no, not "election" as in TULIP, the presidential election) while Molly at Adventures in Mercy, brings her Alaskan perspective to the race, claiming "Sarah Palin Rocks". On 08.30 professor of Christianity & Sociology, Bradley Wright, looks at "naming" from a humorous/sociological perspective while one blogger with a humorous handle, Llama Momma, shares her thoughts on Building Community, Dan shares some thoughts on Ethics & Eschatology and Brad Boydston talks about The Launch of Guam Theological Seminary. While James Gregory analyzes Eph. 4.9, Bob MacDonald looks at the acrostically-written Psalm 145. Finally, to close out the month, on 08.31 A. Delgado takes a look at The Parable of the Landowner, Tim continues Praying for Burma and James Getz talks about ANE & SBL.

I hope some of the above links and content prove useful to you. Thanks for reading this month's carnival and don't forget to check out next month's (see details above). -TMWH