Blogs

It has been a while since I discussed Bible tools for the Mac (Sorry PC folks, only Apple is worthy). My tool of choice for years has been Accordance, which is an excellent search resource. I still use it regularly.

I am in Berlin to lecture tonight and tomorrow at a Messianic community here on the gospel. Yesterday I was roaming around Berlin, a fascinating city. I went back to one of my favorite spots, the Kaiser Wilhelm church. It stands in semi-ruins as it was struck by bombs one night during the World War II, The new sanctuary, built to its side, is modest but stunning.

The opening of the Enoch Conference on 2 Enoch and various Jewish mediatorial figures opened in Naples today. We heard a lecture on new Coptic manuscript fragments (4 total) of 2 Enoch discovered in Southern Egypt in the 1970's but just now identified. This are the first manuscripts of this book not to be in Slavonic.

Friday I leave for a two month trip to various locales.

I start at the Enoch Seminar in Naples, Italy (I know, someone has to do it). This group meets every other summer and brings together experts in Second Temple Judaism, Early Christianity and Rabbinics from around the world.

My time in Jordan is almost done. It has been a great time. The students are eager to learn and the issues here are fascinating. I have seen two ministries up close here.

I am headed to Jordan and Israel for the next three weeks. I will try to report on any relevant biblical news I pick up. I know the blogs have been few and far between lately, a combination of getting ready for the summer's travel, finishing a semester on a tight clock, and responding to previous posts.

Just a quick note to point to a fine detailed review of Ehrman's latest by my friend, Ben Witherington. It is at:

http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2009/04/bart-interrupted-detailed-analysis-of.html

I was in New York City this week, speaking at Kings College in Manhatten. It was a great time. I also was able to visit some of my media friends there. I was asked constantly about the Newsweek piece this week on the Fall and Decline of Christian America. It reports on a recently released poll showing that those identifying themselves as Christians has declined 10% in the last two decades.

The Essenes are one of four groups attested as a Jewish sect by the first century Jewish Historian in Antiquities 18.18-22 (Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots are the others).

Easter approaches and so do stories about our Judeo-Christian roots. Time has a story on an Israeli scholar denying the Essenes existed (of course the other groups noted in Antquities 18 existed and were not legendary as she claims). There are numerous references to such a group and her "renegade sons of Zadok" are very much what the Essenes are described as being.

Bart Ehrman's Jesus, Interrupted by his own admission says nothing new. It packages what scholars have been saying in a very public way for two decades (As Ehrman points out, these issues go back centuries-- and the positions he defends have been advocated for a few centuries. In fact, folks like Augustine and Origen were aware of the kinds of issues he raises).

Well everyone I am headed to Indonesia to lecture on the Historical Jesus over the next week. It takes 30 hours to get there with connections. I am reading the new Bart Ehrman book which is more of the same. His juxtaposing of devotional reading with historical reading is a kind of straw man contrast (he opens the book here with his repeated biography of his journey from evangelicalism).

This blog will be brief. Day of Discovery is broadcasting a series on the IBR Jesus Group's work on the historical Jesus. This is a decade long project involving several evangelical scholars. We filmed these shows last summer as we were wrapping up our work for publication later this year. It is eight shows, two of which are now up on the net for streaming broadcast.

Christianity Today.com has just posted a podcast that is an interview I did on the gospel with Preaching Today. It deals with what the gospel is or is not.

The link is: http://blog.preachingtoday.com/2009/02/darrell_bock_on_small_or_large.html

Last night I spoke (for a time) at Village Church in Highland Village, Texas on Jesus's Values and Politics. The way we did it was to speak for a time and then open up for questions and then the plan was to return to the lecture and then do questions. Alas, that did not happen.

This brief post is to note a conference to be held at DTS and the Center for Christian Leadership. It is on Jesus, Culture and Spiritual Formation. I will address the cultural issues that are obstacles to moving into spiritual formation in the church, obstacles that are especially relevant to the under 30's (there are five in my view). My colleagues will treat how to deal with these issues.

Gang:

I am off to India for a week of teaching.

Happy 2009 to all.

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy 2009.

dlb