I received a new book from IVP that I am very happy to blurb today:

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels
Kenneth E. Bailey
IVP, 2008
443 pages
Purchase from Amazon.COM or Amazon.CA

Here is the TOC:
Part 1: The Birth of Jesus
1. The Story of Jesus’ Birth: Luke 2:1-20
2. The Genealogy and Joseph the Just: Matthew 1:1-21
3. The Savior, the Wise Men and the Vision of Isaiah: Matthew 2:1-12; Isaiah 60:1-7
4. Herod’s Atrocities, Simeon and Anna: Matthew 2:13-18; Luke 2:22-36

Part 2: The Beatitudes
5. The Beatitudes 1: Matthew 5:1-5
6. The Beatitudes 2: Matthew 5:6-12

Part 3: The Lord’s Prayer
7. The Lord’s Prayer: God Our Father: Matthew 6:5-9
8. The Lord’s Prayer: God’s Holiness: Matthew 6:9
9. The Lord’s Prayer: God’s Kingdom and Our Bread: Matthew 6:10-11
10. The Lord’s Prayer: Our Sins and Evil: Matthew 6:12-13

Part 4: Dramatic Actions of Jesus
11. The Call of Peter: Luke 5:1-11
12. The Inauguration of Jesus’ Ministry: Luke 4:16-31
13. The Blind Man and Zacchaeus: Luke 18:35-19:11

Part 5: Jesus and Women
14. Jesus and Women: An Introduction
15. The Woman at the Well: John 4:1-42
16. The Syro-Phoenician Woman: Matthew 15:21-28
17. The Lady Is Not for Stoning: John 7:53-8:11
18. The Woman in the House of Simeon the Pharisee: Luke 7:36-50
19. The Parable of the Widow and the Judge: Luke 18:1-8
20. The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Young Women: Matthew 25:1-13

Part 6: Parables of Jesus
21. Introduction to the Parables
22. The Parable of the Good Samaritan: Luke 10:25-37
23. The Parable of the Rich Fool: Luke 12:13-21
24. The Parable of the Great Banquet: Luke 14:15-24
25. The Parable of the Two Builders: Luke 6:46-49
26. The Parable of the Unjust Steward: Luke 16:1-8
27. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector: Luke 18:9-14
28. The Parable of the Compassionate Employer: Matthew 20:1-16
29. The Parable of the Serving Master: Luke 12:35-38
30. The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man: Luke 16:19-30
31. The Parable of the Pounds: Luke 19:11-27
32. The Parable of the Noble Vineyard Owner and His Son: Luke 20:9-18

The book includes a bibliography, a persons index, and scripture index.

Here are a few of the many jacket endorsements:
“Among the many New Testament scholars interpreting the Gospels today, few offer new and dramatic insights like Kenneth E. Bailey. From a childhood in Egypt to a career working within the Middle East, Bailey has established himself as the premier cultural interpreter of the life of Jesus. Using insights from cultural anthropology and skilled exegesis, suddenly the Gospels come alive as the Middle Eastern stories that they are. Long after other scholars’ books are forgotten, Bailey’s work on the Gospels will continue to be a timeless resource into the world of Jesus. This newest volume, written for the nonspecialist, is a splendid place to begin. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes is guaranteed to become a favorite on many Christians’ bookshelves.” —Gary M. Burge, professor of New Testament, Wheaton College & Graduate School
“I have long been an admirer of Kenneth Bailey’s helpful insights. As in his earlier works, his breadth of knowledge of Middle Eastern culture sheds rich light on numerous points in the Gospels, providing fresh perspectives and often illumining details we have rarely considered. He provokes those of us who depend mostly on ancient written sources to consider new approaches, often cohering with but often supplementing such research.” —Craig Keener, professor of New Testament, Palmer Theological Seminary

“Kenneth Bailey’s Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes is rich with interpretive and cultural insight. He sheds light on what is so often missed in most commentaries and books about Jesus written from a Western perspective. Indeed, Bailey’s book provides the much-needed corrective to the dubious results of the Jesus Seminar, whose distorted Jesus is a product of Greco-Roman culture and literature, instead of the Judaic culture and literature of Palestine. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes is easy to read–students and pastors will benefit from it tremendously–but there is also much for scholars.”— Craig A. Evans, Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Acadia Divinity College

As is IVP’s practice, you can read an excerpt, in this case chapter one of the book — The Story of Jesus’ Birth: Luke 2:1-20.

Another homerun for InterVarsity Press has recently been released. The IVP New Testament dictionaries are absolutely invaluable to me, and I’m very happy to now have this dictionary on my shelf as well.

This is a revised, updated, and expanded version of the Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters

Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters
Edited by Donald K. McKim
2007
IVP, 1106 pages
Purchase from Amazon.COM or Amazon.CA

Here is the TOC:
Part 1: Biblical Interpretation through the Centuries

• Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church
• Biblical Interpretation in the Middle Ages
• Biblical Interpretation in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
• Biblical Interpretation in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
• Biblical Interpretation in Europe in the Twentieth Century
• Biblical Interpretation in North America in the Twentieth Century

Part 2: Major Biblical Interpreters

• Dictionary Articles (over 200 of them)
• Index of Persons
• Index of Subjects
• Index of Articles

Here are just a few of the 13 glowing endorsements on the dust jacket:
“This is an instructive, thought-provoking, generous-minded, reliable, absorbing, illuminating and imaginative work, often elegant, entertaining, incisive and provocative. It covers a remarkable galaxy of names, and it is written by people from a wide range of backgrounds, many of them world experts on their subject. Why did no one think of writing it before?”—John Goldingay

“The Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, have been the most thoroughly studied literary documents in the history of civilization. And sometimes the interpreters are almost as interesting as the texts they are reading. All who take the interpretation of the Bible seriously in our day will welcome this volume. After six historical essays, this volume introduces readers to more than two hundred of the most significant biblical interpreters, from the patristic period to modern times. By discussing each interpreter under four headings (context, life and work, interpretive principles, significance) and then concluding with a bibliography of the person’s most significant writings, modern interpreters are invited into the studies and the lives of their predecessors. This is far and away the finest introduction to the colorful characters that have determined how scholars and laypeople have read the Bible for the past two thousand years. Bravo, InterVarsity Press!” —Daniel I. Block

IVP is also offering a sample of one of the introductory chapters, Biblical Interpretation in the Middle Ages, as well as a sample entry, this one on Martin Luther.

This is an item you are going to want to have handy for many years to come.

My focus, and the focus of this blog, relates more to biblical studies than theology, but I’m happy to give a quick blurb for theology books on the rare occasions I receive them. This one is from IVP.

Purchase from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

Allan Coppedge
IVP
400 pages

Here is the TOC:
1 The New Testament Foundations for the Trinity
2 The Biblical Frame for the Trinity
3 The Development of the Doctrine of the Trinity
4 The Triune God in Relation to Creation
5 The Triune God Within himself
6 The Nature of the Triune God
7 The Attributes of the Triune God: Personal and Moral
8 The Attributes of the Triune God: Relative and Aboslute
9 The Roles of the Triune God: The Way the Economic Trinity Works
10 The Triune God Creates a Cosmos
11 The Nature of Creation
12 The Triune God’s Work of Providence
13 The Triune God, Freedom and Providence

The book includes a name, subject, and scripture index.

Here are jacket blurbs:
“Allan Coppedge has produced a comprehensive trinitarian doctrine of God. His thirty years of praying, teaching and preaching have culminated in one of the clearest discussions of the holy One ever produced. Coppedge’s facile handling of ancient resources and the most recent theological assessments of the divine nature, as well as his offering of a new paradigm for relating holiness and love in the personhood of God, are more than gratifying–this is a unique call to a theological revolution. With Jesus at the center he deftly draws all the major trinitarian commonplaces into a tapestry of divine roles. That rigorous biblical framework provides the backdrop for several key issues: triune theism, personhood, the relationship of holiness and love, a trinitarian worldview, a dynamic view of providence, and a rigorous challenge to open theism. Allan Coppedge has spent his life making disciples of Jesus Christ. This masterful text is one facet of that life-giving ministry–that which feeds the mind so that the heart and the life can please the triune One who has made us in his image. Teachers, pastors and anyone who wants to think more clearly about God and to live in the dynamic life of personal holy love will benefit from this text.”
—M. William Ury, Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi

“What a delight to find a mature systematic theologian who takes Jesus seriously when he talks about God! Coppedge actually believes Jesus meant it when he said that if one wants to know the Father or the Spirit that one must start with the Son. The result is that God becomes more than an idea, or a dogma, or one who is always a third-personal ‘he’ whom we know about. This triune God is shown to be a second-personal ‘you’ to whom one must respond with much more than a mere thought. Good stuff!”
—Dennis F. Kinlaw, Founder, Francis Asbury Society, and Former President, Asbury College

The second book IVP sent me was another quick read like the Dawkins Delusion. Like Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus it is written for a lay audience, from a conservative Christian perspective. It delivers a good punch to Ehrman’s work.

Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman’s “Misquoting Jesus”
IVP, 2007
Timothy Paul Jones
175 pages
Purchase from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

Here is the TOC:
Introduction: A New Breed of Biblical Scholar?

Part One: Why the Texts Can Be Trusted
1 Truth About “The Originals That Matter”
2 Truth About the Copyists
3 Truth About “Significant Changes” in the New Testament
4 Truth About “Misquoting Jesus”

Part Two: Why the Lost Christianities Were Lost
5 Truth About Oral History
6 Truth About the Authors of the Gospels
7 Truth About Eyewitness Testimony
8 Truth About How the Books Were Chosen

Concluding Reflections: “It Fits the Lock”
Appendix: How Valuable Is the Testimony of Papias?

Here is a couple of the endorsements from the back:
“In Misquoting Truth, Timothy Paul Jones gives Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus and Lost Christianities the debunking they deserve. Jones exposes the bias and faulty logic that surface time and again in these highly publicized books. Misquoting Truth provides a much needed antidote and will serve students and Christian leaders very well. I recommend this book enthusiastically.” —Craig A. Evans, Payzant Distinguished Professor, Acadia Divinity College

“Timothy Paul Jones turns the tables on Bart Ehrman’s overstated Misquoting Jesus. He applies to Ehrman the same probing logic that Ehrman claims to apply to the New Testament evidence. The evidence turns out to be more believable than Ehrman’s strained interpretations of it. It is not the New Testament writers or copyists who depart from history, Jones shows, but a few scholars who invest too much faith in their skepticism. Jones not only checks that skepticism: along the way he equips readers to make their own informed choices about authorship, scribal transmission, and church selection (or rejection) of key New Testament passages and documents–and many writings from outside the New Testament as well. This is a valuable primer for orientation in a discussion that cannot be ignored.” —Robert Yarbrough, Associate Professor of New Testament and New Testament Department Chair, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

I enjoyed reading this book. It is aimed at the popular level, so there is nothing ground-breaking or earth-shattering here (much like Ehrman’s work). But Jones certainly knows his stuff and gives Ehrman the critique he deserves. Much like the Dawkins Delusion, it is written in a conversational and very readable style, but without dumbing down the facts. And it isn’t preachy either, which I liked. If you have some people who needs some balance in perspective after reading Ehrman, this is the book to put in their hands. Happy reading!

IVP sent me two recent releases that I am very happy to blurb.

The Dawkins Delusion: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine
Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath
IVP, 2007
118 pages
Purchase from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

Here’s the TOC:
1. Deluded About God?
2. Has Science Disproved God?
3. What Are the Origins of Religion?
4. Is Religion Evil?
The book includes a further reading bibliography as well.

Here are some of the jacket blurbs:
“Addressing the conclusions of The God Delusion point by point with the devastating insight of a molecular biologist turned theologian, Alister McGrath dismantles the argument that science should lead to atheism, and demonstrates instead that Dawkins has abandoned his much-cherished rationality to embrace an embittered manifesto of dogmatic atheist fundamentalism.”—Francis Collins
“With rigorous logic and exquisite fairness, the McGraths have exposed Dawkins’s very superficial understanding of the history of religion and theology. Because he is so ‘out of his depth’ in these areas, Dawkins uses his fundamentalistic scientism and atheism to constantly misjudge the possibilities for dialogue between religion and science. Thank God for scholars like the McGraths who are committed to finding truth in both.”—Dr. Timothy Johnson
“The God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an atheist, and the McGraths show why.”—Michael Ruse

You can also view an interview with Alister McGrath on CBC regarding the book here

This is a short and sweet book that is an enjoyable read. I felt like I was sitting across the table with the McGrath’s having a discussion over some coffee. I will admit at the outset that I did not read Dawkin’s God Delusion, but I read a number of reviews, particularly those by bibliobloggers, so I got a good feel for what the book is about.
You cannot help but be impressed with the depth of scholarship which the McGrath’s bring to this discussion — something markedly different than Dawkins.
It also should be made clear that this is NOT an apologetics book. It is an engagement and critique of several of Dawkin’s main assertions. The authors are not preaching, and even conceed points to Dawkins when he makes valid arguments.
Lastly, I want to say that I was very intrigued by the jacket blurb by Michael Ruse (above). Can this book really make an atheist embarrassed? After reading it, I think I understand what he meant. It is in fact Dawkins who makes Ruse embarrassed to be an atheist, and the McGrath’s highlight why. It is exacctly the same feeling I have about Fundamentalists in my ideological camp. Christian Fundamentalists make me embarrassed to be a Christian. It seems clear that many atheists do not want to be associated with Dawkins, much like I don’t want to be associated with Dobson/LaHaye/ad infinitum.

Definitely worth the read!