Month: May 2013

Book Review: Lars Kierspel, Charts on the Life, Letters and Theology of Paul

Kierspel, Lars. Charts on the Life, Letters and Theology of Paul. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 2012. 284 pages, pb. $26.99. Link to Kregel.

Kregel has recently revived the idea of a “chart book with their “Charts of the Bible and Theology” Series. I reviewed Herb Bateman’s Charts for the Study of Hebrews earlier this year.  Lar Kierspel (Ph.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) contributes a collection of charts for Pauline studies. As with most books of this type, some charts are more useful than others, but my overall impression is that this is a useful book for teaching the Pauline letters.

KierspelThe first 8 charts (13 pages) are concerned with background material, including the history and structure of the Roman empire. Chart 6 (Paul’s Greco-Roman Background) lists a number of words / concepts in the Pauline letters that resonate with Greco-Roman philosophy, ethics, and culture. The material presented here is good, but sometimes not tied as closely to the Pauline letters as they could be. For example, there is a nice chart summarizing Greco-Roman philosophy, but this might be improved by indicating the Pauline ideas that are like / unlike these broad categories. Perhaps a chart tied to a book could have presented this material differently, such as Magic in Ephesus.

The second set of 24 charts (38 pages) cover Paul’s life. This section deal with chronology and attempts to blend Acts and the Pauline letters. Some of these are long lists (all the men in Paul’s letters, for example). A six-page chart collects all the verses in Paul’s letters describing his opponents (with descriptive phrases in bold text). Chart 32 collects opinions on why Luke finished Acts without reporting Paul’s death, chart 33 collects traditions concerning Paul’s trip into Spain, and chart 34 collects 6 texts reporting Paul’s martyrdom (1 Clement 55 through Lactantius).

The largest section of the collection concerns the Letters of Paul. There are 42 charts covering all of the Pauline letters, including a “snapshot” for each book. In most cases this “snapshot” is a single page offering information on audience, occasion, opponents, structure, purpose, and any special features unique to the book. While these single pages connect the letters to the book of Acts, there is no specific date given for the book. Remarkably there is no chart offering various schemes for dates of the letters. Chart 77 collects a number of problem texts in the Pauline letters and offers extremely brief summaries of suggested solutions. I thought any one of these would make a decent chart. For example, the problem of “all Israel will be saved” in Romans 11:26 has five views suggested. By adding a list of scholars supporting each view, this would make a nice single-page chart.

I personally found the charts on quotations and allusions in the Pauline letters very useful (charts 45-52). All of this data is drawn from Nestle-Aland 27 so there is nothing new here, but students who do not own the NA27 will find the chart helpful.  I am not completely convinced that all of the allusions to intertestamental literal are valid. At best these are all potential allusions, but this is a problem with the NA27 list, not Kierspel.

The fourth section covers Pauline theology. In general these follow the usual loci for theology, often simply listing words with texts. For example, chart 90 has three pages of “eschatological concepts,” a list of terms like destruction, resurrection or reward, with the Greek words and a few texts. There are several pages of virtues and vices which are laid out in the same fashion. There are a few special charts on the gifts of the Spirit (chart 93) and Elders (chart 94) that are more detailed.  There is a single chart on the New Perspective on Paul, this ought to be read along with the page of explanation in the back of the book.

There are a few charts that are interesting, but I doubt their usefulness. For example, chart 42 contains two useful charts listing the number of words in each Pauline letter alone with the number of hapax legomena (“spoken once,” words used only once in the New Testament). The first chart gives the percentage of total words in each book that are hapax, and the second the percentage of total vocabulary that are hapax. This is interesting and useful. But the next three pages list all 601 words which are hapax in the Pauline letters. While I did stare and these pages for a few minutes, I am not sure of the usefulness of this information.

As with other books in this series, Kierspel has a paragraph on text explaining each chart in the final section. This 44-page section is important to read since it is here that he gives bibliography for the data he includes. In some cases these are mini-introductions to controversial topics (like Pauline chronology, for example).  The book has an extensive 31 page bibliography.

Conclusion. Like other books in this series, there a staggering amount of information presented in these charts. While I question the usefulness of some of the charts for classroom use, the book is a worth while investment for those who teach the Pauline letters in church or classroom.

Thanks to Kregel Academic for kindly providing me with a review copy of this book. This did not influence my thoughts regarding the work.

Israel 2013, Day 11 – Homeward Bound

This was our last day in Israel, and we made it count. Staring at Tamar at 9AM, we drover north to En-Gedi. This is the canyon where David hid from King Saul in 1 Sam 24. While there are plenty of caves, I doubt any of the current caves are the place where David was hiding when Saul came to “cover his feet.” With a supply of water, shade, animals and defensive lookouts, it is little wonder that David would have used this canyon as a base of operations in the Negev. The Israeli Parks service has made this an easy hike, although there are a few scrambles up rocks. We started about 9AM, so the park was not really crowed, only a few small groups. We had a few photo ops with rock badgers, but the wild goats were all in hiding from the heat. We did see an unusually large fresh water crab.

Kodie samples the water at David's waterfall

Kodie samples the water at David’s waterfall

After drinking water (and eating ice-cream, just like David did I am sure), we continued north to Qumran. The site is little changed from previous visits, but this time there were almost no other visitors. It was about noon by this time and quite hot. Most groups do not even go out to the site, they stop for the buffet and shopping area. This is sad, because Qumran is one of the most significant sites for the study fo the New Testament. Since the Dead Sea Scrolls were found near the site, I usually take the time to talk a bit about the Essenes and the problems with the relationship between the villa at Qumran and the presence of the scrolls. I tend to accept the “standard” view that the villa was used by some Essenes and that they collected the scrolls and stored them away in the caves prior to A.D. 70. Because of the heat, we walked the site quickly and spent some time in the shaded area near the cave view talking about the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls and why they are important to the study of the New Testament.

After some lunch and shopping, we drive to the Inn of the Good Samaritan, a relatively new site on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. This was a new site to me since it was only recently added to the National Parks pass. The main attraction is a nice museum of mosaics from various synagogues and churches. There is a room dedicated to the Samaritans as well. The museum is built on the site of a crusader era church dedicated to the Good Samaritan. If you have an hour or so, and do not have a group of tired college kids with you, it is worth a stop.

After the Inn of the Good Samaritan, we drove to the Jaffa Gate for a final few hours of shopping in the Old City. Since it was a Friday afternoon, the crowds were a bit lighter than our previous visit. While most of the students had shopping lists of souvenirs they wanted to buy for people back home, I really just wandered around watching people. I listened to a Guide give an explanation of the Holy Sepulchre which was sad indeed. He gave far more time to the story of the Keeper of the Key than to Jesus. His talk was devoid of real history (mostly legends about the building) and he had no real idea who Jesus was. I guess it did not matter, most of his group were playing on their cell phones and not really paying attention.

After we re-gathered we headed to the airport. As I said, this is Friday evening. Ben Gurion Airport was in Shabbat mode. Only a single coffee stand was open and the place was as silent as a grave. This was a pleasant change from the usually midnight flight crowds. Since our fight did not leave until 12:40 AM, we had to hunker down for a few hours.  Passing through security was a big part of that time, since several of our people had to open bags and explain their 30 tiny jars of honey (or other odd images). Our return flights were smooth and on time. In fact, we got to Chicago before our drivers arrived to pick us up!

This was a great trip overall. The students were excellent, attentive, and well behaved (at least in front of me). I thoroughly enjoyed the trip despite being sick for most of the time. Thanks to all of you who have been reading along. I obviously finished this last installment after I caught up on some sleep over the weekend!

Israel 2013, Day 10 – The Negev

We got an early start from Tamar, driving north and a bit east to Mamshit. This is a well preserved Nabatean trading village along the Incense Route. I have only visited this site once before, in January 2012, so there are a number of this I wanted to explore, at the top of the hill there is an early Byzantine church with a number of Greek mosaics and a most interesting baptismal in a side room. The size and shape both strike me as odd, since it seems to have been used for immersion (there are steps), it it is so small it would have to be a self immersion at best. Mamshit also has a large Nabatean mansion with several nicely reconstructed rooms. Since we saw the Nabatean tombs at Petra, it is god to see how the wealthy lived.

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From Mamshit it is a short 40 minute drive to Tel Arad. This marvelous site has been on all six of my tours for several reasons. First, the Canaanite villages allows visitors to see a Canaanite home (in contrast to a four room house) as wee as a Canaanite sacred precinct. At the top of the Tel is an Israelite fortress excavated to the eighth century B.C. The large gates loom over the site, but the real highlight is an early Israelite temple at the center. This complex of rooms is the same general proportions as Solomon’s temple, although the Holy of Holies in the center of the Temple rather than at the end. A standing stone was found in the Holy of Holies, but it has been moved to a museum. Two incense stands were found buried in the ground, either as the result of Hezekiah or Josiah’s reforms.

From Arad we drove to Masada, the highlight of any tour of the Dead Sea region. Masada was a desert fortress / palace built by Herod the Great on the top of a steep, flat-topped mountain. He had cisterns and a water system built to collect the minimal rainfall and provide water for most of a year, and storehouses for food, wine, weapons and other supplies. While the Herodians planned for a worst case scenario, it was a group of Zealots who captured the citadel when Jerusalem rebelled against Rome. When Jerusalem fell, the Zealots held put at Masada for over a year, finally choosing to kill themselves rather then be captured by Rome.

Our visit was early afternoon, so it was beastly hot. We made our way to the store rooms, northern palace, bath house and fantastic view of the Dead Sea valley, looking to the north. Most of the kids went down the stairs to the palace, I stayed on top to take their picture. Not that I couldn’t walk back up those stairs…

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We had more than an hour for the Dead Sea float. We went to a private beach behind a cosmetics store, which has a nice patio with cold drinks and that type of thing. Everyone went into the water, although I neglected to warn the ladies to not shave their legs that morning (I never remember that, for some reason).

Tomorrow is our last full day in Israel, starting the the desert at Tamar, hiking at En Gedi, visiting Qumran, and a final fling in the Old City.

 

 

Israel 2013, Day 9 – Swimming in the Red Sea

This is a short Entry because today was a long travel day. Seems like every tour has a day where you have to drive more than you visit. We left Petra at 9am, and made it across the border by noon. It went very smoothly entering Israel at Eilat, other than the fact the security agents thought some of our boys were cute and hassled them an extra long time. One girl told Ben Stout that his Snicker Bar was illegal in Israel, which confused him hinge he bought it in Israel! (I personally think there is something sick about a person that its a Snicker bar and keeps it for several days before eating it…)

To break up the travel, I dropped some of the kids off at Corel Beach, a national park on the Red Sea for a little snorkeling. This is not really a “biblical” site or activity, but it was popular with the students. They had a great time swimming, and the break from the tour was good. The rest of the group went a bit further down the beach to a public beach with a mall and several coffee shop options. I did have a nice latte in Cafe Neto and later an iced coffee at Cafe Cafe, which is probably an indication of some sort of addiction.

That night we arrived at the camp at biblical Tamar, which is about 35 miles north of Petra, in Israel. It would have been more convenient to drive across the Aravah, although quite a bit more illegal. Tomorrow we visit Mamshit, Arad, Masada, and will float in the Dead Sea.

Israel 2013, Day 8 – Hiking in Petra

Our guide Mohammed scored big points by suggesting a 9am start time (I was holding out for 6:30). But he was right, a visit to Petra is all about timing. Arriving at the Treasury in the morning is best since the sun hits the facade just right and brings out the color and detail. I cannot understand big groups arriving at two in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day and the time when the colors are not as vibrant.

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The walk down the Siq was pleasant and cool, if not chilly in the shade. A few moments in the sun reminded you that you were in the desert. Mohammed did a serviceable with the explanations, but I thought he did not do a very good job pointing to the (rather thin) connections to the New Testament period. Perhaps he did not fully understand the audience, but the students could have been better informed. I tried to do this more privately as we walked along.

The Treasury, which is really just the most ornate tomb in the necropolis, was as crowded as usual. It does not look like much has been done with the lower tombs other than to shore up the barrier keeping the tourists back from the steps. I noticed several areas with new barriers, such as the cult site in the Siq, the Byzantine chapel, and quite a few tombs which used to be open. My first time at Petra there were no barriers at all, even at the theater. But with increased tourism comes an increase in wear and tear on the soft sandstone monuments.

Mohammed walked us up to the Royal tombs, specifically to the large tomb usually referred to as the Byzantine chapel. Tis is a long climb up stairs, past a bewildering array of Bedouins trying to be you to “stop and have a look.” The chapel itself is in remarkable, although the large chamber shows off the rose colors of the sandstone nicely. The main reason for hiking up the steps is the views of the rest of the valley. From up at the top you can see just how many tombs are in the necropolis at Petra.

After a quick “box lunch” we gave the kids free time to explore and haggle. I walked with the Shaws to the Temple of Zeus. The is the first time I have visited this location, and it was a rewarding visit. The temple was excavated by Brown University and they have done an excellent job restoring much of the Temple while preserving some things as found. We spent an hour climbing to the top of the temple complex, but at least another hour would be necessary to really see the whole complex.

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Are there any biblical connections in Petra? Petra is a fantastic site and everyone should visit it if you have the chance. But why put it on a biblical studies tour? First, the wife who was divorced by Herod Antipas was a Nabatean princess. Second, Nabatean king Aretas IV is sometimes described as the Herod the Great of the Nabateans. He expanded the kingdom to its largest extent. Third, Paul mentions in 2 Cor. 11:22-23 as the King who ordered that Paul be arrested. While there is little direct reference to the Nabateans, the do lurk in the background of the New Testament.

After the long uphill hike back to the bus, all people wanted to do was to return to the hotel and hit the pool. I cannot blame them, as wonderful as Petra is, this was an exhausting day.

We are back to Israel tomorrow, spending a bit of time at the Red Sea and sleeping at Tamar before our big day in the Negev.