Time for a History Lesson

In our study of the history of Christianity we commonly restrict our focus to the Greco-Roman Empire. “East” and “West” are references to Constantinople and Rome. Greek and Latin are the prerequisite languages. The terms of Aristotle and Plato underlie many discussions. And yet this focus tends to leave a large chunk of Christendom outside our purview.

As western Christians our focus on the history of Christianity west of the Holy Land is understandable. Nevertheless early Christian missionaries (possibly even Apostles) also went outside the Greco-Roman world. Of course we are aware of this, but how much do we really study this group of Christians who are east of “the East?”

I think the average amount of knowledge would string together a few loose strands. We could start with St. Thomas and his reported mission to India. Fast forward three hundred years and one might make note of an ascetic theologian and hymn-writer, St. Ephrem the Syrian. Skip ahead another century or two and the Church historian encounters Nestorius, that great schism that preceded “The Great Schism,” and the resultant Nestorianism. At that point our historical knowledge of Far Eastern/Oriental Orthodoxy more or less stops. We could recount more of the history of Islam in this time and place than we could of their Christian co-inhabitants.

That brings us to the modern day. We hear reports of the persecution of Christians (Nestorians?) throughout the Mid-East. How did they get there? If they’ve been there since the start how on earth have they survived two-thousand years without a Constantine? 

Personally, I have found the study of Asian/Middle Eastern Christianity to be truly fascinating! That is why I recommend the below book to any of you who desire to expand your knowledge of the history of Christianity. This is more than just a “continuing Ed.” opportunity. I truly believe that studying history gives us an invaluable perspective on current events. So as you and your parishioners hear of the persecutions in Africa and the Middle East, this historical context of who these Christians are and how they have survived and spread will be well worth the price of the book!

Furthermore, as the western world becomes more hostile to Christianity we could greatly benefit from the experience of these Eastern Christians. We can learn from their methods of survival even if we do not adopt their Nestorian theology. The centrality of theological schools (and monasteries), the preservation of a unique liturgical language (Syriac) in the Arabic speaking world, and their own missionary journeys as far east as China will appear time and again throughout their history. These factors and more proved indispensible for the survival, preservation, and prosperity of Christians who have lived through Zoroastrian, Muslim, Khan, and more Muslim domination.

A History of Christianity in Asia: Beginnings to 1500 by Samuel Hugh Moffett. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009. 560 pages - $25.34 (New)

Moffett’s book is broken down into three parts:
I. From the Apostles to Muhammad

II. Outreach: The Ends of the Earth (From Alopen to the Crusades)

III. The Pax Mongolica: From Genghis Khan to Tamerlane

My only serious critique is that I find Moffett’s handling of the Christological controversy between Cyril and Nestorius to be biased in favor of the latter. Obviously that chaffs my Lutheranism, especially when he invokes Luther for a completely unfounded defense of Nestorius. Citing F. Loofs’ Nestorius and his Place in the History of Christian Doctrine, Moffett claims, “Judged by his own words at last, Nestorius is revealed as not so much ‘Nestorian’ and more orthodox than his opponents gave him credit for. Luther, for example, after looking over all he could find of his writings decided that there was nothing really heretical in them.”

In the interest of brevity, I will just provide a few American Edition of Luther’s Works references that openly and directly record Luther’s condemnation of Nestorius as a heretic (not just Nestorianism): 15:339; 38:310, and in the extremely thorough On the Councils and the Church 41:94ff.

It’s an egregious error and one that Lutherans will not be quick to overlook. However, I did not get the impression that Moffett has an axe to grind in defense of Nestorius. Thus, he does not allow his sympathy for Nestorius to resound throughout the subsequent centuries of events that he covers. Whatever he believes about Nestorius & Cyril he acknowledges the resulting schism as historical fact and moves on from there.

I know a history book is a break from my usual recommendations of OT works, but I am a fan of history too. I highly recommend you purchase this book or put it on a “wish list” since Pastor Appreciation Month is just around the corner.

A Beast from the Sea Sits in Wait of YOU

My friends and pastors, let’s imagine for a moment that you are doing one of the things you love most about parish ministry: teaching Bible study. Ahh, what a privilege and joy it is to slowly and methodically walk through God’s Word with His flock. There’s no 15- 20 minute time limit like you have on your sermon. It is you and them and God’s Word. No, Bible study isn’t the Divine Service but darn-it-all if your preparation for it isn’t nearly as exciting and rewarding. Like a good Lutheran maybe you started out with a study on one of Paul’s Epistles. Like a good seminary trained scholar you’ve wowed them with your knowledge of the Greek language to the point where they are legitimately worried that the seminary will steal you right back!

After considering doing a Bible study on the liturgy (admit it, you want to), you decide to keep the Bible study hour in the Bible. Your Hebrew is a little rusty but you are faithful, bold, and completely against Marcionism. So you offer a study on Genesis or Psalms or Isaiah. Despite the difficulty of translating you still manage to throw in some “torahs,” “shaloms,” “zedeks,” and maybe even a “barith l’olam,” for good measure! Best of all you still have the tools to really track down an answer if the people ask the dreaded question, “What does the original language say here?”

Be glad for this question. They trust you. They have confidence in you. They have come to appreciate the education our seminaries require of their MDiv graduates. BUT… you see the storm clouds gathering in the distance. You know of a great sea beast lurking ahead, seeking to throw your good ship into tumult. The day comes. Sweat like drops of blood drip from your brow as grandma Bugenhagen and the faithful attendees ask you the question you’ve been dreading since your ordination….

“Pastor, would you do a Bible study on the Book of Daniel?” Lightning crackles all around your ship as the mighty sea beast known as Biblical Aramaic wraps his tail around your hull, intent on sinking your vessel. He knows you have just one chapter and four verses before he has you in his mighty jaws. For the next six chapters you will be his chew toy, left impotent and unable to thwart his continuous onslaught.

If only I had taken that elective!!

You gulp hard and agree to the Bible study. “How hard can it be? It all looks the same,” you say to yourself as you flip through the pages of your BHS. Eventually the Sunday rolls around when your congregation covers the second chapter of Daniel. You’ve put your hope in the ESV and having consulted Steinmann’s commentary you feel prepared. But the beast will not go down without a fight. A dispute rises up among those who have brought different versions. The ESVians are at the throats of the NIVers while the KJVists and The Messagonians flip over tables and attack one another. They appeal to your Solomon-like knowledge but you can only save face by asking them all to calm down and you will answer their question next week.

Monday morning your church secretary enters the office. “Pastor, what’s wrong?” she asks, startled to find her beloved pastor sobbing in the fetal position. “I’m a SHAM!” you exclaim. “I never learned Aramaic. I am unfit to handle the Word of God in Daniel, Ezra, one verse in Jeremiah, and one word in Genesis!” Helping you off the ground, your secretary assures you, “Pastor, it’s alright, really it is. Who cares about Aramaic? According to your Facebook profile you know Classical Greek, Koine Greek, Pauline Greek, Septuagint Greek, Hebrew, AND Pig Latin. That’s like SIX languages!”

Refusing to be comforted you look to her, wiping away your tears, and say, “No, no. I am not apt to teach.” Removing your clerical collar you walk out the door and into the eastern sunrise. It is day one of the search for a new calling. Off in the distance you hear the chortling laugh of the mighty sea beast.

Don’t let the sea beast win! Don’t resign your call and go job hunting! Learn Biblical Aramaic and slay that blasted dragon!!!!

Okay, the dramatic exaggerations are over. Please pardon my silliness. Here are the simple reasons you can and should learn Biblical Aramaic. Take them or leave them, I know you’ll be fine, faithful pastors either way.

1) The Books of Daniel and Ezra are deserving of thorough Bible study at some point in your service to your congregation. The Aramaic portions are found in Daniel 2:4b – 7:28, Ezra 4:8 – 6:18, 7:12-26, as well as the aforementioned Genesis 31:47 and Jeremiah 10:11.

2) It really isn’t very difficult once you’ve learned Hebrew. You cannot do it on the fly during a Daniel Bible study, but you can take a few months and do a lesson or two per week and you’ll be ready and able when the time rolls around.

3) With the books I’m recommending you can do it by yourself, without a professor, and come away with a good understanding of Biblical Aramaic and perhaps even a better understanding of Biblical Hebrew.

4) You can add another language to your Facebook profile ;-)

A Short Grammar of Biblical Aramaic (Andrews University Monographs) ; by Alger Johns, Berrien Springs, Mich: Andrews University Press, 1972. 108 pages - $14.99 

I am recommending Johns’ 20-lesson grammar for one main reason: the annotated answer key in an additional volume:

A Short Grammar of Biblical Aramaic: An Annotated Answer Key to Alger Johns's , by James Jumper, Berrien Springs, Mich: Andrews University Press, 2003. 111 pages - $14.99

The annotated answer key will explain every sentence of your exercises giving you the needed guidance that you would normally get from a professor. If you choose to learn Biblical Aramaic this key will be invaluable. It won’t be the easiest way to spend your time, but it is worthwhile. If you can find the time to do it I know you’ll be able to handle it. And you’ll be glad you did when you step up to teach Daniel or Ezra, even if no one asks you original language questions. You will benefit in your private study of the books in both of their original languages.

Two Options in Textual Criticism

Learning Greek and Hebrew is hard enough. Either you do it in a ten week intensive at seminary or all year long while taking other classes at the college or seminary level. Either way your professor and you are stretched for time. I don’t know of any introductory biblical language course that has time to thoroughly introduce the practice of textual criticism.

In exegetical courses further down the road professors, to greater or lesser extents, incorporate into their lessons the critical apparatus of the respective testaments. This suffices for a sense of familiarity, but it does not lend itself to regular and accurate usage of the critical editions of the Hebrew and Greek testaments in your career as the resident theologian of your parish.

Before I review the below guides to Hebrew textual criticism I suppose I should briefly answer the question, “why should a Lutheran pastor learn the practice of OT textual criticism?” Truthfully, it is not absolutely necessary (hence why I’m filing this under “Continuing Ed.”).  You can certainly rely on thorough commentaries to do the labor for you. Those scholars can wrestle with the manuscript evidence and decide if the Septuagint (LXX) variant is to be favored over the Qumran, Samaritan Pentateuch, etc. And you can side with their suggestions. In contrast to this, your learned knowledge of Hebrew textual criticism would enable you to critique their analysis and come to your own conclusions.

Beyond critiquing the commentaries you employ, textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible does make for a valuable field of continuing education. In addition to learning the rudimentary differences between types of scribal errors, textual criticism will teach you the history of how Holy Scripture has been passed down to you and your flock. What is the history of the Masoretes? Why is their Masoretic Text (MT) so heavily favored? How does the LXX fit in? Where are we at in the publication, translation, and text critical analysis of the Qumran scrolls? These questions, their answers, and more like them make Hebrew textual criticism a worthwhile area for you, dear pastor, to continue your education. You will be a better biblical scholar for it.

Emanuel Tov- Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible

Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001. 500 Pages Amazon price= $52.13

**As of November 2011 the third revised AND EXPANDED edition has been released. That is not the edition I own or read, so I cannot speak to the revisions. I’m sure much has been done in the field over the last ten years but I felt like his 2001 treatment of Qumran was fairly complete and final. I will try to check it out of Durham’s library once I get there. I will compare it to the 2001 edition and if I find it exceedingly superior I’ll publish a revised edition of my own!

Ellis R. Brotzman- Old Testament Textual Criticism: A Practical Introduction , Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1994. 208 pages

Amazon price= $14.20

Comparison and Recommendation

Tov is the academic standard. Still, Brotzman is respectable. In 2012 the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies had Brotzman (not Tov) listed as required reading for students entering their graduate program. Here’s my take-

COST- Buying Tov at $52 is a gift considering its list price is $90! Brotzman is a lot cheaper and closer to actual worth. Right away this may be the deciding factor for you but I’d recommend you check used prices on Tov to see if there are any in your range. Perhaps the recent release of the third edition will cause some of the used prices of the second edition to drop even more.

CONTENT- Tov is the standard for a reason. Considering it is also more up-to-date (2011 vs. 1994) it’s hard to even compare the two. Brotzman’s section on the Dead Sea Scrolls is not very good while Tov’s third revision seems to be the result of advances in that very area (and his 2001 edition was already worlds better than Brotzman on Qumran). As if that were not enough, in all areas Tov gives more examples (perhaps a mind-numbingly too many!). Tov also includes a huge section of plates in the back with photos of various manuscripts which he references in the text proper to demonstrate different errors and techniques. Brotzman does not have this. Brotzman does include other helpful tables, but none that Tov does not also include in some way, shape, or form. One thing is certainly in Brotzman’s favor- his jargon is far less technical and overwhelming.

CONCLUSION- Ultimately it’s up to you, but here’s how I see the two (three?) options playing out. If you want a very basic introduction that will take you beyond the next-to-nothing of seminary training, Brotzman is affordable, simple, and will get the job done quickly. If you would like a more complete understanding of textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Tov’s 2001 second edition is excellent. If you are really interested in the practice of textual criticism and you want your continuing education in this area to be as up to date as possible, go ahead and get the brand new revised and expanded edition.

***I do not have an Amazon Associates Account set up yet, so if you purchase anything after clicking the above links I won’t get any credit just yet (but go ahead if you really can't wait). Once I get it set up I may repost this with different links if I have to do so.

Introduction

I’m not a huge fan of blogging. If I want to read something educational I’ll find a peer-reviewed journal or book. If I want to write something insightful and educational I’ll try to have it edited and published. So, why this blog and what’s its purpose? Well, I have a few reasons for starting this up:

1) As I continue my studies beyond the seminary I’d like to use this blog as a way to keep the Church in my purview. The Ivory Tower may not want to hear how certain resources and ideas may be useful in preparation for sermons/Bible study. But you might be interested in that! At the very least it will be a helpful exercise for me and I welcome your responses.

2) Occasionally I come across a resource that I think may be useful for pastors and teachers. This is one way to review and recommend those resources for the blog’s readers. I anticipate that most of my posts will be book reviews (hence the blog name) and I really do hope that you will find them useful.

3) When I review and recommend books I will include links to Amazon where readers can purchase the book. If you click my link and make a purchase Amazon will record my “advertisement” of their products and give me a tiny percentage back on purchases made through my blog’s site direction. I don’t expect these percentage rewards to add up to very much, but even if it’s just a $10 gift card once a year that will help me as I try to buy books.

These book reviews won’t be overly detailed since brevity is something I value in blog posts (this intro piece being an exception). They also will not be too technical or academic. Such reviews can be found in major journals. I will group reviews under the following tags/labels:

“That’ll Preach!” - A book that may be helpful in sermon preparation. I don’t anticipate coming across many of these in my studies, but I can think of one book that I’ll try to review soon that falls under this heading.

 “Bible Study Tools” – Obviously, a resource that will help with a given Bible study.

“Continuing Ed.” – Some books won’t be used for preaching and won’t be directly helpful as you prepare Bible studies. Nevertheless, as students of God’s Word resources under this heading may benefit you as an ever growing theologian.

“Reference Gem” – A book under this heading will probably also be under the “Continuing Ed” or “Bible Study Tools” heading but for the purpose of grouping them together in the margin I decided this should be an additional category.

“Teaching on the Side” – Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod pastors receive pretty darn good theological training, at least compared to some denominations. I know several pastors who teach a course once in a while at a nearby community college or university. I think this is awesome and hope more of our pastors can use their Masters credentials to get such positions. If I come across a resource that would be particularly fitting for some sort of undergraduate/community college/continuing ed. course I will place it under this heading.

(I may also include specific topical headings like “Genesis” or “Psalms” or “Hebrew Tools”)

I know it’s a bit presumptuous for me, who does not serve as a pastor, to analyze which books are useful for pastoral ministry/teaching and then to recommend them to you pastors. To that I return to my first reason for this blog, that this may be a beneficial exercise for me too as I look to keep a close connection between academic studies and their usefulness in the Church. I am also willing to take “requests” of sorts. If you want to do a Bible study on a given book of the OT and are curious about potential commentaries and resources I’d be happy to do a little leg work and pass along a few recommendations. If you have other post ideas I will gladly take suggestions.

Keep on the lookout and spread the word!

MVM