J.R. Woods
- I recommend all of Mark's resources. He strives for a straightforward reading and aims to reveal connections to the rest of Scripture using a historical-grammatical-literal hermeneutic (what I and a number of others would refer to as socio-lingusitic). Highly recommended.
- I agree with Michael Rydelnik who characterized this resource as "indispensable" for any study of the Psalms, messianic interpretation, or canonical study. You can get this much cheaper on Amazon, for sure, but economics aside, the thesis that the Psalms are a coherent narrative plotline prophesying the eschatological program of God is immensely fruitful and follows the precedent set by Jesus as recorded by Luke's gospel (24:44), which by no coincidence, mentions the Psalms directly to consult about Jesus. Excellent book, I highly recommend.
- I would recommend reading Ryrie to anyone. Even if you're not a Dispensationalist, having his perspective available will lend a clarity to the various contexts of Scripture--social, theological, systematic, progressive, and other wise--that will deepen your understanding of not only what God was doing, but some of the mistakes inadvertently driven by theological models imposing on the Scripture. But reading Ryrie is a must for anyone eager for God's word, pastor, academic, or even lay believer.
- When used with competence this is the best Bible reseaere tool on the market. You will have achieved a seminary level education if you follow these practices: put your books on reading plans, follow every reference to background data, then corroborate your findings against original language study, a sociolinguistic study, i.e. the function of language in society.
- Greek is the language of the third iteration of the Beast (per Dan. 2 & 7, 8). One of the primary fulfillments of Amos's "famine of the hearing of the words of YHWH" was instituted by YHWH when He had the Apostolic writings written in this Gentile language of the Beast. The DSS has Lion's share agreement with the Masoretic text (approx. 90%, if memory serves) compared to LXX. Huge amounts of Biblical prophecy are locked in Hebrew and can only be accessed by someone with knowledge of Hebrew (i.e. non-Hebrew speakers must rely on others to avail them of this info, assuming that such others can perceive it themselves). All that said, adding more quality Greek resources to the next version of CE would not be objectionable. YHWH's choice to use the language does make contending with it a necessity.
- I was eager to read the second volume for the sake of research into the Synoptic Gospels, and their relation with the rest of the NT possibly. Psalms in the NT presumes the old Q theory of Gospel transmission and thereby devotes much of what I would consider wasted space on pure speculation to fall in line with the theory. While they conduct a decent survey of where the Gospels seem to invoke, quote or otherwise use the Psalms, I would say that there are a number of inadequacies, as many scholars of late have come to demonstrate about the theory. I recommend a more linguistically rigorous model of investigation. See DA Carson, Stanley Porter, et al.
- I used this title in my MA thesis at Regent University, entitled: Antilanguage in the Synoptic Gospels: A Sociolinguistic Inquiry. I highly recommend this work as a key to understanding the differences between our world and a historical reconstruction of the 1st Century world of the New Testament. As a Christian sociolinguist myself, understanding how language is culture (not just connected to it, but actually IS culture) makes tremendous inroads to what the disconnect between Jesus and his religious and national compatriots actually was as presented in the NT material. This work walks you a great deal down that path. Very profitable.
- Creeds and confessions are the lost art of historic Christianity that will make its come-back soon enough. This volume is a great resource seeing to that end.
