Win a copy of Grant Osborne’s commentary on Matthew!

Grant Osborne’s new commentary on Matthew has been widely received as a great, new commentary – especially for pastors.

And, I just happen to have a copy to give away.

Osborne’s commentary is part of Zondervan’s new Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, and it really strives to be a good resource for pastors.

As Osborne says in the introduction,

If I were to dedicate the rest of my life to one single, thing, it would be bringing the Bible back into the center of the church’s life.

And, in a very helpful review, Nijay Gupta thinks that the series has accomplished exactly this.

I am happy to report that Zondervan has really figured out what (evangelical) pastors and ministry leaders need, and they have planned a series that can deliver precisely in the traditional areas of “exegesis.”

Matthew Montonini also has an excellent review if you’re looking for more information on the commentary or the Zondervan series as a whole.

As usual, the rules for the giveaway are simple. If you’d like a chance to win the book, you need to do at least one of the following. Each different way that you enter the contest will increase your chances of winning. (Assuming that I don’t get grouchy and decide to use it to flog the neighbor cat instead.)

• Comment on this post and indicate that you want the book
• Blog about the giveaway and link to this post
• Tweet about the contest (mention @western_thm when you tweet or let me know about it in the comments.
• Link to the contest from Facebook (tag Marc Cortez when you do or let me know about your post in the comments).

And, for the first time, I’m going to try allowing you to enter as many times as you want. So, if you really want the book, feel free to make multiple comments or tweet/FB/post about the contest as many times as you want.

I’ll randomly pick a winner at the end of the month, and they’ll get a brand new commentary.

So, let the games begin!

Romans commentary winner!

We had a great response for our giveaway of Doug Moo’s commentary on Romans. Sadly, though, I was only dumb enough to have acquired one spare copy. So, that’s all I have to give away.

The winner of our little contest was Kevin Sam who runs an interesting blog over at New Epistles. If you’re particularly frustrated that you didn’t win the commentary, you can probably go over there and leave him hate comments or something. I’m sure that’s what Paul would have done anyway.

I’ve also been contacted by someone who liked the idea of sharing the wealth by giving away duplicates of good books, and that person has contributed another really good book for us to give away next. Keep an eye out for that announcement soon.

Moo commentary giveaway ends next week

You have until next Wednesday (Sep 15) to enter the drawing to win Douglas Moo’s commentary on Romans. You can find instructions on how to enter the drawing here. Good luck.

Book giveway – Moo’s commentary on Romans

For some reason, I seem to have two copies of Douglas Moo’s The Epistle to the Romans from the NICNT series. At just over 1,000 pages, I can’t figure out how I managed to end up with two of them. But I did. And, being the cheapskate wise steward that I am, I was going to sell the extra copy. Then I realized that there might be some interest out there in a book like this and that it would be good for me to spread the wealth instead. So, I’m going to give it away. (But don’t tell God that I’m doing it publicly. I want to score some rewards in heaven for my generosity while I’m at it.)

As usual, the rules are simple. If you’d like a chance to win the book, here’s what you do (UPDATE – you only need to do one of the following, though you can do more if you choose):

• Blog about it and link to this post
• Link to the post from Twitter and let me know in the comments
• Link to the post from Facebook and let me know in the comments
• Comment on this post and indicate that you want the book
• Make a video of yourself on a busy street, dressed like a Roman citizen, explaining to random pedestrians why the book of Romans is important. Post the video on YouTube and leave a comment here.

You can enter as many different ways as you’d like (bonus points for the YouTube video) and increase your odds of winning. I’ll accept entries through September 15, and then randomly select a winner.

Flotsam and jetsam (6/7)

• Evangelical Textual Criticism has added a Syriac NT bibliography to its list of resources.
• Joel Watts reviews a new commentary on the Johannine literature. And last week Nijay Gupta asked his reader their opinion on the best commentary on John to use as a textbook for an exegesis class at an evangelical seminary. He posted the results and some comments here. Joel Watts also has a review of Seth Sanders’ The Invention of Hebrew: Traditions, which sounds like a fascinating discussion of how the Hebrew language contributed to structures of political authority in the ancient world.
• Jason Goroncy is working through a series on William Stringfellow’s theology (part 1 and part 2).
• The NYT has a piece on yesterday’s statement  by a synod of Catholic bishops decrying the violence in the middle east.
• And, for those of you anxious for the beginning of the world cup, Scriptorium Daily offers a post on “How Soccer Explains the World“