Our blog tour of T. Michael Law’s When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible continued this morning with Jessica Park’s review of Chapters 9 (The Septuagint in the New Testament) and 10 (The New Old Testament). Parks concludes that the greatest benefit of the book is this:
“I think the greatest benefit of this book is the questions that it provokes its readers to ask. What does it mean for us today that the Septuagint was seen by many in the early church as inspired? What does it mean for Paul to have ‘misinterpreted’ an Old Testament passage, whether intentionally or unintentionally? If the NT authors were reading some of the apocryphal books, which in turn played some role in shaping their theology, why aren’t we reading these texts as well? Why is finding the so-called ‘original text’ such a priority for many of us today if it was not a priority for the NT authors (86)?”
I concur. I’m no expert on the formation of the Septuagint, or the Hebrew canon for that matter, but this book has left me with a long list of questions that I hope to pursue over the years. This is why I am incredibly thankful to Law for his Further Reading list at the end of the book. Law’s aim is to provide a narrative introduction to the history of the Septuagint, not answer all our questions. In doing this he succeeds causing us to ask even more questions in turn fulfilling his greater purpose: to encourage the Church and Academy to reengage the Septuagint with more vigor and interest.
Read the full review here.
If you have not yet entered to win a free copy go here.
Our blog tour is coming to an end now. It will be over this week, so if you have not yet read the previous posts here is the schedule:
Full Schedule:
JOEL WATTS (Sunday, July 21st, http://unsettledchristianity.com/)
1 Why this Book?
2 When the World Became Greek
ANDREW KING (Tuesday, July 23rd, http://blogofthetwelve.wordpress.com/)
3 Was There a Bible before the Bible?
4 The First Bible Translators
KRISTA DALTON (Thursday, July 25th, http://kristadalton.com/blog/)
5 Gog and his Not-so-Merry Grasshoppers
6 Bird Droppings, Stoned Elephants, and Exploding Dragons
ABRAM K-J (Saturday, July 27th, http://abramkj.com/)
7 E Pluribus Unum
8 The Septuagint behind the New Testament
JESSICA PARKS (Monday, July 29th, http://facingthejabberwock.wordpress.com/)
9 The Septuagint in the New Testament
10 The New Old Testament
AMANDA MacINNIS (Wednesday, July 31st, http://cheesewearingtheology.com/)
11 God’s Word for the Church
12 The Man of Steel and the Man who Worshipped the Sun
JAMES McGRATH (Friday, August 2nd, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/)
13 The Man with the Burning Hand vs. the Man with the Honeyed Sword
14 A Postscript
the archives near Emmaus 
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