What to Do after SBL? Post and Order Books

Order forms with SBL-AAR discounts until mid/late December

Now that SBL-AAR 2015 is over, and the Thanksgiving festivities have passed, what is the follow-up? I still have posting to do on some key sessions at SBL that I think are worth highlighting (so stay tuned for Philo, Plutarch and Paul). But typically, it's at this time I sit down and go through all the order forms I collected during the book exhibits and with my budget in mind, and calculator at hand, I figure out what books to order online or by old-fashioned snail mail using the book exhibit discounts from various publishers. Some publishers (look at photo above) extend their discounts until mid/late December, and these discounts are typically anywhere from 40-50% off the book cover price. Since black Friday deals seldom include books, this is the best way to get books at the best price for the scholar.
    In the old days when airlines allowed for 2 free check-in bags (think pre-9/11 days), I would take an extra bag with me on the flight, buy all my books at the exhibits, and haul them back home once SBL ended. But with the extra charges and strict maximum weights per bag, this is no longer a good way to buy and bring books home. 
    Now, my routine is to (1) buy books at the exhibits from publishers whose discounts end once SBL is over. I make a few strategic buy's. Then (2) I grab the order forms from those whose discount deadlines extend beyond the meeting and later sit down to figure out what books I really need/want with the limited monetary funds at my disposal. I place my order. And wait for the books to come before Christmas. This routine also saves my back as I get older and books get longer and heavier!
   I do most of my book buying this way, in this season of the year, because no matter what great deals are on amazon or barnes&noble, It's hard to beat a 40-50% discount from the publishers. I have to pay a little extra for the shipping, but it's still very worth it! 
   So if you happen to know anyone who went to SBL, and he or she does not want to use their order forms, grab them from said person and get your deals while they last. Believe it or not, I and my colleagues have done this at North Park many times. We would walk down the halls of the faculty offices, knock on each other's doors, ask how our trip was to SBL-AAR, and then ask: "Do you happen to have an extra copy of the Baker Academic or Eerdmans book order form? You do?! Can I grab this from you?" Nuff said.

Book Hunt at SBL 2015 (part 2)

Photo Credit by the
Library of Congress

Continuing from my previous post on must-buy's at the book exhibit, I am writing here about books that have been advertised by publishers for debut at SBL-AAR 2015. These I'm not sure if I'm going to get or not, but I hope to browse through them before I decide to make a purchase. So the standing-on-the-fence book buy's include Michael Wolter's Paul: An Outline of His Theology, which was translated by Robert Brawley from Wolter's original 2011 Paulus. So thankful to Bob for making this work available in English.

Published by Baylor University Press

Next up are two books being published by Baker Academic which I don't know much about but the titles, nevertheless, have caught my attention. I'm always interested in work where historiography and the life of Apostle Paul juxtapose, but Patrick Gray's book Paul as a Problem in History and Culture looks more like one that focuses on reception history and why, historically and culturally, Paul has received his fair share of critics and fans.

Published by Baker Academic

Then there is the collection of essays edited by Scot McKnight and Joseph B. Modica, Apostle Paul and the Christian Life, where the authors explore the ethical and missional implications of the New Perspective. I take it that if the NP movement is correct, how does their rereading of Paul affect the way the church ministers to its congregations and shares the gospel? Great question to explore! I'm not a NP scholar but an Old Perspective Redux kind-of-guy; in other words, I appreciate the challenges of a NP reading of Paul, whose work forces me, in the good way, to reread Paul's letters and understand the apostle in his Jewish context. So this book helps in showing positively to students why a 1990's debate on the Judaism(s) of Paul makes a difference in appropriating his theology today.

Published by Baker Academic

A former fellow Intertextuality and New Testament Interpretation steering committee member, Roy Jeal, just published his commentary on Philemon as part of SBL Press' new Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity series. Roy might have even referenced a post I did on Philemon here at Paul Redux, so I'm curious to see if a HT my way made it in the final published draft of his work. But really, kudos to Roy on his work and I'm keen to hear what he has to say about slavery and freedom in the gospel. Given the horrible history of misreadings of Philemon, I think a commentary committed to how Paul's rhetoric, in subtle and explicit ways, redefines slave relations in the Greco-Roman world is a needed and a welcome addition to the many commentaries out there on Philemon.

Published by SBL Press

Without knowing much about the book other than its title, I'm also curious to browse through Jane Lancaster Patterson's monograph on the metaphorical uses of sacrifice in the Philippian and Corinthian letter correspondences, entitled: Keeping the Feast.

Published by SBL Press

I almost missed this, and the advertisements on Festschriften usually get drowned out by other upcoming releases, but Wipf & Stock is publishing a collection of essays honoring well-known New Testament scholar Andrew Lincoln, edited by J. Gordon McConville and Lloyd Pietersen. Among the contributors are: N.T. Wright, Sylvia Keesmat, James Dunn, L. Ann Jervis, Philip Esler, Michael Gorman, Stephen Barton, Stephen Fowl, John Webster, Loveday Alexander... wait a minute! May be I should move this Festschrift to the "Shut-up-and-take-my-money" list:

Published by Wipf & Stock

Out in February (but will they have a display copy?) is Michael Bird's upcoming illustrated-by-Tomie-DePoala boyhood biography for children... whoops! I mean his commentary on Romans in Zondervan's The Story of God Bible commentary series (click the link above if you missed the joke post by Mike... have to admit, he had me going for a while).

Published by Zondervan Academic

Zondervan also has the co-authored book by Verlyn Verbrugge and Keith Kroll on Paul and Money that has my attention: 

Published by Zondervan Academic

Last but not least, whenever I go to the book exhibits, I walked through the well-established (and new!) monograph series to see what technical studies on the cutting-edge of Pauline and New Testament studies have emerged. I won't know really what I'll find until I browse through the exhibit, and many of these monographs, sadly, are priced beyond my budget range (except for a sneaky purchase here or there).
   But I try to look through: Mohr-Siebeck's WUNT series, Brill's  Supplements to Novum Testamentum (+click the titles tab), Fortress Press' Emerging Scholars, Cambridge University's SNTS monographs, T&T Clark/Bloomsbury's Library of New Testament Studies, SBL's Writings in the Greco-Roman World, and sometimes Peeters Publishers has some surprise monographs in its Contribution to Biblical Exegesis and Theology series. 
   That's it! Two more days and I'm off to Atlanta. See you all there! 

Book Hunt at SBL-AAR 2015

Between sessions and catching up with people, one highlight of SBL-AAR is walking through the book exhibit, finding some jewels among a treasure trove of books, monographs, reference works, and commentaries. Many of my favorite publishers and university presses will be there in Atlanta, and they each offer a range of discounts, some as much as 40-50% off the sticker price. 
    I already having a working shopping list of purchases I have mind, divided between four groups: 1) must-buy (or the "Shut up and take my money (already)" books, 2) I-want-to-browse-it-first-before-I-give-you-the-dough books, 3) I-want-you-but-you're-too-expensive-for-me-to-buy-without-risking-the-wrath-of-my-wife books, and 4) pleasant-but-unexpected-purchases or let's-take-this-puppy-home book because it's too good a deal to pass up. Of course, I don't know what the 4th category of books will be until I roam the book exhibits and accidently stumble upon something I value. The 3rd category is a secret so I can give myself some wriggle room for a sneaky clandestine purchase from you-know-who. But I can comment on the 1st and 2nd categories in this and a subsequent post. So here are my tentative picks for category 1: 

    The must-buy books are Paul and the Gift by John Barclay, but to be honest, I already bought my copy because I could not wait. 

Published by Eerdmans

Richard Longenecker's long-awaited technical NIGTC on Romans was supposed to debut at Atlanta though all the online sellers seem to indicate that it will be a month or two later. Hopefully, Eerdmans will at least have a display copy at their table to peruse: 

Published by Eerdmans (may be available
in December? vs. Februrary)

Then there are E.P. Sanders' Paul: The Apostle's Life, Letters, and Thought, which also might be debuting late and N.T. Wright's The Paul Debate: Critical Questions for Understanding the Apostle: 

Published by Fortress Press

Published by Baylor University Press

This last must-buy is not a book on Paul but nevertheless, a long, long awaited commentary on the Gospel of John from a premier Johannine scholar whose past work tells me that Marianne Meye Thompson's NTL Commentary on John will be the go-to-volume for the fourth gospel for a long time: 

Published by Westminster John Knox Press

Next post, the books I'm on the fence about and won't buy until I get a glance at them first. 

The AnteNicene, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers on Kindle

This might be old news to some, but I just discovered a more than affordable complete set of Philip Schaff's 38 volumes (really 37 plus an index volume) on the AnteNicene, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers. The volumes cover in English translation the writings of the apostolic and patristic fathers from the late 1st century AD through the 6th. The collection spans from Clement of Rome to Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great and so on (some 65 ancient authors and church fathers total). It even includes translations of the apocryphal New Testament books.
   The entire library has now been digitalized and is searchable on Kindle for $2.99. No, I did not misplace the decimal point. Yes, under $3, on amazon: 

Click here to preview and order the Kindle version

Here is a comparison. In print form, the best deal on the published bookset (retail $1100.00) can be found on CBD for $299.99:

Click here to preview and order the print set

$2.99 for the electronic edition is an incredible deal. What a tremendous resource! How is this even possible? It is because of the auspices and faithful work of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL - the website: http://www.ccel.org/). Ecumenical in its mission, housed at Calvin College, and available online for free, the CCEL has taken a classic set and made it available to a wide reading public and researchers.
   I personally appreciate the Kindle version and while you can download PDF versions of the volumes for free at the CCEL website, on Kindle the text is crisp, clear, searchable, and easy to read. I find PDF files sometimes freeze on my Samsung Tab reader so I enjoy the Kindle version. The PDF files are, however, nice to have as an alternative to browsing through Kindle if I want to cite the translation. You can cite the English translation of ANF and NPNF following the new pagination scheme of the CCEL or the original pagination by A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, and A. Coxe. Kindle's one big flaw is that it does not keep the original pagination of a print book, so this is a bane for researchers. However, if you enjoy just reading ancient texts as I do in a leisure setting, the Kindle version of ANF/NPNF is a God-send. 
   Thought I would share this find with you. Blessings on your summer reading!