Form-T Books

If you are a fan, this book will make you crack up on almost every page.

the text was very easy to read and to fillow. Author presents a fine scholastice presentation. At the same time, it is very user friendly.

Gerstenberger's commentary on the psalms, in keeping with the intentions of the FOTL series, seems to have three main purposes:

1) to highlight, by actually working through the psalms, the importance of understanding the genre of each psalm for interpretion (i.e. "form criticism").

2) to attempt to discover the historical context/setting ("Sitz in Leben") in which the psalms were (a) created and (b) used within the worshiping community.

3) to comment briefly on the authorial intent of the psalm, in light of the above conclusions.

Strengths:

1) Gerstenberger is familiar with a great deal of secondary literature, and his conclusions regarding genre (in sifting through the opinions of lots of scholars) were quite helpful for intepretation. Also, his brief summaries of the intent of the passage aided theological reflection (other resources should be used though- see below).

2) In each psalm, Gerstenberger does a good job highlighting parallel phrases in other psalms, Job, and the rest of the Old Testament (this is typically how he comes to his conclusions regarding the historical context of the psalms). This can be of great help in interpretation, if you are willing to put in some grunt work.

3) The bibliographies alone are probably worth the price of the book.

Some criticisms/limititations:

1) Some of his conclusions regarding the historical context of the psalm seem forced- this would seem to be more from the nature of the material than anything else, though.

2) The commentary--and the series as a whole--is not a line-by-line analysis and is intended to function as a supplement to other commentaries/resources. Gerstenberger focuses very little on either the theology of the psalms (typically, only as is necessary to discover genre) or on how they apply to Christians (or were applied in the New Testament). The 3 volume commentary on the psalms (Word Biblical Commentary series) by Craigie, Marvin Tate, and Leslie Allen would be a good primary set to use along with Gerstenberger, as would Weiser when he actually likes the specific psalm he's interpreting. I haven't used John Goldingay's commentary on the psalms much, but it's supposed to be really good.

3) From a canonical perspective, some of Gerstenberger's are probably objectionable. For example, he links Psalm 19 to numerous hymns toward the (mainly) Egyptian god "El," and says that the psalm is an adaptation of this kind of hymn. However, though this conclusion may be true, the psalm is clearly NOT worshiping the sun any longer, and is directed to the God who created the sun. Gerstenberger, though, seems to downplay this canonical shaping (if that is what it is), and says that "only thorugh the accretion of vv. 8-15 did the psalm become a Yahweh hymn." Meaning, if the last half of the psalm was missing, it would be an "El" hymn again? This seems questionable.

All in all though, this is a helpful commentary that should be used discerningly and with other aids. Certainly, if you want to teach yourself a fairly traditional form of form criticism, this is a pretty good place to start.

rED AIN'T DEAD WAS A GREAT BOOK FOR A COWPOKE IN YOUR LIFE. gET IT FOR YOUR DAD OR OTHER MALE IN YOUR FAMILY.

The postcards chosen for this book give a nice overview of Kalman's career. Once you have removed a postcard, you are left with a thumbnail view stub of that postcard's image. Each "stub" has quotes or interesting info about Kalman. The book and its construction follow in the vein of Kalman ( and M & Co.'s) work, using subtle quirky graphics and text.

Now more than ever nurses need laughter to lighten the load. This book should be next to the PDR in every nurses's station! LeAnn Thieman, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul (available August 2001)

This book has most of the basic forms. An excellent resource book if combined with a good instructor. Like most books of this type- due to space limitations- it lacks the various angle shots needed to understand body positioning when doing complex movements. It does teach proper Korean terminology for the various moves but could use a pronunciation key. Definitely worth the money.

This would make a great gift for someone with a sense of HA HA.

QUICK READ. FUNNY WITH A MESSAGE. BUBBA DOES A LOT OF THINGS THAT YOU WOULD DESIRE TO HAVE THE NERVE TO PULL OFF.

The book has lots of interesting anecdotes on Thackeray, Hawthorne, Dickens, Wordsworth, "Miss Mitford" and others, many from the author's personal interactions. He seems to enjoy dropping names and letting you know where he has been! He is a bit wordy, and admits as much, himself, in the preface. Few others would have been as well-equipped to offer personal observations on well-known authors of this period.
. . . . some have suggested that his wife, an outstanding literary person in her own right, may have been the source of more of his insights into the authors' thought than he acknowledges . . .

(I have included below some excepts on the author, from Wikipedia, for the edification of browsers):
Fields was the publisher of the foremost contemporary American writers, with whom he was on terms of close personal friendship, and he was the American publisher of some of the best-known British writers of his time, some of whom he also knew intimately. The first collected edition of De Quincey's works (20 vols., 1850-1855) was published by his firm. As a publisher he was characterized by a somewhat rare combination of keen business acumen and sound, discriminating literary taste, and as a man he was known for his geniality and charm of manner.

In 1862-1870, as the successor of James Russell Lowell, he edited the Atlantic Monthly. In 1871 Fields retired from business and from his editorial duties, and devoted himself to lecturing and writing. He also edited, with Edwin P. Whipple, A Family Library of British Poetry (1878). His chief works were the collection of sketches and essays entitled Underbrush (1877) and the chapters of reminiscence composing Yesterdays with Authors (1871) in which he recorded his personal friendship with Wordsworth, Thackeray, Dickens, Hawthorne and others. He died in Boston on the 24th of April 1881