Kevin Scull has started a new meme which asks participants to enumerate the top five primary resources for biblical studies. Here are the rules he’s set out:

1.) List the 5 primary sources that have most affected your scholarship, thoughts about antiquity, and/or understanding of the NT/OT.

2.) Books from the Bible are off limits unless you really want to list one, I certainly will not chastise you for it.

3.) Finally, choose individual works if you can.  This will be more interesting than listing the entire corpus of Cicero as one of your choices.

So, at the beckon of John Anderson and Brandon Wason, I humbly submit what will indubitably be the top five primary resources for biblical studies. So, while the lists of others will vary, mine will naturally be the correct one.

I’ll will only focus in on the study on the NT since that is my speciality.

1. The “Son of God” texts in Antiquity – I know that I have immediately pushed the limits of #3, so let me be more specific. I’m thinking here of 4Q246 from the DSS (cf. 1QSa 2.11-13), as well as the Priene Calendar Inscription. Too often, I think, some scholars have been too quick to only read “Son of God” as a polemic against the Roman Empire. While that may be one connotation, there is ample evidence in the Scrolls to conclude that the “Son of God” was already an epithet for an eschatological deliverer, at least for some Jews. This both/and, not an either/or.
2. 1-2 Maccabees – Totally indispensable for understanding the Jewish milieu, including views of human atonement for sin, some type of hope grounded in a corporeal resurrection from the dead, the ubiquitous sense of exile and the hope of a return from that exile through the suffering of the righteous, and plenty more.
3. The Parables of Enoch (1 En 37-71) - I’m becoming more and more convinced that one cannot rightly understand the NT use of “Son of Man” without first wrestling with the said concept in the Parables. In addition, I wonder how much else early Christianity owes to Enochic Judaism (if we might be able to call it such).
4. 4Q Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521) – This text, I think, is crucial for a proper understanding of messianic conceptions of Jesus in the NT, especially those found in Luke 7.22-23 and par.
5. P. Haun. II, 2 II, 1-42 – This lovely piece is an ancient letter written by woman, named Melissa, to her friend, Clearete. This copy of the letter dates to the third century CE, though the letter itself is much older. The section of the letter that I find so important is part that offers Neo-Pythagorean treatises by women about women. These treatises discuss the proper behavior of women, and they usually recommend purity, control of one’s appetites, and patience with a husband’s vices. This text wouldn’t be so important if their weren’t scores of others to corroborate it. It’s significance to the study of 1 Timothy 2.9-15 simply cannot be overstated. The reason is that it sets the Pauline comments about women firmly in a specific context. Paying attention to P. Haun. II, 2 II, 1-42 (and texts like it) saves us much heartache and liberates women in the church to serve in whatever way God has uniquely gifted them, including teaching and preaching.

So there it is, the indubitable five. Now, it’s my solemn duty to call to service five others: Mike Bird, Rob Kashow, Daniel Kirk, Brant Pitre, and Mark Goodacre.