Decker, Rodney J.

Biblical Theology and Exegesis
  • See also the bibliography posted for my course NT-5, NT Biblical Theology (Ph.D.).
  • “A Response to Ed Glenny, ‘Gentiles and the People of God’, A Study of Apostolic Hermeneutics and Theology in Acts 15″ [use of Amos 9], Evangelical Theological Society annual meeting, Nov 16, 2006, Washington, DC. (Ed is presenting the plenary session paper for the Dispensational Study Group and I am the respondent.)
  • “Is It Better to Bury or to Burn? A Biblical Perspective on Cremation and Christianity in Western Culture.” The Wm. R. Rice Lectures at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, Allen Park, Michigan, 3/15/2006. This is a major expansion of a paper posted here earlier on the same subject. (hi-res. file, around a half meg.) The currently-posted version of this paper was posted on 3/21 and includes a few minor corrections as well as some slight revisions (wording changes; an add. bibliog. citation in one f.n., etc.). There is no substantive change to the text or the position argued.New 5/3/06, DBTS pagewithaudio links from the lectures.
  • Verbal Parallels in the Account of the Feeding of the 5,000. Color-coded chart of the verbal parallels (in Greek) in this account in all four Gospels (17K .pdf file). A separate document summarizes the data from the chart (15K .pdf file).
  • “A King’s Ransom: The Cross in Mark” (Gospel of Mark 15:22-49; an Easter sermon from BBS seminary chapel, 3/22/05), pdf transcript; or mp3 audio (not streamed; ca. 33 meg file, 37 min.)
  • It Is Because of Him, 1 Cor. 1:17-2:5, transcript of a seminary chapel address on Christian ministry in a postmodern world.
  • Ephesians 5:18, “Spirit Filling” (84k, .pdf file) An exegetical discussion of the text. Also see the related chart of various views.
  • Anger and Sin: Eph. 4:26 (25K .pdf file). An exegetical discussion guide of the grammatical and theological issues in this text (orig. a classroom handout).
  • Phil. 2:1-4, Structural Diagram (47K .pdf file). Greek text. with (English) notes.
  • The Kenosis, Phil. 2:5-11, a brief exegetical discussion of key semantic and theological issues.
  • The Original Readers of Hebrews (pdf; published in JMAT 3 [1999] 20-49)
  • The Warnings of Hebrews 3 and 4 (pdf; published in JMAT 4 [2001] 5-27)
  • Hebrews 6, setting & theology (21K .pdf file)
  • Bibliography of New Testament Biblical Theology. Compiled as part of the materials for one of the PhD classes that I teach.
  • Bibliography of ANRW for NT Studies (compiled by 3 of my PhD students) ANRW = Aufstieg und Neidergang der romischen Welt (Rise and Decline of the Roman World). This is an exceedingly large set that constitutes the ultimate reference work on this subject. Articles are written by the world’s foremost scholars in each area and is considered to be one of the most reliable authorities on subjects touching the Roman world–which the NT does at many points.
  • Respecting the Text. This is a transcript from ShopTalk #15 at the Empire State Fellowship of Regular Baptist Churches, 11/6/03, held at First Baptist Church, Schenevus, NY. (ShopTalk is a four hour teaching seminar held three times a year by this fellowship of churches.) The basic thesis of this paper is that our bibliology ought to affect our hermeneutics and both ought to affect the way we do ministry (illustrated here with the public reading of Scripture and preaching). 18 pgs., dbl. col., small print, 504K .pdf file.
  • The Jesus Seminar (TJS). This is a BBS Faculty Forum paper: “Preaching Jesus to Skeptics” and a bibliography of web links re. TJS. Note: I do not intend to maintain this section on TJS. I probably won’t even be updating it even on an irregular basis. You may find some material here that is of value, but for the foreseeable future it is “frozen” in winter/spring 1997 form. If nothing else, that means that many links on the bibliography page are already out of date (“broken”).