Getting What Was Said
It can be hard to go from a text to a sermon. The line from past to present can be hard work. But at the root, one must hear clearly what was said. Dave Black looks at a text.
It can be hard to go from a text to a sermon. The line from past to present can be hard work. But at the root, one must hear clearly what was said. Dave Black looks at a text.
Embedded below is the video of my interview with Dr. Allan R. Bevere in the series asking the same 10 questions of a variety of people. You can find all the interview videos at Resources for Studying Paul. Allan is a United Methodist pastor, and author of several Energion titles.
Pete Enns has an interesting article on Cain and Abel on the BioLogos Science and the Sacred web site. As interesting as it is–and I commend the discussion–I was most struck by the final paragraph: Pondering these sorts of questions leads to “hermeneutical self-awareness.” Such self-awareness may not lead to the final word about a…
Brian Russell of Real Meal Ministries has posted a summary on Bible translation that is quite good. It’s hard to keep things straight in a short, readable essay. (HT: Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup by Allan Bevere.) I would note that he uses the popular rather than any of the technical definitions of “paraphrase,” but I…
I got an e-mail today with just the link for this new blog–only two entries–and the blogger is [drum roll] –wait for it–the TNIV Translation. Well, I assume the book has a spokesman and he or she (or should I use the singular “they”) is typing the entries. I don’t know if this is an…
There’s an interesting thread in the Religion Forum right now, What is a Biblical Translation?, which goes into the issue of whether one can create a 100% accurate Bible translation. Of course, the answer is “no.” If you want 100% accuracy, you need to go to the source language. But even there you bring yourself…
Well, we didn’t do so well this past Monday, but a new week is coming! On Monday, July 28, we will meet again via Google Hangouts, with the announcement via e-mail (if you’ve requested one), or on my Google+ page. Jody has already posted the question for this coming Monday and the scriptures: The Scriptures…
This is well done—but only if you take the Bible literally. I am particularly referring to Dr. Black’s 6th point: “We can endure suffering and persecution because we have placed our hope in Jesus and in His coming back to earth.” Interestingly, Paul could say this because he believed Jesus was to return in his (general) lifetime. But he didn’t. Apocalyptic theology which permeates Paul and most of the New Testament mislead many, including those today who knowingly or unknowingly incorporate the ancient (and now discredited) cosmology of a three-tiered universe where Jesus is located “up there” and will come “down here” sometime. Exegesis that lives only in the ancient world and not in ours where there is nothing outside the cosmos including God, led Paul and continues to lead many others to a false conclusion.
It’s revealing that only Luke’s Gospel has a literal ascension with a projected literal return. In the others, Jesus just fades away. (I know, I know—one is enough.) And Matthew just declares that Jesus never goes away and will be with the church to the end of the age. Seems he need not return because he never left. All this is to say that we have reason to doubt a literal Second Coming based on faulty cosmology.
To move from the first century or from 1000 BCE to our day is no easy thing. Especially if you don’t clarify biblical misconceptions (and they abound) along the way. Imagine the difficulty Abraham would have negotiating our world. Well, we have the same difficulty negotiating his. Yet the move from the text to sermon seems too often to ignore this.