A couple of days ago I linked to a post by J. K. Gayle which is in response to John Hobbins on the question of listing things one needs to read in order to understand the Bible. I mentioned that I might sound more like J. K. Gayle than John Hobbins when I got around…
J. K. Gayle takes on John Hobbins’ question. Not precisely answers it. He takes it on. I have this post on my list of posts I want to respond to, but I haven’t yet had time. Let me simply state that there are few forms of writing to which I react more negatively than universally…
Chris Heard asked via Twitter whether the NLT was suitable for academic study. T. C. Robinson has given an answer: Concluding thoughts: The NLT, New Living Translation, is simply too loose to be considered a serious academic Bible. While I have some sympathy with this point, I have to ask just what the definition of “serious” and “academic”…
My reading today in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, X, Hebrews was unusually rich, commenting on Hebrews 10:1-11. This is the first of three extracts. As usual, I’m taking these from CCEL and I urge you to support them as you can. The way, then, as it appears to us, in which we ought to deal…
Peter Kirk linked to my post on “an eye for an eye” in responding to David Ker’s post What to do with the vengeance in the Old Testament? Skip it! As a result I’ve been able to follow a rather substantial number of posts discussing this issue. One of these comes from John Hobbins, who…
As I’ve noted before, I’m now reading Calvin J. Roetzel, 2 Corinthians, in the Abingdon New Testament Commantaries series. I want to emphasize here that I accept the use of historical-critical methodology in Bible study. That does not, however, force me to find all critical theories plausible. I’m arguing against this specific set of theories,…
I was reminded of this by two events during the last week. First, the arrival of copies of my new book with co-author Rev. Geoffrey Lentz. One of the things we emphasize in that book is hearing what the text is actually saying before trying to explain it. This is a difficult task, probably impossible…
Some of you may justifiably ask just what some guy moving on through middle age is doing writing a review of a book whose title starts For Girls Only! And that was indeed my reaction when I first saw the book in an e-mail from Tyndale House. Indeed, I had just about deleted the e-mail…
I believe that as Christians, we need to think a great deal more about how we understand scripture. So I welcome this series by Josh Mann at for the Sake of Truth. I’m going to follow it, and possibly respond when it is complete. The first part deals with the definition of hermeneutics and the…
The Old Testament Lectionary passage for the first Sunday in Lent, cycle C is Deuteronomy 26:1-11. It’s kind of an odd text for this season. You might almost use it as a text for Fat Tuesday. I’m going to comment more on the lectionary texts this week, if for no other reason than because I’ve…
