And Joshua said, “By this you will know that the living God is among you, and that he will certainly drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.” — Joshua 3:10 The king and his men went to Jerusalem, against the Jebusites who…
Last night I attended a Bible study in which my pastor was teaching on Romans 1:22-32. If that verse selection doesn’t fully make sense to you, consider that he was simply following up from the point at which he stopped the prior week. My pastor is Dr. Wesley Wachob, an accomplished exegete. One of the…
In chapter six of his book God’s Problem, Ehrman tackles the book of Job. (My notes on the book as a whole are here.) He describes the book as coming from two sources, one containing the narrative portions, and one containing the poetic dialogues. This view is not that exceptional, though one should also consider…
I’m glad to see Bill Mounce discuss valid use of etymology. I’ve long thought that we have fallen into an “every etymology is a fallacy” trap, but it’s good to see an acknowledged expert say that. Note that the vast majority of etymologies I hear are indeed false etymologies, but there are valid uses.
I found this humorous story from the Lark via Shuck and Jive. It’s humorous, I think, because it strikes close to home even though it’s exaggerated. I make two serious points out of this. On those occasions when I’ve had the opportunity to teach Greek or Hebrew to those planning to be pastors I emphasize:…
I should just call the title a post and go on! But I won’t. The title and post came to me as I read Stupid Bible Tricks #1, and empathized. I recall one occasion when a speaker who was aware that i read Greek, and knew I had my Greek testament in front of my…
On The Rev’s Rumbles (HT: Shuck and Jive) there is a discussion of Biblical authority. The writer quotes the following assertion favorably (from Kenneth Cauthen): NO CHRISTIAN ALLOWS THE BIBLE TO TEACH AS THE AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD WHAT IS KNOWN OR BELIEVED (FOR WHATEVER REASONS) TO BE EITHER UNTRUE OR IMMORAL. EVERY CHRISTIAN FINDS…
C. Michael Patton presents Textual Criticism in a Nutshell, though what he means more precisely is New Testament textual criticism in a nutshell. It’s quite a good introduction giving a feel for the types of variants and why they might occur, and also why we might prefer not to call them “errors” considering that some…
Over the last few days there have been a flurry of posts at Language Log that could be related to Biblical criticism, though that is not the intent of their authors. What they are actually discussing is authorship identification and then spin spotting, with an interesting twist at the end. Here are some key posts…
A few weeks ago I began looking at the new NLT Study Bible, and indicated that I would use it and then comment as I went along rather than writing a review as such. Introductory Comments Since I’m looking at the manuscript for a new study guide to Luke that that I intend to publish,…