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Dr TK Dunn on the Importance of the Old Testament
This is an extract from a longer interview, which I will also embed. I think Dr. Dunn has some valuable comments on the relationship of scripture and what it means for our study. And here’s the full interview from which that was extracted.
Fences: Mending or Rending
The following is a sermon I presented at the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Pensacola on September 11,2005 and originally posted here on September 13, 2005. I’m reposting it because when I went to look for it, I found that the original post had somehow been truncated, and also because there is a one word at a…
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Introduction to 1 Corinthians (Audio)
The following audio introduction comes from a previously podcast series on 1 Corinthians. It will serve as introductory notes for the various comments I will make on passages from 1 Corinthians. I think it is very important to consider the structure of the letter in understanding these passages. The first epistle to the Corinthians is…
Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Pastors
I don’t usually like to be the umpteenth person to post one of these, but this is too good. With many friends who are pastors, not to mention a son-in-law, I’m in tune with it! Update: Oops! Forgot the Hat Tip to One Thing I Know.
Not so Much with the Cabinet Surprises
I’ve been watching television with a certain amount of amusement as various reporters try to create news and then discuss the news they’ve created with reference to President-Elect Obama’s cabinet and other appointments. But what interests me is the great surprise that the president-elect may appoint former rival Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Besides…
NRSV Video Review
You can find editions of the NRSV listed on our MyBibleVersion.com page for the New Revised Standard Version. The following is a video review of the NRSV by Henry Neufeld, owner of Energion Publications.
A Tweetable Creed
I provided David Ker with a Hippopotamus, but what he really wanted was a creed that would fit in a Tweet. In particular, he provided the following particulars: If someone sincerely confessed this creed you would: Consider them to be a brother or sister in Christ. Believe that they are true believers and inheritors of…
A Hippopotamus for David Ker
Well, not really. It’s mine. Here it is: I’ve had it since last Christmas but didn’t think of it until today when I looked at it sitting on my desk. You see, last year I commented to my wife that I thought the song “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas” was “cute.” She never forgets…
Sheep, Shepherds, or Both
I have posted a devotional to my wife’s devotional list under this same title. It includes a partial translation of the Old Testment lectionary for this week (Christ the King Sunday) and some meditations on Judgment. Read it at Jody’s Devotionals.
Standard Reference Sources and Abbreviations
I will use a number of standard references, and will cite them in brackets [] by abbreviation. I list the references I expect to cite regularly in the list below. I will expand this list as I work. In cases of lexicons, dictionaries and commentaries, where the particular reference is quite obvious, I will just…
The Arrogance of Certainty
This week’s gospel reading is Matthew 25:31-46. There will be plenty of sermons preached on serving one’s neighbor and how this is serving Christ himself. There will also be quite a number preached on the judgment and how we will stand in it. I have already written a bit about how the texts today would…
Fulfilling Needs or Catering to Wants
The Internet Monk recommends a couple of books in a post titled Recommended: Wicker and Duin on The End of Evangelicalism, and I’m not going to gainsay his recommendation, considering I have read neither. But one comment he made caught my attention: Despite being an interesting read and passing along many good pieces of information…
Received: The Orthodox Study Bible
. . . and it’s even more interesting than I anticipated. This is obviously not the intended review, but I do find the idea of a Bible with a strong flavor of the Orthodox doctrine quite interesting, and the Bible looks fascinating. The New Testament is NKJV, but the Old Testament uses the St. Athanasius…
Book: The Orthodox Study Bible
I just received a copy of this Bible from Thomas Nelson for review on my Participatory Bible Study Blog, but I can’t resist some preliminary notes after only a short time with it. I do expect to be using it in study over the next few months and reading it through, but since that will…
Book: The Miracle at Speedy Motors
I’m prepared to read just about anything Alexander McCall Smith writes. This whole series is charming–enchanting, even. The story this time centers a great deal around the office, with her secretary, or “Associate Detective” as she has become getting involved a great deal along with her fiance. I’m not one to tell much of the…
Book: Hounded to Death
I like Rita Mae Brown, and especially the mysteries that involve Sneaky Pie Brown. This was my first time reading from her series written around fox hunting. I guess I’m a cat person much more than a dog person, but I never really warmed up to the background in fox hunting. It just doesn’t resonate…
Movie: War, Inc.
I rarely bother to review something like this, but this one annoyed me so much that I wanted to write about it. If this had been a production for YouTube by a bunch of teenagers, it might be regarded as good. I don’t mean production quality. There were some decent effects for the combat. But…
Book: Cat in a Sapphire Slipper
I’m a sucker for light reading that involves cats and mystery, so how could I possibly not enjoy Carole Nelson Douglas’s Midnight Louie mysteries? This latest book finds Max Kinsella missing and Temple Barr getting engaged to Matt Devine, while the Fontana brothers are all kidnapped, and generally all hell is breaking loose all over….
Note on Crossposted Reviews
I’m cross-posting several reviews and notes from my Jevlir Caravansary site where I will no longer be reviewing just to get things started. I will also occasionally cross-post from my other blogs where I occasionally review non-fiction. Normally, posts here will not be crossposted from elsewhere.
TV Series: Ballykissangel
This is another British (at least BBC, set in Ireland) show that I discovered recently and really enjoyed. It follows the adventures of a young priest from Manchester assigned to a parish in Ireland in the town of Ballykissangel. His supervisor is somewhat conservative and doesn’t always appreciate his approach to ministry, but the villagers…
TV Series: Campion
I love British mystery series, in just about any period. Over the weekend I discovered a new one, to me, though it’s been around for some time and I missed it. This is Campion, set in the 1930s, with another of those kind of standard eccentric aristocratic detectives, complete with slightly mysterious butler. I would…
Welcome!
This is the new Energion.com Book Notes Blog, which will be replacing my book reviews and notes posted on The Jevlir Caravansary. That blog was originally intended as a place to post my own fiction and poetry writing as well as links to other fiction and poetry available on the web. At first I added…
Adrian and Dave Warnock on the Atonement
So far as I know, no, they’re not related. Adrian is concerned with the suggestion that anything in the Bible might be culturally conditioned. Wake up and smell the coffee, Adrian! Practically all of Hebrew scriptures is about leading people from here to there. The narrative is built around the exodus, about physically moving from…
Idolatry of Theology and Liturgy
In a recent comment on my video Why I Hate the KJV, I received a comment that began thus: “You were saved by the KJV. . . .” A young man visited my home and discussed with me for more than an hour. At the end, he said he was concerned for my salvation because…
Psalm 100 – How to Meet YHWH
A Psalm of Thanksgiving1Shout to YHWH,all the earth.2Serve YHWH with rejoicing,Come before him with triumphant shouts.3Understand that YHWH is Goda,He made us and we are hisb.We are his people,The sheep in his pasture.4Enter his gates with thanks,And his courts with praise.Thank him, and bless his name.5For YHWH is good,HIs grace is eternal.His truth lasts from…
Nova: Buried Secrets
I had an unfortunate brain failure (probably need to reboot!) and missed the first part, then I was interrupted twice more, but what I did see of the Nova show The Bible’s Buried Secrets looked pretty good. Since for similar reasons (messed up time and all) I didn’t record, but it looks like the site…