Featured Posts
-
What Is Biblical Literacy?
We complain about it, write about it, claim it’s important or even critical, design programs to create it, but what is it? I don’t mean that none of us know what we mean when we say “biblically literate” or “biblically illiterate,” but do we all mean the same thing? I don’t think we do, and…
-
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…
-
Experiencing the (Baptism of the) Holy Spirit
This is a topic where I tend to make just about everyone uncomfortable. Long time readers may recall a previous discussion of speaking in tongues, and my own experience of it. Those who expect me to be intellectually oriented and rational are uncomfortable with mystical experiences, and many who are comfortable with the mystical experiences…
Social Notes (see all)
All Posts
Nelson Study Bible Note Problems
I’m not going to link to a specific edition on this, because there is no ISBN in the edition from which I’m working. It appears to be a match for this item on Amazon.com, and to be essentially the same notes as this item, though I cannot be absolutely certain. If you have a similar…
Praying for your Enemies
Rev. John Shuck of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton, TN, would like people to stop praying for him. That should be a provocative enough opening line! What’s more, I think a few of those people at least should do just that. More importantly, they should quit talking about praying for him. I’m guessing that they…
Emotions, Momentum Shifts, and Margins of Error
This CQPolitics article is a good read on New Hampshire, I think. Along with emotions, one needs to remember that polls come with margins of error [Wikipedia], and that even those are within a certain confidence percentage.
Scientists Use Random Design Principles
. . . or so it appears to me, to design a more efficient plant–for their purposes. Check out this MSNBC article to see how it was done.
RUSETAI in 2 Corinthians 1:10
This is not a seriously doubtful textual issue, but I wanted to make a brief summary and comment on it, because it can help illustrate the interaction between internal and external evidence in a case where the two point in the same direction. For a very brief outline of textual criticism, see Textual Criticism-Briefly. In…
The New Interpreter’s Study Bible
I have my stable of study Bibles that I regularly consult and recommend to students. Three key ones are The Learning Bible (CEV) [TLB], the Oxford Study Bible (REB), and the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV). Though I don’t use it regularly (there have to be some books I don’t read!), the HarperCollins Study Bible…
Questioning God-Given Rights
I’m following Joe Carter’s new series on his particular conservative beliefs with interest. I think it’s a valuable thing to do, and blogging about it should provide some interesting reading and discussion. My interest is in the concept of God-given rights, or rights with which we are endowed by the creator, and the value of…
Christian Carnival CCIV Posted
. . . at Parableman.
Christian Carnival CCIV Posted
. . . at Parableman.
Spiritual Gifts in 1 Corinthians 1:7
The lectionary passages for Epiphany 2 (Cycle A) include 1 Corinthians 1:1-9. In verse seven, we have the phrase “spiritual gift.” It’s interesting to note which word is used for “spiritual gift”–in this case charisma. This is not the word used in 1 Corinthians 12:1 and 14:1, which both use pneumatikos. A number of interpreters…
A Common Theme for the Epiphany 2 Lectionary
I’m probably going to talk about common themes later, but I noticed something interesting that might not be the first thing one would notice in these passages, and that’s a combined sense of inadequacy without God’s Spirit, and the adequacy given by the presence of God’s Spirit. In Isaiah 49, the servant is taken as…
Emotions and Candidates
I think there’s something wrong with us when one candidate’s show of emotion can get this much press time. I’m hoping that the public are much less excited about this than the press, but political commentators seem to be trying to make it a pivotal point in her campaign, part of that every shifting momentum…
The Momentum has Shifted – Not!
You’ll notice that I don’t make predictions about who is going to win elections around here. That’s not because I’m really modest and don’t want to let you know how right I am; it’s because I generally don’t have a clue. I do remembering saying to my wife during the 2000 election that I didn’t…
I Posted on Prescriptive Grammar
. . . over at my Jevlir blog.
What I Want for Election Day: A Health Care Plan
I haven’t seen any results from New Hampshire yet, so this is probably a good thing to write about politics. I’m going to try really, really hard to keep this short. I am very much encouraged by the increased voter turnout thus far, both in Iowa and New Hampshire. I hope it is a trend…
Common Theme, Lectionary for Baptism of Christ – A
The texts are Isaiah 42:1-9, Psalm 29, Acts 10:34-43, and Matthew 3:13-17. (Check them on Textweek which is a wonderful resource.) I like to think about common themes in these passages so that I can, if I want create a sermon or a lesson that incorporates all four texts. In this case I see a…
ADELFOI = Brothers and Sisters
I’m probably beating a dead horse to death, but I encountered the following quote in reading Victor Paul Furnish’s commentary on 2 Corinthians: . . . adelphoi is used quite inclusively by Paul when he addresses a congregation; he is thinking of all those, female as well as male, who are in Christ. . ….
Why I Don’t Like Left Behind
Hat tip to Gentle Wisdom for this quiz on eschatology: What’s your eschatology?created with QuizFarm.com You scored as Amillenialist Amillenialism believes that the 1000 year reign is not literal but figurative, and that Christ began to reign at his ascension. People take some prophetic scripture far too literally in your view. Preterist 100% Amillenialist 100%…
Why People Hate Hillary
During the 1992 presidential campaign that gave us Bill Clinton, I remarked to a friend that if they would just swap out the candidates for their wives, they would have my vote. In particular I thought Hillary Clinton was substantially smarter than her husband. Since then I have lived in the south and watched eight…
Anchor Bible: 2 Corinthians – Introduction
One of my more esoteric goals in life is to complete a study of every book of the Bible form the original languages working with a commentary that takes critical issues into account. I have read the Bible through in its original languages. This is a different type of study. I will generally read other…
Becoming Righteous and Becoming Rich
I’m currently doing some study in 2 Corinthians for some of my personal study, partly because I became interested in the structure of the book when studying 2 Corinthians 5:21. I blogged about that previously, looking at the interpretations of Wright and Piper. In that post I obliquely questioned whether 2 Corinthians 5:21 was such…
From my Blogroll: Better Bibles, Baptists, and Brothers
Better Bibles was one of the earliest entries on my blogroll, and one of the blogs I read before I began blogging myself. I look to the authors for lots of challenging material on Bible translation. They often go much deeper than I would. But these posts are not just about explaining who’s on the…
Literal Nonsense – the HCSB of 2 Corinthians 8:11-12
I’m doing some studying in 2 Corinthians right now, and I encountered the following translation while reading it through in the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB): 11But now finish the task as well, that just as there was eagerness to desire it, so there may also be a completion from what you have. 12For if…
Rounding Up My Blogs
I’ve written two posts that might interest readers of Threads. The first is on how we listen and read, and the second is on capitalization in translation of the Hebrew scriptures. (And no, the Hebrew doesn’t have capitalization, so what gives?)