Redaction Criticism
After discussing Form Criticism and Source Criticism, Redaction Criticism is really quite easy to deal with. Redaction is simply another term for editing. It is the study of how an editor works the sources he has into a final document, the document that we would commonly refer to as the autograph. Again, it is important…
The Locus of Biblical Inspiration
I was doing my morning reading a couple of days ago from the book of Hebrews. One of the verses that caught my eye this time was Hebrews 2:6-9, and particularly verse 7, quoted from Psalm 8:5 (all verse numbers from the English Bible, Psalm 8:5 is 8:6 in Hebrew). Now this quotation is an…
Identifying Your Gifts and Service
Identifying Your Gifts and Service is a workbook that I wrote, which is published by my publishing company, Energion Publications. I’m going to write here about how to use that workbook effectively in helping church members understand their spiritual gifts and put them to use in support of the church’s mission. Identifying Your Gifts and…
Source Criticism
[Note, 3/25/06 — the original post was truncated due to a syntax error I made in the HTML. This is the corrected version.] (Continuing my series on Biblical criticism, from my last post From Criticism.) If Form Criticism can properly be called a “tree method” rather than a forest view, Source Criticism might be said…
We’re Supporting What?
Over on the evangelical outpost Joe Carter is blogging about the situation in Afghanistan, where Abdul Rahman is awaiting sentencing for converting to Christianity. Read the full story from Cybercast News Service here. You can review the Afghan constitution and see just why this is possible. This story is bringing to people’s attention just what…
The Unforgivable Sin
The Wesley Daily has posted an entry by Jason Woolever (post-methodist) entitled The Unforgivable Sin. If you read this blog regularly,or if you look over the entries right now, you’ll realize that I don’t post something that just says, “Go look!” all that often, but this is the time for an exception. This is a…
Examples of Textual Issues in Translation
One issue that is commonly neglected in comparing Bible translations is the text used. Translators are well aware that differences in translation can be the result of differences in the text used, but in modern times, the approach to the text used by most translations has been very similar, and thus tends to be ignored…
How the World has Changed
Change is a feature of the modern world. This has practically become a cliche. We have become used to technological change, though we’re still not certain how to deal with it. But there is political change as well, and transportation and communications together tend to speed political change. Newsweek calls attention to one aspect of…
Balancing Old and New
My wife and I often approach things differently. I know that’s a really shocking admission, likely to stun our family, friends, and neighbors. 🙂 We even like different styles of worship services. She tends to embrace new things quickly. I’m rather conservative. I can be persuaded, but you need to prepare a good case first!…
Art for Fun, Faith, and Profit
This is a very different sort of blog entry for me. I’m used to writing heavy and sometimes obscure entries on religion, Biblical studies, or politics for this blog. So bear with me . . . My wife Jody and I spent a couple of hours today at the Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival in…
Form Criticism
We’ll begin our discussion of specific tools within the historical-critical method by looking at form criticism. I’m going to try to present this in a way that will be useful to lay students of the Bible, so note that I will be ignoring the more obscure forms and some technicalities of the method. The general…
Policy or Feeling?
Eleanor Clift in Newsweek has a new column, Dem Feingold Tosses GOP a Life Raft, in which she points out that Feingold’s bid to censure Bush is not good political strategy. It certainly is not, and especially for any politician or political party that is trying to reach out to the center. I’m a passionate…
The Man Has No Choice?
Anderson cooper is blogging over on CNN getting ready for a program on a case that’s being called “Roe v. Wade for men.” The idea is that a man should have a choice about having a child, and about whether he should have to pay child support. I suppose there’s going to be a long…
Criticism Example: The Parable of the Sower
The following chart is designed to allow persons who are not skilled in Greek to work with the parallel accounts of the parable of the sower, Matthew 13:1-9, Mark 4:1-9, and Luke 8:4-8. Notes cover very basic cocepts of textual criticism, form criticism, source criticism, and redaction criticism. In future entries I will expand on…
Prayer Training
Over on the Pacesetters Bible School News blog I have posted an entry on prayer teams and prayer training. Prayer training seems to be quite rare in churches. ItÂ’s possible that we generally feel that prayer isnÂ’t something that should be taught, but rather is something that just happens. Many pastors that IÂ’ve talked to…
Biblical Doctrine of Creation
In my pamphlet God the Creator I briefly answer the following question: What are some broad essentials of the Biblical doctrine of creation? In my answer I listed the following six points. I will list the points below and expand on them, below. But first, what am I trying to do here? One thing that…
Why not Intelligent Design?
As reported in various newspapers and summarized on the Florida Citizens for Science web site, (Textbook Debate Still Evolving, Letter to Brevard County School Board, and Textbooks Changed under Pressure) a school board member in Brevard County wants to adopt a science textbook including two paragraphs about intelligent design. I find the introduction of these…
Textual Criticism – Briefly
Note: This is a second excursus in my series on Biblical criticism. When I begin my next entry, dealing with the parable of the sower, I will begin by discussing textual issues and applying these principles. I was encouraged to make a few notes on textual criticism after I read the collection of essays The…
Dating the Book of Daniel
Note: This is a small excursus in my series giving an overview of Biblical criticism. In this entry I want to apply some of the material I discussed about authorship and dating to the book of Daniel. Next, I will write an additional entry on methods of textual criticism in general, and then I will…
What Billy Graham Regrets
Newsweek has an excellent interview with Billy Graham in their online edition. I think his response to the issue of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina was excellent. Very often we can only answer “I don’t know” to the “why” questions that people have in times of trouble. Graham provides an example and encouragement as…
Webb Impressive
In a spring training game, John Webb pitched just one inning, struck out two batters, then the final batter grounded out. You can read the story of the game here. Tony LaRussa, Cardinals manager, commented that Webb was “most impressive.” Yes, that’s baseball. I don’t usually put anything personal in this blog, but John Webb…
Not Enough to Show Up
In an opinion piece in Newsweek, titled Perception is Everything, Eleanor Clift comments that due to the fumbling of the Bush administration on several issues, scandals in congress, and the resulting low approval ratings for the Bush administration, all that may be necessary for the Democrats to sweep congress would be just to show up….
Translation and Interpretation
Mike Sangrey has an excellent post on translation and interpretation on the Better Bibles blog, entitled, appropriately, Interpretation versus Translation — Competition or Teamwork?.This can be a very contentious issue, but the bottom line is that a translator cannot function without interpretation. Normally we complain about interpretations that we don’t like. Formal equivalence advocates like…
Truth Value of Numbers
Christianity Today reports in an article titled Too Inclusive that Pastor Carlton Pearson’s Higher Dimensions Worship Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma has now begun meeting in a neighboring Episcopal church, since membership has dropped by 90% from an initial 5,000. I discovered this story by reading the Wesley Daily blog, which titled the story Pastor Says…