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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…
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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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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…
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Questions and Parables: Grace in Luke 17
Today Pat Badstibner of World Prayr published a post on the World Prayr Devotional blog picturesquely titled The Law Is Not Soggy Cornflakes. In it, Pat finds a number of purposes for the law, even, and perhaps especially, for those living under grace. If we look to the law as the means of making ourselves…
No Study Tonight and an Explanation
I will not be continuing my eschatology study tonight. I will be giving the final session of the eschatology series next Thursday night. At that time, I will take a break and will return June 23, 2016. I will announce what I’ll be studying as we move forward. The reason for this hiatus is that…
Science and Replication (or not)
An article today on FiveThirtyEight says it’s possible that the simple awarding of badges to those who follow certain procedures (openness of data, revealing methodology, etc), may have sparked an increase in these good practices. Or not, of course. The correlation is pretty clear. The causation is somewhat less so. It could be that all…
They’re Bad so We’re Good
Recent political discourse reminds me of the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector: 9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee,…
No Eschatology Study Tonight
I will not be presenting my study on eschatology via Google Hangouts on Air this evening. I will continue on May 12 and May 19 which will conclude this study. I still haven’t decided what my next topic will be. I’m open to suggestions.
No, I Really Don’t
… have to vote for one of the major party candidates come November. I’m going to take a break from not posting anything political. I haven’t stayed away from political posting because I think politics is bad and Christians shouldn’t be involved. I welcome the involvement of everyone in politics. For me, it is a…
Overthinking
I sometimes tend to overthink things. I know this will shock my family and friends. I just experienced the downside of this. Our yard is full of trees. I have nowhere to park my car that doesn’t result in it being covered with tree sap. Now doubtless friends by the dozens will know how to…
Eschatology: Daniel to Revelation
Tonight I’ll be bridging the gap between these two very commonly associated books and doing a look-ahead to my several week study of Revelation. This study will conclude my series on Eschatology. Amongst the small but diligent group that watches these, are there suggestions for continuation? I will doubtless keep talking, even if the…
Eschatology: Daniel 10-12 Wrap-Up
I’m going to try to wrap up my discussion of Daniel. I must remember that my purpose here was not to do an extended study of Daniel, but rather to look at ways of interpreting the book and how they fit into and/or underlie one’s eschatological views. Chapters 10 & 11 would take quite a…
Supreme Court Declines to Revive Challenge to Google Books
The Supreme Court did this by declining to hear the case, thus leaving the Appeals Court ruling in place. Article here. HT: FastCompany. As both a publisher and an author, I approve of this decision, especially because I publish many relatively unknown authors. Sometimes it’s hard for me to convince authors that letting people see…
Quick Thoughts after Reading Different Greek Texts
Yesterday I read a few chapters (4 actually) of Hebrews with Stephen’s Textus Receptus (1550) beside my NA27, both from Logos Bible Software. It was an interesting exercise. I noticed a few things I hadn’t noticed before and was reminded of some things I know, but can easily neglect. I started into biblical languages to…
A Classic Quote from My Blog: Being Wrong
I’ve been wrong before, am quite probably wrong about many things right now, and I suspect I will go right on being wrong until I die. From What Embarrasses Me about Christianity. Yep. Just checked. No reason to believe I’m not still wrong about bunches of things.
Eschatology: Daniel 9 – 2
Tonight I’ll be discussing various understandings of the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel 9 with Elgin Hushbeck, Jr. Google+ Event Page YouTube:
Tonight on the Energion Tuesday Night Hangout: Age of the Earth and some Textual Discussion
Tonight on the Energion Tuesday Night Hangout, Elgin Hushbeck, Jr. will interview author Jay Hall regarding his book on the age of the earth, and then Elgin and I will be joined by Thomas Hudgins for a discussion of some translation/interpretation issues (to be determined as we go!). Google+ Event Page YouTube:
The Apologetics of Hebrews – Can You Defend a Dead Church?
In Hebrews 2:1-4 I believe the author of Hebrews provides a basic apologetic outline, and I think it’s a very useful one to follow. After the first two verses, which start from a platform that was already accepted by the audience, the author emphasizes the importance of the decision. If he is right in what…
Translating Hebrews 2:6-8 – Gender, Number, and Breaking the Discourse
I’ve written about this a couple of times before, though using the NIV1984 and NIV2011, in A Gender Neutral Example – Hebrews 2:6-8 and Quick Follow-up on Hebrews 2:6-8. I covered most of the key issues in those two short posts, but to summarize quickly, I note the questions of how one should translated the…
Eschatology: Daniel 8 with Intro to Daniel 9
Update: I want to provide two reference links. These are not specifically recommended as better than others, but rather as somewhat representative of their category. The first, giving Daniel 9 (the 70 weeks prophecy) in an historicist context, is The Seventy Week Prophecy of Daniel (Bible Light). The second, showing a futurist interpretation, is Daniel…
Eschatology: Daniel 8
Tonight I’ll continue my study of eschatology by looking at Daniel 8. This is a fairly straightfoward chapter to interpret with a great deal of the interpretation provided right in the text. The most interesting element, I believe, is to look at its place in the structure of Daniel and how it impacts our understanding…
Seven Marks: Fervent Prayer
The sixth mark Dave discusses in Seven Marks of a New Testament Church is fervent prayer (pp. 39-42). There are a variety of views of what it means to be “the church” or what it means to be Christian. For some, it’s a matter of holding the correct set of beliefs. One knows that certain…
Translating Poetry
On March 24, 2016, blog entry marked 11:40 AM, Dave Black talks about translating poetry and links to his essay on the topic from a Festschrift, available via Google Docs. Reading Dave’s comments about translating poetry reminded me of one of my favorite translations of poetry from any language to any other, Max Knight’s translations…
C. S. Lewis on Dogs and Cats
Yes, he had an opinion: To Mary Willis Shelburne (3/21/1955): “We were talking about Cats & Dogs the other day & decided that both have consciences but the dog, being an honest, humble person, always has a bad one, but the Cat is a Pharisee and always has a good one. When he sits and…
My Church Preferences
A few months ago a friend, commenting on my approach to publishing, and really to many other things, said, “It’s hard to be both a prophet and a facilitator.” Now he wasn’t talking about the way a prophet might get his or her words from God, but rather that prophets advocate ideas. Facilitators encourage others to…
Good Friday
It’s the evening of Good Friday and I find myself a bit too tired to blog coherently or to come up with some uplifting words. I generally try not to write when I feel this way. No use spreading the weariness around. But of course Good Friday was a day that made something like my…
Eschatology: Daniel 7, Symbols, and Visions
I’ll be addressing some additional points about dating and prediction as well, while emphasizing the symbols and imagery and what the book would have sounded like to those who first read it. Google+ Event Page YouTube: