john walton responds to vern poythress

on the biologos website john walton responds to vern poythress’s review of “the lost world of genesis one”. i reviewed walton’s book here. poythress recently wrote a review for world magazine where offers some critiques and reservations of walton’s work. i think walton answered those criticisms well. the most pertinent point that walton makes, i think, is the lack of interaction with ancient near eastern sources by poythress in his review. any serious critique of walton’s work, which is based on ancient near eastern backgrounds, has to deal with the primary material. it will be interesting to see if poythress responds.

another semester

tomorrow begins my 46th semester (in a row) as a student. i feel like i should be sick of it by now, but i still find myself extremely excited at the beginning of each new semester. the true sign of a nerd, i suppose.

i’m especially excited for two courses this semester being taught by two world class scholars. the first is a ph.d. course, which i’m taking for m.div. credit, entitled ‘early jewish apocalyptic texts’ being taught by loren stuckenbruck. i took a course on evil and the new testament taught by dr. stuckenbruck last semester and am really looking forward to learning more from him. from the required reading list, it looks like we will be focusing on Read the rest of this entry »

ipad

so unless you have been hiding under a rock you are obviously aware of apple’s newest creation: the ipad. it was one of the most hyped products in recent memory. because of all the hype it certainly could have never lived to meet everyone’s expectations. all over the web today there are disappointed voices about what they wish the ipad could do, what it left out, why it didn’t cure cancer, etc. i think there is some validity to the complaints, but i also think that they overlook some key things. to be upfront, i think the ipad is the most incredible piece of technology i’ve ever seen in my life. i had to keep reminding myself that i was in the present and had not been transported to the future. it was that impressive to me. Read the rest of this entry »

storied theology

daniel kirk is back in the game. for those who don’t know daniel, i feel sorry for you. his blog was consistently one of the blogs that i found most engaging, creative, and interesting to read. i’m glad he’s back and i’m sure he hasn’t missed a beat.

enns reviews beale’s erosion of inerrancy in evangelicalism

peter enns reviewed greg beale’s the erosion of inerrancy in evangelicalism in the most recent volume of the bulletin for biblical research (BBR 19.4 (2009): 628-31). the review is made available here with permission from the author as well as the editor and publisher of bbr. you can download a .pdf scan of the article [link] or read the review below. Read the rest of this entry »

pat robertson is friends with the devil

pat robertson, who perpetually has his foot in is mouth, has come out and claimed that the earthquake in haiti is the result of a pact the country made with the devil. here is a link to the video.

one quote from robertson’s moronic dribble had me thinking. here is the quote: Read the rest of this entry »

ct’s interview with sailhamer

i’m about half-way through sailhamer’s newest book the meaning of the pentateuch which i’m reviewing for scot mcknight’s blog. i won’t dive into all of my thoughts right now, but i would like to point to an interview in christianity today with sailhamer about the book.

i was particularly struck by this question and answer [question in bold; sailhamer's answer follows]: Read the rest of this entry »

doctrine of scripture

i’m currently taking a course entitled ‘issues in the theology of scripture.’ it is a short term course, which means that we have class all morning during the week for three weeks in january. after the first class we had to write a 1500 word answer to the question: “what do we mean when we say the bible is true, and what methods of interpretation help us to appreciate its truthfulness?”

i had a difficult time distilling all my thoughts into 1500 words. we were also given the instruction that we should be writing our essay in such a way that an ‘educated layperson’ would be able to understand it. so without the ability to hide behind multi-syllabic words, i had to press onwards. Read the rest of this entry »

mar sbl

this semester has just gotten a bit busier. my paper proposal for the mid atlantic region of the society of biblical literature was accepted. here is the title and the abstract. Read the rest of this entry »

earliest hebrew inscription?

dr. robert cargill has posted the information regarding the earliest hebrew inscription extant…all depending on whether a) it is proven to be genuine and b) the language is proven to be an early form of hebrew and not another canaanite dialect. it will be interesting to hear more about this when details become available. make sure to click through for more information.