John Hobbins has just posted a blog memorial to Abraham Joshua Heschel that’s well worth checking out, including links to Heschel’s famous NBC video interview two weeks before his death, profiles of Heschel, and other useful material. Heschel is one of the most influential scholars in my own work—I remain convinced that his two volume [...] Read more »
Seminaries Headed to the Cemetery?
Frederick Schmidt’s article, “Is it Time to Write the Eulogy? The Future of Seminary Education,” observes a number of problems with the present state of seminary education and suggested some sweeping changes to how M.Div. degrees are handled both by the church and by divinity schools. In the quest for academic respectability, seminaries have not [...] Read more »
Lies in the Bible? Ehrman and the Intentional Fallacy
The marketing campaign for Bart Ehrman’s latest popular book (this time on forgery in the Bible) has picked up in earnest, first with a few interviews and now with a piece in the Huffington Post summarizing his thesis that “the Bible actually contains lies.” As usual, Bart isn’t actually saying anything new in this popular-level [...] Read more »
“Paul, a ‘Slave’ or ‘Bondslave’”? Misinterpreted Bible Passages #7
Paul begins his letter to the Romans by introducing himself: Παῦλος δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, κλητὸς ἀπόστολος ἀφωρισμένος εἰς εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ, “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, a called apostle set apart for the gospel of God ….” One would think that this would be a rather difficult verse to misinterpret, but nearly anything is possible [...] Read more »
“Sabbath” or “Week”? When Words Mean More Than One Thing
One of my commenters has asked an excellent question about Matthew 28:1 (and several other verses), centering on the fact that the Greek word σάββατoν (sabbaton, “Sabbath” or “week”), which occurs twice in the verse, is translated differently each time. He observes that the same word (Strong’s reference number 4521) seems to be translated several [...] Read more »
