Faithful readers, accept my heartfelt thanks for your interaction. I really do appreciate it. I’m actually glad my blog is not popular enough to attract nasty commenters!
For those who didn’t participate in the “peruse” discussion, check out how the discussion fared at the polling page.
The following article is a slightly modified version of a lecture I delivered at BJU Seminary in Greenville, SC, on Nov 1, 2021.The particular edition of the Greek New Testament used in all sectors of KJV-Onlyism is called “Scrivener’s,” because it was put together by...
I am an extremely minor public figure, sort of semi-public. Sort of like the Richard Dean Anderson of redheaded Christian YouTubers. The guy you sort of think maybe you’ve heard of, but you can’t place him. So I need to make a small semi-public statement about the...
I want to talk through a super common issue on the internet. I invite your wisdom and input; I also invite your prayer. Because I want and need—desperately need—divine wisdom for whether and how to answer all kinds of internet comments from all kinds of strangers with...
I basically finished my dissertation a decade ago. Paul’s Positive Religious Affections. It’s available on Kindle and print-on-demand just in case anyone wants it. In it I basically argued that Paul is meant to be a model in his affections and not just in his theology...
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Though I’m late coming into the conversation, here goes. I am grieved to think that if peruse looses the meaning “to read carefully,” English will have lost one of its crisper words. “Read this document carefully” is more clumsy than “Peruse this document.” But, the final word is usage. Are there any reasons for prescribing lexicographically? 🙂
That was a very good comment. I’m glad you posted it. In my heart I feel the way you do. I think “comprise” and “compose” provide a good example. There’s a useful distinction we’re losing.
But right now I fear more the opposite danger, that people will continue to live in the dark land of LP and have their Bible interpretation darkened by the darkness in that dark land!
English is beautiful—”supple,” as someone put it once. It would be a shame for it to go down the tubes. Strike that. Reverse it. It _is_ a shame. But the answer can’t be staking claims on individual words. That won’t work anyway. It has to be creating a culture in which words are valued and savored. So the best way to preserve “peruse” is probably to get rid of television and text messaging.
Or, seriously, to see a work of the Spirit of God in either saving or re-moralizing our culture. May God do that by His grace!