Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Thoroughly enjoyed this easy read. Gladwell does have quite the knack for finding interesting stories and weaving them into a narrative supporting his thesis. I particularly enjoyed the...
Mark Ward
An Illustration I Hope to Use Often to Elucidate Redemptive-Historical/Biblical-Theological Reading of Scripture
In the summer of 2006 I went on a mission team with a choir of 25 other young people (one of whom I decided to keep). We went to numerous cities in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, and Lithuania. I often drove one of the four vehicles in our caravan, but I was...
A.O. Scott and David Carr of the New York Times Argue Eloquently and Wittily About the Objectivity of Truth and Beauty When it Comes, in Particular, to Movie Reviews
Plato argued about whether beauty hews to any objective standard. We’re still at it. I’m on your side, A.O. I value your reviews because they insightfully lay bare what a movie is saying, helping me understand my culture without having to wallow in it. You grope after...
NASB Less Literal
Comparing Bible translations is a very complex matter. One small example: The New American Standard Bible is generally (and, I think, rightly) considered to be the most “literal” of major English Bible translations. (“Literal” is a notoriously tricky word that I won’t...
An Approximately 25-Year-Old Misunderstanding with 400-Year-Old Roots
Today I’m writing about the funny, interesting, and powerful story of Elijah for eighth graders. And just now—just now, after 25 years of being a Bible reader—I realized what the King James translators meant when they have Elijah say, “How long halt ye between two...
Flavel on the Christian Duty to Observe God’s Providence
My good pastor read this whole chapter from John Flavel's The Mystery of Providence to our congregation last night. I have never heard him read something to lengthy to us; he obviously felt it was important. You'll see why if you click! Flavel knows his Bible. It's...
Nerdy Tuesdays: GREP
So. I had a huge list of books that was to go up on a website I designed. The list included ISBNs, and I wanted to make every ISBN a link containing my Amazon affiliate code. The list included the ISBNs in a convenient standard format: "ISBN 1234567890123." All the...
Five Reasons to Buy Logos
Several concerned friends have contacted me about a blog post detailing Five Reasons Not to Buy Logos. I urge everyone considering such a purchase to read the five reasons, but you could save about 80% of your time reading that post by being a regular reader of...
A Good Verse to Guide Internet Communication
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17 ESV) A high standard that, by God’s great grace, can be met.
Iain Provan on Higher Critics
From Iain Provan's excellent 1 & 2 Kings commentary: It is not entirely clear why we should dig the great ditch between biblical Israel and historical Israel that the newer historians demand. It is, after all, the case that all historiography, whether ancient or...