The Proper Order of Aesop’s Fables
For the last four years, the Bible and theology department at Wheaton College in Illinois has studied the biblical and theological literacy of incoming freshmen. These students are intellectually ambitious and spiritually passionate. They represent almost every Protestant denomination and every state in the country. Most come from strong evangelical churches and possess a long history of personal devotion and Christian involvement (regular church attendance, youth groups, camps, missions,...
Why Study the Biblical Languages
Ironically, technology has made study of the biblical languages both easier and less likely (technology giveth; technology taketh away). In my own experience, I can say it was very difficult to push myself to master the Hebrew verb states (or stems; i.e., Niphal, Piel, Pual, etc.) because I knew that BibleWorks would do it for me flawlessly. However, without BibleWorks' ability to look up any Hebrew word instantly with just a mouse click (or even a mouse hover!), I wonder how strong my Hebrew...
Weekly Standard on Christian Thinker/Journalist Ken Myers
[Ken Myers] has big plans for the next few years, with a particular attention to music. He’s planning a series of podcasts on the standard classical repertoire—one piece per podcast—and another on sacred choral music, which he’s pursuing with a special ardor. “I hear interviews with the singers and conductors who perform these works, and so many of them say they don’t really believe what they’re singing,” he says. “And meanwhile, the people who do believe it don’t know anything about it!”...
Moisés Silva on the Hermeneutical Spiral
Moisés Silva's essay in Revelation and Reason: New Essays in Reformed Apologetics offers a somewhat startling thesis: "My theological system should tell me how to exegete." (86) Many exegetes profess to come to the text sans system, but Silva argues that because this is impossible we might as well be purposeful about the relationship between system and text. He offers three supporting arguments for his thesis: Systematic Theology is already a recontextualizing of ancient truths; by its very...
Favoritism Is Good? Fish!!
Does anyone even read my Stanley Fish links? Anyone? Earth to anyone! Because now Fish has taken a long enough break from revealing everyone else's presuppositions to reveal one of his own, and I think that's pretty interesting. Have a listen. [The liberal notion of fairness] asks you to regard ideological/political differences as articles of clothing; they are cosmetic rather than essential; the person is what he is apart from them and it is the person, rather than the accidents of birth or...