Linguist-Translator with Valuable Insight on Bible Translation
Ernst-August Gutt, an author recommended to me by David Bell, has changed my wavering opinion on whether or not Bible translations should translate metaphors. You really need to read Gutt's whole—relatively brief—discussion to follow this, but try anyway: It is often claimed that a metaphor is a formal device that serves to embellish text. We are also told that it usually has one basic point of similarity that constitutes the meaning of the metaphor and that can be expressed in nonfigurative...
Gospel-Centeredness
I went to the Bob Jones University Faculty/Staff opening meeting this year with real excitement, more than ever in the nine times I've gone. Yes, heavy hors d'oeuvres were on their way, including my annual shrimp dosage. But somehow I felt that something even better would happen. It did. Stephen Jones, president of BJU and a sincerely godly man, made "Living in Light of the Gospel" the theme for the year. Last year's theme put feet to the truth. This year's theme gives the feet the energy they...
How to Be Popular in One Easy Step
If you, like me, have been looking for a thoughtful, definitive article on the health care crisis, I highly recommend this lengthy piece in the Atlantic. I just finished it, and I found it incredibly sane. The writer, a Democrat, had a perspective that I felt put government and the free-market in their proper places. I'm no expert on politics or any political battles outside the (moral-religious) culture wars. I admit I struggle to know which voices to listen to when it comes to issues like...
Tech Tweet
Neil Postman: New technologies increase our options, but they just as frequently decrease our options. Postman recommends that we ask this question about any given technology: What is the problem to which this technology is the solution?
Free Cartoon Fridays (Sep 4): “B.C. Harmony”
Welcome back to Free Cartoon Friday! Check back each week for a free cartoon I failed to sell to Christian pastors' magazines in 2005! Click image for full size. Any real cartoonists out there who are willing to put my ideas in more appealing visual form and sell them?