Did Evangelical Snowflakes Censor the Bible?
Salon.com recently published an interview with sociologist Samuel L. Perry titled, “When Evangelical Snowflakes Censor the Bible: The English Standard Version Goes PC.” And I got a reply to all this: Nuh-uh! Let me elaborate that answer, however, because “nuh-uh” probably won’t persuade anyone. And also because there’s a bit of truth in the charge, and Christian students of the Bible need to know that truth. Perry raises very important questions about Bible interpretation, and about the proper...
Review: The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing by Jonathan Pennington
The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary, by Jonathan Pennington (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018).I've been using this book as my main helper while preaching very slowly (because very occasionally) through the Sermon on the Mount. When my pastor needs me to fill in, I just pick up the next passage. Pennington has quickly commended himself as the most helpful guide to this marvelous portion of Scripture, one of my most important life companions (along with...
Review: Small Preaching by Jonathan Pennington
Small Preaching: 25 Little Things You Can Do Now to Become a Better Preacher, by Jonathan Pennington (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2021). Very few pp.Great little title. Punchy and short. Genuinely full of wisdom. The three things that stood out to me most: The very genres of Scripture demonstrate that not all of Scripture is meant to be—or even can be—preached expositionally, in sequence. Think Proverbs. And even Galatians, Pennington points out, just keeps hitting the same point in various...
THE INCREDI-NASB!!!! More Literal than a Speeding ESV!!!
In my other life, I am the editor of Faithlife’s Bible Study Magazine, and one of my first acts as editor was to give myself a column: “Word Nerd: Language and the Bible.” They said I could. I also turn all the columns—plus a few that aren’t in print—into YouTube videos for the Logos Bible Software YouTube channel. Like and subscribe and all that. One of my first videos was on an obscure feature in the NASB, little asterisks that indicate when they translated historical presents (like, “Jesus...
Review: The Inclusive Language Debate by D.A. Carson
The Inclusive Language Debate: A Plea for Realism, by D.A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998). Don Carson's prose is elegant, and his pace is perfect. He briskly moves the reader through a narrative of the conflict among evangelical Christians over so-called "gender-inclusive language" in Bible translation, then he tackles the linguistic issues involved as efficiently as anyone could. I should have read this book many years ago, but the interesting thing to me is that my love for...