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...
Review: Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson
Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading by Eugene H. PetersonMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI've said before that I'm an emotional reader. My five stars for this book represent my rapture at great prose and, more importantly, my fervent amens in the final portion of the book.I realize now—how could I have missed this?—that I never actually did get around to reading a Eugene Peterson book (aside from select portions of The Message, which kind...
Review: The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel
The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. SandelMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI loved Sandel's book Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? His power is incisive analysis: he cuts to the Augustinian heart of divisive issues using classic philosophical tools. He also explains all this slowly and clearly. He is the single most gifted guide of classroom discussion that I have ever seen (I not only read Justice; I watched the WBUR Boston recordings of his class; they were...
Review: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution by Carl R. Trueman.My rating: 5 of 5 stars I'm hoping to publish in a journal a more extensive review of this excellent—though long and at times tedious—book. I'll say here: Trueman asks an intriguing question that builds a narrative expectation and structure into his book: How is it that so many average people in the West fail to see "I'm a woman trapped in a man's body" as a...