After a break, I think it’s time to start the Bible reading guide for the New Testament. As I said before, I wrote this for one of our sons. Here’s Matthew: There are four books about Jesus, but they are not unnecessary. Each one presents not only different events in Jesus’s life, but also a… Read More »
I have always thought of Israel’s exile as being a 70-year thing. I struggled to figure out how to count those 70 years (is it 605 to 536 or 586 to 516?), but the exile ended when the Israelites came back from Babylon and rebuilt their temple. I’ve changed my mind in the last few… Read More »
If you prayed for me in my recent struggle for what to preach on at TMC, thank you. I was brushing my teeth this morning when “I” “figured out” the direction that the two messages should take. I have a lot of work now, but now that the main points are clear, I can do… Read More »
It will be helpful if I begin with a few comments. First, I did not go looking for what I am about to explain. I happened across it about a year ago. Accordingly and second, I have not thoroughly researched this subject and all the views for comets, planetary conjunctions, supernovas, etc. There may be… Read More »
Today I began what will likely be the longest academic project of my life. No, I’m not talking about the PhD program (that started two days ago). Nor am I talking about my dissertation (I will probably start initial research on that in a couple of weeks). I began the “Bible Arguments” project, known more… Read More »
Today I had my first PhD class. It’s a 3-hour seminar on the Gospels and Acts, and meets once a week. On Fridays, I have a 3-hour seminar on the Torah and Former Prophets (Genesis-2 Kings). I’m considering blogging about them this semester. There are some reasons why this might not happen: 1) If I… Read More »
8ὑμεῖς δὲ μὴ κληθῆτε ῥαββί · εἷς Î³Î¬Ï á¼ÏƒÏ„ιν ὑμῶν ὠδιδάσκαλος, πάντες δὲ ὑμεῖς ἀδελφοί á¼ÏƒÏ„ε. 9καὶ πατÎÏα μὴ καλÎσητε ὑμῶν á¼Ï€á½¶ τῆς γῆς, εἷς Î³Î¬Ï á¼ÏƒÏ„ιν ὑμῶν á½ Ï€Î±Ï„á½´Ï á½ Î¿á½Ïάνιος. 10μηδὲ κληθῆτε καθηγηταί, ὅτι καθηγητὴς ὑμῶν á¼ÏƒÏ„ιν εἷς ὠΧÏιστός. 11ὠδὲ μείζων ὑμῶν ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος. 12ὅστις δὲ ὑψώσει ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται… Read More »
I was looking for books on Matthew recently and saw Studies in Matthew, by Dale C. Allison, Jr. with a positive comment by Dr. Varner: “If you are writing on Matthew or preaching through it, you must get this volume.” For the class, I must do 75 minutes of reading per class period, and so… Read More »
I spent most of the day studying for tomorrow’s class, except for when I was with repairmen at the house. One of them was fixing a broken window in my office and started asking me lots of questions about the Bible. I must not be in too isolated of an ivory tower! Here’s a great… Read More »