Si vis profectum haurire lege humiliter, simpliciter, et fideliter nec unquam velis habere nomen scientiæ. Interroga libenter, et audi tacens Sanctorum verba, nec displiceant tibi parabolæ Seniorum sine cause enim non proferuntur.
If you wish to derive profit [from the Scriptures], read with humility, candor, and faith, and never seek to have a scholar’s reputation. Inquire [...]
On Reading Holy Scripture
On Worldview Deficiencies and the "Orthodox Study Bible"
John Hobbins recently blogged about the best Study Bibles in the market today, and listed the so-called “Orthodox Study Bible-New Testament” (OSB) as one of five confessionally-based editions recommended to those “who wish to understand the Bible from the point of view of a specific tradition.” I quickly cautioned him against regarding the OSB [...]
A Song for My 29th Birthday
Born at the Right Time – Lyrics
Two Excellent Posts
Allow me to draw your attention to a couple excellent posts that have recently appeared in two of my favorite corners of the biblioblogdom:
1) The hoopy Kevin Edgecomb, who blogs over at biblicalia, has posted some very insightful thoughts on the relationship between the rise of the Biblical canon and the “canon of faith” (regula [...]
On Translating The Church’s (and No Other) Bible
Lately I have been occupied with revising my preliminary Spanish translation, now nearly four years old (!), of an abbreviated version of the formularies for the daily morning and evening prayers as generally used in the Slavic Orthodox Churches. Although the more ancient practice is for the Midnight Office and Small Compline to be read [...]
Saturday a’Machen: The Meaning of Conversion
“Paul’s conversion shows that Christianity is a supernatural thing. Up to the conversion Paul’s life had been a natural development, but the conversion itself was a sudden blaze of glory. It is very much the same with all of us. True, the form of Christ’s appearing is very diverse. We do not see him [...]
Paul Simon on Charlie Rose
Last June, Charlie Rose interviewed Paul Simon on the occasion of his being awarded the first ever Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress. In spite of Charlie Rose’s irritating interruptions, his bad habit of putting words in the mouth of his guests, and his glib appeal to the insufferable Christopher Hitchens, [...]
Bible Woes and the Undoing Thereof (Or, PaperbackSwap Rocks)
My apologies for my delay in posting, but I seem to have been stricken with some illness that has rendered me somewhat unproductive, presumably on account of the biting snark of my previous post. Naturally, this only encourages me to be more biting still in the next round!
I must inform you that I went to [...]
In Which I Award Theological Schools On Account of Their Finest Offerings
As is my custom, I’ve been reviewing academic catalogs and admissions literature from a great many theological schools across the United States, which is, generally speaking, a most pleasant endeavor. Every so often, however, I encounter one thing or another that makes my blissful stroll through these printed materials come to a screeching halt. So [...]
Saturday a’Machen: That Is Enough
“The Christian life is a life of hope. Inwardly we are free, but our freedom is not yet fully realized. We are in danger of losing our hope in the trials or in the mere humdrum of life. To keep it alive, the Apocalypse opens a glorious vision of the future. The vision is presented [...]
A Further Quote
“Today in the west there are many, both on the Catholic and on the Protestant side, who are trying to shake themselves free of the ‘crystallizations and fossilizations of the sixteenth century’, and who desire to ‘get behind the Reformation and the Middle Ages’. There are also many western Christians who, reacting against an extreme [...]
Hatched from the Egg Which Rome Laid
Scot McKnight, a fellow ‘Stoner (‘76) from whose distinguished New Testament scholarship I have greatly profited over the years, blogged yesterday morning on the subject of The Assumption of Mary and Protestants. In that post he excerpts for our benefit from his recent book The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of [...]
More Bible Matters
Yahoo! Group’s motto, as seen in their login page, is “Connect with a world of people who share your passions.” Boy and girl, do they ever speak the truth without knowing it! But quite apart from any sinister connotations that any given term in that phrase may or may not have, I can certainly appreciate [...]
Bible Reading Matters
Hey, you sass that hoopy Kevin Edgecomb? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is! And because of that, having caught wind of my intention to start using in the very near future his exceedingly helpful Biblical reading plan (about which I blogged a couple days ago), he has decided to offer in [...]
So, You Won’t Believe What I Found
The Return of the Internet to my humble abode has been quite appropriately marked by two perplexing discoveries of the kind only made online:
1) There actually exists something called Byzantine Rite Lutheranism, which designation is used to describe the liturgy of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church. Dwelling on the thought a little, it makes sense that [...]
