UPDATE: Paul Franklyn, Project Director for the CEB, informed us in the comments that the text originally featured on the new CEB website would be revised taking into account the concerns laid out below. I sincerely commend Abingdon for their gracious response to criticism and for their willingness to promptly put suggestions into practice. Further, [...]
On Sermon Evaluations (Or, It’s a Tough Job, But Somebody’s Got To Do It)
My friend and former coworker Charles Wiese, who blogs over at The Lamb On the Altar, has lately been occupied with a most interesting exercise in sermon evaluation. After tracking down and listening to several sermons on St Mark 9:30-37, he grades each on the basis of the following criteria:
1. Does the pastor explain the [...]
On Broken Clocks that Are Right Two Times a Day
In recent days, and as a result of a recent comment thread in Aaron Taylor’s blog, I have spent some time revisiting Thomas Aquinas’ treatise Contra errores græcorum. Thomas composed this treatise in 1263/4 at the request of Roman Pope Urban IV, and it he engages the Orthodox Faith on the Most Holy Trinity on [...]
The Colbertian Contribution to Conservapedia
Surely most of my readers are aware already of Conservapedia’s recently announced “Conservative Bible Project,” which aims to remove what they regard as “liberal bias” from existing Bible translations in English. They intend to do this by “retranslating” (or, better, rewriting) the King James Version to clearly reflect, among other things, a free market understanding [...]
On Bibliobloggers, Review Books, and the FTC
As others have already noted, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced yesterday that it has adopted a series of revisions to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising which seek to apply existing laws on the subject to, among others, bloggers who receive cash or “in-kind” compensation for publishing a product [...]
Mondays with Moisés: On the NIV
Welcome to “Mondays with Moisés” at The Voice of Stefan! Of course, there simply aren’t enough days in the week to praise the excellencies of our Infallible Hero, but this occasional feature will grace your computer screens, well, whenever I wish to post a “Sundays with Silva” but can’t manage to do it by the [...]
John H. Stek: Obituary and Article Online
My copy of the September issue of The Banner arrived in the mail sometime last week, and as I had previously indicated, it contains the ecclesiastical obituary of the late great John Henry Stek. This may be accessed online here.
Also in a previous post, I had advised one and all that
“not to be missed is [...]
Five Views on Justification? (Or, A Bone to Pick)
A few months ago, Michael Bird announced his participation in a forthcoming volume from IVP tentatively entitled Justification: Five Views. The contributors and their respective views are as follows:
1. Traditional Reformed: Michael Horton
2. Progressive Reformed: Michael Bird
3. “New Perspective”: James Dunn
4. Theosis: Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen
5. Catholic: Gerald O’Collins and Oliver Rafferty
I will be the first to [...]
On the Regrettable Generalities of the Psalms
In recent weeks I have finally been able to dig into James Kugel’s How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now (New York: Free Press, 2007), which I purchased earlier this year. In his chapter on “The Psalms of David,” Kugel discusses the general, “one-size-fits-all” composition of many of the Psalms, [...]
Dietrich von Hildebrand on Legitimate and Illegitimate Forms of Biblical Exegesis
A short visit to a local used books shop earlier today yielded a number of treasures, among them Dietrich von Hildebrand’s Trojan Horse in the City of God: The Catholic Crisis Explained (1967; reprint, Manchester: Sophia Institute Press, 1993). Hildebrand (undoubtedly one of the preëminent Roman Catholic thinkers of the 20th century) published this prophetic [...]
The Prophet Amos and the Resurrection, Part Two
Do Apostolic and patristic exegesis ignore of the historical meaning of Scripture? That is, are they ignorant of such, and if not, do they simply dispense with it? A great many historical-critical interpreters, together with fundamentalist literalists of all stripes, seem to assume one thing or the other, often regarding interpretations like that of St [...]
And the Winner Is…
…Nick Norelli of Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth! Yes, I know that Nick gets far too many free books already, but this isn’t just because of his pretty face (he hasn’t got one). It’s because he puts some actual effort into these things. Witness, for example, his clever theory of Qumramic origins:
“My theory regarding [...]
A Reminder
Today is the last day to submit your entry for the Covenantal Blessings Book Giveaway! If you haven’t gotten around to formulating your theory of Qumramic origins yet, the time to do it is now. I will close the comments at midnight tonight, and the winner will be announced tomorrow morning, God willing.
The Prophet Amos and the Resurrection
Today, June 15 by the Church calendar, we commemorate the holy Prophet Amos, known to us from his prophecy in the biblical canon. As readers of this blog already know, one of my primary research interests is the history of biblical interpretation, particularly as it pertains to Apostolic (i.e., intracanonical) and Patristic exegesis, and their [...]
Book Notes
I. I was recently overjoyed to learn that a revised edition of J. Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism was released a short few weeks ago by Eerdmans. Thus far, all available copies of this work have been simple photostatic reprints of the 1923 edition. Not so here: the full text has been reset for this [...]
