Archives
Categories
-
Top Posts & Pages
- Matthew 4:18-22: Why Did They Follow Him?
- Your Father Was an Amorite
- Deuteronomy 24:4: Why Was the Ex-Wife Defiled?
- Carson on Agape and Some Word Fallacies
- Why Did Jesus Tell Mary, "Mine Hour Is Not Yet Come" (John 2:4)?
- Genesis 4:13: Did Cain Repent?
- Exodus 22:2-3 and Self-Defense
- About Me
- Star Wars and Christianity: Pro and Con
- Chapters 38-39 of The Stand
-
Recent Posts
- The New American on Pro-Life Laws and Keri Lake
- Tucker’s 5/17/2022 Monologue
- The Z Man: The Party’s Over
- David Cole on the Absurdity of WaPo “Fact-Checking” and the Woke “Words Kill” Meme
- FAIR: What You Should Really Know About Ukraine
- NYMAG: Joe Biden’s Big Squeeze
- Book Write-Up: The Alchemy Thief, by R.A. Denny
- Book Write-Ups: The Servant of the Lord and His Servant People; Reformation Commentary on John 13-21; Every Leaf, Line, and Letter
- The New American: Celebrate! Columbus “Divided History” and Deserves to be Defended, Not Upended
- Morning Wire: China’s Socially Conservative Reasons for Banning Video Games
Monthly Archives: June 2010
Prophets
I finished Lee Levine’s Judaism and Hellenism and Antiquity this morning. Levine’s final paragraph said that the Jews of antiquity adapted to their Hellenistic surroundings, even as they tried to maintain particularism. Many people believe that Judaism survived on account … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Greco-Roman, Religion
Comments Off on Prophets
Unclean Lands; Bible and ANE Documents; Rabbis and Images; Robert Byrd
1. I finished my assigned reading of Jacob Lauterbach’s Rabbinic Essays. What stood out to me today was something Lauterbach said on page 255: Indeed, the decree of the two Joses declaring the land of the gentiles unclean (Shab. 15a) … Continue reading
The Language of the Returning Exiles; Following Jesus
1. In Rabbinic Essays, Jacob Lauterbach argues on pages 214-215 that the exiles who returned from Babylon spoke Hebrew, not Aramaic. He appeals to Nehemiah 13:24, in which Nehemiah is upset that some of the Israelite children could not speak … Continue reading
Seneca the Younger: Do As I Say?
Seneca the Younger was a first century C.E. rhetorician. In A New History of Classical Rhetoric, on pages 176-177, G.A. Kennedy states the following about Seneca’s ideal style, and the question of whether or not Seneca himself followed it: Much … Continue reading
Posted in Greco-Roman
Comments Off on Seneca the Younger: Do As I Say?
Not So Much “Survival” of the Fittest
I’m still working my way through Jerry Coynes’ Why Evolution Is True. In today’s reading, Coynes tackles a question that (according to him) baffles a lot of creationists: Why did God make male animals that have the ability to attract … Continue reading
Posted in Evolution
Comments Off on Not So Much “Survival” of the Fittest
II Kings 11
For my weekly quiet time this week, I studied II Kings 11. II Kings 8:26 informs us that Athaliah was the daughter of Omri, who started the Northern Israelite dynasty that included his son, King Ahab. But she was technically the … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, II Kings, Religion, Weekly Quiet Time
Comments Off on II Kings 11
Scripture—Standing Above the Church
In the assigned readings from Jacob Lauterbach’s Rabbinic Essays, I notice the following passage from page 209: In the opinion of these democratic lay teachers…the right to decide religious questions given in Deut. 17.9ff. to the priests was not given … Continue reading
Posted in Religion
Comments Off on Scripture—Standing Above the Church
Lessons from a Spiritual Loser?
Alise has a good post today, Putting my money where my mouth is. She asks near the end of her post: “Do you think you could enjoy a Christian song if you found out that it was written by an atheist?” … Continue reading
Posted in Religion
Comments Off on Lessons from a Spiritual Loser?
Gnostics; Tensions in Rabbinic Judaism
1. I read Birger Pearson’s “Jewish Elements of Gnosticism and the Development of Gnostic Self-Definition.” According to Pearson, Gnostics “identify themselves ontologically with the highest God and understand themselves as originating ‘from the Primeval Father’ (Hyp. Arch. II.96.19-20).” He further … Continue reading
Many Plants, One Body
1. I read the assigned passage from Israel Bettan’s Studies in Jewish Preaching. On pages 20-21, Bettan refers to a midrash of Leviticus 23:40, which discusses four plants that the Israelites are to use during the Feast of Tabernacles. The … Continue reading
James' Ramblings 