"[I]t is enough to know that in everything the call of the Lord is the foundation and beginning of right action. He who does not act in reference to it will never, in the discharge of duty, keep the right path. He will sometimes be able, perhaps, to give the semblance of something laudable, but whatever it may be in the sight of man, it will be rejected before the throne of God; and besides, there will be no harmony in the different parts of his life."
-John Calvin, Institutes of Religion III.10.6
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Progress
So I've been really trying to get my language proficiency up to speed (i.e., with Greek and Hebrew), so as to manage basic reading comprehension. Well, tonight I've got a Bible study with some other guys from church, and the passage we're looking at is Genesis 6. The funny thing is, I started out reading the chapter in English, and actually found myself feeling as though I were cheating by not reading it in Hebrew. I'd call that progress, I think. (It helps that most of the book of Genesis is fairly straightforward narrative text, and thus fairly easy Hebrew.)
Unfortunately, my vocab isn't quite up to snuff - I need to take an afternoon and set up some sort of programmatic system for refreshing it. I.e., figure out which words I know, and which I need flash cards for, basically. The short-term goal would be to learn every word (in each language) that appears ten times or more.
The other part of my plan is to start working systematically through each testament, so as to improve my reading knowledge, and to reduce my dependence on the translation notes I usually make for myself as I work. Here's hoping.
Unfortunately, my vocab isn't quite up to snuff - I need to take an afternoon and set up some sort of programmatic system for refreshing it. I.e., figure out which words I know, and which I need flash cards for, basically. The short-term goal would be to learn every word (in each language) that appears ten times or more.
The other part of my plan is to start working systematically through each testament, so as to improve my reading knowledge, and to reduce my dependence on the translation notes I usually make for myself as I work. Here's hoping.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
New name...
Well, I know people rarely visit this blog, but as I'm going to try and post more often on it, hopefully that'll change... or hopefully not: if what I say turns out to be dumb, then it might be better if fewer people see it!
At any rate, I've changed the name. The old name, "Aslan's How" was originally the URL that I wanted, but was already taken (in every possible variation). So I went with the current URL, but kept the original name. I've never been happy with that, though, but could never think of anything to switch to. I finally came up with "Dragon Island," which is where Eustace gets himself turned into a dragon, and then Aslan changes him back in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I've often said that for all that I'd like to say I identify more with with Peter, or Caspian, or even Edmund, if I'm honest with myself, I'm really much more like Eustace, so it seemed appropriate.
The quote under the title (for those who don't know) is from one of the slave traders who capture Caspian, et al. on the Lone Islands. Reepicheep the Mouse (my absolute favorite character) is insulting the slavers viciously and challenging them to combat, but they just chuckle and treat him like a trained circus animal, which makes him even madder.
Anyway, having said that I'm going to post more often, I now have to sign off and do some actual school work, since I've got a book to finish, a review to write on said book, and a presentation to prepare, all before Tuesday. No rest for the weary, eh?
At any rate, I've changed the name. The old name, "Aslan's How" was originally the URL that I wanted, but was already taken (in every possible variation). So I went with the current URL, but kept the original name. I've never been happy with that, though, but could never think of anything to switch to. I finally came up with "Dragon Island," which is where Eustace gets himself turned into a dragon, and then Aslan changes him back in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I've often said that for all that I'd like to say I identify more with with Peter, or Caspian, or even Edmund, if I'm honest with myself, I'm really much more like Eustace, so it seemed appropriate.
The quote under the title (for those who don't know) is from one of the slave traders who capture Caspian, et al. on the Lone Islands. Reepicheep the Mouse (my absolute favorite character) is insulting the slavers viciously and challenging them to combat, but they just chuckle and treat him like a trained circus animal, which makes him even madder.
Anyway, having said that I'm going to post more often, I now have to sign off and do some actual school work, since I've got a book to finish, a review to write on said book, and a presentation to prepare, all before Tuesday. No rest for the weary, eh?
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
A Random Thought
It occurs to me to wonder whether, in all the debates over whether or not Moses wrote the Torah, much has been done with the fact that the references to Moses are all in the third person. That is to say, how likely is it that an author making a historical record of events in which he himself was not only a direct participant, but indeed a key player, would refer to himself in the third person, rather than the first? If, as Judeo-Christian tradition has long held, Moses was the divinely inspired author of the Torah, would we not expect a first-person narrative from Exodus to Deuteronomy? For myself, I tend to think that we would.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
A quick note
I'm in the middle of an assigned translation for my Greek class, and I just ran across something interesting.
Most translations of 1 Peter 1:7 read along the lines of "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ," (KJV). Most translations read similarly, and it's a perfectly valid translation. There is, however, a nuance present in the Greek that is very difficult to carry into the English translation. The adjective "more precious" (polutimoteros, in Greek) is modifying dokimion, "trial," and not pistis, "faith." In other words, in this case, it is not the faith that is "more precious than gold that perishes even though tested with fire," rather it is the testing of that faith.
There is, I think, much that could be said on this point theologically, though unfortunately I haven't the time to say it at present. Suffice it to say that I'm reminded of James 2 and Genesis 22, where righteousness must be proven by action, and our faith is shown by how we respond to certain situations.
Most translations of 1 Peter 1:7 read along the lines of "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ," (KJV). Most translations read similarly, and it's a perfectly valid translation. There is, however, a nuance present in the Greek that is very difficult to carry into the English translation. The adjective "more precious" (polutimoteros, in Greek) is modifying dokimion, "trial," and not pistis, "faith." In other words, in this case, it is not the faith that is "more precious than gold that perishes even though tested with fire," rather it is the testing of that faith.
There is, I think, much that could be said on this point theologically, though unfortunately I haven't the time to say it at present. Suffice it to say that I'm reminded of James 2 and Genesis 22, where righteousness must be proven by action, and our faith is shown by how we respond to certain situations.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Marriage Advice
Well, the guy is a marriage expert...
Saudi Marriage Expert Advises Men in Right Way to Beat Their Wives.
"Woman, it has gone too far. I can't bear it anymore." I'll have to remember that.
Seriously, though, it is sort of interesting from a sociological standpoint. We post women's-lib Western types hang up on the "here's how a man ought to beat his wife" part, and fail (at least, the author of the article seems to fail) to recognize what's actually going: he seems to me to be attempting to moderate the effects of his culture's acceptance of a man beating his wife. Notice that the "right way" is not to just slap her around for the slightest reason - when she burns your dinner or if she doesn't happen to feel like putting out that evening - but rather to use the beating as a last resort, and to exercise restraint, rather than just hitting her out of anger.
Not that I'm defending him, not at all: I heartily disapprove of wife-beating under any circumstances, for reasons both moral and pragmatic (I've been breathing on my own for a good many years now, and have gotten rather fond of it, to be honest). It just struck me (pardon the pun) that this was an interesting example of how things can seem different to people of different cultures: whereas we tend to react with unadulterated scorn, a deeper look might show that things may be different, if only slightly, than our initial reaction.
This is interesting to me, particularly, in that some of these same factors are in play when we talk about the role of women in the New Testament: passages that make the apostle Paul, for example, seem one way to the 21st century western observer may actually turn out quite different when we look at them within their proper socio-cultural context.
Saudi Marriage Expert Advises Men in Right Way to Beat Their Wives.
"Woman, it has gone too far. I can't bear it anymore." I'll have to remember that.
Seriously, though, it is sort of interesting from a sociological standpoint. We post women's-lib Western types hang up on the "here's how a man ought to beat his wife" part, and fail (at least, the author of the article seems to fail) to recognize what's actually going: he seems to me to be attempting to moderate the effects of his culture's acceptance of a man beating his wife. Notice that the "right way" is not to just slap her around for the slightest reason - when she burns your dinner or if she doesn't happen to feel like putting out that evening - but rather to use the beating as a last resort, and to exercise restraint, rather than just hitting her out of anger.
Not that I'm defending him, not at all: I heartily disapprove of wife-beating under any circumstances, for reasons both moral and pragmatic (I've been breathing on my own for a good many years now, and have gotten rather fond of it, to be honest). It just struck me (pardon the pun) that this was an interesting example of how things can seem different to people of different cultures: whereas we tend to react with unadulterated scorn, a deeper look might show that things may be different, if only slightly, than our initial reaction.
This is interesting to me, particularly, in that some of these same factors are in play when we talk about the role of women in the New Testament: passages that make the apostle Paul, for example, seem one way to the 21st century western observer may actually turn out quite different when we look at them within their proper socio-cultural context.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Of Eunuchs and Archaeology
Tiny Tablet Provides Proof for Old Testament.
Now, that's an awfully ambitious headline, but it's not really that far from the truth. Incidental details are one of the ways we can be sure of the general historicity of a text which is otherwise uncorroborated (for example, the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts: the author is very careful and scrupulous with minor details of geography, dates, and history that can be confirmed in other sources, which lends support to the picture of him as a careful historian concerned with accurately reporting facts, which in turn allows us some confidence in trusting the accuracy of those details which can't be confirmed from other sources). As a former OT prof of mine put it, "if the Bible 'incidentally' captures correctly the names of third-tier officials in the Neo-Babylonian bureaucracy, can we really be content with [certain scholars] telling us it's just ideological fiction?"
Now, that's an awfully ambitious headline, but it's not really that far from the truth. Incidental details are one of the ways we can be sure of the general historicity of a text which is otherwise uncorroborated (for example, the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts: the author is very careful and scrupulous with minor details of geography, dates, and history that can be confirmed in other sources, which lends support to the picture of him as a careful historian concerned with accurately reporting facts, which in turn allows us some confidence in trusting the accuracy of those details which can't be confirmed from other sources). As a former OT prof of mine put it, "if the Bible 'incidentally' captures correctly the names of third-tier officials in the Neo-Babylonian bureaucracy, can we really be content with [certain scholars] telling us it's just ideological fiction?"
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