Quote of the Day

"Surely it is the case that the sacred books, whether we look at the words alone or the concepts they convey, are frequently and in many places veiled by a deep obscurity - and this is easily demonstrated, for one thing it is self-evident and for another a host of useless exegetical works proclaims it."
-Johann Philip Gabler

The Aussie Bible

The Aussie Bible

This looks like a lot of fun. I can't mimic an Australian accent nearly well enough to get the full force of it (I can do a decent Scottish or Irish, but not so much Aussie), but what I've read is pretty awesome.

Quote of the Day

"[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

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.

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?

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.

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.