Jeremy Thompson Catholic PhD in Biblical Languages, Programmer, Runner

I mean he was throwing them out one after another, and I’m not sure if he’s stopped yet.  They are posts that he’s giving the heading:

An outline of a 90 minute module in a course entitled “The Bible and Current Events.” Follow the links and you pretty much have it.

I’m not sure of the background of the posts, whether they are for something that he is teaching in his church or in a university setting.  But, some of the topics look incredibly interesting and seem like they could work in different contexts.  There is no particular tag or category that it looks like he is putting the posts in.  So, the only way to keep up might be to subscribe to his feed, which wouldn’t be a bad idea anyway.  Or, you might go to his blog and search the phrase “The Bible and Current Events.”

For an example, check out this called An Introduction to the Primary History, replete with video clips (which I like).

If you like some of what he’s done there, you might also want to check out some of my posts on videos for teaching the Bible.

I didn’t know John had this kind of stuff in him.  Kind of reminds me of someone else I know.

Bible translations can be a bit confusing to the lay person as I’ve noted in a previous post.  But, here is a link to a classification system for them that John Hobbins of Ancient Hebrew Poetry has posted from the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible.  Some of the classifications are debatable, but it looks like a helpful resource nonetheless.

John Hobbins has written a post in response to Joseph Kelly’s three part (so far?) series on inerrancy.  Frankly, it seems to me a bit like John is sitting (quite perturbed I might add) on an invisible fence.  I certainly get the point, and agree, that in/errancy should not be in the forefront of our minds when reading a text.  Rather we should be wrestling with the more substantial questions raised by the text.  But, at the same time I don’t know that it’s possible to be neither an inerrantist or errantist if those terms are used generally.  Ultimately, this will play some role into how one answers questions that scripture raises.  Perhaps he’s trying to use them in more of a technical sense for people for whom in/errancy is the issue of primary importance … You be the judge …

Related:

Joseph Kelly Continues His Series on Inerrancy

A Couple of Posts on Inerrancy and Infallibility

Ezra 9-10 – The Context of Today’s Reading Makes it a Tough One

Feels like I haven’t linked to John lately, and by not doing so I have done my readers a great disservice.  I don’t always agree with John when it comes to certain issues, but when it comes to language I do more often than not.  I’ll recommend three recent posts you might want to check out:

1. A Language without Literature is a Disemboweled Corpse
2. When Apologetics Incur God’s Wrath
3. Classical Enthusiasm for Retributive Justice

Related:

John Hobbins’ Plea for a Broad Definition of Ancient Hebrew

John Hobbins on the Limits of Traditional Apologetics

I awoke to a number of interesting posts this morning.  They were on a variety of themes, so I couldn’t call this a round up.  But, here are a few that I read this morning that were posted either last night or early today:

1. Jesus Kills Santa (via Joel Watts)
2. I Just Don’t Understand This (via Jim West)
3. The Emails That Raphael Golb Sent, In the Name of Lawrence Schiffman (via Jim West)
4. Is Evangelicalism Losing Its Mind? (via John Hobbins)

At least check out, “Jesus Kills Santa.”  It really is unbelievable.

John Hobbins has written another excellent post on Ancient Hebrew entitled “Biblical Terms for the Language of the Land of Judah.”  Many people  refer to the language of the Hebrew Bible in a variety of ways; however, this post looks at how the language is referred to in the Biblical texts themselves.  He then takes the references from the Biblical texts and explains what these references mean in a bit more detail.

For those interested in learning about “Biblical” Hebrew, though not necessarily in learning the language, check out John Hobbins’ recent post concerning Ancient Hebrew.  Since the post is called a plea it goes without saying that not everyone would agree with all of the information found therein.  However, it is a helpful overview for the interested lay person as well as containing helpful reminders for the more advanced scholar, e.g. this one: “For these reasons, the phonology, morphology, syntax, and prosody of ancient Hebrew is, in varying degrees, a matter of reconstruction.”

Been slacking on my link posts lately.  But, it’s been a busy month at work.  At any rate, HERE is a post worth a link.  John Hobbins offers a few thoughts on prayer according to the Psalms.  In it he notes that God desires both reverence and honesty in prayer.  Many feel like to be reverent one cannot be honest.  One cannot complain against God.  This is not what one finds in the Psalms.

HERE is a link to a post by John Hobbins on some of the problems with modern apologetics literature.  I’ve commented on the post, so you can see a little bit of what I think there if you would like.  But, basically over the five or so years I have developed a distaste for apologetics.  So often it leads to caricature.  For example, I’ve written previously about being asked why the Catholic Church has added books to the Bible.  That question reflects a commonly perpetuated caricature of Catholic beliefs concerning the canon.  But, this is too often the result in apologetics.