Archive for the ‘Textual Criticism’ Category:
It’s Raining Cats and Dogs…Run For Your Lives!!!
Consider this fictitious journal entry:
“I had a horrible day today. This morning I lost my job. I went out to lunch with my girlfriend, and when I began telling her about it, she interrupted me and told me she wanted to break up. On my way home from that wonderful lunch, I lost control of my car and spun off the road into a ditch. To make matters worse, it was raining cats and dogs.” Read more »
Oral Preaching, Written Preaching
The Bible has undoubtedly been one of the most important documents in world history. Many Christian believe it is totally true. However, you have to inquire as to the nature of this book. God did not descend from heaven and hand mankind the Bible, (although some Christians might try to sell something like that). The Bible is not one document; it is a collection of documents. The Bible has many authors, Old Testament and New Testament alike. They were written at different times (over a period of about 1500 years) and for varying reasons.
Over time, various documents were collected together, and recognized as authoritative. They were canonized. There is a lot of debate over this issue (that’s an understatement), and I think it’s an important one. I used to think canonization had to be nice and neat. In reality, it wasn’t until the 4th century that the Bible (in its current form) was all bound up together. I have often wondered why early Christians didn’t deal with the issue sooner, and I think they approached the issue differently.
A Contradiction in Scripture
This week I was reading Romans 7 at a Bible study. As we read and discussed, I became frustrated. Paul seemed so clearly to contradict himself. Paul first argues that the law is dead to Christians, and that the Christian is now united with Christ instead of the law. Paul says that the law “aroused” sinful passions within him, and thus the law brings death. So it sounds like the law is bad, even evil, right?
But Paul says, “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin” (v. 7). The law is not sin, it is through the law we become aware of sin. But then why does Paul say, “apart from the law, sin lies dead” (v.8)? It just doesn’t seem to make sense how something that produces sin can be good.
Are you a Jew?
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=B0Ep5yn8GA4]
I know it has been a while since I last posted, so I am sorry for the delay but here is the next video in our series on “How to Read the Bible.” This is gonna lay some groundwork for our discussions as we look at some specific seemingly puzzling texts. By the way, the title is meant to be provocative, not offensive:)
Lost in Translation Part 1
I have come to have a renewed appreciation for the “glass ceiling” that limits relationships in the blogosphere. Yes, we can exchange ideas, beliefs, and opinions with many to spare, yet it is a different story when we cannot be so personally invested in relationship. Because of the limits to personal interaction, there is a limit to shared experience as well. And while we exchange “ideas,” we do so in a sterile environment, bereft of the richness and depth of experience each of us has to offer.
A friend of mine was recently talking about how she was able to put 8 years of learning French to use at work. Her employer often deals with another company in Canada. While they normally have an English option, they received an email that was entirely in French, so her co-workers called her over. She sat down and started reading the email, some of it out loud. She explained that for some reason, this company couldn’t respond at this time, they weren’t there anymore, etc. She was excited that she could understand what they were writing and hadn’t lost many of her hard-earned skills.
Towards the bottom she realized that it was an automatic “out of office reply” sent by the system. Read more »
bees & inerrancy
I remember one summer evening when I was a kid, walking into a grove of bushes to fetch a baseball that had been hit foul into the thick of them. I retrieved the ball and on my way out of the grove, I noticed a strange humming, a dissonance of sorts.
Bees. Everywhere.
I had been taught to not run, but to calmly walk out of a situation like that. So slowly I moved, careful not to disturb any branches or otherwise incite the stingers. I made it out without getting stung, but I never forgot that experience.
And I sort of feel the same way in talking about Biblical inerrancy. Am I nuts? Like I’m walking into a thicket of trouble. I’m only after one thing. I will disturb a nest or two. But the misconceptions out there are staggering, and mis-defined “inerrancy” pulls as a dead anchor on the faith of Christianity. It can’t help.
So let’s talk about what inerrancy isn’t, or what inerrancy shouldn’t be. The term “inerrancy” is a recent one, and has not been with us throughout church tradition.
I’ll just come out and say it. The Bible is not “exact.”
