Browsing the archives for the hermeneutics category

History, Theology, Ideology, Meaning and the Bible

Two of my friends, Matt Barnes and Chris Spinks, are having a lively discussion about meaning over on Matt’s blog. It all started when Matt (NT PhD student at Fuller Seminary) lamented over the “ideological” criticism that wants to do away with historical criticism. He suggested that there is no way to determine valid readings [...]

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NT Wrong Has Fun With Labels

So, NT Wrong is an anonymous blogger who likes to get a rise out of folks, particularly “biblical apologists.” His latest project accomplishes that goal pretty well. He has created a list of over 100 bloggers on biblical studies and categorized them between “Very Conservative” and “Very Liberal”. First, the post appeared here, then he [...]

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The Bible influences culture even if nobody reads it . . .

Many may know about the discussion raised by Hector Avalos about the “end of biblical studies.” For those who don’t, I will catch you up a little bit. The issue is about whether we should teach biblical studies as an academic discipline and, if so, how we should go about it. The issue obviously hits [...]

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Johannes Weiss in context

In a course I am currently taking on Post-Reformation and Modern Theology, the professor (Richard Muller) mentioned the relationship between Johannes Weiss and his father-in-law, Albrecht Ritschl. I first discovered this interesting relationship in my course on the history of NT scholarship. It’s a fascinating historical example.
Ritschl, the theological liberal (a descriptor, not a polemic), [...]

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Are we still reading the Bible like any other book?

One of the big themes in the history of research on the New Testament is the idea that the Bible should be read like any other historical book. This idea is sort of what kicked off modern research on the Bible in the first place. With the dawn of the Enlightenment, scholars started thinking, why [...]

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"Hearing" the Bible and presuppositions

Brueggemann makes an interesting comment in his preface to The Message of the Psalms. He opens the book itself with two quotes, one from John Updike and another from Jose Miranda, Communism in the Bible, which goes like this:
It can surely be said that the Psalter presents a struggle of the just against the unjust.
Brueggemann [...]

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Reading the Bible "literally"

When I was in high school, I spent a couple years as a fundamentalist. To be honest, apart from the horror I caused my parents and the damage I did to my friendships with “unbelievers,” I am in many ways happy that I had this time. Not only did my close-minded bibliolatry (that is, worshiping [...]

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Sir Reads-a-lot: "I Like Big Bibles"

This video is disturbing on so many levels, and yet funny at the same time. Interesting how they “Christianize” an offensive sexist rap song and turn it into an offensive Christian sexist rap song:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTYr3JuueF4]
Here are some notable lines:

When a girl walks in with a KJV and a bookmark in Proverbs, you get stoked. Gotta name [...]

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Elitism and Listening to a Sermon

I recently heard a sermon that I thought had an amazing social-justice-oriented message, but I got caught up in what I thought was the preacher’s poor exegetical method. It made me remember when I was in college and went to concerts with my music major friends. I would experience what I believed to be beautiful [...]

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Video: Anabaptists Reading the Bible

I’ve just been tipped off by Shawn Anthony of Lo-Fi Tribe about the “Rediscovering Anabaptism” video series that’s displayed online over at the Anabaptist Network website. This is the one about reading the Bible. No doubt Jim West will have a bone to pick with it!
The main scholar in the video is Stuart Murray. If [...]

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