It begins with the Divine injunction: “Have you considered my servant Job?” The Biblical drama of Job is haunting. A blameless man is tormented by ‘the Satan’: stripped of wealth, status, possessions, health and children – all with God’s permission! …
Speaking with someone and praying to someone are two different types of speech act. Actually speaking with Jesus, who is in heaven, puts communication on a different level. Where it is two-way audible communication, this does not happen in prayer.
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This passage offers a paradigm for a prayer of request. Psalms of petition are another source for prayer form(s). This prayer shows an awareness of how scripture can be used to ‘read’ a circumstance, and thereby facilitate the relevant construction …
Textual Criticism is a necessary, if sometimes maligned, activity. The substance of textual criticism is the comparison of manuscripts to determine which reading is most likely to be the original. John 1:18 is a case in point.
No one has …
This text rendered above as in the RSV correctly captures the Perfect aspect/tense of the Hebrew verb which places the “drinking” of the sword in the past. The KJV has “shall be bathed in heaven” which incorrectly directs the English …
In an earlier article, “Babylon in Isaiah 13-14”,[1] it was suggested that Isa 13:17 referred to Median harassment of Israelite places of settlement in Media after the captivity of 722 (2 Kgs 17:6). The purpose of this note …
In earlier articles, links were established between the Fourth Gospel (4G) and the epistles to the Ephesians and Hebrews. It was suggested that they were all addressed to different elements within the Ephesian community at different stages of its …
Previous articles on the Fourth Gospel (4G) suggested that the Gospel was written to the Diaspora at Ephesus and discovered links between the 4G and Luke-Acts.[1] Luke is regarded as Paul’s companion and biographer; therefore his employment …
The “darkening” of the sun, moon and stars is a convenient shorthand for describing Joel 2:10,
The earth has quaked before him; the heavens have trembled: the sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have gathered …
The KJV margin offers “teacher of righteousness” as an alternative for the Hebrew of Joel 2:23, but this proposal is rarely followed by commentators and a rare choice in other versions. Is this marginal alternative correct and does it …
Specialization in Biblical Studies is the norm. Scholars will be “Old Testament” or “New Testament”; perhaps “Intertestamental Judaism” or “Second Temple Judaism”, and possibly some topic in the area of “The Bible and the Modern World”. A quick glance …
The Biblical drama of Job has proven a long-standing enigma. A faithful disciple is seemingly tortured at the hands of his God, apparently so that the Deity might win a barter. It sounds like the most deplorable of Greek …
What might be wrong in Old Testament scholarship? The question is deliberately vague and all-encompassing. We might ask, similarly, what might be wrong in Church Doctrine? What would we answer in this case? Suggested answers might include: the doctrine of …