During a recent online debate the question of the meaning of Deut 32:8–9 was raised as evidence of the Bible’s affirmation of polytheism and the subordinate status of the God of Israel, Yhwh. The essence of the claim is that the version of this passage preserved in the DSS identifies El Elyon as head of…
Author: martin
Husband, father, some time Old Testament lecturer, IT consultant, and other things as well...
god and suffering part 1 — human sin
The most obvious place to start when discussing suffering is with sin. The opening chapters of the Bible (Gen 2–3) are an aetiological tale which functions to describe the original state of the world and explain why it is no longer in that original state.
god and suffering — introduction
Some time ago I heard a sermon entitled “How could a good God allow suffering?” There’s not much that can be covered in the brief time allocated to a sermon, but while (or perhaps “instead of”) listening I set about thinking of reasons offered in the Bible for suffering. This introductory post is simply to…
should the word ‘trinity’ appear in an english bible?
Opponents of the doctrine of the Trinity occasionally throw up the assertion that the word ‘Trinity’ never appears in the Bible as a supposed problem for the doctrine. The objection is, however, largely without merit. Read below the link for an assessment of this contention!
digital dead sea scrolls
This looks like it’ll be a fantastic resource: the Digital Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum. Still many more manuscripts to go, but a fantastic start, and just in time for the Dead Sea Scrolls Conference in Memory of Emeritus Professor Alan Crown to be held in about one month’s time. H/T Jim West.
the silence of god
On a recent Q&A one of the viewers asked about God’s silence: My question is: why has God gone so quiet? Just a few thousand years ago he appeared to people quite regularly. He turned rivers to blood, he parted seas, he flooded the world etc. He provided us with people like Moses, Jesus &…
biblical pronouncements
There’s a new app for iOS called “Biblical Audio Pronunciations” (also available in “Lite” version) which aims to offer “correct” pronunciation of biblical terms. The web page claims: We carefully researched and recorded the pronunciations of important terms, names, and places, to help you embrace the Word of God more easily. Does it live up…
accessing scholarly articles
I must admit I do not understand the publishing world. Aside from the astronomical prices for books from some publishing houses, there are some even more perplexing pricing models out there. Today I followed a link to a four page book review in Dead Sea Discoveries which took me to ingentaconnect where I can purchase…
yabt (yet another bible translation): the common english bible
The Common English Bible has been completed, the result of an impressive array of scholars, with admirable goals. A page comparing it with the NRSV and NIV is available here. Some brief and very initial observations based primarily on a few passages I like to check follows.
heavy stuff
I’ve been reading up on gravity for a bit of a diversion and came across this interesting quote from David Toback of Texas A & M University: General relativity can predict what would have happened in a slightly different universe. For example, if the universe had the right mass back then it would give us…