Image via Wikipedia Yes, that time of year has once again arrived, and so it is time to remind all and sundry to investigate The Crimes of Santa Claus.
Author: martin
Husband, father, some time Old Testament lecturer, IT consultant, and other things as well...
reviewing cbmw’s review of the 2011 niv
CBMW (an organisation which stridently opposed the TNIV) has posted a preliminary evaluation of the 2011 NIV. Unsurprisingly they conclude that “we still cannot commend the new NIV(2011) for most of the same reasons we could not commend the TNIV.” However, I think there are a number of problems with their analysis which I’d like…
niv 2011/tniv and ecclesiastes 11:1–2
John Hobbins raised the 2011 NIV’s rendering of Eccl 11:1–2 (although it really just retains the TNIV’s translation and so isn’t a new feature of this translation). The 2011 NIV/TNIV render these verses as follows: Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in…
kirk patston on ecclesiastes
A friend of mine who pastors a church asked my opinion of Kirk Patston’s interpretation of Ecclesiastes which he had promulgated in a series of talks at the Katoomba Easter Convention in 2009. I hadn’t heard them, but did find a copy of some talks he had given at SMBC which were based on his…
first impressions of the 2011 niv
The new revision of the NIV translation is now available online at Bible Gateway, and this has prompted some discussion. Facilitating discussion are a couple of sites listing differences between the various revisions of the NIV. For first impressions it is most obvious to begin with the beginning — Genesis 1. The 2011 NIV follows…
perspectives in translation
There’s an interesting series beginning over at BibleGateway.com presenting various views on accuracy in Bible translation (actually, none of the posts seems to present much that is peculiar to the translation of the Bible). It will be interesting to see where things progress!
malevolent or mysterious? god’s character in the prologue of job
My latest article on Job will appear in the next volume of Tyndale Bulletin with the above title. Here’s the synopsis: Readers of the Book of Job often believe that the prologue reveals the entire reason for Job’s loss and suffering and so the full background for all that transpires throughout the remainder of the…
parting the sea
Once again someone has proposed a scientific model for a miraculous event, this time the parting of the “Reed Sea” (ים סוף). The model requires an easterly wind of about 100km/h to blow for about 12 hours to leave bare ground almost 5km wide through which the Israelites could pass. Let me add my voice…
music in church
Image by daveknapik via Flickr One subject sure to get passions fired up for many is that of music in church. Craig Schwarze recently wrote an article for the Sydney Anglican website entitled “Turn Down the Volume” which has generated some discussion.
language and worldview
There’s an interesting article in the New York Times discussing the possible impact language has on perception. These ideas clearly have some relevance to the translation and understanding of biblical texts, but there is also some danger in proposing speculative interpretations based on the perceived significance of distinctive characteristics of Hebrew. Of course, this wouldn’t…