There is no doubt that 1Tim 2:11–15 is both controversial and divisive in its interpretation among people who sincerely claim that the Bible forms the authoritative basis for their faith. On the one side are those who understand it to clearly indicate that women should not teach or have authority over men in a church…
Category: greek
job’s wife
February 8th is International Septuagint Day. In celebration, this year I thought I’d post one of the two major differences between the LXX and MT in the Book of Job, the details of Job’s wife. For those unfamiliar with her, this is all we hear of and from Job’s wife in the MT: ותאמר לו…
the origins of the use of κυριος for יהוה
All extant manuscripts of the NT consistently use the Greek word κυριος (kyrios, ‘lord’) when translating the name of God in the OT, יהוה (Yhwh). The background to this is not entirely clear nor uncontested, but it is worth noting a few points about what is and isn’t known, and what is and isn’t likely.
is agape (ἀγάπη) love specially divine?
This last weekend I heard a talk in which it was claimed that the word ἀγάπη (agapē) was little used prior to the New Testament in Greek and was infused with new and special meaning by the writers of the NT, a meaning that reflects a divine, selfless, love. This is not a new claim,…
mac os x 10.7.3 improves hebrew support
Apple has just released Mac OS X 10.7.3 which normally wouldn’t warrant a mention here except that it includes improved Hebrew support. Apple’s update notes include the following: Add Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian language support. Of course it would be nice if they told us exactly what this means for…
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…
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!
a foreignising translation of genesis 1, part I
Debates over types of translation of the Bible are typically dominated by discussions of the relative merits of either “literal” (or formal equivalent) translation verses dynamic equivalent wherein the primary goal is the transfer of meaning from the source to the target. While there is a place for both types of translation, I personally think…
is everything we do ‘worship’?
There’s a tendency among many evangelicals—at least many of those with whom I’m familiar—to take Rom 12:1 as the basis for arguing that the Bible tells us that all we do should be described as “worship.”1 As a corollary to this, the point is often also made that referring to parts of a church service…