Blogger beta

<idle musing>
I just can't resist beta software; I have to give it a whirl. So, this morning I made the change to Blogger Beta. I like the tags, that is something that Wordpress definitely does right. I don't like that I can't edit the template as directly, but have to input it. I also don't like that now I am logged in with a Google account. Now they have even more data on my searchs and stuff, but it is a tradeoff...

I still haven't figured out the supposed comment section improvements. If anybody has, please let me know—in the comment section :)
</idle musing>

New Testament versus now

There is an interesting comparison between the modern church and the New Testament Church on the Milpitas Bible Fellowship site. I would reproduce part of it here, but I can't get Blogger to do the tables correctly, so you will have to go there to see it. I disagree with their take on tithing, but otherwise I would pretty much agree with them. Hat tip to ekklesia.

New 10 day sale at Eisenbrauns

Eisenbrauns is offering a new 10-day sale. This time we are offering a selection of AOAT titles for 20% off. See the whole list here. But, here are a few of the titles:

"Kult, Konflikt und Versoehnung: Beitrage zur kultischen Suhne
in religiosen, sozialen und politischen Auseinandersetzungen
des antiken Mittelmeerraumes"
by Rainer Albertz
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 285
Ugarit-Verlag, Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3934628087
List Price: $69.00 Your Price: $55.20

"Sima milka: Induktion und Reception der mittelbabylonischen
Dichtung von Ugarit, Emar und Tell el-Amarna"
by Thomas R. Kammerer
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 251
Ugarit-Verlag, Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120472
List Price: $62.50 Your Price: $50.00

"Untersuchungen zu den lokalen Panthea Sud-und
Mittelbabyloniens in altbabylonischer Zeit"
by Thomas Richter
Alter Orient und Altes Testament - AOAT 257
Ugarit-Verlag, Cloth. German.
ISBN: 3927120642
List Price: $88.00 Your Price: $70.40

Let's read Greek and Hebrew!

For all who are interested—and live within commuting distance of Eisenbrauns—every Thursday morning at 7:00 some of us are getting together to read a little Greek or Hebrew (alternating weeks). No preparation allowed! Sight reading, interacting with the text and making absolute fools of ourselves :)

We've been doing it for 3 weeks now and having a blast. Only requirement is you have to be able to stumble through the language of the week. Next week is Hebrew. Come one, come all and join us as we stumble our way through Ruth!

New employee

<idle musing>
We began employing a high school student from the local co-op program named Jessica. She is very good and we have enjoyed having her assistance. She helps out around the office and in the warehouse.

Well, the other day I was in the warehouse, looking at the boxes of books that had arrived that day—a normal occurrence. I saw a box from a European publisher and got all excited because it was a book I had been waiting to see for a while. She looked at me a bit strangely, but didn’t say anything. The next day, I was doing my normal routine and saw a few boxes from different publishers that contained new releases. I started exclaiming about how neat it was that these books had finally been released. This time she looked at me and said, “You’re funny. Why do you get so excited about books?”

How do you answer that??? Well, Cindy, our main warehouse worker, came to my rescue. She said, “Well, he spent a good part of his life studying this stuff, so he gets excited when he sees a new book come in.” Jessica asked me how long I had been in school. Now, how do you answer that one? I told her I was in school longer than she had been alive. She looked at me even stranger. I could just see her thinking I must be some kind of alien. She’s a senior in high school, looking forward to finishing and here is this guy telling her that he spent 13 years in college, after finishing 12 years in public school...he’s got to be a nutcase, 25 years in school.

So, yesterday I was in the warehouse and got all excited again about some books—isn’t that a normal reaction? Anyway, she just shook her head and kept on working…
</idle musing>

Chainsaw art

As I was walking to work yesterday, I saw that a dead tree had become a 10 foot tall violin. Pretty amazing stuff, but our webmaster, Andy, was way ahead of me. He just started blogging and has two posts on it. One, showing it before any work was done on it is here. The other one, showing it in progress and the final product is here. Maybe I'll take some pictures later today, too.

Quote of the day

"To many a Christian, Jesus is still but a dead Christ or at least a historic Christ, but not a living and present reality. The meaning of Easter is that Jesus is alive and is the Living Head of Christianity and the personal and intimate Friend of every true disciple, to whom He becomes revealed as his indwelling life and the source of all his strength and victory."—A.B. Simpson

Lukan tidbit

<idle musing>
I was reading in Luke yesterday, when a phrase in 24.3 jumped out at me, “They did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” I thought to myself, “That seems to be the first time I have seen Lord Jesus together in Luke.” So, I pulled out my handy Moulton & Geden, and, sure enough, that is the first and only time that word combination occurs in the gospel of Luke. Now, lest you think that it isn’t a Lukan phrase, I checked Acts, and it occurs 17 times in Acts. So, for Luke, anyway, the phrase Lord Jesus is a phrase that refers to the resurrected Jesus.

Then, using the only electronic Bible software I have, I pulled up the RSV to do a cut and paste. Guess what? The RSV & NRSV both omit the entire phrase “Lord Jesus.” So, out comes my NA 28 large print to check the apparatus. Hmmm…the only manuscripts that omit it are it and D. In other words, the western text as evidenced in Bezae and the Old Latin. So, out comes Metzger’s Textual Commentary. Ah, yes a “western non-interpolation.” That explains why they dropped it. I have always liked the RSV, but in this case I think they are wrong, but that is another subject for another day.

But, this whole process just illustrates how easily I get sidetracked. Here I was getting blessed by an observation about Luke's portrayal of Jesus and the next thing you know, I'm knee deep in reference works and missing the whole point. So, what is the point? That I have all these wonderful tools — or that Luke seems to be saying that Jesus confirms his Lordship by the resurrection? Duh...
</idle musing>

Idle musings on money (long)

I was thinking about the prosperity thing some more yesterday as I was riding. John Wesley wrote a few sermons on finances. Here are some excerpts.

From On the Danger of Increasing Riches (Sermon 126) This was preached near the end of his life.

Section II.

1. But O! Who can convince a rich man that he sets his heart upon riches? For considerably above half a century I have spoken on this head, with all the plainness that was in my power. But with how little effect! I doubt whether I have, in all that time, convinced fifty misers of covetousness. When the lover of money was described ever so clearly, and painted in the strongest colours, who applied it to himself? To whom did God, and all that knew him, say, "Thou art the man!" If he speaks to any of you that are present, O do not stop your ears! Rather say, with Zaccheus, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have done any wrong to any man, I restore fourfold." He did not mean that he had done this in time past; but that he determined to do so for the time to come. I charge thee before God, thou lover of money, to "go and do likewise!"

2. I have a message from God unto thee, O rich man! whether thou wilt hear, or whether thou wilt forbear. Riches have increased with thee; at the peril of thy soul, "set not thine heart upon them!" Be thankful to Him that gave thee such a talent, so much power of doing good. Yet dare not to rejoice over them, but with fear and trembling. Cave ne inhaereas, says pious Kempis, ne capiaris et pereas: "Beware thou cleave not unto them, lest thou be entangled and perish." Do not make them thy end, thy chief delight, thy happiness, thy God! See that thou expect not happiness in money, nor anything that is purchasable thereby; in gratifying either the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, or the pride of life.

3. But let us descend to particulars; and see that each of you deal faithfully with his own soul. If any of you have now twice, thrice, or four times as much substance as when you first saw my face, faithfully examine yourselves, and see if you do not set your hearts, if not directly on money or riches themselves, yet on some of the things that are purchasable thereby; which comes to the same thing. All those the Apostle John includes under that general name, the world; and the desire of them, or to seek happiness in them, under that form, "the love of the world." This he divides into three branches, "the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life." Fairly examine yourselves with regard to these. And, First, as to "the desire of the flesh." I believe this means the seeking of happiness in the things that gratify the senses. To instance in one: Do not you seek your happiness in enlarging the pleasure of tasting. To be more particular: Do you not eat more plentifully, or more delicately, than you did ten or twenty years ago? Do not you use more drink, or drink of a more costly kind, than you did then? Do you sleep on as hard a bed as you did once, suppose your health will bear it? To touch on one point more: do you fast as often, now you are rich, as you did when you was poor? Ought you not, in all reason, to do this rather more often than more seldom? I am afraid your own heart condemns you. You are not clear in this matter.

From The Danger of Riches (Sermon 87)

"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful desires, which drown men in destruction and perdition." —1 Timothy 6:9

1. How innumerable are the ill consequences which have followed from men's not knowing, or not considering, this great truth! And how few are there even in the Christian world, that either know or duly consider it! Yea, how small is the number of those, even among real Christians, who understand and lay it to heart! Most of these too pass it very lightly over, scarce remembering there is such a text in the Bible. And many put such a construction upon it, as makes it of no manner of effect. "They that will be rich," say they, "that is, will be rich at all events, who Will be rich right or wrong; that are resolved to carry their point, to compass this end, whatever means they use to attain it; they 'fall into temptation," and into all the evils enumerated by the Apostle." But truly if this were all the meaning of the text, it might as well have been out of the Bible.

2. This is so far from being the whole meaning of the text, that it is no part of its meaning. The Apostle does not here speak of gaining riches unjustly, but of quite another thing: His words are to be taken in their plain obvious sense, without any restriction or qualification whatsoever. St. Paul does not say, "They that will be rich by evil means, by theft, robbery, oppression, or extortion; they that will be rich by fraud or dishonest art; but simply, "they that will be rich:" These, allowing, supposing the means they use to be ever so innocent, "fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful desires, which drown men in destruction and perdition."

3. But who believes that? Who receives it as the truth of God? Who is deeply convinced of it? Who preaches this? Great is the company of preachers at this day, regular and irregular; but who of them all openly and explicitly, preaches this strange doctrine? It is the keen observation of a great man, "The pulpit is a fearful preacher's strong-hold." But who even in his strong-hold, has the courage to declare so unfashionable a truth? I do not remember that in threescore years I have heard one sermon preached upon this subject. And what author, within the same term, has declared it from the press? At least, in the English tongue? I do not know one. I have neither seen nor heard of any such author...

To explain the words of the Apostle.

1. And, First, let us consider, what it is to be rich. What does the Apostle mean by this expression?

The preceding verse fixes the meaning of that: "Having food and raiment," (literally coverings; for the word includes lodging as well as clothes) "let us be therewith content." "But they that will be rich;" that is, who will have more than these; more than food and coverings. It plainly follows, whatever is more than these is, in the sense of the Apostle, riches; whatever is above the plain necessaries, or at most conveniences, of life. Whoever has sufficient food to eat, and raiment to put on, with a place where to lay his head, and something over, is rich.

2. Let us consider, Secondly, What is implied in that expression, "They that will be rich?" And does not this imply, First, they that desire to be rich, to have more than food and coverings; they that seriously and deliberately desire more than food to eat, and raiment to put on, and a place where to lay their head, more than the plain necessaries and conveniences of life? All, at least, who allow themselves in this desire, who see no harm in it, desire to be rich.

3. And so do, Secondly, all those that calmly, deliberately, and of set purpose endeavour after more than food and coverings; that aim at and endeavour after, not only so much worldly substance as will procure them the necessaries and conveniences of life, but more than this, whether to lay it up, or lay it out in superfluities. All these undeniably prove their "desire to be rich" by their endeavours after it.

4. Must we not, Thirdly, rank among those that desire to be rich, all that, in fact "lay up treasures on earth?" a thing as expressly and clearly forbidden by our Lord as either adultery or murder...

It gets better, read the whole thing, you owe it to yourself.

There is a story (true) told of Wesley. During the American Revolutionary War, the British government was taking an inventory of the silver owned by wealthy British citizens. They came to Mr. Wesley and asked him how much silver he had. His answer should shame all prosperity preachers: "I have two silver forks, one in London and one in Bristol, and I shall own no more as long as there is a hungry person in Britain." Is there any wonder that God was able to use him so powerfully among the disenfranchised?

After you have digested those two sermons, here are a few other sermons on money:
On the Sermon on the Mount (IX) (Sermon 29) —on Matthew 6:24-34
The Use of Money (Sermon 50)
The Good Steward (Sermon 51)
On Riches Sermon 108

Original Sin?

This seems to sum up the view we have of ourselves:

Shedding light into why Edward Forbes Smiley III stole 98 of the world's most precious maps over seven years, papers filed in Connecticut's U.S. District Court said he initially acted because he felt he had been wronged and slighted.

"He explained that his initial thefts were acting out of resentment towards persons at certain institutions that he believed had wronged him, individuals who he believed had slighted him or used certain of his research without accreditation," prosecutors wrote.

"Other thefts he explained resulted from some misguided sense of entitlement to the maps because he had, through collectors, provided better versions of the same map to the institution. He also acknowledged that stealing and selling the maps was profitable and he had mounting debts."

See the full story here.

<idle musing>
Hmmm...by those standards, I should be entitled to a percentage of all of your libraries. After all, I supply you with catalogs listing the books, BookNews e-mails with great sales, RSS feeds announcing new books and newly available used books. So, I am going to start visiting you unannounced and walking off with what I feel is my fair share of your library. What do you think? After all, I'm entitled to it!

If ever anyone doubts that Genesis 3 accurately describes the human condition...
</idle musing>

What I'm reading

Periodically I read a book by A.W. Tozer. It is good for stimulation. If you are comfortable in your Christianity, don't read Tozer; you won't like him. You should read him, because he will jar you into reality, but you won't like him. I have between 12-18 of his books, all of which I have read, except for the one I am reading right now. Most of his books were published posthumously and are collection from his sermons and editorials.

Whenever I am reading a book, I mark parts I want to share with Debbie with a "sticky note." Some books have 1-3 notes in them, but when I start a Tozer book, you should take out stock in 3M :) The book becomes a porcupine with sticky notes all along the side. More than once Debbie has said, "Why don't you just read the whole book to me?"

So, if you are looking for conviction and stimulation from boring christianity, if you want to walk on the wild side, if you want to have your faith challenged, read Tozer. If not, avoid him like the plague. But, your spiritual life will be the weaker for it.

Quote for the day

"Remember this: the human heart by nature is filled with unbelief. Unbelief, not disobedience, was the first sin. While disobedience was the first recorded sin, behind the act of disobedience was the sin of unbelief, else the act of disobedience would not have taken place." — A.W. Tozer

Two new Eisenbrauns books published

Eisenbrauns has just published two new books:

From the Rivers of Babylon to the Highlands of Judah
Collected Studies on the Restoration Period
EIS - Eisenbrauns
by Sara Japhet
Eisenbrauns,2006
x + 469 pp.,English
Cloth,6 x 9 inches
ISBN: 1575061214
List Price: $49.50
Your Price: $44.55
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~JAPFROMTH

And

Deuteronomic Theology and the Significance of Torah
A Reappraisal
EIS - Eisenbrauns
by Peter T. Vogt
Eisenbrauns,2006
xii + 242,English
Cloth
ISBN: 1575061074
List Price: $37.50
Your Price: $33.75
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~VOGDEUTER

Andy, the person who designed the covers on these, has this to say about cover design in general, and these books in particular:

Cover design for Eisenbrauns titles is a bit of a challenge. Unlike other academic publishers who just print an unrelated design or simply stamp the title into the cloth, we try to give each book a cover that reflects the contents, a cover that makes you want to pick up the book and find out more—which sounds easy until you consider just how very esoteric many of these books are.

You have to get very creative. Archaelology books seem like the easiest ones at first blush, but there's only so many times you can put a krater on a cover. It's tempting to use Hebrew text as a mere background on language titles. The easy covers have already been done, for the most part—the longer you keep at this, the more creative you have to get. You have to make abstract ideas concrete, concrete ideas abstract, and most of the time, you have to do it using only two inks!

When I'm talking with the authors and editors, I'm constantly looking for visual language: hooks that I can hang a picture on. The recent Japhet book was easy; the very title had the image built in. The colors readily leaped to mind. The Vogt cover was a bit more difficult; I had to talk with the editor for quite a while on that one. The resulting image is actually a bit more Exodus than Deuteronomy; it's the people of Israel surrounding the pillar of fire at night. I imagined how that must have looked from the sky, a great pillar, with the shadows of the surrounding peoples gathered, streaking away into the darkness of the desert. That's the basis for this cover.

What happened to Joe Cathey?

Yesterday afternoon, I got a weird message in my RSS reader. Under Joe's blog, there was a strange title. When I clicked on it to go to his blog, it came up empty. I figured blogger was down, but just to be sure, I checked another site. It came up. "Strange," I thought. So, before I went home last night I sent Joe an e-mail telling him that his site was gone, thinking that blogger had perhaps lost his stuff (it happens).

This morning, his site was still missing. I started wondering if maybe he had been abducted by Copenhageners, or maybe aliens, or maybe his presidential run was serious—ok none of those are true, but I did wonder what was happening. Of course, I hadn't waded through my Inbox yet, so I didn't see his response right away.

Seems Joe is trying to do a bit too much right now, he is:
Working on an MLS
Working on an MA in Levantine Archaeology
Finishing up two articles
Writing a book
Expanding the Archive and Special Collections at their library
Being a dad with a new baby
Trying to run a blog

Something had to go, and it wasn't going to be the baby! So, down goes the blog.

Farewell, Joe. I will miss interacting with you, even/especially when we don't agree.

Quote for the day

"Why should believing Christians want everything pre-cooked, pre-digested, sliced and salted and expect that God must come and hold the food to their baby lips while they pound the table and splash? And we think that is Christianity! It is not. Such a degenerate, illegitimate breed have no right to be called Christians."—A.W. Tozer

Eisenbrauns weekly sale

For the next 10 days, Eisenbrauns will be offering all published volumes of the Abingdon Old and New Testament Commentary series at 40% off retail price.

To see the complete list, go to the web page, but here is a partial list:

"Deuteronomy"
by Walter Brueggemann
Abingdon Old Testament Commentary - AOTC
Abingdon, Cloth. English.
ISBN: 0687084717
List Price: $34.00 Your Price: $20.40

"I and II Chronicles"
by Steven L. McKenzie
Abingdon Old Testament Commentary - AOTC
Abingdon, Paper. English.
ISBN: 068700750X
List Price: $36.00 Your Price: $21.60

"Matthew"
by Donald W. Senior
Abingdon New Testament Commentary - ANTC
Abingdon, Paper. English.
ISBN: 0687057663
List Price: $25.00 Your Price: $15.00

"1 Corinthians"
by Richard A. Horsley
Abingdon New Testament Commentary - ANTC
Abingdon, Paper. English.
ISBN: 0687058384
List Price: $21.00 Your Price: $12.60

The big "I"

Thanks to Dr. Conrad on the B-Greek list for this. From the blog laudator temporis acti

Robert Frost, Iota Subscript:

Seek not in me the big I capital,
Not yet the little dotted in me seek.
If I have in me any I at all,
'Tis the iota subscript of the Greek.

So small am I as an attention beggar.
The letter you will find me subscript to
Is neither alpha, eta, nor omega,
But upsilon which is the Greek for you.

Iota subscript does not appear beneath upsilon (υ) in Greek, only beneath alpha (ᾳ), eta (ῃ), and omega (ῳ).

<idle musing>
How appropriate.
</idle musing>

Prosperity central

I am not trying to become the central repository for things prosperity, but here is a quick run down of what I’ve seen:

Jim West referred to this, which referred to this site

Scott McKnight mentions the original Time article

Ben Witherington lists 20 reasons why it is wrong in his post.

Ted Gossard references Witherington’s post, but also has his own thoughts, referring to Bonhoeffer.

And then there is this

Of course, I can’t keep my mouth shut and in a post that should have been two, put in my two cents. And, as if that weren’t enough, I also have this.

Please feel free to add any other references you may find. I’m happy that universally it has been blasted.

Quote for the day

"We have wondered why our Christian lives seem to be ceaseless, toilsome effort. The answer is, we have not clearly understood that the life of earth can never grow into the spiritual and that the 'flesh' can never be improved or changed, but must be crucified.
"We have obtained the forgiveness of our sins as we have believed God's Word that 'One died for all,' and we shall obtain deliverance from the life after the flesh just so far as we see that the sinner himself was crucified with the Savior, for 'all died in Him." —Jessie Penn-Lewis (italics hers)

Centrality of the cross

Our text for today:

"Who would want to get in on something where you're miserable, poor, broke and ugly and you just have to muddle through until you get to heaven?...I believe God wants to give us nice things." —Joyce Meyer

<idle musing>
John Fischer wrote a book in the early 1990’s and revised it in 2001 or so entitled On a Hill too Far Away. In it he notes that the cross is rarely mentioned in Evangelical churches anymore. It is too bloody, a stumbling block to belief, so we dispose of it. After all, we want to be relevant and fill the building.

Michael Card noted in his book of meditations on the cross that people tell him he dwells too much on the cross. It is a stumbling block to people; he should sing about happy things. After all, he wants people to listen to him, doesn’t he?

I rarely hear about the cross in any popular songs; it doesn’t sell well. It is even more rarely mentioned by the prosperity people. Why? It is a stumbling block; it doesn’t attract the crowds. We want to pack heaven, don’t we? After all, our job is to get as many people into heaven as possible, isn’t it? And if we manage to put a few pieces of silver in our own pocket along the way, well that’s the American way, right?

Well, I submit to you that it is God’s job to get people into heaven, not ours. It is God’s business whether something sells or not. It is God’s business whether we are popular or not. We are called to one thing—obedience. If the message of the cross isn’t popular, why should we be surprised? Paul already knew that: “but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” I Corinthians 1:23-24 RSV.

As I read through the New Testament, I note that the cross is central to everything Christ did. Once he was resurrected and taken up into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit. Did that change anything? No, the apostles still preach the cross (and get a whipping for it!). The cross retains its centrality throughout the book of Acts, the epistles and on into Revelation, where it is the “lamb who was slain” that is the center of worship.

We are to look “to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2 RSV) It will never be a popular theme, it will always be a stumbling block, but to us it is “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Bonhoeffer summed it up well, “When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Any other gospel isn’t a gospel at all, but a candy coated pill that contains a deadly poison, killing the soul to the things of God. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever.” I John 2:15-17 RSV
</idle musing>