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Old and New Testament Introductions (ELCA Videos)
Decent, brief Old and New Testament introductions are sometimes difficult to come by in video format. But, these two seem to be pretty good videos for lay people that make use of professors at Lutheran universities and schools of theology. They are done by the ELCA, but they do treat different traditions, such as by…
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Lenten Reflections 2010
Last night I started a series of Lenten Reflections in my church parish. These are intended for lay people in my parish, so hopefully they are free from academic jargon. If you are in a tradition that celebrates Lent, or even if you are not, you might want to give them a listen. There will…
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War in the Bible & Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century Review
My friend Karyn has written a very thorough review of the book War in the Bible and Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century. It is in three parts here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Violence in scripture is a topic that preoccupies my mind a great deal as I am sure that it does…
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Biblical Studies Courses on Sale
I noticed today the Teaching Company has a lot of their Biblical (and Religious) Studies courses on sale. I don’t think they normally have this many on sale, and I’m not sure how long it lasts but here’s a list: Beginnings of Judaism Between Cross and Crescent: Jewish Civilization from Mohammed to Spinoza Biblical Wisdom…
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James McGrath on Matthew's Use of Hosea 11 & Jeremiah 31
Today’s New Testament Gospel reading comes from from Matthew 2.13-18. In this passage, Matthew cites two Old Testament texts, namely Hosea 11.1 (only part of the verse) and Jeremiah 31.15. Here are Hosea 11.1 and Jeremiah 31.15, as they are quoted in Matthew: Hosea 11.1 Out of Egypt I called my son. Jeremiah 31.15 A…
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Posts on Whether Jesus Was Wealthy
Apparently there has been a recent magazine article on whether or not Jesus was actually wealthy. I’m with James McGrath on this one. I doubt that Jesus would have pronounced such harsh woes on the rich if he had been wealthy. But, you can check out the posts HERE (James McGrath) and HERE (Joel Watts). …
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Re-struck by How Little Christmas Material is in the Bible
Today’s New Testament lectionary reading should look familiar. That’s because it is made up of the lectionary readings from 12/17 and 12/18. As I noticed that, it made me think of just how little Christmas material there is to choose from when developing the lectionary for this season. There’s none in Mark or John. And,…
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Micah 5.1-4 – Thomas Paine on Prophecy
Today’s Old Testament lectionary reading is from Micah 5.1-4a. This text reminded me of a discussion I had in one of my classes when I was teaching prophets to seminarians. We dealt a bit with the New Testament treatment of the Old Testament and the problems of thinking of prophecy as prediction. One of the…
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New Testament Reading from Matthew 1.18-25
Today’s New Testament lectionary reading is from Matthew 1.18-25. Two of the resources that I linked to yesterday not only deal with verses 1-17, but also with verse 19-25 of chapter 1. So, if you missed those resources yesterday and are interested be sure to check them out.
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Resources on Matthew's Geneaology (Mat. 1)
Today’s New Testament reading is the geneaology of Jesus in Matthew. Thankfully, I do not need to write much about this as I fear the New Testament scholars might have a field day with me. (In seminary, I learned something about possible gematria in the passage, something about the theories of why these women are…