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Oxford History of the Biblical World – Chapter 1
I posted earlier a quote that I liked by Michael Coogan about Old Testament parallels; however, I must admit that I was a little disappointed with the first chapter of this book. From the preface and list of authors, it seems like this will be an excellent volume. In particular, I normally like Coogan. I…
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Michael Coogan on Old Testament Parallels
I started reading The Oxford History of the Biblical World tonight. Here’s an interesting quote from Michael Coogan found in the first chapter. He suggests that parallels between Biblical literature and the literature of the Ancient Near East are ubiquitous, though direct parallels are difficult to point out: It is rarely possible to establish a…
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The silliest objection I hear from Evangelical Protestants as a Roman Catholic
I am a Roman Catholic. That was not always the case. I grew up Roman Catholic, left and joined a Southern Baptist Church, and then returned to Roman Catholicism. I also from time to time interact with people who are entering the Catholic Church through our parish RCIA program. Most of this interaction has taken…
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Brent Strawn on 4 points on reading the Bible
HERE is a link to an audio recording by Brent Strawn with four very simple points for reading the Bible. His points in a nutshell are: Actually Read Read Slowly Keep Reading Re-read Check out the audio recording as he briefly expands on these ideas. On the same page you will also find an audio…
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On Being a Self-conscious Blogger
I am a self-conscious blogger. An aside in a recent post by Chris Brady made me ponder this as he references a text that gives the advice to “simply write.” This type of advice is difficult for me. And, the one thing that I think cripples me above all others when it comes to writing…
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Targuman on Genesis 1
HERE is a link to what looks like will be a series from Chris Brady on a literary reading on Genesis 1. In addition, HERE is a link to the second post in the series where he actually delves into the text. Dr. Brady oftentimes includes things like clever little comics to pique interest and…
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Boring, Boring, Boring
If you are looking for the most boring way possible to begin an introduction to the Old Testament (or the Bible as a whole for that matter) and to immediately lose your audience, make sure to start with source theories.
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Words for Idols
Words for idols in Hebrew are almost always very interesting. In the Responsorial Psalm for today, many translations of Psalm 96.6 read: “For all the gods of the people are idols…” (NRSV, NASB, among others). Yet when one looks at the root idea of the word underlying the translation idols it appears to mean something…
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Responsorial Psalms: One of My Favorite Parts of Being Catholic
Okay. So, I realize that having a daily responsorial Psalm is not distinctively Catholic. A number of other liturgically oriented communities also have these; I say good for them. They help to keep worship from becoming stagnant or monolithic. I have been a music leader in various congregations and for various age groups (I am…
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An Ongoing Blog Series I'm Looking Forward To
HERE is link to a blog I’ve recently subscribed to called Hoping for Redemption. The author is starting a series of posts called “week links.” He is posting the best of what he reads throughout the week. And, he reads things that are interesting to me. This first edition has one of my favorite comics…