NB: This post compares and contrasts a set of books that I have never read (just like a true academic, or a true fundamentalist, er, a true ideologue of some sort ), so any feedback would be extremely helpful. It is useful to compare the Left Behind series that has been so popular since 1995 in evangelical circles, with the Work and the Glory series since its release in 1990. Both are multi-volume epics that are aimed at the faithful... Read more
The errancy/innerrancy debate in biblical theology is often framed in terms of levels of “belief” in the Bible. The errancy position holds that the Bible is not a perfect document that represents the direct word of God in every minor (and even some major) instance. It admits human involvement in the production and transmission of the text. In inerrancy position holds that the Bible is the perfect word of God. Though there are many different subtlties in the various versions... Read more
2008 was a good year for FPR. We gained three new permanent bloggers, Secco, David Clark, and The Yellow Dart, though we lost Chris H. to his own personal blog. We also had our 500th post on our three year anniversary. Below, I collected some of my personal favorite posts of 2008 for your rereading pleasure, or in case you missed them. Please feel free to add any others that I didn’t put on the list that you enjoyed at... Read more
The category of “myth” is arguably the most important for evaluating the Bible in the last few hundred years. The very earliest critics of the Bible employed the category of “myth” in evaluating the stories and histories recorded there. D. F. Strauss (Das Leben Jesu, 1835) employed the term for making sense of the life of Jesus, among the first to suggest that the gospels were not literal history. Besides the difficulty in identifying and defining myth, the most important... Read more
Let’s assume at this point that you’re someone who took a year of Hebrew in school, but it was a long time ago. Or, you have worked through a grammar on your own. You’ve learned some basics, but you’re not quite ready to dive into Isaiah. What to do? (more…) Read more
Inspired by a post at BCC and in lieu of a lengthy comment, here are my suggestions for teaching yourself Hebrew. (more…) Read more
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of... Read more
There has been serious discussion among Mormon scholars over the past several years regarding the divine council in the Hebrew Bible and its implications for Mormon thought. For instance, very recently Blake Ostler published his third volume of Exploring Mormon Thought, in which, among other issues, he discusses at length various aspects of the heavenly council in the Hebrew Bible and what their implications might be for Mormon theology. David Bokovoy, a Mormon PhD student studying at Brandeis University under... Read more
This spotlight is on Harvard Divinity School, and comes from Michael I., an alumnus and current PhD student at Harvard. (more…) Read more
In this post I would like to discuss one of the most time consuming, yet least significant components of the application process–namely the GRE. (more…) Read more
Faith-Promoting Rumor
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