This link from the Ancient World Online (AWOL) will take you to a few dozen SBL seminar papers that have been made available for free. These were all SBL conference papers. Some that I downloaded: Michael Pietsch, University of Hamburg Prophetess of Doom:...
Biblical Theology
What is Exegesis Anyway?
Words like “exegesis” and “exegetical” are thrown around by biblical scholars all the time. Those not in the guild or who haven’t taken courses in biblical languages or hermeneutics might wonder what the terminology means. If that’s...
Interpreting Genesis 1: Who’s the Literalist Now?
I appreciated this post from James McGrath, whose short essay was stimulated by Robin Parry’s post, to whom James directs his readers. The issue is how “literal creationists” are actually only selective literalists (or, as I would call them,...
Modern Critical Thinking About the Bible? Or, Should 2 Timothy 2:15 Be Restricted to Ancient Readers?
A recent guest post over at the Patheos blog author by Dr. David Lincicum, will likely be of interest to Naked Bible readers: Lament for a Maternal Home (or, Is There No Place for Believing Criticism in Evangelicalism?). I appreciated the essay. Though I don’t...
Abortion, Luke 1:15, and Syntactical Databases
A couple months ago a friend sent me a link to a New Testament study that was apparently being popularized within certain segments of the Church to legitimize abortion. The argument is patently illogical, but that isn’t why I’m blogging about it....
Polygamy and Old Testament Law
[UPDATE 3/27/2012: I’m already getting comments that seem to suggest that I “missed” the biblical portrayal of polygamy as causing great consternation in the home. No surprise, and no kidding. I think my post was clear on this originally, but just in...
How Mike Approaches the Bible
The Name Theology in Israelite Religion
Here is the first of my two ETS papers, “ The Name Theology in Israelite Religion .” Hope you find it interesting. I think it’s a good succinct summary of the history of the discussion. Of course I throw my own two cents in toward the end. The second...
On Using Rabbinic Material to Interpret the New Testament
I’m still in the process of getting things together for the posting of my ETS papers (both of which were well received). I’ll have that ready by the end of the weekend. However, I decided to post something else that I have recently run into. I’m not...
Thoughts on the Bridegroom of Blood
Just wanted to summarize some thoughts on the passage before moving on to my next “all commentaries are not created equal” illustration. I think I can summarize the best thinking on the passage in a comprehensible way now that you have all been exposed to...
Were New Testament Writers Hermeneutical Hacks?
For those of you who read comments what follows will be familiar. I’ve been chatting back-and-forth with someone named John Loftus, who is an atheist and has a blog called debunking Christianity. One of the issues upon which John focused was what he perceives as...
Heiser's Laws for Bible Study
I was doodling today, and this came out. Really. Last night when I should have been grading some papers I was in the mood to do some work on my next four-week teaching session at church. You’ll know how unusual that was when I tell you it’s going to be on...
New Testament (Real) Numerology
I love stuff like this journal article by Mikeal Parsons: “Exegesis ‘By the Numbers’: Numerology and the New Testament.” I have an interest in this kind of thing (no surprise to those of you who know me – “if it’s weird,...
Hallowing God's Name
That’s a take on the title of a recent post by John Hobbins over on Ancient Hebrew Poetry. The context is a discussion about what constitutes a good Bible translation. I have to agree with John. The parts must be contextualized to produce a contextualized whole....
On to the Use of the OT in the NT
Hopefully by now you have all read the files I posted to prep for this topic. If not, you still have a little time before I pick the first passage we’ll look at. I will be posting excerpts during the discussion from Beale and Carson’s (eds) Commentary on...