I often get asked about the "true pronunciation of the divine name" or "the authentic meaning of YHWH, the Tetragrammaton." I've often wondered why people care -- why is it that they can't be content with the scholarly convention of "Yahweh" in this regard, especially...
Doctrine of God
Can Unbelievers Ever Please God? Part 2
While I won't repeat what I said in Part 1, the comments to that post have left me thinking that some readers still don't understand what I'm saying and not saying and so are missing the point of the question. So, by way of review What I'm Not Saying and Not...
Can Unbelievers Please God? Part 1
Most readers are familiar with the idea of "total depravity" as taught by many Christian theologians over the centuries -- the idea that (in overly broad strokes) humans are unable to turn themselves to God and are inherently sinful. Those who have read with some...
Journal Article on Divine Plurality in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls
My thanks are due to the generous policy of Tyndale Bulletin for allowing me to post a link to a scholarly article that appears in the most recent issue. The article is entitled: Monotheism and the Language of Divine Plurality in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea...
New Motion Graphic Video: God vs. the Sea Monsters
Note: This had been posted earlier, but was taken down after a few minutes due to an error. There's also been a scene added to this rendering. Did you know the Bible says that God destroyed Leviathan when he created the heavens and earth? Genesis 1 isn't the only...
ETS-SBL Musings: Imprecatory Prayer
Just got back from the week of conferences. A tough trip getting there (15 hours due to flight delays and three flight legs . . . I have a history of hard travel experiences). But easy coming back, thankfully. One of the papers I attended was on the theology of...
How Human Was Jesus?
A trick question? Depends on how much theological and logical clarity your thoughts about the question are. I was reminded of this issue (which, I'll admit, is one of my pet issues) last week as I had the honor of hosting Doug Bookman at Logos. Doug was one of my...
A Few Thoughts on Job
This will be brief (I know, you're amazed). Basically, the message of Job is fairly simple, but some would say not very comforting. When Job and God have their conversation at the end of the book, God's answer to his (and the reader's) implicit question of why the...
God’s Sovereignty and Nature’s Freedom
I liked this article since parts of it resonate with my own view of sovereignty and free will (the latter does not rule out the former) blogged long ago here at the Naked Bible. Genuine freedom is part of humanity because it is a communicable attribute we receive as...
The Limits of Divine Omniscience
That's the focus and/or question in this article (entitled: The Limits of Omniscience). I thought it was an interesting thing to have you all read on the heels of the election and predestination discussion. The last paragraph nicely highlights the issue, but you'll...
Lying and Deception
As a follow-up to the "God and deception" post, let me sketch out my position on the issues I raised. I define a lie as the deliberate utterance of a falsehood -- something contrary to reality -- with specific intent to deceive or conceal the truth. The focus is what...
Does God Lie?
This has been on my list of things I really want to dive into (having taught ethics for a number of years). We know that there are specific statements asserting very clearly that God does not tell lies (e.g., Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2). However, God does use deception. ...
Second Follow Up on God and Haiti Post
This is another note in response to Jonathan's question about my God and Haiti post. There are two causes of suffering in the world: natural disasters and human evil. The former is part of creation; the latter was not "arranged" by God, but was a consequence of God's...
God and Haiti
The impact of the catastrophic earthquake last week in Haiti is still rippling through the small, impoverished country. The scale of the tragedy is still building to its full crescendo of horror. But even now the calamity prompts questions concerning the whereabouts...
The Myth of the LATENESS of the Belief in Jesus as Incarnate Deity
At first glance, you might wonder why this is PaleoBabble fodder. Having just returned from the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (this year in Boston), I was reminded again how even scholars have an insular perspective. This is especially true of...