When I was in college and grad school friends and I would often joke about whether books or food were a higher priority. Sure, it was funny, but every once in a while there was something that actually turned the conversation serious. Some of us literally (I speak to...
context
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 030: Introducing Word Level Study
It's been several weeks since I've been able to do another podcast episode, so here we go. In this episode, the series on taking Bible study seriously transitions to word level research by overviewing some directions we'll take as we think about studying biblical...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 20
I've talked in previous episodes about how the best way to understood the original context of the biblical writers is to immerse yourself in the worldview of the civilizations with which the biblical writers had regular contact. We’ve already spent several episodes...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 019: Second Temple Texts in Translation
The series on Bible study continues with the emphasis on interpreting the Bible in its own context. The context we're discussing is the world of the ancient Near East (with respect to the OT) and the Second Temple period with respect to the NT. Interpreting the Bible...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 018: Ancient Near Eastern Texts in Translation
The last episode of the podcast dealt with the need to tap into the intellectual output of the ancient Mediterranean world -- the Bible's own context -- in order to start thinking the thoughts of the biblical writers. This episode takes this recommendation further by...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 017: Taking the Bible’s Own Context Seriously
In this second episode of the series on Bible study, I discuss what interpreting the Bible "in context" really means -- taking the Bible's own primitive context seriously. Rather than filter the Bible through creeds dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, or even the...
What To Me And To You?
While doing some reverse interlinear work a few days ago, I came across Josh 15:18. The verse concerns Caleb’s newly-won bride: 18 When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she got off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, What do you...
How Mike Approaches the Bible
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...
A Brief Note on Contextualizing the Bible (Especially OT)
One of the responders accuse me of being extrabiblical in my approach to Romans 5:12. Actually, I’m being explicitly biblical, since I refuse to de-contextualize the Bible in favor of rendering interpretations that are comfortable, or that are European,...