Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

Readers of Pisteuomen: Tomorrow I will be launching a new feature on this site, it is called Exege TV . Exege TV is a channel/show that I have developed which aims to help students/preachers etc., move through the exegetical and explanation process of biblical texts. I will be adding new episodes to Pisteuomen posts periodically. I hope that you find this new resource useful and are able to share it with others. Again, I will probably post the first episode tomorrow, so, keep your eyes peeled.

Check out some excerpts from an article written by Cory Doctorow (scary stuff!!!): Greg landed at San Francisco International Airport at 8 p.m., but by the time he'd made it to the front of the customs line, it was after midnight. He'd emerged from first class, brown as a nut, unshaven, and loose-limbed after a month on the beach in Cabo (scuba diving three days a week)... When he'd left the city a month before, he'd been a stoop-shouldered, potbellied wreck. Now he was a bronze god, drawing admiring glances from the stews at the front of the cabin. He should have seen it coming, of course. The U.S. government had lavished $15 billion on a program to fingerprint and photograph visitors at the border, and hadn't caught a single terrorist. Clearly, the public sector was not equipped to Do Search Right. The DHS officer had bags under his eyes and squinted at his screen, prodding at his keyboard with sausage fingers. No wonder it was taking four hours to get out of the....

I have decided to forego my monthly "Fav 5" post on Pisteuomen. Actually, I am keeping the content of the post but I am changing the name. The new name will be The Monthly "Bible Belt" award . While I will still list my favorite 5 blog posts written by other bloggers, each month I will award the Bible Belt to my favorite post of the month. That said, the first winner of the Pisteuomen International Blogging Bible Belt is (drumroll please): Nick Norelli (not that you really care). Anyways, to read his post, click the following link: An Interview... And thanks for the good post, I loved it! 4 other posts I that I really enjoyed are: #2. Lingamish: Photos of Mozambique #3. Jim West: The Sponge of Jesus #4. Ben Witherington: Beautiful Turkey #5. J. Montgomery: Of Kilts & Burgundy Robes

In back-to-back stories in Mark’s Gospel, it is recorded that Jesus “sighs deeply” (from στεναζω). Mark 7.34 reads: “…and Jesus looked up to heaven, sighed deeply and said…” Mark 8.11-12 says: “And the Pharisees came forth and began to question Him, seeking a sign from heaven from Him, trying Him and He sighed deeply in His spirit and said…” When studying these two passages, I could not help but notice the similarities between them. Both are prefaced with a remark about heaven, both include Jesus sighing deeply and both have Jesus saying something immediately after the deep sigh. For my part, I do not think this is mere coincidence, not least because these two stories are side-by-side. So, what is the point? Actually, I think that in locating these stories in such close proximity and by telling them in such similar ways, Mark was trying to be humorous. I’m not sure that many people would agree with this and it may seem rather simplistic but it does make sense. Besides, can’t the Gospel...

Pisteuomen readers: in addition to subscribing to this site's feed (located at the bottom of this site or at feedburner.com), you can now subscribe to Pisteuomen via email. Simply enter your email address and click the "subscribe" button to begin recieving my posts in your inbox. Enjoy.

(based on Acts 9.43ff) There once was a man from Joppa Who owned a leather shoppa When he tanned the hide It reeked of urine inside His neighbors said, “Oh, please stoppa”

At the request of one of my readers, I have developed a new biblical studies tool. The new resource is called: Greek to German. The widget is easily installable on your site and is updated frequently. The point of it is (if you cannot tell by the name) to provide you and your site's readers with Greek and German vocab. Get the widget and install it on your site (all in less than 1 minute) by scrolling down the middle column of Pisteuomen and clicking "get widget." Enjoy.

A month or two ago, Scott Bailey (from Scotteriology) wrote a post discussing his reticence towards the “Godtube” website. One of the reasons he did not like the site was because he did a number of searches, typing in some of the most influential names and important events in the history of God’s people and his searches turned up nothing. Piggybacking on Scott’s Godtube search , I decided to take the same list and search for each item on the Family Christian Stores® website. Before you read the results of each search (they are listed below), read the store’s comments from the “About Us” section of their site: "Family Christian Stores® is America's leading specialty retailer with over 300 locations and over 5,000 employees in 37 states dedicated solely to the $4.3 billion Christian retailing market. Family Christian Stores® sells Christian products and church supplies through its chain of stores and via the Internet. Merchandising categories include Bibles, Books, Music, Childr...

Okay, so, I said before that I had completed my visual tour of Turkey. Well, come to find out, Ben Witherington has posted some incredible aerial photos that are simply "must see"! Check out these pix by clicking the following link: Aerial Pix of Turkey . Also, don't forget to check out my slideshow located at the bottom of the right column, which contains about 50 of my pictures from Turkey.

Two blogs have been added to the Pisteuomen blogroll (which most people are probably already familiar with): The Blog of Ben Witherington and the blog of Mike Bird & Joel Willits: Euangelion .

Readers of Pisteuomen, I am pleased to announce the development of a new widget. The name of the widget that I have created is English2Greek 1.0. This tool can be installed on your site in less than a minute and allows you to easily convert English text to Greek text without ever having to leave your site/blog. The widget is located in the middle column of Pisteuomen. To get it, simply click the "get widget" button. Also, if you'd like, you can give it a trye before adding it to your site. Enjoy!

To the twenty-first century mind time and history are conceived of in one way: linear. This, of course, is reflected in the use of timelines where events are dated and ordered chronologically. Yet, to Israel, time and history were understood differently. For them, time was not linear but periodic, cyclical and therefore, rhythmic. It was the rhythm of the festal and non-festal times that gave rhythm to Israel’s life. Yet, it was not the festivals themselves that gave Israel the bulk of her identity but rather the God who acted in and thus, linked these events together. Israel’s expectation, wrapped up in circularity, was always that their God, who has already acted on their behalf, would surely act again in a similar way. Yet, with the prophets, there occurred a type of breakthrough in understanding God’s actions in time and history: the future. This new facet of time is what Von Rad referred to as Israel’s “eschatological element” ( OT Theology , V.II, 113). This element, Von Rad argu...

A couple of days ago, Mike Bird wrote a post evaluating one of theology's most influential fellows: Rudolf Bultmann. Though Bird admitted to liking Bultmann's TDNT entries, he had much more to say concerning his dislikes towards Bultmann. He listed the following 7 items: 1. I find his existential Deism nauseating. 2. There is more to Romans than a diatribe. 3. His History of the Synoptic Tradition asserted more than it argued and is methodologically defunct. 4. There never was a Gnostic Redeemer myth nor was there ever any proof for it in the first. 5. He was wrong to cordon off Christianity into Palestinian, Hellenistic, and Gentile varieties. 6. His depiction of Judaism as pure legalism is both inaccurate and has had horrendous effects in Pauline studies. 7. His best book A Theology of the New Testament gives us 30 pages about Jesus and 120 about a fictitious Hellenistic Community. A bit bothered by these caricatures, Jim West decided to reply with a post of his own ...

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading through Dr. Brian Russell's website ( Real Meal Ministries ) and I came across a very interesting post on Church planting. In the post, Dr. Russell argues that "planting" is an outmoded and outdated metaphor for this generation. He contends that, in a mobilized, on-the-go society, being planted or rooted in one place just isn't appealing. Honestly, Dr. Russell has some great thoughts here. I wonder, though, if people in this on-the-go society need to slow down sometimes, or even stop, and settle down and bring some "stability" to their lives? If so, maybe the plant metaphor isn't a bad one afterall. Anyways, check out his article. Click the following link to read it: Russell: A Church Plant Is A Poinsettia .

Thought I'd share this brief video that was pointed out to me. Enjoy.

When Forgiveness is Rejected To offer forgiveness Well, It means that you’ve been hurt And to say, “I’ve moved on” Well, It means that you’ve been burnt Recently, I offered forgiveness For, I had bottled up my hurt And the one whom to whom I offered it Well, He just wouldn’t accept these words Expectedly, he offered rejection Like, He’d never been in the wrong “Forgive me for what?” he asked For, These were still the lyrics of his song “I offer you forgiveness,” “For,” “All of the emotional pain” “And I offer it graciously” But, He just shook his head in disdain I offered grace And, I offered it as best as I knew I offered my heart upon sleeve But, That was rejected too I didn’t offer another chance For This taker to take any more He came close as he could As, If to widen the sore I offered with boldness To My invader, a meek "No!" I offered forgiveness And, I spoke firmly with grace I realized reconciliation Wasn’t, Able to take place Some will not offer And, Some will not a...

Readers of Pisteuomen : In addition to the interactive Greek and Hebrew alphabet modules that I have created, my Theological German Daily widget and my slideshow presentations of Greece & Turkey (Greece slideshow will be posted in the future), I have now put together a Linguistic & Grammatical Glossary that I am offering here on Pisteuomen, free of charge. The Glossary contains more than 150 terms that langauge students (especially the serious Bible student) will find helpful. I built the Glossary with an eye towards English, Koine, Hebrew, French and German. You can download the Glossary and share it freely, as long as you do not manipulate or change it from its current state. Click the icon below (which will also be located at the top of the middle column of this page from now on) to get the download. Hope this helps some of you in your studies; any comments would be appreciated. Enjoy.

Heschel, Abraham J. The Prophets , Perennial Classics edition. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2001. Pp. vii-672. ISBN 0-06-093699-1. Abraham J. Heschel’s The Prophets is both a voluminous and ambitious work. Heschel, now deceased, was unapologetically and avowedly Jewish in his views and lifestyle. Heschel’s daughter, Susanna, has remarked that her father’s disposition came from Israel’s prophets, who, for him, “were not simply biblical figures…but models for his life” (xiv). Indeed, Heschel, like the prophets, was a man whose heart grew heavy from all of the injustice in the world. He lived during the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War and the Holocaust (which he escaped, though his parents did not). Clearly, Heschel’s understanding of God was colored by such events. To him, God was not absent or distant, an Unmoved Mover as Aristotle argued but rather the Most Moved Mover (xviii). To some, Heschel’s understanding of God might be too anthropomorphic. Such persons though, Heschel a...

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Chris Tilling of the infamous blog, Chrisendom. As usual, he was witty, humorous and quite plebian (he even signed into the Pisteuomen Chat Room under the name "CheapAndCheerful." And somehow, he got us sidetracked onto the topic of "knickers.") Anyways, what follows is a transcript of the interview; I'm sure you'll enjoy it. After you read the interview, be sure to check out Tilling's site at the following link: Chrisendom . Question : So, Chris, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you originally from? Where are you studying? And, What are a couple of goals you have set for yourself in the field of biblical studies? Answer : Well, thanks for this wee in interview, Michael. Those who read my blog will know that I’m a pale-faced, large-stomached Englishman with a soft-spot for cakes and, well, food generally really. That’s about it! Let me think....Fat. No, I said that. Umm, well, I am a theology/NT-...

Readers of Pisteuomen, I have added two blogs to the blogroll. The first is Chrisendom , hosted by Chris Tilling (see my interview with Chris in the previous post) and the second is Theologie und Gemeinschaft (Theology and Community) by Dr. Jim West. For some reason, it wouldn't have felt right adding one without the other; don't ask me why! Anyways, if you love sarcasm and/or nonsensical banter with a theological twist, check out these blogs if you haven't already.

In his book, Blue Like Jazz , author Donald Miller tells a story about a time that he and a friend attended a folk concert together. As he narrates that experience, he tells of a particular moment where, between songs, the folk singer paused to tell a story. The story concerned another of the musician’s friends, a fellow who happened to be one in a group of Navy Seals that had been assigned to a hostage recovery mission. Flown in on a helicopter, the group landed and began to search the grounds of a remote compound. But once they found the hostages, something unusual and unexpected happened. When the Seals entered the room, the group of hostages was bundled up in the corner of a dark, stench-ridden room. But when the rescuers called out to the hostages there was nothing but gasps; the prisoners did not respond as we might suppose they would have, no, they remained on the floor without movement. This prompted the Seal’s to stand there too. Miller says, that like the hostages, they did n...

Having completed the first portion of my series "Images of Antiquity," which led us through Turkey (aka ancient "Asia Minor), I figured that I would gather all of those pictures and put them in one place for viewing. Thus, near the bottom of the right hand column on this page, I have posted a slideshow containing 50 pictures (which have all been shown and described in previous posts). If you use these photos, please do not manipulate them in any way, otherwise, feel free to use and share them (freely).

In this set of pictures, we will be looking at a few ancient sites in Turkey: Assos, Alexander Troas and Troy. If you copy or download the pictures, please do not manipulate or change them in any form from their current state. Otherwise, feel free to use them. Enjoy. The first photo is of the waterfront in the city of Assos. Assos is located in Northwestern Turkey and is not far from the other two sites mentioned here (Alexander Troas & Troy). Assos is mentioned twice in the New Testament, both times in conjunction with Paul's missionary journeys in Acts 20 (verses 13-4). The text says, "We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot. When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene." When we arrived at Assos it was late at night and honestly, I have never seen that many stars at once, it was incredible. In the morning, as we were eating brea...

Readers of Pisteuomen: I have developed a new widget that you may add--free of charge of course--to your website. The widget is "Theological German Daily." Every day the widget produces a new theological German term w/definition or a grammar/reading tip. The widget is placed in the middle column of Pisteuomen and can be obtained by simply clicking the icon beneath the widget that says "get widget." You don't have to paste any code or anything into your blog, simply click the "get widget" icon (make sure you're logged into blogger) and when you do a list will appear that aks you to choose which type of site you want it installed on. Select the site type and the widget will self-install; it's that easy. I have also set it up to where you can customize the widget to fit your site's taste and format (click the edit/tool icon to do this once you have installed the widget). Enjoy!

With a newborn baby, work, school, etc. I've really had to limit my television watching this semester (not that I was addicted or anything). But, at this point, I have cut my viewing down to 3 or 4 shows per week. One of my favorite new shows, though, is Kid Nation (a summer camp experience turned into a television show). The series actually recieved a lot of negative attention before it ever aired but honestly, the program is great (a lot of people say that CBS is "exploiting" children, however, it does not seem like that to me). The premise of the show was to take 40 kids from all over the country, drop them off in an old Wetern town (Bonanza is what they call it) with limited contact with the outside world and see if they could get the town up and running. Of course, some of the kids fight and argue but for the most part, they work well together. Last week's episode centered around mealtime; the kids were split down the middle when half of them wanted to kill a ch...

In this set of pictures, we will be looking at ancient Ephesus. If you copy or download the pictures, please do not manipulate or change them in any form from their current state. Otherwise, feel free to use them. Enjoy. In the first photo, you can see a number of things in the background but the focus is on the mosaic sidewalk. The design on the sidewalk is very detailed and intricate as it forms a number of artistic pictures. One of the things you realize when you travel through these ancient cities is that there were many talented artists who paved the way for much of how the Western world does art today. The sidewalk on which the mosaic rests is a much smaller part of a long street, one of the main streets that ran through the city. Also, the mosaic sits in front of a number of small workshops and houses. You can also see some columns running alongside the sidewalk, which takes us to photo #2. In the second photo, you see me, posing behind a statue. These were "caesar" st...

In Isaiah 4.1, these words are recorded: "In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, 'We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!'" Given the circumstances of the time--the violent overtaking of Jerusalem--it might well be the case that so many of the town's men were killed in battle, that in terms of a man-to-woman ratio, after the fght, there was left only 1 man to about every 7 women. Now, a lot of men would love to have 7 women bickering over them but if we can see past that for a moment, we find something very interesting in this passage. We all know that names were of great importance in the ancient world but according to this passage, there was a link between betrothal and the taking or bearing of a name. Abraham Heschel points out in his book The Prophets (which I will post a book review on soon), that the prophet Jeremiah was one who knew what it meant to be intimate wit...

As many of you know, the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting is fast approaching. This year's meeting is in San Diego, CA. The dates for the conference are Saturday, November 17th through Tuesday, November 20th. As of now, I have not officially registered for the conference but I am planning (or trying) to go. One of the hurdles standing in my way is housing. Is there anyone out there who lives or has relatives or friends in the San Diego area that might be willing to share their floor or couch with me for a few days? If you are willing or know someone who might be, please let me know. You can email me at: halc dot 40dp at mailcity dot com (have to spell out the address so that spammers don't get it; they don't stop to actually read blogs). Anyways, if you or anyone you know would be willing to help me out, please let me know as soon as possible (preferably by Oct. 13th or 14th). This preacher would be eternally grateful for any help. Also, if any of you are inter...

( based on Mk. 7.24-30 ) There once was a woman from Tyre She had a daughter with demons inside her She saw Christ and fell down Then He called Her a hound Good thing she wasn't a biter

As most of the world knows, Iran's president Ahmi...whatever his name is, spoke at Colombia University last week. Of course, this brought many protesters out of the woodworks and it raised many questions about freedom (e.g. Do non-American citizens simply get American rights when they step on to American soil?). Yet, another thing that his visit did was that it exposed John Hagee's CUFI organziation. If you aren't familiar with John Hagee or CUFI, well, you've been fortunate. However, Hagee is making a strong impression on many Evangelicals around the world, especially in the US. The whole of Hagee's ministry revolves around a religio-political scheme. His end-times, Dispensational theology in a nutshell, is: For Christ to come, a few things need to take place: 1. The Jews need to be put back and kept back in Israel, 2. America needs to make that happen, 3. To make that happen, America needs to bomb Iran so that they can't prevent the Jews from living in Israel ...

*Okay, so after posting this, I noticed that somehow, the pictures changed order. That could happen again, who knows, so, even though the pictures may have numbers in the bottom right corner, to go along with my comments below, take the picture of the theater as the first of the series (thus, theather pic = photo #1). Continuing my series "Images of Antiquity," I offer here some photos and thoughts on ancient Laodicea, located in Turkey. You may copy, save, use and distribute these pictures in their present format. Please do not manipulate or change them. Thanks and enjoy! In photo number one, you can see the Laodicean theater. Of all of the theaters I visited in Turkey, this was by far the largest one I saw (and I saw a lot of them because practically every sizeable city had one). It appears that this theater was used predominantly for plays and musical performances. The acoustics of this theather were amazing, one person could stand down in the center pit and another could...

Okay, so if it was not already clear enough that many Western (especially American) Christians are biblically illiterate, something else had to be developed in the world of Christendom to prove it. In a country where a new type of Bible is being developed every day, I think perhaps, that the worst type is now upon us. And as expected (Lord help us!) it is taking people by storm! It is called "The Personal Promise Bible." (I am surpised that Scott @ Scotteriology has not picked up on this yet, what with his eye for ignorant cultural fads and all--you're not dropping the ball on us are you Scott?) Anyways, the point of this Bible is that...wait for it...it is personalized. When you order it from the publishers, they will go through the whole thing and insert your very own personal name right into the text. I went to their site and got a few examples: Therefore if Michael is in Christ, Michael is a new creation.The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have becom...

I have added a few new blogs to Pisteuomen. For those of you interested in Theological German, Mark Alterman has started a new blog on this very subject; I have added a link to his site on my blogroll. Or, simply check it out by clicking the following link: Theological German . For those of you interested in Theological French , Celucian L. Joseph has started a new blog on this very subject. Click the above link or the "blogroll link" to visit the site. Another great site that I have recently found is BibleMap . This is basically GoogleMaps meets the Bible. You can select any chapter in the Bible and if there is a location mentioned in that chapter, it will show up on the map. This site is amazing and I am excited to see how it will develop in the future. Keep up the good work Tim Kimberley.

One of my wife's friends knows the woman who made the short video below (she works for the National Fatherhood Initiative). This video is touching and makes my heart rejoice at the chance to be a father; it also makes me laugh like crazy. Hope you get a kick out of this, Enjoy and share.

As you can see, Pisteuomen is undergoing some construction. Please pardon the mess.

Below are my favorite five posts from others in the month of September, do have a look at them. 1. Ben Witherington on Scripture ( by : Michael Bird) 2. Jesus, Bill Clinton and Preexistance ( by : Jacob P. Breeze) 3. We Believe in the Triune God ( by : William Willimon) 4. Deacons ( by : Alan Knox) 5. Conversion ( by : Scot McKnight)