Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

You have got to check this out!!! If you grew up playing with Legos, like I did, you'll love this: The Bible per LegoLand. I was floored when I saw this--it's absolutely incredible! You'll have to see it all for yourself. And though Christmas has already passed, I thought I'd go ahead and share LegoLand's interpretation of the manger scene (see below). To see more, click the following link: The Brick Testament .

Within the last few weeks, three new Christian bloggers (that I am aware of) have stepped into the realm of the biblioblogosphere. Knowing how tough it can be draw regular visitors to one's site, a while back I decided that I would try my best to help new bloggers "get known". That's why I added the "A Beginning Blogger" feature to this site. I've already updated it by listing Naomisu Onamy and JN Patrick . I've now added Craig Downey 's site: C. Downey: λεων και αρνιον . Be sure to check out all of these new Christian blogs when you get a chance. Happy New Year.

As a young boy and even as a teenager, I was always fascinated with paper airplanes. This video may have piqued my interest once again. The dude makes a paper airplane and launches it over New York City--pretty sweet! Check it out.

SBL / AAR '07 may have been a month ago but here are some links to papers that were presented at the conference (some of these sites also contain older conference papers too; some are still waiting to be updated, nonetheless, you now have the links). Enjoy! 1. Bakhtin & the Biblical Imagination (2001 - 2007) 2. Paul & Scripture Seminar (2006 only, I think, but still very good stuff!) 3. Bible & Visual Art (2001 - 2005; more to be added) 4. Psychology & Biblical Studies (in addition to '07, get 2006 papers here )

In addition to listing Naomisu Onamy under the "A Beginning Blogger" icon, I am also going to list Jason N. Patrick's new blog too. You can visit his site by clicking the following link: JN Patrick's Blog . (Check out his latest post: Biblical Literature as a Family's Story )

The order's up. December's Bible Belt winner is: Kim Fabricius who posted on Ben Myers' Faith and Theology site. Kim's post is titled: A Funeral Homily On Christmas Eve . My other favorite four posts are: 2. Triablogue: Life, death, and the life everlasting 3. Celebrating Thoughtful Faith: God, the Ultimate Subject 4. Dr. Claude Mariottini: Google Bibliograhpy on Christianity & Judaism (thanks!!!) 5. A Peculiar Prophet: Christians in the Empire

Well, I've finally gotten the chanve to put the newly implemented "A Beginning Blogger" feature to use. A new blogger and reader of Pisteuomen, an Aussie woman by the name of Naomisu Onamy, is the first up. She notes on her blog that she enters the biblioblogosphere with fear and trembling--are we truly that scary? Anyways, check out her latest post (hopefully she will offer more, more frequently) by clicking the following link: Observations on Blasphemy, Divorce, Unforgivable Sins and Jesus' Name . Let's encourage this beginning blogger!

Well, today marks the beginning of "New Year Weekend". In the spirit of that holiday, I thought I'd go ahead and offer some resolutions that anyone can make and keep. So, below are 20 resolutions you might seriously consider. These are perfect for you if: you don't want to try this year, if you want to be a sasquash, if you want to look grossly different next year at this time, if you just want to let yourself go, etc. Just say them aloud to yourself as many times as it takes for you to start believing them: 1. This year I plan to pack on the pounds. 2. This year I am going to max out every credit card I get. 3. This will be the year that I never spend a minute exercising. 4. In 2008 I am going do my best to remain unemployed. 5. In the event that #4 doesn't work out, I'll try harder to do more websurfing at work. 6. I do not plan to read any books this year or learn anything new. 7. I am going to trust every democratic politician I listen to. 8. I will strive...

I just took the "theologian quiz" that Nick Norelli mentioned on his blog today. I was surprised by the fact that it suggested that of all theologians, I had the most in common with Charles Finney (this is certainly a bit off). I was also suprised to see John Calvin's name show up. I wasn't surprised, however, by the fact that I crossed paths with Tillich, Moltmann and Barth (I tend to move within that cloud of witnesses). Anyways, you should give the quiz a go (it takes less than 5 minutes--and is probably not all that accurate but, nonetheless...). Here are my results and the quiz link is below: Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com You scored as Charles Finney You're passionate about God and love to preach the Gospel. Your theology borders on pelagianism and it is said that if God were taken out of your theology, it would look exactly the same. Charles Finney 67% Paul Tillich 60% Jürgen Moltmann 60% Karl Barth 47% Augustine 40% Anselm 40% John Ca...

A few weeks ago I added a new feature to Pisteuomen that allowed those with visual impairments to easily access the site; they could simply listen to each post. This was also handy for podcasters; they could get each post on their ipods. Well, in addition to that feature, I have added 2 new ones. The first feature, located in the middle column at the top of this site allows persons to simply record their own reply to my posts (or to just leave a comment in general). All you have to do is hit the record button, select "allow" and then begin recording. When you're done, you can leave your email address and a comment or not. It's that easy. This feature is also handy for those with visual impairments. The second feature is quite similar. However, as opposed to simply leaving an audio reply, this feature allows viewers to leave a video reply (this, of course, requires a webcam). I will try this feature only temporarily, to see if it is worth keeping or not. To use this f...

So, this was truly a “Markan” Christmas. I got some books, videos and more books. In addition to what I’ve already posted, here is the rest (though, most of it is, not all of it is Mark stuff): 1. George Martin, Bringing the Gospel of Mark to Life 2. Robert Funk, The Gospel of Mark (Jesus Seminar, Red Letter Ed.) 3. J. R. Donahue, The Gospel of Mark (Sacra Pagina) 4. Larry Hurtado, Pre-Caesarean Text / Codex W in Mark 5. Joel Green, Way of the Cross: Suffering in Mark 6. M. Casey, Aramaic Sources for Mark’s Gospel 7. A. D. Thomson, Mythical Elements in the 1st Copy of Mark’s Gospel 8. M. Smith, The Secret Gospel: Discovery & Interp. Of Secret Mark 9. W. Roth, Hebrew Gospel of Mark: Cracking the Code 10. R. A. Errico, Aramaic Light on Mark and Luke 11. M. Black, An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts 12. B. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the GNT 13. A. F. Johns, A Short Grammar of Biblical Aramaic

In the course of the last week, my Abiathar posts got me thinking a little more about the notion of Jesus’ perfection. To be more explicit, I asked myself: How [as "in what way(s)"] was Jesus perfect? I asked this because of the tendency of many persons to point to Mk. 2.26 and say, “Aha, look, Jesus got it wrong; He wasn’t divine after all. And by the way, your Bible cannot be trusted.” Now, I have mulled over the issue of Abiathar a number of times and I have argued that indeed, neither Mark nor Jesus messed up—this based on Mark’s translation switches from Aramaic to Hebrew. Anyways… I was also thinking about how this passage led Bart Ehrman down the path of agnosticism. Therefore, I don’t think it is a passage to take lightly. I think that many people share Ehrman’s discomforts with passages like this one. But I also do not think that we should just say, “It’s an error, get over it; that’s not important.” Moving on, I believe this same idea could be applied to many other ...

Yesterday, we spent some time with my mother's side of the family and exchanged gifts. I recieved a few gifts but my two favorite were: At present, these are the only two presentations of Mark on video that exist. Each of them are actually one-man-plays (or monologues). In many ways, these are better than movies because they are closer to what the oral presentation of the Gospel might have looked and sounded like in the first-century. I'm excited to watch and re-watch these in the days to come.

While studying the opening verses of Mark again recently, I happened upon an interesting translation issue. In the majority of our ancient manuscripts, Mk. 1.6 retains the term " ακριδας ", a term meaning "locusts". Mk. 1.6, of course, is the verse which notes that in addition to John's clothing habits, he also tended to eat "locusts ( ακριδας ) and honey". However, in a second-century manuscript known as The Gospel of the Ebionites , ακριδας is slightly manipulated and changed to εγκριδος (I found an online version of the text here ). Though the new rendering seems minimal, the meaning of the end-product is quite different: pancakes or tortillas. Of course, both foods were common in the ancient Mediterranean (much as they are all over the world today). Yet, it is fascinating to read this verse as, John ate "tortillas (or pancakes) and honey". (See: Exo. 16.31 where the Hebrew " צףיחת " in the LXX becomes " εγκρις ". ...

A few days ago, Alan Knox wrote a post titled “What’s With The Begats”? From there, he proceeded to offer a number of insights on the genealogy of Jesus. I was particulary interested in this post because the Sunday before (12/16/07) I had actually preached on the genealogy; something I’d never attempted before. (I think that visiting the graveyard last week where a number of my relatives are buried is what ultimately got me reflecting on the genealogies.) Anyways, as one who is highly interested in using the social-sciences to interpret the Scriptures, that is the angle from which I approached Mt. 1.1-17. What follows are some insights into Jesus’ genealogy at Christmas (or any other time of the year for that matter). To begin, we should keep in mind that in Jesus’ world, honor was the thing most sought after and shame was the thing most avoided. It has been said more than enough that antiquity was an honor/shame culture. When reading Matthew’s genealogy, then, and the rest of the birt...

Since my favorite prof. of all time didn't announce it on his blog, I thought I'd make a brief mention here on Pisteuomen that, this evening the CBS "48 Hours: Mystery" special that aired last year--featuring Dr. Witherington--will be on again. If you haven't seen this yet, do your best to watch it tonight. You'll see one of the things that I love about Dr. W so much: his willingness to stand up boldly and unswervingly for the Gospel. Enjoy.

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to all who celebrate the holiday. Oh, and Happy Birthday Jesus!

We opened Christmas gifts this morning with my wife's side of the fam. I got a few books this year, which my wife's uncle picked-up for me. He loves browsing old bookstores (and new ones), here's what he gave me: Vintage Ed., Hasting's Great Texts / Bible (Mk., Gal., Rev.) Hearing Mark , E. Struthers Malbon Ancient Chr. Commentary (Mk., Gal/Eph/Php) I also got some gift cards which I'll put to use soon. Oh, and my wife bought me a great CD--the new one by Phil Wickham. As I've said before, I love the acoustic guitar; this guy's great--very folk sounding. He actually sounds dead-on Rufus Wainwright. Anyways, Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating.

I thought I would take a break from the Abiathar issue but I found myself having to do at least one more post on it. So here are a few more comments (reflecting on and adding to what I’ve already said): 1. I’ve been looking in detail at the seeming screw-up in Mk. 2.26, the one where Jesus refers to Abiathar as the “high priest”. I've concluded that it does not have to be written off as an error (I should state again that I am not attempting here to cover up some uneasiness with what appears to be a historical slip-up so as to preserve a modern doctrinal construct). 2. Instead, there is a very good explanation as to what is going on in this verse. 3. That explanation has to do with Mark’s movement between two languages: Aramaic (his first language) and Greek (his second language). 4. When one reads the New Testament that we have, they find that Mark uses some form of the term “ ἀρχιερέως ” (generally, high or chief priest) eight times: Mk. 2.26; 14.47, 53, 54, 60, 61, 63, 66. 5. I...

Nick Norelli has chosen to write a reply post to my previous entry in my “Studies in Mark” series. I appreciate the comment that this is a great series. Thank you for that, Nick. I work hard in trying to understand both Mark and his Gospel account. I would like to take the time, here, to answer Nick’s responses. I will approach this in a segment-by-segment manner. To begin, in his introductory paragraph, Nick says I suggest that when it comes to Mark 2.26, the approach of the “liberal listeralists” is just wrong. Actually, I never said this. Instead, I attempted to make 2 points: 1) that, in general, there are liberals who criticize literalists but in fact, they themselves, in their own way(s) are employing a type of rigid literalism, and 2) that many scholars have adopted this mentality when it comes to Mark 2.26 but if they can let go of their presuppositions, there might be another way to relieve the seeming tensions of the passage. Nick surely has it right that the heart of my argu...

Mark 2.23-7 is an interesting pericope. It’s main focus is on Jesus and His disciples who, after picking some grain on the Sabbath, are confronted and challenged by the Pharisees. Though there could be two offenses here, 1) The picking of the grain on the Sabbath (e.g. viewed as work) or, 2) Walking more than the allotted and allowed on the Sabbath. It seems most likely that the first offense is in view. Within this story, though, there is yet another story: Jesus recounts an instance where King David, along with his followers, went into the temple and ate the consecrated bread because they were hungry. (I should say here that there is no reason to doubt that this event concerning David happened, though some have.) To this, I would also add that one need not resort to arguments that either Mark or Jesus got this story wrong or that they misquoted Scripture. It is common, in many commentaries at least, to find persons suggesting that this passage is a clear invention or that it is found...

Recently, I had the great privilege of interviewing one of my favorite bloggers, Alan Knox. Alan maintains the site " The Assembling of the Church ", a blog that focuses on all things ecclesiological. Below is the conversation I had with Alan; thought provoking to say the least. Take a few minutes to read the interview and to visit his site. Enjoy! Michael : Alan, thanks for taking the time to interview. If you would, please say a little bit about yourself (e.g. Where you’re from, currently living and some of the things you have going on in your life at present). Alan : Thank you for asking to interview me, Michael. My life "story" is not that exciting - at least probably not to other people. I was born in Alabama, and lived there most of my life. I met my wife in the fourth grade, although she didn't become my wife until much later. Even in Alabama, ten years old is a little young for marriage. I went to college at Georgia Tech, where I received Bachelors and M...

It’s been a while but I’ve finally managed to return to my “Images of Antiquity” series. Formerly, I shared photos and information about sites I journeyed through in the country of Turkey (formerly, Asia Minor). Now, I will cross over into Greece and speak about some of the places I visited there. Feel free to use the pictures in their current form; please, no manipulating them. Enjoy. Philippi The first photo in the slideshow is of King Philip’s tomb. This is actually not located in Philippi (rather, it is in Bergina). I offer it here, though, because Philip was the founder of Philippi. One of Philip’s children was the notable Alexander the Great, perhaps one of the greatest military strategists of all time. Philip’s wife was Helen whom he named Greece after (Hellas). If you visit Philippi today, you can see Philip’s castle, perched over the city. Another testament to Philip’s influence on ancient Greece is seen in the second photo, an engraving, which speaks to Philip’s rule in the R...

A couple of years ago a number of mega-Churches decided that they would close down on Christmas Day, which fell on a Sunday. As many of you are aware, this provoked a lot of controversy. As I listened to the arguments on both sides (I also partook in them), I heard a couple of statements that sent me searching: 1) Nobody knows the exact date Jesus was born, and 2) Christmas began as a pagan holiday. What follows are my thoughts on these comments. It is probably safe to say that when researching the history of Christmas, most people trace its origin to the early years of the fourth century CE. It was around that time that the emperor Constantine was ruling. Constantine came into power, in many ways, with ease. So easily won was the battle over an enemy, Maxentius, that everyone regarded Constantine as favored by the gods. In fact, an arch still stands in Rome today that is engraved with pictures of his enemies drowning with the inscription that notes this victory came by the “prompting ...

Just wanted to post a quick note saying that my CV has been updated. More people than I ever expected downloaded a copy, so, if there are others out who are interested, get the new copy by scrolling down the middle column of this site and selecting "Download A Copy Of My CV".

I know that Ben Witherington has made mention of Jesus not being born in an inn and I will argue the same thing here. However, in addition to the textual evidence that exists (which Witherington picks up on), I offer much more. So, I hope you find this post helpful. May your heart and mind be blessed as you read! In various and sundry English translations of the New Testament, we find an interesting word at the end of Luke 2.7. The verse reads: “…and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” The inn? The Greek word used here for “inn” is καταλυματι . Further on in Luke’s book, at 10.34 to be precise, in most English translations the word “inn” is used again. The NIV reads: “He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. The he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an ‘inn’ and took care of him.” Normally, we would expect that if we looked at the Greek here, we woul...

I've recently added the AIM feature to Pisteuomen. This not only allows you to see when I'm online and available for conversation but, if you have AIM, it also allows us to talk to one another. So, if you're ever online and see that I'm online too, drop me a note and we'll talk for a bit. Also, feel free to add me to your buddy list; I'll do the same.

One of the projects I have going on at present is another formal book review to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Stone-Campbell Journal. As I was methodically working through the book under review last night, something rather fascinating came to my attention. That “something” has to do with Israel’s infamous Shema : “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. And you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength” (Dt. 6.4-5). Now, most of us have probably heard this, read this or even recited this. However, most of us have probably never asked what light the Dead Sea Scrolls have shed on this passage. Of course, the Scrolls were documents found in caves just a few miles inland from the Dead Sea—most notably the Qumran caves. Though it is debated, it is my contention that there was a Qumran community in this area, which was the breeding ground for a society of devout, religious, Hebrew men. David Fiensy, among other Bibl...

I stumbled upon this excellent poem today and thought I'd share it; incredibly thought provoking! "Questions Of A Worker Reading History" Who built seven-gated Thebes? Books list the names of kings. Did kings haul the blocks and bricks? And Babylon, destroyed so many times Who built her up so many times? Where Are the houses where the construction-workers Of gold-gleaming Lima lived? Where did the masons go at nightfall When they finished mortaring the Wall of China? High Rome is full of victory arches. Who put the up? Whom did the Casesars triumph over? Did chronicled Byzantium build only palces for its inhabitants? In fabulous Atlantis the drowned bellowed in the night when the sea swallowed them up after their slaves. Young Alexander conquered India Just he? Caesar beat the Gauls. Didn't he at least have a cook with him? Philip of Spain wept when his Armada Went down. Did no one else? Frederick the Great won out in the Seven Years War. Who won besides? A victory on...

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn." - Ben Franklin

I've been engaged in a convo with my pal Jake regarding my previous post, "History and Theology Go Together Like..." Conversations with Jake are always fruitful, despite the fact that we disagree. Jake is certainly a minimalist when it comes to historical biblical events (though he seems to define this differently than me; as of now, I do not know how though). His minimalist view comes from his commitment to theological hermeneutics. However, like many, I feel that Jake has gone too far. Certainly, there are a number of issues at play here: epistemological, philosophical, theological, etc. What follows in this post is a brief explanation of what I feel to be a hermeneutic that is both historically and theologically sensitive and respectful. Four quotes are in order here (and by no means do I assert that I agree with "everything" each of these persons say by virtue of one quote from them). Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, here they are: 1. "Any stu...