Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

Below is a short review I wrote up that covers the Venerable Bede's work "On The Tabernacle." If you want to get an idea of how he did exegesis and what he thought about biblical interpretation, you may find this review helpful. Enjoy. + + + + + Taking 1 Cor. 10.11 as his starting point for an interpretation of the Tabernacle, Bede argues that Paul’s remark concerning “all these things,” urges exegetes to consider items such as topography, chronology and socio-literary contexts in their analyses [1.1.5]. By beginning here, Bede is able to quickly segue into a topographical investigation himself, of Exodus 24, which he sees as a type for other events narrated in the Scriptures such as: The Calling of the Apostles (Mt. 5.1; Mk. 3.13), The Great Commission (Mt. 28.19-20), The Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 7.28), Pentecost (Acts 1.15-2.11) and even The Eschaton (Isa. 2.2). Though Bede omits The Transfiguration and The Last Supper, he does make an interesting move his in attempt ...

It's not uncommon these days in North America to find some Christian somewhere who makes it their agenda to moderate and critique holidays. Currently, this can be illustrated by a simple perusing of Godtube.com, where a ridiculous debate is going on between those who call themselves believers. Some think it is okay to celebrate Halloween and others do not. Those who do not, as you might expect, label those who do as "un-Christian", "satanic", "worldly", "secular", etc. I can't help but laugh on the one hand and be heart-broken on the other. Clearly, too many people who act as though they are holier-than-thou, are over zealous and under informed. Their logic isn't even clear most of the time! So, how does one who calls themselves a Christian counter people who act too pious? Well, the place to begin is to rethink Halloween. In fact, it might not even be "re" thinking as much as "thinking in the first place". For exa...

Lately, I've been working through Ignatius of Antioch's "Letter to the Philadelphians". One of the frustrating things I kept encountering while working through the Greek text was no verse numbers (this made citations tough to do). So, I decided to compare the Greek text to its English counterpart and add chapter & verse numbers. (*Note that with the Greek version, what are typically divided as the last three sections in English, are actually kept as a single entity.) Feel free to use this at your leisure but please do not modify it without contact me and asking. Thanks & enjoy.

Here are my profs and the courses I'm taking in the Spring: * Biblical Aramaic (Dr. John Cook) * Advanced Greek: Septuagint (Dr. Joe Dongell) * Research Methods in NT (Dr. Fred Long)

Have a look at this book title book by Joel Osteen's dad, John.

Currently, I am working on a project focused on Ignatius of Antioch and particularly, his Epistle to the Philadelphians . I've read through the letter several times and to get a good feel for it, I also read it aloud (with a sort of performance aspect). To hear this recording / performance, accented by a nice orchestral accompaniment, click the audio player below:

Without a doubt, choosing a PhD program isn't easy work. In fact, a whole lot goes into making such a choice. In my case, there were many variables that shaped my decision to accept the offer to study at Asbury Theological Seminary. To be sure, I had other offers. I was given an offer to work with the renowned Dr. Philip Esler at St. Andrews, I was given a greater financial package from Aberdeen, I could have stayed in the States while doing a distance program with the respected Pauline scholar Dr. Bill Campbell, etc., etc. The point is: I had options. Some of the specific "variables" that I mentioned above centered around "family," "friends," "money / living expenses," "faith" and of course, "academics." Comparing ATS to other institutions when it came to family and friends was quite easy. I, of course, grew up in KY, so, we already had those types of connections here. My spouse studied at UK and worked at a hospi...

I am pleased to announce the launch of a new Theological German Podcast!!! The podcast offers readings of Theological German texts. I have recruited a number of people to do the readings, which will hopefully add some variety. If you can read German well aloud, can record it and are interested in participating in the podcast, please, let me know. You can access the podcast by clicking the image-link below:

In addition to the number of other resources on my Theological German website (www.GettingGerman.com), I have now added a new resource, which is a "Word of the Day" widget. You can grab the widget and put it on your own website and begin building your Theological German vocab. To access the resources, click the image-link below. Enjoy!

A couple of days ago, for my birthday, I gave away a couple of books and had such a good time doing it that I decided another giveaway was in order. This time, however, I'm giving away 12 books which have a value of nearly $150 (well, 13 actually but that's because there are 2 copies of the same book included). The titles of the books and a picture of the "pile" can be viewed below. To enter to win the free books, all you have to do is point back to this website. There are at least four ways to do this: 1) If you are on Twitter, announce the giveaway with the hashtag #pisteuomen , 2) If you are on Facebook, mention this site in your status or in a note, 3) If you have a website or blog, just do a quick post pointing to this site, or 4) Join the blog network via Facebook, here's the link: "Join / Follow" . At the end of the week, someone who did one of these four things will be chosen and the book will be delivered to them. * Just Another Girl (Ficti...

In addition to the number of other resources on my Theological German website (www.GettingGerman.com), I have now added a new resource, which I have dubbed "QuickType & Translate". The module has 1 verse from each of the New Testament books. You can click a button for a random verse to show up and then, you can either try to type it in German or translate it in English and then, check your speed accuracy. To access the resources, click the image-link below. Enjoy!

The two winners of yesterday's book giveaway are Shaun who blogs over at www.BibleGeekGoneWild.com and Jason who hosts a site called "Εις Δοξαν" over at www.eisdoxan.wordpress.com . If both of you would email me your physical mailing addresses to halc(dot)40dp(at)mailcity(dot)com, I will get your books out to you asap. Thanks and congrats!

Today is my birthday but...I'm the one giving out a gift. The gift is a book written by Harold Burgess and Dennis Kinlaw titled The Framework of Our Faith . You can see the book's contents by clicking the image link below. To enter to win the free book, all you have to do is point back to this website. There are at least three ways to do this: 1) If you are on Twitter, announce the giveaway with the hashtag #pisteuomen , 2) If you are on Facebook, mention this site in your status or in a note, or 3) If you have a website or blog, just do a quick post pointing to this site. At the end of the day, someone who did one of these three things will be chosen and the book will be delivered to them.

Every year, once a year, Asbury Theological Seminary makes room on its shelves for newer books by getting rid of the "less checked out" and / or donated books it has and / or receives. So, when the doors opened at 7:30am this morning for the sale, one other nerd along with me, stormed the gates and browsed through over 1,000 books. I went, mainly looking for resources that might possibly contribute in the future to my dissertation. Thankfully, I found quite a few things that were right up my alley. In fact, for $14.50, I brought home a box of 29 books, which are all valuable to current or future research projects. Here they are: * S. Moscati, Ancient Semitic Civilizations * E. Hamilton, The Roman Way * D. Carabine, The Unknown God: Negative Theology in the Platonic Tradition: Plato to Eriugena * C. R. Beye, Ancient Greek Literature and Society * H. J. Muller, The Uses of the Past: Profiles of Former Societies * E. Zeller, Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy * R. Sower...

If you want or need to find some textual resources to help you learn German, especially German of a theological nature, I have created a sort of "beginner's bibliography." To access and / or download resource, click the image-link below. Enjoy!

I have added a fun, interactive discussion room / forum to www.GettingGerman.com so that persons interested in German can talk with one another, ask questions and / or share resources. Sign up now, it's completely free!!!

If you want or need to learn how to use a German lexicon (dictionary), here's a fun, interactive wordsearch that will help you get some practice in. To access this innovative module, click the image-link below. Enjoy!

If you want or need to learn German, here's a fun, interactive "speedy vocab" module that is both challenging and addictive. It will help you get some practice in spelling, defining and memorizing German words and definitions. To access this innovative module, click the image-link below. Enjoy!

If you want or need to learn German, here's a fun, interactive image / tile matching module that will help you get some practice and memorization in. To access this innovative module, click the image-link below. Enjoy!

If you want or need to learn German verbs, here's a fun, interactive HangMan module that will help you get some practice and memorization in. To access this innovative module, click the image-link below. Enjoy!

If you want or need to practice translating (Theological) German articles or texts, here's a module that will help you get some time in. I have created a few modules that contain texts from theological writings in the German language which you can also practice translating (ONLINE!!!). To access this innovative module, click the image-link below:

Below is a short review I wrote up that covers Novatian's work "On Jewish Foods." If you want to get an idea of how he did exegesis and thought about the end-goal of biblical interpretation, you may find this review helpful. Enjoy. + + + + + Novatian’s epistle, written to a group of believers with whom he evidently has some cherished relationship, commences much in the same way that we find the New Testament letters beginning. Initiated with a very pastoral tone and several words of encouragement, Novatian, echoing the frequent sentiments of the Apostle Paul, longed to be in contact with those from whom he was separated (1.1). Having already written two letters to this particular group of Christians—one challenging Jewish views of circumcision and another challenging Jewish views of the Sabbath (1.7)—Novatian places in view, here, Jewish ideals regarding foods (1.7). In the exordium, Novatian challenges the believers to hold fast to traditions (1.5) and to be on the defen...

Below is a short review I wrote up for a class presentation, which deals with Augustine's book On Christian Teaching . Here, I interact here mainly with Book I but still, if you want to get an idea of how he did exegesis and thought about the end-goal of biblical interpretation, you may find this review helpful. Enjoy. + + + + + Near the end of Book I of his On Christian Teaching, St. Augustine makes a curious statement: “Therefore, a person strengthened by faith, hope, and love, and who steadfastly holds on to them, has no need of the scriptures except to instruct others” (I.93). Such a view, for Augustine, is rooted in 1 Cor. 13.8-13 whereat the Apostle Paul asserts that while one day prophecies, tongues and knowledge will cease, faith, hope and love—of which, the greatest is love—will never vanish. Perfect love, for Augustine, is actually more binding and authoritative than the very Scriptures themselves. To be sure, this argument is of the utmost importance for Augustine as his...

If we were to count my undergrad work at a Bible College as seminary, then add to that my MDiv and MABS degrees and now a PhD, by the time I am done with that PhD, I will have been in seminary a total of 12 1/2 - 13 years. That's more years in seminary than in primary and secondary (elementary - high) school!!! Or, to put it differently, out of my 29 years of living so far, just about 25 of them have been spent in school! Sometimes I wonder if it's my calling to be a lifelong seminary student? Regardless, seminary has had its ups and downs; it has been challenging and rewarding. Still, one thing that cannot be ignored is the COST!!! I'm not even talking about the cost you must pay in terms of a lack of sleep, how much time it costs or even the expense it takes on your personal and family life. I'm talking mainly about the financial cost; seminary can be incredibly expensive. My BS degree was $40,000, my MDiv was about $40,000, my MABS was about $20,000 and my PhD will b...

For those who must translate portions of a German article as part of their PhD requirements, here's a module that will help you learn the top 200 words found within the first two pages of scholarly articles. Recently, I compared 62 articles (ranging from 1998-2009) and the free module (as well as .pdf of over 2000 words) are the results of that research, which you can study and even test yourself on, can be accessed by clicking the image-link below:

Hey friends, just wanted to alert you to another free interactive module over on my theological German site (www.gettinggerman.com). It's a very fun and helpful puzzle, so, click the image-link below and check it out:

For those of you with a German exam lingering over your head, why not give my "10 German Word Order Tips" & "10 Interactive Word Order Exercises" a try? To access these FREE resources, click the image-link below:

Are you a student whose course requirements include studying English or perhaps some foreign language? Are you someone who, when they read or hear words like "nominative," "aorist" or "indefinite article" you feel like your brain is about to explode? Well, I have created a FREE resource that may be of great help to you: Halcomb's Linguistic & Grammatical Glossary. This glosarry has tons of words, simple explanations and is geared towards Koine, Hebrew, German, French and English. If this sounds interesting to you, check it out by clicking the image-link below:

For those of us interested in reading German, when it comes time to interact with the Bible or scholarly articles on the Bible, we need to know the different names of the biblical texts and their abbreviations. So, I created a free chart that provides both of these. There are many similarities between the German and English names and abbreviations, as you will see, but it is important to take note of the differences. So, check out the www.GettingGerman.com site update and get your copy of this free text! To view it, click the image below:

Recently, I have been hitting the scholarly German articles in "translator mode" like never before. Having worked through numerous articles so far, I have noticed a few handfuls of words that continually re-appear, words that, if you want to move more quickly through the translation process, you "must know." So, I decided to create a new module which focuses on 40 words. You can access this fun, challenging (timed) module for free at www.GettingGerman.com or by clicking the image below. By the way, if you have found the site helpful, why not tell your friends about it or post a note about it on your site / blog / social media network, etc.? Enjoy!

Hello friends, I just wanted to add a quick post to Pisteuomen today mentioning 2 things. The first is that a group of us biblio/biblica bloggers are planning to get together for an informal lunch, Sunday the 22nd at SBL in New Orleans (no, this is not to react against Jim's meal gathering but rather, to provide an additional, less formal and perhaps, less expensive, chance to meet-up). If you are interested in joining us, let me know and I'll post the list here after several more have opted-in. Also, I wanted to let everyone know that the journal powerhouse "SAGE" is currently offering a month's worth of free journal access to anyone who wants it. You can register for free and access journals like JSNT , BTB , ET , etc. Here's the link: Free Journal Acess . -Michael

I have recently updated the www.GettingGerman.com site by adding over 1,300 words (cognates / loanwords) to it, along with a list of sound shifts that have taken place in German pronunciation (esp. with cognates). To access the site, click the image below: