Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

Tonight, it's not the nation's president that will be giving the "State of the Nation" address, nope, that job is reserved for none other than the creation museum's president: Ken Ham. The message is titled "The Collapse of Christian America" (no presuppositions there, eh?). Anyway, click the banner to find out how to watch the broadcast:

Here is the 3rd installment in the "Hebrew Helps" series:

The enitre first chapter of Mark's Gospel (and to some extent, the entire story) is laced with imagery of preaching and heralding. During the recent "Mark Dig" that was hosted at my house, this became even more apparent to me. Yet, it also became apparent to me that there is a distinct relationship between "heralding" and "authority" that Mark seems to want his audiences to be aware of. To be sure, Mark acts as a sort of herald himself when he writes the opening line denoting that this is "the Good News of Jesus Christ, God's Son". To bolster his own claim, Mark then draws on two great prophets, using their language and imagery to suggest the same thing. For Mark, his view of this "Jesus Story" is that Jesus was a prophetic figure and as such, His story not only hearkens back to earlier prophets but that His story must be cloaked in such imagery and language. Thus, Jesus and John are painted by Mark as "prophetic heralders...

On Facebook, Brandon Wason "summoned" me to blog about the 5 most influential books in my life, so, here they are, in order (I think). (*Note, I'm not including the Bible here, which would clearly be #1 simply because that's a given. Thus, these are the 5 most influential outside of Scripture.) 1. The Social God & the Relational Self by Stanley J. Grenz. Theologically and philosophically, this book probabaly caused the biggest paradigm shift in my belief system. In a nutshell, in this masterpiece of a work, Grenz argues for both a Trintarian theology/philosophy. Even more, he suggests that Trinitarianism is social and relational (as God Himself is) and is thus, found in all areas and aspects of life. This book came at a time when I was searching for a basis and understanding of Trinitarian theology and I can't be more happen that it arrived when it did. 2. Social-Science Commentaries by Bruce Malina & John Pilch / Richard Rohrbaugh. Now, before I say t...

Here is the 2nd installation in my "Hebrew Helps" series:

First of all, this is my 800th post!!! So, I'm pretty excited about that. For those of you that have been trekking with me here on Pisteuomen, thanks a lot, you've made it fun! Anyway...I mentioned recently that I was going to begin immersing myself in Hebrew and German on a daily basis for basically the next 2 months (before I begin PhD work). Well, today I began following the schedule I laid out for myself . For me, one of the best ways to learn something and to retain it, is to try to teach it. So, I figured that in regards to my Hebrew studies, I would come up with some way to try to share my findings. Where better to do that than right here on Pisteuomen?! Thus, I'm going to do something I haven't done in a long time: begin a new series. The name of this new series is called "Hebrew Helps". The idea is to contintually compile the "tips", "tricks" and "helps" that I come up with when learning Hebrew into short "Hebrew Hel...

As I mentioned in a recent post , I hosted a sort of weekend retreat into the Gospel of Mark (ch. 1) at my house over the weekend. We had a great time and since Erik asked me to blog on the gathering, I figured that instead of trying to write about everything (and that from my point-of-view alone), I thought I'd share an audio version of a sort of debreifing and talkback session that took place afterwards (Sunday morning at our worship gathering, actually). So, to get a general idea of what took place, give this a listen. If you have any thoughts or comments, feel free to share:

Here's the Hebrew & German schedule that I begin tomorrow. I devised it for myself as a quick refresher before I start my PhD work in the fall. Hebrew and German Schedule pisteuomen The Hebrew & German schedule I'm trying to keep before I start my PhD work in the fall of '09.

Daniel & Tonya over at HebrewAndGreekReader have devised a list of students (in theology/biblical studies) that blog or have blogs. As of now, they have it categorized by country and academic instituation. Check it out here: Student Bloggers . If you are a student with a blog, check to see if you're name is added. If not, they will add it.

Here are just a few snapshots (hopefully, more will be added later) of Friday night's gathering at my house for study of the Gospel of Mark (called a "Mark Dig" or "Mark Dig-in". The purpose of the get-together was twofold: 1) To enage the text for spiritual/theological edification, and 2) To learn how to do exegesis in community. So, this is not a thing where I just talk for hours on end, no, it is a process whereby the average layperson observes, interprets, draws implications, engages commentaries, dictionaries, linguistic resources, dialogues & then works out some applicatory principes. Tonight, we spent a couple of hours on Mk. 1.1-15 and had a lot of good questions, comments and insights. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's 4 1/2 hours.

It is not uncommon when reading a Lukan commentary or article, to find that commentator repeatedly pointing out that Luke loves role reversal. One of the best examples that persons often point to in Luke’s story is that of Lazarus and the rich man. As the story goes, Lazarus is poor here on earth where the rich overlook him. However, in the next life, it is Lazarus who is higher in rank than the man who had previously been wealthy. While it is commonplace to find such statements among Lukan scholars, it is rarely (if ever) pointed out that in Mark’s narrative, this also happens quite frequently. This notion of reversal, which I refer to in literary terms as “cruciality” is sometimes easy to spot and other times more difficult. This device of pivot, which produces a radical reversal or complete change of direction can be used by a speaker or author to illumine the material on either side of the pivot. Just as well, the cruciality can have major narrative as well as social & theologi...

I just received Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm's book in the mail "Preaching the Gospel of Mark: Proclaiming the Power of God" which I will be reviewing for a journal. I've flipped through some of the book already and quite like some of what I've seen. In fact, I absolutely LOVE the opening line of this book: "The power of God is on the loose in the world, and the Gospel of Mark proclaims this startling reality as the good news of Jesus Christ." Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting into this work (along with a handful of others). If I come across anything thought-provoking or worth discussing, I'll post on it here.

So, my first semester of PhD coursework is fast approaching and the schedule seems quite rigorous to me (not least because it's steeped in OT studies). Keep in mind that somewhere in the middle of this I will be flying to Kansas to present a paper, then voyaging over to Ethiopia to pick up my son and then, hopefully, getting to go to SBL (we'll see about that last one!). On top of the course load, I also have to pass the German Competency Exam by the end of the first semester. Anyway, here's the course information (click the pic to go to the prof's bio): OT 820: Research Methods in OT Interpretation (Dr. Bill Arnold): Tues/Thur. 4p-5:15p BS 820: Seminar on the History of Biblical Interpretation (Dr. Lawson Stone): Wed. 1p-3:45p CD 820: Instructional Theory & Development (Ken Boyd): Fri. 9a-11.45a

A friend sent me this video link via email yesterday, so, for all of you biblical, exegetical, text-critical nerds out there, check it out because you might appreciate it:

After Jesus’ crucifixion, it is noted in Mk. 15.40-1 that: “Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed Jesus and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.” Of many of the verses in Mark’s Gospel, I think few have been overlooked so much as these. Why? Well, because at the very beginning of the story, all we see is Jesus calling “men” to come and follow Him. Indeed, there is not even an inkling that He has women disciples who are trekking with Him as well. Thus, when we get to Mk. 15.40-1, if we decide not to gloss over it but rather, to let it sink in, we are forced to stop and rethink matters. To be sure, when we look closer, women are prominent throughout Jesus’ encounters. Could it be such women that were or became His followers? Peter’s mother-in-law, whom He healed (1.30; what about Peter’s wife?), the ...