Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

In the 4th edition of my Getting (Theological) French notes, I take a look at conjunctions. There are 21 basic conjunctions and they are provided here in a nice, alphabetized table. The links for the previous installments of these notes are located in a table at the foot of this post, so, check those out too. Enjoy! + Link: " Getting (Theological) French, Pt. 1 " + Link: " Getting (Theological) French, Pt. 3 " + Link: " Getting (Theological) French, Pt. 2 "

Here is the 3rd installation in my study notes for Getting (Theological) French. In this set, I offer you 1,200 of the most popular French vocabulary words. Each French term is provided and then followed by its English equivalent. Enjoy! (Please do not modify this work without the author's consent. Thanks.)

Here's the second installation of my Getting (Theological) French notes. Basically, I offer a bibliography which contains literary, digital and audio resources. Enjoy!

With this 5th installment in my series of reviews on Zondervan's A Readers Hebrew and Greek Bible , I focus on the Aramaic portions of the text. Putting the 5 reviews together, I have about 25 minutes of review time, which you can watch via vodcasts. Here are links to the other reviews: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 . Like what you see? Well, go get your copy HERE . Thanks to Zondervan for this great resource!

In the fourth portion of my review of Zondervan's new A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible, I take a look at the Hebrew portion of the book. In the next, fifth and final vodcast, I will take a brief look at some of the Aramaic portions. For now, check this out, go get YOURS and then come back and have a look around the site. Grace and peace. - TMWH

In the 3rd portion of my 5-part review of Zondervan's new 1-Volume A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible , I look at the features of the Greek New Testament. Check it out (and the previous ones too!). And don't forget to buy yours here: Zondervan RHGB .

It has already been mentioned on several other blogs recently but since I'm such a huge fan of Glenn Beck (tongue-in-cheek), I thought I'd weigh in too. Once again, the nonsensical Beck with all of his twisted theology and out of whack history, has given his -2 cents on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Instead of me recounting the entire rant in type here for you, just go ahead and listen to the video. Adding to some points that have already been made (e.g. that the Apostle's Creed was not the product of Nicea but rather, the Nicene Creed was, that the DSS were not from the Constantine era but rather centuries before, that the DSS do not contain ANY NT documents but rather OT ones (all of which were rejected for canonical inclusion), and that neither the canonization nor binding of the Bible happened at Nicea), I wish to shed some light on the matter. First , the significance of the DSS comes first and foremost in the fact that they tell us about the period of 2nd Temple Judaism. ...

I recently noted that I would be launching my Theological French website, Getting French very soon. Leading up to that, I will periodically publish posts, study guides, resources and more that will ultimately be part of that site. So, here's the first installation, which focuses on pronouns. Enjoy!

Last weekend I picked up over $400 worth of books all for $60, check out this list: * Craig Keener, The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary * Ched Myers, Who Will Role the Stone Away? : Discipleship Queries for First World Christians * Robert F. Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus * Richard Bauckham, The Gospels for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences * James D. G. Dunn, Christianity in the Making: Beginning from Jerusalem * James D. G. Dunn, Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways A.D. 70 to 135 * J. Harold Greenlee, A Concise Exegetical Grammar of New Testament Greek * Ralph P. Martin, Carmen Christi: Php. 2:5-11 in Recent Interp. and in the Setting of Early Christian Worship * Ralph Earle, Mark: The Gospel of Action * Martin Hengel, Crucifixion * Anthony Deane, The World Christ Knew *Peter Schmiechen, Christ the Reconciler: A Theology for Opposites, Differencies and Enemies * Harold E. Wicke, Mark ...

Here's a list of my summer and fall courses that are coming up, all of which I'm looking forward to with great anticipation!!! * Summer - Interpretation of Mark - Dr. David Bauer * Fall - Exegesis of Romans - Dr. Ben Witherington * Fall - Exegesis of 2 Corinthians - Dr. Fred Long * Fall - Exegesis of Deuteronomy - Dr. Lawson Stone * Fall - Old Testament Research Methods - Dr. Lawson Stone

Hey everyone, I hope you like the new changes around here. The first thing you'll notice is that the site is much more clean-cut than before, which also means that it's a bit more user-friendly. One of the tricky parts of the site is the scrolling link bar at the top of the page. You can navigate Pisteuomen's links but moving your cursor over the tiny black symbols to the left and right of the links. Pretty simple! Anyway, some minor updates will be made here and there over the next few weeks but nothing else major. So, have a look around! Also, now that the semester is over, I will post several more vodcasts on Zondervan's A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible , so, be on the lookout for that. Grace and peace, -Michael

In addition to the screencasts I've done on the Aramaic portions of Daniel (to prepare for my Aramaic final exam), I've also now put online my screencasts of the Aramaic portions of Ezra (4:8-6:18) and you can access them here (just below) or soon at the GettingAramaic website.

In preparation for my upcoming final exam for my Aramaic class, I have been using some modules I've created to help me study and I thought I'd share them. Here's one of them (also being added to GettingAramaic). This is a quiz over the vocab (verbs) of Daniel 2. It is highly interactive. It keeps track of your correct answers and incorrect answers, gives you your grade percentage and allows you to print off your results. Pretty nifty! (*Note that it is an .exe file. Therefore, on some machines that have virus programs, when you attempt to open it, it will tell you that it has a virus. IT DOES NOT HAVE ONE! I would not upload stuff w/my name on it that contained something of that nature. Anyway, it is free to use. Download it by clicking on the screenshot.) This will also be added to the GettingAramaic website.

In addition to the previous screencasts of the Aramaic portions of Daniel 2:4-29, I have now produced screencasts on chapters 3-4 of Daniel (all of this in preparation for an upcoming final exam). So, here are the Aramaic portions of the Book of Daniel (Daniel 3-4). Following this, I will post screencasts on Ezra 4-6 as well. I will also post these to the Getting Aramaic site, so, go check that out!

In preparation for an upcoming exam, I am posting some screencasts that I have done on the Aramaic portions of the Bible. Here is the Aramaic portion of the Book of Daniel (Daniel 2:4-29). Following this, I will post screencasts on Daniel 3 & 4 as well as Ezra 4-6. I will also post these to the Getting Aramaic site, so, go check that out!

Around a decade ago, when I was working on my MDiv, I was confronted for the first time with inclusive language policies. One of my Bible professors at the time was so adamant about un-gendered language, especially for God, that if you referred to God with the pronoun "He" in her class, you were at risk of being kicked out of that class session and docked points. Inclusivity was the battle cry and if you transgressed you would be wounded in one way or another. At that time I was still young in my biblical studies career and found it challenging to navigate through the issue. I had always heard God referred to as "He" and it was a little jarring to hear otherwise. It was somewhat illuminating to realize that, in fact, there are places in Scripture where feminine metaphors or imagery is used of God. Recently, in a blog post titled "Is God a Man?", by Rachel Held Evans , she too makes this point. Two more degrees in biblical studies and many years lat...

On August 31st I am set to take my French exams, so, this summer, I will spend some time preparing (gotta love having exams before the semester even starts!). In addition to my Getting German, Getting Greek and Getting Aramaic sites, I also hope to launch my Getting French site. I have a number of French study books but today I received in the mail K. Janet Ritch's Reading French: A Guide for Students of Religion and Theology . The book seems easy enough to follow and appears to have a nice layout. Anyway, next week I have Greek and Aramaic exams, so, I'll have to wait to get to the French but be on the lookout for a new language website launch in the next few months (hopefully).

So, last night as we were working through the LXX text of Daniel 7, we came across an interesting term in verse 19, that is, the word κυκλόθεν. Of course, this adverb comes from the noun κύκλος, which means "circle." So, in Dan. 7.19, we read of an image of a beast stomping or trampling around in circles. In the Gospel of Mark, we get a different adverbial form (I'm not sure if the nounal form appears in the LXX or New Testament) in 3.34. There, were read: "καὶ περιβλεψάμενος τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν κύκλῳ καθημένους λέγει..." A literal reading is something like: "And he was looking around at those circle-sitting (or, sitting in a circle) around him and he said..." You may have already made the connection but it is this idea of "circling" (κύκλῳ) that originally contributed to the name & practices of the infamous Ku Klux Klan. However, the Klan members actually cannot be credited with creating the name. In fact, they took it from the colle...

One of the things I've realized throughout my first year of PhD work is just how much the average Christian and just how much the church relies on (often without ever acknowledging that they do) and takes for granted its scholars, those who have devoted their lives to studying the Bible. I've experienced resentment of the church as a scholar and I've also experienced resentment of the academy as a pastor and congregant. But the fact remains, the average person, who wants to stay on the "milk level" of study, often despises or looks down on scholars when, in fact, they wouldn't even be able to read their "English Bibles" if it weren't for the faithful who've committed their lives to study and research. Basically, the logic boils down to something like this (which is VERY simplistic): No scholars = No Bible = No Church. So, the next time you see or hear someone bashing scholars, print off the following manuscript (a mock papyri with uncial...

For my independent study with the great David Bauer this summer, I have designed a course titled The Interpretation of Mark. I just received some of my books for that class in the mail, here are four of them (with a 5th added, Through Mark's Eyes , just for fun and not necessary for class):

In Pt. 2 of my review of Zondervan's A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible , I give my first up-close look at some of the features of this Good Book. Check it out and be on the lookout for several more upcoming posts!

Yesterday, I received my wonderful review copy from Zondervan of the new one volume A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible . From this standpoint of aesthetics, this book is simply beautiful! (When I opened the box, that fine-grain, European leather smelled wonderful; it was like sitting in a new car!) So, over the next couple of weeks or so, I am going to do several review posts of this Bible--along with some screencasting--here on Pisteuomen. We'll look at the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts, survey some of the wonderful tools this Bible has and I'll show you some of the great things about this version compared to others. At any rate, keep watch for those posts and in the meantime, you can get your copy of this new Zondervan resource by clicking the following link: Zondervan's, A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible .

Here, the 19th century, renowned French artist Gustaf Dore imagines the scene of Noah's flood narrative that we leave out of childrens' bibles in this etching:

Check out this rendition of Chris Tomlin's "How Great Is Our God": HT: Speli