Mike Sangrey posts fairly infrequently at Better Bibles Blog but when he does it’s always thought provoking.  A recent case in point is the post Traduttore tradittore. Mike knows his Biblical languages and cultures quite well but in this post he maintains that we can properly understand the Scriptures without picking up every nuance of the [...]

The Pentecost event recorded in Acts 2 coincided with the celebration of the Jewish harvest festival called the Feast of Weeks.  The Feast of Weeks took place seven weeks after the Passover celebration.  Whereas Passover was somewhat of a somber event involving “the bread of affliction,” the Feast of Weeks was a big party. It was [...]

This morning, these cute little girls were dancing in a circle next door to our house.  The littlest one is wearing what looks like a snowsuit. On this side of the equator we are beginning winter.  Current local temperatures range from 10-25C (50-77F). For most of the Mozambican students at the school that is [...]

Related posts: A husband’s discovery, Searching for ways to be a better husband What’s the secret to marital happiness? Is my wife’s happiness only achieved at the expense of my own? Is the secret in flexing our muscles in the spiritual domain and asserting our authority as leaders of our families? Michael Spencer [...]

Related posts: Iconography Of The Gospels, Iconography Of The Gospels 2, The Doctor’s Strange Omissions, Iconography of the Gospels 3, Sure Lazarus wrote John, but who wrote Luke?, Iconography of the Gospels 4: Metanarratives, Gospel Spin In an earlier post, The Doctor’s Strange Omissions, I puzzled over the “strange omissions” in Luke’s Gospel.  Why does he leave [...]

The Ker kids have picked up a habit from their African friends and that is that any swing built for one child is more fun if you all get on it at once.

Photo: Chibwete, a cucumber-like fruit of Mozambique. I discovered this fruit for sale in the market in Vila Ulongwe. I asked the guy selling it, “What’s it called?”  He replied, “I don’t know.” “Well, OK, I’ll buy some.  How much is it?” “1.50 each.” That’s about a nickel, (USD 0.05). [...]

Do you ever wonder why we have four Gospels in the Bible? What is the value of hearing the same story four times? And at times they don’t seem consistent. Matthew has Jesus saying, “Kingdom of heaven” while in Mark’s version he says “Kingdom of God.” Matthew records Jesus saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” while [...]

I have really been enjoying posts from Michael W. Kruse’s Kruse Kronicle. There is a nice mix of biblical studies and social activism on this blog. Earlier this year I did a series on the meaning of the word kurios, or Lord, in Greek called “Why do you call me Lord?” Part of understanding the meaning [...]

There ain’t none. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus talks repeatedly about the Kingdom of heaven. The phrase is used 33 times.  The other gospel writers never use that expression. Instead they use Kingdom of God. Here’s Jesus announcing his ministry in Matthew: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (4.17) Here’s the same [...]

Let’s say you’d like to keep up-to-date on this blog. What’s the best way to do that? The techno-geeks will recommend things like: XML. Atom. RSS. Feeds. Live Bookmarks. Bloglines. Don’t you hate that stuff? As a service to my readers I spent a couple frustrating hours trying to make it easy for people to use [...]

I can no longer remain silent.  Because I care, I must act.  My esteemed blog-mentor, Tim Carey isn’t satisfied with publishing an audio podcast of the entire Bible.  That’s right, the good book is available in daily installments so you can listen rather than read the thing like the rest of us. He also publishes hyperlink commentaries, [...]