Theology Seeking Eschatology
As we question our souls we are really just turning Scripture inward. In the end, it’s God that asks the questions. We are involved in the process, investigation ourselves on his behalf, as it were, but in the end we can only know ourselves in so far as God begins the inquiry.
Research isn’t about gathering data. Research is a conversation, one in which you are both a contributor and a moderator.
After multiple readings, we can get “stuck in a rut;” we grow content with our prior understanding of the text and are unable to see things anew. One way to see the text differently is to see it from a different angle. Deliberately switch your reading posture (both figuratively and possibly literally).
We think exegesis is at its best when we arrive at “the answer,” when we reach “understanding,” but actually exegesis is at its best when the text seems strange and alien to us. We need to make the text strange again.
Featured / Exegesis / Eschatology
by Tommy Keene · Published September 20, 2022 · Last modified September 21, 2022
Revelation seems so difficult and confusing, but John has actually given us firm footholds in the opening of his letter. He’s guiding his readers in how Revelation is to be read.
Teaching and Preaching / Featured
by Tommy Keene · Published September 12, 2022 · Last modified September 11, 2022
Your audience might be under the assumption that the “original languages” are possessed with a kind of magic, a deep meaning that they cannot get from their plebian translations. In appealing to the original you may be reinforcing that conclusion, sowing the seeds of distrust of translation, or worse, cultivating mistaken conclusions about biblical interpretation.
by Tommy Keene · Published September 6, 2022 · Last modified September 8, 2022
Word studies are a favorite tool of Biblical exegetes, but usually aren’t worth the time. Why not? Because either (1) the work has already been done for you, or (2) what you are trying...
Featured / Exegesis / Hermeneutics
by Tommy Keene · Published September 24, 2021 · Last modified October 5, 2021
As a working guideline, then, I propose we evaluate translations on the basis of three criteria. A good translation (1) has a well-defined, well-reasoned, and useful translation philosophy, (2) applies that philosophy consistently over the “many parts and various ways” God has spoken to us in his word (Heb. 1:1), and (3) uses the “best of what’s around” to understand the original Hebrew and Greek text. The NLT gets an “A” in all three of these categories, as I will establish in a bit.
Exegesis / Hermeneutics / Christology / Featured
by Tommy Keene · Published November 5, 2020 · Last modified July 26, 2021
When we shine a bright light upon the shape of James, the shadow that is cast is inevitable that of Jesus. So here we meet Jesus yet again because here we find his values and actions described for us. Read James, then, and meditate on how these verses reflect the perfections of your redeemer.
Ancient wisdom literature tends to be provocative and probative. It wants you to think differently about everything, even the most fundamental aspects of our lives.
