Tagged: hermeneutics

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Is the NT Reliable? Part 1: Reliable for What?

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Is the NT Reliable

When we say that someone is reliable, that a newspaper is reliable, that an instructional video on YouTube is reliable, a comedian is reliable, we mean that they are generally trustworthy in a manner appropriate to the relationship that we sustain to that person or thing. Our friend is on time and engaged, the newspaper is reasonably unbiased and informed, the DIYer is accurate and helpful, the comedian is funny.

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Confessionalism Promotes Academic Integrity

Doesn’t being “confessional” mean that certain kinds of questions are, by definition, verboten? Wouldn’t that in turn mean that academics in those institutions have to sacrifice the “science” of biblical and theological study upon the altar of confessional consistency? Not at all. I believe the opposite is the case.

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Is being biblical and confessional an academic liability?

We are confessional, which means we stand in the great tradition and ask “what’s next.” And we are Biblical, which means that when we ask that question we turn to the Word of Christ, working through the Spirit, and find it both fit and suitable for the building up of the church, for the race that we are called to run.

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The Bible isn’t Just Extraordinary, It’s Also Ordinary

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Ordinary Bible Reading

In other words, while the Bible is always extra-ordinary, it is such through the use of the ordinary ways that human beings speak to one another. It is supernatural revelation that God has given in natural language. The Bible is special and unique, but it is not special and unique in this way, that is, in the manner by which it communicates truth to human beings. That’s why the Westminster Standards go on to describe the meaning of the Bible as accessible “through a due use of ordinary means” (WCF 1.7).

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Exegetical Inquiry: The Question is more important than the Answer

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Exegesis without the Languages

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.

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Everything I need to Know about Revelation I Learned in the First Eight Verses

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.

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Real Questions: What does “the” mean?

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series Real Questions

The point: when translating from the Greek, these subtleties won’t always show up in translation. That’s why it probably feels “low impact.” But such questions are worth thinking about because, though subtle, the rhetorical and semantic functions are different in many contexts.

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Why the NLT is Good, actually

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.

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The Seven Letters in Revelation are Sermons on the Rest of the Book

(Note: you can find a simplified version of this article here). Imagine you are tasked with preaching the entirety of Revelation to your congregation in a single sermon. The whole book. One sermon. Majoring...

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New Blog Name and Address: Sign and Shadow

Well, I’m sad to say it, but given the feedback I’ve received probably no one else will be: unfinalizable.com is now signandshadow.com. Apparently the word “unfinalizable,” in addition to being unpronounceable, was too esoteric. I...