Arcing: John Piper on How He Studies the Bible
May 6, 2009
Find out more about arcing at Bible Arc
Jesus’ Temptations in the Wilderness: An in-depth study
May 5, 2009
‘Old Testament Jews would memorize the Torah by age 10. In contrast, only 59% of today’s U.S. Protestants read the Bible weekly.’
April 30, 2009
A striking post by Kent Shaffer at 22 Words
Shaffer’s blog, Church Relevance
‘14 Questions to Ask Your Bible’
April 29, 2009
… And see this post by Eric Hartman which features several great Bible memorization links
‘Bible Cover’
April 13, 2009
Humor from The Sacred Sandwich:
‘Spirituality and Sexuality in the Bible’
April 7, 2009
‘[Study Bibles] usually are an inadequate replacement for actual study and discipleship’
March 25, 2009
Frank Turk posts ‘A beef about study bibles‘
Generation to Generation
March 20, 2009
By Knox Chamblin
In December 2008, I turned seventy-three. Invited by Tabletalk to address younger generations “on matters pertinent to the faith,” I thought of Psalm 71, the prayer of an elderly man. Says verse 18: “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.” I seek to do so now.
Wisdom: “O God, from my youth you have taught me” (Ps. 71:17a). “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (90:12). For an ancient Hebrew, heart had rational, emotional, and volitional dimensions. So one way to love God with all one’s heart was to love him with all one’s mind (Matt. 22:37). I urge you, whatever your calling, to commit yourself to the serious study of the Holy Scriptures. When I taught at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS), reading an assigned exposition sometimes left me wondering: “If this student believes the Bible is God’s infallible Word, why has he expended so little effort to mine its treasures?” While writing a commentary on the gospel of Matthew in recent years, I was acutely aware of the need for both utter dependence on God and unrelenting discipline: these are like the two wings of an aircraft, both essential for flight (Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace, chap. 8).
Read the rest
Mark Driscoll recommends seven great books on Bible study and theology
February 27, 2009
‘Why did God inspire this?’: Making the most of Leviticus
February 24, 2009
Julian Freeman (HT: Tim Challies)
Mohler: How to use a study Bible
December 15, 2008
Some practical advice from Al Mohler:
“How should a study Bible be used?
1. Read the text of the Bible first. Meditate upon the text and read it with care. Apply your own knowledge of the Bible in order to understand the particular text within its context and place in the biblical story-line. Consider and note other texts that come to your mind as directly related to this text. Read the text with full attention and conviction.”
Mohler also provides a list of good study Bibles one might use.
“The State of Catholic Bible Reading Today”
December 10, 2008
Pontifications blogger and author David Gibson has written an article for America: The National Catholic Weekly:
“For more than 40 years, the Rev. Roger V. Karban of the Diocese of Belleville has loved the Scriptures, studying them deeply, preaching on them weekly and teaching about them in popular Bible study groups. So galvanized was Father Karban by the Second Vatican Council’s encouragement of Scripture study that he even started assigning Bible readings as penances, a practice he continues to this day …”
Read the whole thing.
“The Acoustics of Mount Gerizim and Ebal”
December 9, 2008
Before leading the people of Israel into the land of Canaan, Joshua was told to read to them from the Book of the Law at a specific geographical spot (Joshua 8:30-35):
“Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. … There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses, which he had written. All Israel, aliens and citizens alike, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD, facing those who carried it—the priests, who were Levites. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.
Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law.”
At the Bible Places blog, Todd Bolen posts an excerpt from a 19th-century book which documents J. W. McGarvey’s tour of the Holy Land. McGarvey had visited the spot mentioned above, and had done an acoustics test to see how well Joshua’s voice might have carried there. The results impressed him:
“It is interesting to know that the spot chosen by God for this reading is a vast natural amphitheatre, in which the human voice can be heard to a surprising distance.”
Read the entire post, and see images of the spot at the Biblical Studies and Technological Tools blog.
‘Biblioblog Top 50′
December 3, 2008
Posted at N. T. Wrong:
“The Biblioblog Top 50 ranks each biblical studies blog, or ‘biblioblog’, by the total number of unique visitors it receives each month.”
The top five are
Bible Study Magazine
November 17, 2008
… is a new glossy published by the folks who make Logos Bible Software. The editor, Michael Helser, says this:
“Bible Study Magazine will enhance your study of God’s word in a variety of ways, suggesting methods of Bible study and offering tips on Bible study tools. It includes advice and encouragement from pastors, teachers and scholars on Bible study. Interesting and challenging content about the Bible and the ancient biblical world will take your study to a completely new level.”
Nick Norelli gives some first impressions on his blog, Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth:
“After flipping through it for the last few days I can say that it looks like a promising venture. The first thing I noticed about it was that the pages had a flat finish instead of a glossy one and my eyes couldn’t have been happier. There’s quite a few adverts in the magazine, something like 20 out of 50 pages have some form of advertising on them, but I suppose that’s par for the course with magazines in general. They have their statement of faith on the same page as the letter from the editor (p. 3) and they kept it simple with the Apostles’ Creed. I would have liked to have seen the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed but what they have will do.”
Read the rest of Norelli’s evaluation.
