tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71433955119288694442024-03-05T02:22:14.759-06:00גֵּר־וְתוֹשָׁבAn alien and a stranger
(Gen 23:4; 1 Peter 2:11)d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.comBlogger791125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-2142146089488084512024-02-04T14:05:00.004-06:002024-02-04T14:05:34.979-06:00Aviya Kushner and the Grammar of God<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibkw1KrZnbl15oIuEa9iEv9tYmFzUYGNUuseLSGosNuR3L0xlDnnDPV_Wp5bSGuRcrvS-fxxE0IX_lQMT69yXceKTZ8UGVPbCXUjhOEjVm3hmM0oaDuuIwXRk9afSbBt2mvUYwu8fQEXAygtGNTiAk80FFCgaG67BT3X_l2IZQlX0aZZBl0TMMMpwcz6yE" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="244" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibkw1KrZnbl15oIuEa9iEv9tYmFzUYGNUuseLSGosNuR3L0xlDnnDPV_Wp5bSGuRcrvS-fxxE0IX_lQMT69yXceKTZ8UGVPbCXUjhOEjVm3hmM0oaDuuIwXRk9afSbBt2mvUYwu8fQEXAygtGNTiAk80FFCgaG67BT3X_l2IZQlX0aZZBl0TMMMpwcz6yE" width="158" /></a></div><blockquote><p>“When I was a child I assumed that all families discussed the grammar of the Bible in Hebrew at the dining room table. When I entered kindergarten, I heard, to my shock, that most American-born children spoke English; I spoke only Hebrew then. On my first sleepover, I learned that many families did not discuss ancient grammar. Not over dinner, not at all. This struck me as a terrible shame, a missed opportunity, and it still does.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So begins the Introduction to <a href="http://aviyakushner.com/">Aviya Kushner</a>’s <em><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Grammar-God-Journey-Words-Worlds-ebook/dp/B00Q1IC5OE/">The Grammar of God</a></em>, an enticing enough lede that it convinced me to read the whole book. The audiobook was all I could find for free through our public library system—not ideal because the reader didn’t know Hebrew—but I liked it well enough to order a paper copy. It is a quirky book, sort of a philologist’s memoir that combines reflections on texts and words from the Hebrew Bible with her own experience. </p>
<p>I thought Kushner’s comments about Hebrew, language, and translation worth returning to. Months later, however, what sticks in my head is her stories about her Jewish upbringing in the Hasidic neighbourhood of Monsey, NY, visiting her grandfather in Israel, and locating the house in Germany where he lived before the Shoah. </p>
<p>On her mother, who sounds like a character right out of a <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2015/05/chaim-potok-on-life-of-study.html">Chaim Potok novel</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>“My mother had a life of the night. After everyone else went to sleep, she would sit at the dining room table with a large milk-shake and several piles of dictionaries. She was reading Akkadian tablets—I know because I used to wake up at night and watch her, sitting in her nightgown with her very long hair pinned up, from the darkness of the kitchen. Piles of papers and pens before her, she’d talk to herself in some ancient language that she told me you could hear recorded at the Smithsonian Institution. From a room away, I heard the rhyme and rhythm of antiquity. … I thought that all mothers were like that—mothers in the daytime, and something secret between midnight and when everyone else woke up.” (17)</p>
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<p>On her mathematician father:</p>
<blockquote><p>“I got to know my father during Shabbat. Perhaps that is why, in the <em>aseret hadibrot</em> [the Ten Commandments], honoring our parents and keeping Shabbat are neighbors: because time allows us to know, and honor, our own family. Respecting a person requires time. Moreover, and more deeply, the day in which I got to know my father—Shabbat—allowed me to love what I have. … Shabbat was the only time that he was in my sight, not writing and not doing, for all three meals and all the hours in between. I think that in that long expanse, in the Shabbats and all the hours in them, I met him.” (132-3)</p>
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<p>On arriving in Bremen, Germany:</p>
<blockquote><p>“My mother and I are both silenced by what we see when we get out of the train. We are standing in the Hauptbahnhof, the central train station, the place my grandfather had described hundreds of times as the place he last saw his parents and his four brothers …. My grandfather was twenty-two. His youngest brother was thirteen. … I remember the way my grandfather said: ‘I was just a boy. I was so sure I would see them again. I don’t even think I turned around to wave, to say goodbye.” (172)</p>
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d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-80592845635978763542024-01-27T10:55:00.000-06:002024-01-27T10:55:28.176-06:00Trouble Gonna Come<p>In the <a href="https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:1m1686&datastreamId=POST-PEER-REVIEW-PUBLISHERS-DOCUMENT.PDF">famous essay</a> that gave the “New Perspective on Paul” its name, James Dunn argued that Paul replaced circumcision and other Jewish “identity markers” with faith as the “badge of covenant membership” in the people of God.</p>
<p>For my part, this way of framing things is wrong-headed. What Paul found wrong with Judaism was neither legalism nor ethnocentrism, nor simply that Judaism was not Christianity. Paul’s problem was not in fact with Judaism but with humanity. In light of the Christ event—the death and resurrection of the Messiah—Paul concluded that the human plight was much worse than he had imagined. </p>
<p>But if Paul thought in terms of a badge of covenant membership, of a sign that one belongs to the Messiah, he would, I think, have fingered something more physical, more obvious, more tactile than faith. He would have pointed, as he does in Galatians, to the <em>stigmata</em> of Jesus that he carried around in his body (6:17). It is these scars of suffering for Christ, not circumcision (6:12-13, 15), that mark him out as a follower of the crucified Lord, through whom, he claims “the world has been crucified to me and I to the world” (6:14). </p>
<p>The pattern shows up often enough to represent a deep (and puzzling) current in Paul’s thinking: </p>
<ul>
<li>In Galatians, Paul exclaims “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14); in Romans, Paul insists that we boast <em>in our sufferings</em> (Rom 5:3).</li>
<li>According to Rom 8:17, “we are heirs with Christ if in fact we suffer with him.”</li>
<li>Paul tells the Philippians that “it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” (Phil 1:29 NIV). </li>
<li>Paul wants to know not only the power of Christ’s resurrection but also the “fellowship of his sufferings,” linking conformity to Jesus’ death in some way to participation in the resurrection (Phil 3:10-11).</li>
<li>For other related passages, see 1 Cor 4:6-13; 2 Cor 12:9-10; and 11; Col 1:24.</li>
</ul>
<p>If there is a badge of covenant membership for Christians, it is not faith but suffering, the imitation of Christ.</p>
<p>This does not mean anyone should look for suffering or beat themselves up if they are not. It does not mean Christians who experience trauma or mental illness should glory (or wallow) in their suffering instead of <a href="https://www.christiancentury.org/review/books/post-evangelical-healing">seeking help</a>. No, “<a href="https://andysquyres.bandcamp.com/track/trouble-gonna-come">trouble’s gonna come</a>” if you live long enough. And, <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/12/als-and-hope-of-glory.html">again</a>, for those who believe, suffering leads to <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/12/als-and-hope-of-glory.html">hope of glory</a>. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OYJkLIOspdA" width="320" youtube-src-id="OYJkLIOspdA"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>
d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-30037852280726069352024-01-17T22:40:00.002-06:002024-01-17T22:40:34.400-06:00Josephus and Jewish Ethnonyms Take 2A public service announcement for anyone in the Caronport area:
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7tUZMlALna4l3EAc9kLCCql891ZmbBcmHgrupJqyOcIbBQyTiAjZALyeaaHHhY3rqXNyUO33oRhHR6QNByT4XI7nfI7BOELOzsXA7OwL3Oyc6Qc0vdO4l5SEIbmbAFVSrcGkZbipwjeS1FIOR8I0lHqPHeeILqyTgSxX_rZWy9FkgZH5F4vLSBLOSjkW3/s900/GEGSHQ3WgAAuVhC.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="900" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7tUZMlALna4l3EAc9kLCCql891ZmbBcmHgrupJqyOcIbBQyTiAjZALyeaaHHhY3rqXNyUO33oRhHR6QNByT4XI7nfI7BOELOzsXA7OwL3Oyc6Qc0vdO4l5SEIbmbAFVSrcGkZbipwjeS1FIOR8I0lHqPHeeILqyTgSxX_rZWy9FkgZH5F4vLSBLOSjkW3/w640-h360/GEGSHQ3WgAAuVhC.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div></div><p></p>
This will be a partially-revised version of the paper I gave <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/05/josephus-and-jewish-ethnonyms.html">last year at the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies</a>.d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-58807928595645148572024-01-02T08:09:00.042-06:002024-01-03T06:07:09.837-06:00A 2023 Reading Retrospective<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvoEViicuxFYCHxaEC5BCY_ELNZD70pLZDCpnYxtAIWocahJJv1_bq7-U0pFy5ccbeZmrkLoiftJY8e8QdAOqmTAsccLtkKSliDUvO7SAuWHj13MCDmaiWW7NL5HAP-zX2R5_9omuF4iRGTgnkMtRiB0bFJ5IxRxc2plzI1CO_VxHz0rz792ur23d4qTrQ/s3648/IMG_20231229_115843.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: -32px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="2736" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvoEViicuxFYCHxaEC5BCY_ELNZD70pLZDCpnYxtAIWocahJJv1_bq7-U0pFy5ccbeZmrkLoiftJY8e8QdAOqmTAsccLtkKSliDUvO7SAuWHj13MCDmaiWW7NL5HAP-zX2R5_9omuF4iRGTgnkMtRiB0bFJ5IxRxc2plzI1CO_VxHz0rz792ur23d4qTrQ/w150-h200/IMG_20231229_115843.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><div>Zotero tells me I read fewer books in 2023 than I did in <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-2022-reading-and-listening.html">2022</a>, but, for the record, there are a few big books on this year's list and more that are related to my academic and teaching interests. I count eight audiobooks, six novels (if you include Adrian Plass), three or four Greek readers and texts, a couple language-learning pedagogy-related books, ten or so books related to biblical studies and ancient Judaism, and, depending on how you slice them, 3-5 memoirs or autobiographies. </div><div><br /></div><div>Zotero also tells me how little reading, aside from student assignments and course textbooks, gets done when classes are in session. Grades submitted, I completed seven books in the delightful final week of 2023 to make up for the drought.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Without further ado, here is the list in reading sequence, with more annotations than usual:<div><div class="csl-bib-body" style="line-height: 1.35; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;"><br /><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Plass, Adrian.</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">The Theatrical Tapes of Leonard Thynn</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. London: Marshall Pickering, 1989. [Re-read]</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Plato. </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Apology. </i></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Always a win when I make it through one of Plato's dialogues in Greek]</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Doerr, Anthony. <i>All the Light We Cannot See</i>. New York: Scribner, 2017. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Mesmerizing novel that felt a little shallow in retrospect]</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Wilcock, Penelope.</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">The Hawk and the Dove</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Eastbourne: Minstrel, 1990.</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Thiessen, Matthew.</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Jesus and the Forces of Death</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020. </span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[My initial reaction: </span></span><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Really fine book. I’m not quite convinced about Thiessen's central thesis about Jesus, but it shows compellingly that Jesus was Torah-observant (according to the Gospels) and includes all sorts of helpful details about how the purity system was understood.]</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Staples, Jason A. <i>The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> </span><span> </span>[My initial comments <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/05/josephus-and-jewish-ethnonyms.html">here</a>]</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Rogers, Guy MacLean. </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66–74 CE</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022. </span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Audiobook for the main text, otherwise I would never have finished, print book for the footnotes; among other things, this massive book is a helpful counter to Mason's more minimalistic approach to Josephus]</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Moberly, R. W. L.</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">The Bible in a Disenchanted Age: The Enduring Possibility of Christian Faith</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018.</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wyner, Gabriel. <i>Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It</i>. New York: Harmony, 2014. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Audiobook, but I liked it enough to order the print version. Big idea: Use <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/09/ancient-greek-picture-flashcards-in-anki.html">Anki</a>.]</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Eliot, George.</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Silas Marner</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, 1861. [Audiobook]</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Collier, Winn.</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">A Burning in My Bones: The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson, Translator of The Message</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Colorado Springs, Colorado: WaterBrook, 2022. </span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Audiobook; two thumbs up]</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Balme, Maurice, Gilbert Lawall, Luigi Miraglia, and Tommaso Francesco Bórri. <i>Athenaze: introduzione al greco antico. Parte II</i>. 2nd ed. Montella, Avellino: Accademia Vivarium Novum, 2008. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Re-read for the 2nd time. Also re-read a couple times this year: <i>Athenaze</i> vol. 1]</span></div>
<div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Kushner, Aviya.</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">The Grammar of God: A Journey into the Words and Worlds of the Bible</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015. </span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Audiobook, but I liked it enough to order a paper copy]</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Newbigin, Lesslie.</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995. </span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Henshaw, Florencia G., and Maris D. Hawkins.</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory Goes to the Classroom</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Focus, 2022.</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Linebaugh, Jonathan A.</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">The Word of the Cross: Reading Paul</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022. </span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Really helpful for thinking about Romans]</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Barclay, John M. G. <i>Paul and the Power of Grace</i>. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> </span><span> </span>[A textbook; re-read, this time as an audiobook]</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Gaventa, Beverly Roberts. <i>When in Romans: An Invitation to Linger with the Gospel According to Paul</i>. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Textbook; re-read multiple times]</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Brontë, Charlotte. </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Jane Eyre</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1847. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Re-read for the first time in 24 or 25 years]</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Lee, Harper. </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">To Kill a Mockingbird</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">. J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1960. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[First read in high school 30+ years ago; takes the prize for best fiction]</span></div></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Westerholm, Stephen. </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Romans: Text, Readers, and the History of Interpretation</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022. </span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[</span></span><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Chapter two is a must-read response to the "Paul within Judaism" school; the rest of the book is a slow burn: I confess to wondering why much of the early history of interpretation mattered--the ancients' concerns seemed so foreign to the text--but then it all clicked in the final few chapters.]</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Simkovich, Malka Z. </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2018.</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bono. <i>Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story</i>. Random House Audio, 2022. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Fabulous audiobook if you like U2; I listened to most of the book on 1x speed for the music and for Bono's narration.]</span></div>
<div class="csl-entry"><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Joint Association of Classical Teachers. <i>Reading Greek: Text and Vocabulary</i>. 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Most satisfying book to have completed: I purchased the first edition of this graded Classical Greek reader in the late 90's, but despite repeated attempts I never made it past the first few chapters. After working hard on classical Greek fluency over the last 5 years, most of the text is now accessible.] </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><br /></div><div class="csl-entry">Thiessen, Matthew. <i>A Jewish Paul: The Messiah’s Herald to the Gentiles</i>. Baker Academic, 2023. </div><div class="csl-entry"><span> </span><span> </span>[Good title, great footnotes; pairs well with Westerholm's chapter two above.]</div></div>
<div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Collingwood, R. G. <i>An Autobiography</i>. Oxford: Clarendon, 1939. </span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span> </span><span> </span>[First read in 2007; more accessible than <i>The Idea of History</i>]</span></div>
<div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Moore, Russell D. </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;">. Sentinel, 2023.\</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: -2em;"><span> </span><span> </span>[Audiobook; Moore calls out the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of Trump-supporting American Evangelicals, and proposes alternatives. Big idea: James Dobson <a href="https://currentpub.com/2016/06/25/james-dobson-on-the-character-of-the-president-of-the-united-states/">was right</a>: character matters. Perhaps because we are the same (!) age, I share Moore's sense of betrayal.]</span></div></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaEFlsjq1UhtksW3SPGfGPuR1oyDhvgf-GXOraL2gU_XWwSON-xUWLYs-GkQTiKl0Be5-UpKd2ZtVOnEQF3Vb_bWwekqa2O-Cv7Pft3_iGKtcglnXEl4EtiwONspDirTu-G4sKt9ay6gRW1EznY130YJ77Iva150HFf8CONsjETjDENDb10ceOaJ6oc-jA/s3648/IMG_20231229_110232.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaEFlsjq1UhtksW3SPGfGPuR1oyDhvgf-GXOraL2gU_XWwSON-xUWLYs-GkQTiKl0Be5-UpKd2ZtVOnEQF3Vb_bWwekqa2O-Cv7Pft3_iGKtcglnXEl4EtiwONspDirTu-G4sKt9ay6gRW1EznY130YJ77Iva150HFf8CONsjETjDENDb10ceOaJ6oc-jA/w640-h480/IMG_20231229_110232.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></div></div>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-48090208030073299572023-12-16T21:31:00.005-06:002023-12-16T21:33:32.121-06:00ALS and Hope of Glory<p>When Paul pauses to catch his breath at the beginning of Romans 5, he exclaims, “we boast in the hope of the glory of God,” and then quickly adds, “What’s more, we also boast in our sufferings.” As a follower of the crucified Messiah, Paul can’t bring himself to boast directly in the hope of glory, so he backs up and starts over, tracing a sequence that leads from suffering to hope:</p>
<blockquote><p>Suffering produces endurance, </p>
<p> <span> </span>endurance produces character, </p>
<p> <span> </span><span> </span>and character produces hope.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Suffering does not always produce hope, of course; it often ends in despair. But, Paul says, for <em>us</em> it leads to hope. These are assertions, not arguments, no doubt based on Paul’s own experience: Those who cry “Abba Father,” co-heirs with the crucified Messiah, find that suffering leads to hope, not despair, that all creation’s groaning goes hand-in-hand, somehow, with the love of God poured into our hearts.</p>
<p>It is a remarkable thing when you see this truth confirmed before your eyes. </p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWV73-XbXlGiIxLtpcmWuboRRkw3RrSY-EUoDJ3ogoq8dGbVMlifbVx0JaPo_nqG75Bpogag0c93PNyoxszJ6A3MPqgn9A3h4HUExmNrx8BUE8YOfP45EjrVYbfWjMydwh9bRYgS2Z-p83eneqBX5jDhGlI9PEaEcJeLBXQS2XfZKpmUufMLiDToEUugZ/s900/Karen-Gebbie-Cropped.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="584" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWV73-XbXlGiIxLtpcmWuboRRkw3RrSY-EUoDJ3ogoq8dGbVMlifbVx0JaPo_nqG75Bpogag0c93PNyoxszJ6A3MPqgn9A3h4HUExmNrx8BUE8YOfP45EjrVYbfWjMydwh9bRYgS2Z-p83eneqBX5jDhGlI9PEaEcJeLBXQS2XfZKpmUufMLiDToEUugZ/s320/Karen-Gebbie-Cropped.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>My sister, <a href="https://rhodyfamily.com/life_story/karen-gebbie/">Karen</a>, was diagnosed with <a href="https://als.ca/what-is-als/about-als/">ALS</a> not quite a year ago, on Jan 6 2023, just a few days before her 54th birthday. She died on Wednesday, 29 November, leaving behind her husband of 27 years, and two young adult children. <p></p>
<p>As the terrible disease took its terrible toll - the rapid loss of mobility, the loss of speech, the loss of the ability to eat - my sister lived life and faced death with courage and steadfast trust in the goodness and love of God.</p>
<p>A few months after her diagnosis Karen began chronicling her experience and expressing her faith on a blog she called “<a href="https://sufficientgrace77.ca/">Sufficient Grace</a>.” </p>
<p>The entry for <a href="https://sufficientgrace77.ca/2023/04/11/grief/">April 11</a> is a typical example that sandwiches the unvarnished reality of her suffering between a Bible verse and a confession of faith: </p>
<blockquote><p></p><blockquote>“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. (Psalm 30:5) </blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>“Grief is the companion of ALS. It rises with every loss, sometimes with great tears and sobs, sometimes with just a lingering sadness and a sense that what used to be is no more. … Joy cometh in the morning! While I am still here, there are plenty of reasons to get up in the morning–sunrises, singing birds, laughter as my husband or daughter gets me dressed, the warm smile of each of my family members, a cup of sweet hot tea, and friends. And there are many more things I could list. God’s blessings are indeed rich and infinite!”</blockquote><p></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://sufficientgrace77.ca/2023/05/06/the-rock-that-is-higher-than-i/">May 6</a>: “The Rock that is Higher than I” (from Psalm 61:2) </p>
<blockquote><p></p><blockquote>“It’s been a grieving week. As my hands weaken and I can hardly carry my phone, let alone lift anything else, and my legs weaken, and I struggle with the stairs, and my voice weakens, and I struggle to speak, it is so easy to get discouraged. I have become nearly completely dependent on my family. The tears of sadness and frustration have been very near the surface. But there have been good things too. With every loss, there are blessings and mercy….”</blockquote><p></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://sufficientgrace77.ca/2023/05/31/114/">May 31 Promise</a>: </p><blockquote><p></p><blockquote>“ALS is a thief. It takes and takes, and takes some more. But it can’t take my faith, and it can’t take the promises of God.”</blockquote><p></p></blockquote>
<p><a href="https://sufficientgrace77.ca/2023/09/05/frustration/">Sept 5: Frustration</a></p>
<blockquote><blockquote>“I think I have more questions than answers about why God allows such difficult situations to happen to us. All I know is that He is not done writing my story just like I am not done writing my own story.”</blockquote></blockquote>
<p><a href="https://sufficientgrace77.ca/2023/10/06/loss-to-gain/">Oct 6: Loss to Gain</a></p>
<blockquote><blockquote>“One of the recent losses has been that of intelligible speech. … The hardest loss has been the loss of the ability to swallow food. I really miss my morning tea and the ability to take on active part in meals with family. In my family food has been a way of showing love. We cook favorite meals because we love. This subject has taken me a while to write about because the loss has been so painful. Yes you can blend foods and push them through a tube but it isn’t the same. As these losses grow bigger the thought of heaven grows sweeter and I am reminded of Paul when he says, in Philippians 3 ... ‘I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord....’”</blockquote><p></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://sufficientgrace77.ca/2023/10/16/patience-in-suffering/">Oct 16: Patience in Suffering</a></p>
<blockquote><p></p><blockquote>“I am faint and weary, weary of this body that no longer works. But I look forward with hope to the One who never is faint or weak or weary. And I look forward to one day having a new body that has strength to be able to walk and talk.” </blockquote><p></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Karen’s last post, a reflection on Jesus as the bread of life - “he that cometh to me shall never hunger” - was published on <a href="https://sufficientgrace77.ca/2023/10/21/food/">Oct 21</a>. </p><p>The blog’s final post is her obituary. You can read it <a href="https://sufficientgrace77.ca/2023/12/09/the-end-of-the-story/">here</a>.</p>
d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-36561536922659450062023-09-27T21:36:00.001-06:002023-09-27T21:36:10.374-06:00Whose praise is from God? Matthew Thiessen and Kevin Grasso on Romans 2:28-29<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQDbOxXZfh0tJRbb5qfMkjbvxVE7zInsxWwqdPFUPZ8UMJMA7bpxgAhOr_iWLcVRrHIKYYRkw1iuJhvQ613hJlkS0pBh_m-NZxVtJM5aDdrFiPtvG0XTADL2aTq4uxuGRx10EsVfoJZxQwTjlDpvA4KnSAe-G4YUIy8PamhviXrdya3aPZTBg887c0HzG/s3648/IMG_20230923_172054.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQDbOxXZfh0tJRbb5qfMkjbvxVE7zInsxWwqdPFUPZ8UMJMA7bpxgAhOr_iWLcVRrHIKYYRkw1iuJhvQ613hJlkS0pBh_m-NZxVtJM5aDdrFiPtvG0XTADL2aTq4uxuGRx10EsVfoJZxQwTjlDpvA4KnSAe-G4YUIy8PamhviXrdya3aPZTBg887c0HzG/s320/IMG_20230923_172054.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Technical post alert: I am using this space to work out and invite feedback on my response to <a href="https://biblingo.org/blog/the-inward-jew-romans-228-29-and-biblical-greek-syntax/">Kevin Grasso’s response</a> to <a href="https://www.academia.edu/8600554/Paul_s_Argument_against_Gentile_Circumcision_in_Romans_2_17-29">Matthew Thiessen’s interpretation</a> of Romans 2:28-29. Due to time constraints, I am going to drop right into an ongoing and fairly technical discussion of the syntax of Romans 2:28-29, which reads as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>28 οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν οὐδὲ ἡ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἐν σαρκὶ περιτομή, 29 ἀλλ’ ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος, καὶ περιτομὴ καρδίας ἐν πνεύματι οὐ γράμματι, οὗ ὁ ἔπαινος οὐκ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλ’ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most English translations render Romans 2:28-29 much like the NRSVue does:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something external and physical. Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not the written code. Such a person receives praise not from humans but from God.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Those who translate the passage this way often conclude that Paul here redefines the term “Jew” as a reference to believers in Jesus regardless of their ethnicity.</p>
<p>In the fall of 2017, I was persuaded by <a href="https://www.academia.edu/8600554/Paul_s_Argument_against_Gentile_Circumcision_in_Romans_2_17-29">Matthew Thiessen’s defense</a> of a translation proposed earlier by Hans Arneson:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For it is not the outward Jew, nor the outward circumcision in the flesh, but the hidden Jew, and the circumcision of the heart in spirit and not in letter, whose praise [is] not from humans but from God.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I am not convinced by Thiessen’s larger argument that Rom 2:17-29 refers to a Gentile who calls himself a Jew, but Arneson’s translation seemed to offer a straightforward reading of a puzzling text, and to cohere well with a view that I find persuasive <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2009/09/retrospective-multivalence-in-romans-2.html">on other grounds</a>: In this passage, Paul is not redefining who is and who is not a “Jew”; he is stating which Jews receive praise from God.</p>
<p>I offered a variation on the Thiessen - Arneson translation when I taught Romans in the fall of 2017, 2019, and 2021, and I would have been happy to continue doing so if Kevin Grasso had not argued on linguistic grounds that the Thiessen - Arneson translation is untenable. Here is my summary of Grasso’s argument:</p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">(1) The negative particle οὐ at the beginning of verse 28 must negate what immediately follows. If the verb were negated, as required by Arneson's translation, the negative particle should come immediately before the verb ἐστιν rather than before ὁ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ Ἰουδαῖός. (2) The verb ἐστιν in verse 28 requires a predicate not just the dummy subject “it is,” and the relative clause that Arneson assigns to the verb as its predicate (a) is too far away at the very end of verse 29, (b) never appears as a predicate when it is used as a relative pronoun in the Greek New Testament and, (c) outside the NT, the relative pronoun οὗ always occurs before the verb when it is used as a predicate. (3) The linguistic principle of contrastive focus leads us to expect a positive statement in 29a corresponding to the negation in v. 28. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">(You can watch Grasso’s own explanation on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eYqk8rzGH0">YouTube</a> or read it in <a href="https://biblingo.org/blog/the-inward-jew-romans-228-29-and-biblical-greek-syntax/">this Biblingo blog post</a>.)</p></blockquote>
<p>As a result, Grasso concludes, we have to take verses 28 and 29 as two contrasting statements about who, according to Paul, is a “Jew.” Grasso offers this translation:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“For it is not the outward one who is a Jew, nor is it the outward one in the flesh that is circumcision, but the one in secret is a Jew, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the spirit, not the letter, whose praise is not from humans, but from God.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I find Grasso’s argument mostly compelling ... with one major exception. According to Grasso, the relative clause, “whose praise is not from humans, but from God” (οὗ ὁ ἔπαινος οὐκ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλʼ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ), “is best taken as ... describing the internal Jew”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The assertion of the clause is not ‘It is the internal Jew whose praise is from God.’ Rather, the assertion is ‘The internal one (or Jew), whose praise is from God, is a Jew.'</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My question has to do with the word order of the Greek text. Grasso concludes that the relative clause should go with “the internal one” and not with “Jew,” but he does not explain <em>why</em> the antecedent of the relative pronoun, οὗ, is ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ (“the internal one” or “the one in secret”) and not Ἰουδαῖος (“Jew”).</p>
<p>I suggest that the antecedent is more likely to be Ἰουδαῖος (“Jew”), the word that follows ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ, and which Grasso — correctly, I think — takes as the predicate of the verbless clause, ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος (“the one in secret is a Jew”). </p>
<p>This way, we have a parallel structure in vv. 28 and 29, with Ἰουδαῖος standing in predicate position in both verses:</p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>28 οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν / For not the one in the open is a Jew ...</p><p>29 ἀλλ’ ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος, / but the one in secret [is a] Jew.</p></blockquote>
<p>(Scholars who argue that Ἰουδαῖος is the subject in v. 28 and the predicate in v. 29 are influenced by the requirements of modern German and English translation more than by Greek syntax.)</p>
<p>Since the relative pronoun is more likely to refer back to its nearest antecedent, the final relative clause “whose praise is not from humans, but from God” (οὗ ὁ ἔπαινος οὐκ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλʼ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ) will qualify what Paul means by “Jew”: Paul is not speaking of Jews in general but of those who receive praise from God. </p><p>The repetition of “Jew” as the predicate in both verses suggests that it qualifies the assertions in both: The only Jews who will receive praise from God, according to Paul, are those who, as verse 29 explains in the clause I have skipped, are circumcised in the heart not <em>merely</em> in the flesh. (I take the contrast between the spirit and letter in v. 29 as a rhetorical rather than an absolute opposition. Paul is not denying that one physically circumcised can be circumcised in the heart.)</p>
<p>In then end, then, Thiessen is still correct to claim that “The central focus of Rom 2:28-29 is the praise of God, not true Jewishness or true circumcision” (2014: 377). With John Barclay, I take it that Paul is not redefining Jewishness as a category that now includes Gentile Christians rather than ethnic Jews. Paul’s point instead is that Jews who receive praise from God are those who have been circumcised in the heart not merely in the flesh.</p><p><b>Further Reading:</b></p><div class="csl-bib-body" style="line-height: 1.35; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">
<div class="csl-bib-body" style="line-height: 1.35; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_id=urn%3Aisbn%3A978-0-8028-6889-3&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Paul%20and%20the%20Gift&rft.place=Grand%20Rapids&rft.publisher=Eerdmans&rft.aufirst=John%20M.%20G.&rft.aulast=Barclay&rft.au=John%20M.%20G.%20Barclay&rft.date=2015&rft.isbn=978-0-8028-6889-3&rft.language=English"></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Barclay, John M. G. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Paul and the Gift</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015. (See pp. 469-471.)</span></div><div class="csl-entry">Grasso, Kevin. <span style="text-indent: 0px;">“</span><a href="https://biblingo.org/blog/the-inward-jew-romans-228-29-and-biblical-greek-syntax/" style="text-indent: -2em;">The Inward Jew: Romans 2:28-29 and Biblical Greek Syntax</a><span style="text-indent: -2em;">.</span><span style="text-indent: 0px;">”</span></div><div class="csl-entry">Thiessen, Matthew. “Paul’s Argument against Gentile Circumcision in Romans 2:17-29.” <i>NovT</i> 56 (2014): 373–91.</div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Thiessen, Matthew. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Paul and the Gentile Problem</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Yours Truly: </span><span style="text-indent: -2em;">“</span><a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2009/09/retrospective-multivalence-in-romans-2.html" style="text-indent: -2em;">Retrospective Multivalence in Romans 2</a>.<span style="text-indent: -2em;">”</span></div><div class="csl-entry"><div class="csl-bib-body" style="line-height: 1.35; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_id=urn%3Aisbn%3A978-0-19-027175-6&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Paul%20and%20the%20Gentile%20Problem&rft.place=New%20York&rft.publisher=Oxford%20University%20Press&rft.aufirst=Matthew&rft.aulast=Thiessen&rft.au=Matthew%20Thiessen&rft.date=2016-03-01&rft.tpages=336&rft.isbn=978-0-19-027175-6&rft.language=English"></span></div></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Paul%E2%80%99s%20Argument%20against%20Gentile%20Circumcision%20in%20Romans%202%3A17-29&rft.jtitle=Novum%20Testamentum&rft.stitle=NovT&rft.volume=56&rft.aufirst=Matthew&rft.aulast=Thiessen&rft.au=Matthew%20Thiessen&rft.date=2014&rft.pages=373-391&rft.spage=373&rft.epage=391"></span></div>
d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-23292617814911173392023-09-16T16:07:00.010-06:002023-09-17T05:49:52.535-06:00Ancient Greek Picture Flashcards in AnkiI completed a set of 500 ancient Greek picture flashcards just in time for the beginning of <a href="https://www.briercrest.ca/">Briercrest</a>'s <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/03/briercrests-fall-2023-ancient-greek.html">third intensive Greek semester</a>. The cards are designed to help create a direct link between Greek words and their meaning. On one side of each card is an image:<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAtch1QRPSKuG5mQ06XNZg0P00Udw8CqPPo4xUprDNrzGMvjsufKPoKKpj1VY5ykCWuFpz945atpqRK9bMG7P9npW7sZ6sBYD4t3PPEJlLS-qse_I3Hh_xiExueq2mlD49SYulQZWHjdtUZajDXbLMhUVT7z09ZOJXVPcsn2PNA93JBDQLQIstXIorbcPC/s1920/%CE%B8%CE%B1%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%AC%CE%B6%CF%89.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAtch1QRPSKuG5mQ06XNZg0P00Udw8CqPPo4xUprDNrzGMvjsufKPoKKpj1VY5ykCWuFpz945atpqRK9bMG7P9npW7sZ6sBYD4t3PPEJlLS-qse_I3Hh_xiExueq2mlD49SYulQZWHjdtUZajDXbLMhUVT7z09ZOJXVPcsn2PNA93JBDQLQIstXIorbcPC/w400-h266/%CE%B8%CE%B1%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%AC%CE%B6%CF%89.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>On the other side is the lexical form of the Greek word along with additional information about the word:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhf2pDfESBlvIsI0YRkO-fIw1l44Aw8bRjEeZ-oMehWtYM2YBk7DACMDNYe3tJtg5PDCl3W4MnNNgfp11-2X8utr8bkRCAGiVy_ojfGTVOQlACtUuIQKOIWAMCjcwQeBn12U3V8r5a7NBqSKdYgj-IoNcSTMFsrQu7U4rboI78WUU0rnNFhaBz4CMBYYk2M" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="436" data-original-width="893" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhf2pDfESBlvIsI0YRkO-fIw1l44Aw8bRjEeZ-oMehWtYM2YBk7DACMDNYe3tJtg5PDCl3W4MnNNgfp11-2X8utr8bkRCAGiVy_ojfGTVOQlACtUuIQKOIWAMCjcwQeBn12U3V8r5a7NBqSKdYgj-IoNcSTMFsrQu7U4rboI78WUU0rnNFhaBz4CMBYYk2M=w640-h312" width="640" /></a></div><br />The top line notes the chapter in which the word appears in our course textbook and identifies the word's semantic domain category (τάξις), in this case πάθος, ἦθος. The bottom line provides details about the word's grammatical form, beginning with its part of speech (μέρος λόγου), in this case ῥῆμα. Verbs are classified into their ancient Greek verbal pattern (συζυγία), e.g., βαρύτονα δ'. Principal parts are also included for about 100 verbs.</div><div><br /></div><div>The format for nouns is similar. Here, for instance, is an ἄμαξα: </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04wb6sbS92uzGW72E_vnmrHbywQF0KHgeicqeB0uAFCI3HC3VY30tU8QqBehRphXPtBPS4mFJ3Sx5JmhnRHF9ETQx5ilSzgQPeLXJL0m-zeltsH5ShCukHLPNyyEwG7BZff0DRbywkoHoty4jWWFk44GNrUtij1oNzV1dn8_ZMqiQQLk3EKXnp6dPQXin/s1354/%E1%BC%85%CE%BC%CE%B1%CE%BE%CE%B1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="1354" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04wb6sbS92uzGW72E_vnmrHbywQF0KHgeicqeB0uAFCI3HC3VY30tU8QqBehRphXPtBPS4mFJ3Sx5JmhnRHF9ETQx5ilSzgQPeLXJL0m-zeltsH5ShCukHLPNyyEwG7BZff0DRbywkoHoty4jWWFk44GNrUtij1oNzV1dn8_ZMqiQQLk3EKXnp6dPQXin/w400-h229/%E1%BC%85%CE%BC%CE%B1%CE%BE%CE%B1.png" width="400" /></a></div>On the back of the card, the bottom line informs you that the word is a feminine noun in the first declension declined with η, and that the genitive singular form is ἁμάξης: <br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgn_-DWhEbVqObJ7JCk62LdVke09S_AqTu3twdXGON3UPD_yN-nzHPQnKs7uYUvyv1Mif_kPY7fnMlXRX734ETSy92CvaKqcZ0qK5lPqGFheqkHWHKNWUo0a-fuIQ2ijDXifmRIqZWU4VSuQJGmIlLYLlVcNu07NC0Z8pwxiL9_5e58gxanEKklq9kBRWfX" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="476" data-original-width="897" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgn_-DWhEbVqObJ7JCk62LdVke09S_AqTu3twdXGON3UPD_yN-nzHPQnKs7uYUvyv1Mif_kPY7fnMlXRX734ETSy92CvaKqcZ0qK5lPqGFheqkHWHKNWUo0a-fuIQ2ijDXifmRIqZWU4VSuQJGmIlLYLlVcNu07NC0Z8pwxiL9_5e58gxanEKklq9kBRWfX=w640-h340" width="640" /></a><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There is no English on the cards because our goal is reading fluency <i>in Greek</i>. Bypassing English wherever possible and avoiding the habit of mentally translating as one reads speeds up the reading (and language learning) process.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The 500 words include classroom vocabulary, common semantic domains such as animals, fruits and vegetables — θρίδαξ anyone? — as well as words that appear in the <a href="https://thepatrologist.com/2017/07/03/so-you-want-to-know-about-the-italian-athenaze/">Italian version of Ἀθήναζε</a>, our main textbook. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My colleague, <a href="https://briercrestcollege.ca/faculty/profile/?ID=WesOlmstead">Wes Olmstead</a>, is responsible for coming up with authentic ancient Greek ways of categorizing Greek grammatical forms, for carefully tagging the grammatical information that appears on the back of the cards, and for compiling an initial list of words for our students to learn. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My job was to find useable images that suit the words, to set up the mail merge process, and to produce the finished product:</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNq-AeKk1XhJdll7lYELgm0ifbVioPNrYq_JVxXdIa3_7ALjBLqsbjUDytz3gHd0Iuq6-r1Me5b-b_xPR-ttdTS-xP3I_w1BD8Svdq-w78XbhoWCWOXpAqexkuFg_wUPTIy2UHu43ay6Ly1MsV62CDNI9uTKPKxYfKPuJCK0xHTqKq4eoiKRR1gyzyi-O/s3648/IMG_20230905_120754.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNq-AeKk1XhJdll7lYELgm0ifbVioPNrYq_JVxXdIa3_7ALjBLqsbjUDytz3gHd0Iuq6-r1Me5b-b_xPR-ttdTS-xP3I_w1BD8Svdq-w78XbhoWCWOXpAqexkuFg_wUPTIy2UHu43ay6Ly1MsV62CDNI9uTKPKxYfKPuJCK0xHTqKq4eoiKRR1gyzyi-O/w400-h300/IMG_20230905_120754.jpg" width="400" /></a>Printing, cutting, and sorting multiple sets of 500 cards is a bit of a massive undertaking (even with the whole family involved), so I was relieved to find that — thanks to my work with <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/06/biblical-hebrew-picture-flashcards-in.html">Hebrew picture flashcards</a> earlier this summer — the process of importing the Excel file and images into a digital version of the flashcards went smoothly:</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEoP4vhtYyvL61oruDTxyfGFhqzyDtck6xgbSyeFp6H6xikJa0-KuvCYMdXB3HRSuDcMSgSQWUECAYIkviITJuyM4AHrHo74KSTSZbyKzTvUGCgAVlSZqm-e07XuHmf3t6H6ScfTvowhARUMs67eSN4p1RxyzNVNhqPFUp2BMSRTzAv1lZbMe7ONrVtd24" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="814" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEoP4vhtYyvL61oruDTxyfGFhqzyDtck6xgbSyeFp6H6xikJa0-KuvCYMdXB3HRSuDcMSgSQWUECAYIkviITJuyM4AHrHo74KSTSZbyKzTvUGCgAVlSZqm-e07XuHmf3t6H6ScfTvowhARUMs67eSN4p1RxyzNVNhqPFUp2BMSRTzAv1lZbMe7ONrVtd24" width="286" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvmPIAqhFx584YYuIXpuRgrn5mnBtVtvS3ztRrBo_pbykh5U98rbQ4icFT5tyrNLZWwfB9TQRhV00FnCg4n4mzTp_ISnhXF4V2BDKEtIFEMFoYQ7v0PU9FXQTZV9HVmWTHT-fyQpIQTX9ccM4eoOLFmKjiXcA2ifRhzZtEUMUtnXyaH7IifleBd4QCcScr" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="816" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvmPIAqhFx584YYuIXpuRgrn5mnBtVtvS3ztRrBo_pbykh5U98rbQ4icFT5tyrNLZWwfB9TQRhV00FnCg4n4mzTp_ISnhXF4V2BDKEtIFEMFoYQ7v0PU9FXQTZV9HVmWTHT-fyQpIQTX9ccM4eoOLFmKjiXcA2ifRhzZtEUMUtnXyaH7IifleBd4QCcScr" width="309" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://ankiweb.net/">Anki</a>'s spaced-repetition flashcard app has several advantages to printed cards, not least of which is the ability to make them freely available online.</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The full set of cards is too large for Anki's <a href="https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks">free hosting service</a>, but I have uploaded a sample, which should appear presently. Try searching for "Ancient Greek Picture Flashcards." </li><li>The full decks, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/16LEg4lJ6SN_QzcoZM0REZoyzNQQpwVQh/view?usp=drive_link">Briercrest Ἀθήναζε</a> and <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pk19uNMf0tFNu2Ta0TXJNSgMKKnyyRny/view?usp=drive_link">Briercrest Ἀθήναζε Reversed</a>, are hosted on my Google Drive account. You can download them <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxviMEv6RCGVXzRnT1Bac05VT0k?resourcekey=0-BJ1WExvnF0K0v6w95IO14w">here</a>. </li><li>See this post for more information about Anki, and basic instructions about installing and using the decks: <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/06/using-anki-to-review-biblical-hebrew.html">https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/06/using-anki-to-review-biblical-hebrew.html</a> </li></ul><div>Production notes:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Most of the images are from <a href="https://www.vecteezy.com/">Vecteezy</a> (with a Pro license).</li><li>The font on the cards is <a href="https://greekfontsociety-gfs.gr/">GFS Neohellenic</a>. </li></ul><img alt="" height="31" src="https://licensebuttons.net/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #464646; font-family: "source sans pro", sans-serif; font-size: 19px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="88" /><div class="six columns omega" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #464646; font-family: "source sans pro", sans-serif; font-size: 19px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></p></div></div><div>Comments and feedback are welcome.</div>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-73711211045230158492023-06-29T11:17:00.003-06:002023-09-13T06:18:41.392-06:00Using Anki to Review Biblical Hebrew and Ancient Greek Picture Flashcards<p><a href="https://apps.ankiweb.net/">Anki</a> is one of the most well-known and possibly the best available spaced repetition flashcard apps. It is free, it is powerful ... and it can be complicated to use. What follows is a brief set of instructions to help you get up and running with the app, and with a deck of <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/06/biblical-hebrew-picture-flashcards-in.html">Biblical Hebrew</a> or Ancient Greek picture flashcards:</p>
<p><strong>(1) Download, install, and load the computer version of Anki at <a href="https://apps.ankiweb.net/">https://apps.ankiweb.net/</a>:</strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT1hOZBQERsWOib2pLpcu2JNxOaF8KKyGNuGHSbAGgzgKZJMHJX5uGPaNGvsjY1Fl8RJtX1DHcYf6Fhemsm1rNJJ_aU3S8Hpb0M0y_FBU5ACVmgIqXhczF451Bdl6toe9oN_U8fdN1UYUtf3kQSd6AB3TrnSx7fQOR3VFs6vhR4Vb-dRC3WQII3yyKb1zM/s1271/2023-06-25-09-43-38-image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="1271" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT1hOZBQERsWOib2pLpcu2JNxOaF8KKyGNuGHSbAGgzgKZJMHJX5uGPaNGvsjY1Fl8RJtX1DHcYf6Fhemsm1rNJJ_aU3S8Hpb0M0y_FBU5ACVmgIqXhczF451Bdl6toe9oN_U8fdN1UYUtf3kQSd6AB3TrnSx7fQOR3VFs6vhR4Vb-dRC3WQII3yyKb1zM/w640-h330/2023-06-25-09-43-38-image.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><strong>(2) </strong><strong>Download the Biblical Hebrew Picture Flashcards or the Ancient Greek Picture Flashcard shared decks:</strong></p><p><b>(a) Biblical Hebrew Picture Flashcards: </b>For the <i><b>Biblical Hebrew</b> </i>Picture Flashcards, click on "Get Shared" at the bottom of the main Anki screen:</p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPg5aXuMDAI1mA_JuhpMSRzbcaO_bEgolIZ439LwT-HjQRjDeBpff3UV5D3FFYxXhjq-HlTogTx-NVjhMRe9YV5H3ycQMFv1oHa99lP-TWHFC0eZJ71dRzxrtEVIRj-FvcZTg8hlT5j6vsRPgluukdyhw0tD4xpF4ApzuLAMP6qrH1UDNO0yrFnWD9rUd/s830/2023-06-26-21-47-02-image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="830" height="576" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPg5aXuMDAI1mA_JuhpMSRzbcaO_bEgolIZ439LwT-HjQRjDeBpff3UV5D3FFYxXhjq-HlTogTx-NVjhMRe9YV5H3ycQMFv1oHa99lP-TWHFC0eZJ71dRzxrtEVIRj-FvcZTg8hlT5j6vsRPgluukdyhw0tD4xpF4ApzuLAMP6qrH1UDNO0yrFnWD9rUd/w640-h576/2023-06-26-21-47-02-image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This will take you to Ankiweb (<a href="https://ankiweb.net/">https://ankiweb.net/</a>), the free web-based version of the app, and Anki's repository of free shared decks. The first time you use Ankiweb you will need to create an account by clicking "signup" in the top right corner:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPjXvq3WkcD6wAzCzzijIXIVDKesxNI0wFEJuHezJJdseFa8-iVEQZMkm_N8yujxPMoZN2qa-Og81M6pwkQ23FsrCuMMcI3_ZdRCNhh9nx9i86drQtJtkdz-gvUtAxDn4DfdmB8i6e6nNOGWdHfscm9S8KCvOJMlGE5xOUwgL3G_ODuU1Qocde4rxjpxTC/s1064/2023-06-26-21-52-41-image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="1064" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPjXvq3WkcD6wAzCzzijIXIVDKesxNI0wFEJuHezJJdseFa8-iVEQZMkm_N8yujxPMoZN2qa-Og81M6pwkQ23FsrCuMMcI3_ZdRCNhh9nx9i86drQtJtkdz-gvUtAxDn4DfdmB8i6e6nNOGWdHfscm9S8KCvOJMlGE5xOUwgL3G_ODuU1Qocde4rxjpxTC/w640-h198/2023-06-26-21-52-41-image.png" width="640" /></a></div>Once you have registered, click on "Get Shared Decks":<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT1RZlh6HRB6N3kVfc_bkkalBkwlFJIv2FPUFjbVbfaZm0el4yC6Ot28MYbzLB2RnZF-veYp35qo72kPR9pwKiJ3B_X16N6Fky14HDsk5VUQtnYYm8WTs6gdZ10ZjbEiY7YjwpDKTvqA7REL__oeVIf0pmDEXfCQMNwzJyqKW0ui62uqETNOVxZwxOunb-/s918/2023-06-26-21-58-11-image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="918" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT1RZlh6HRB6N3kVfc_bkkalBkwlFJIv2FPUFjbVbfaZm0el4yC6Ot28MYbzLB2RnZF-veYp35qo72kPR9pwKiJ3B_X16N6Fky14HDsk5VUQtnYYm8WTs6gdZ10ZjbEiY7YjwpDKTvqA7REL__oeVIf0pmDEXfCQMNwzJyqKW0ui62uqETNOVxZwxOunb-/w640-h266/2023-06-26-21-58-11-image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Search for "<a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/06/biblical-hebrew-picture-flashcards-in.html">Biblical Hebrew Picture Flashcards</a>" (or anything else you like). Scroll down to the bottom of the screen, and download the Flashcard deck(s):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbO1biuNq3U-lWbqdCCAtr9ZHd2MYvX6DwUScVbS0-PwnU8r1W7f56WmU01pGn0yF29UbZHzbp3YGFhseF08Yx13Sz_T8PHYKJRdOsloEqjy4CbsvApddWa4ooRKsHf1o8OOLdqWgW4O9qRtvwL6A3StnOtfh50VSEATZfdpoRkDGZQWO3insnwK3aieCu/s910/2023-06-26-22-01-23-image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="910" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbO1biuNq3U-lWbqdCCAtr9ZHd2MYvX6DwUScVbS0-PwnU8r1W7f56WmU01pGn0yF29UbZHzbp3YGFhseF08Yx13Sz_T8PHYKJRdOsloEqjy4CbsvApddWa4ooRKsHf1o8OOLdqWgW4O9qRtvwL6A3StnOtfh50VSEATZfdpoRkDGZQWO3insnwK3aieCu/w640-h350/2023-06-26-22-01-23-image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>(b) Ancient Greek Picture Flashcards: </b>The <b><i>Ancient Greek</i> </b>Picture Flashcard decks are too large for Anki's free hosting service, so you will need to download the files directly from my Google Drive account. You can do that here: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/yc2db6z6">https://tinyurl.com/yc2db6z6</a>. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>(3) Back in the Anki computer program, click on "Import File" at the bottom right of the screen:</strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPg5aXuMDAI1mA_JuhpMSRzbcaO_bEgolIZ439LwT-HjQRjDeBpff3UV5D3FFYxXhjq-HlTogTx-NVjhMRe9YV5H3ycQMFv1oHa99lP-TWHFC0eZJ71dRzxrtEVIRj-FvcZTg8hlT5j6vsRPgluukdyhw0tD4xpF4ApzuLAMP6qrH1UDNO0yrFnWD9rUd/s830/2023-06-26-21-47-02-image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="830" height="576" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPg5aXuMDAI1mA_JuhpMSRzbcaO_bEgolIZ439LwT-HjQRjDeBpff3UV5D3FFYxXhjq-HlTogTx-NVjhMRe9YV5H3ycQMFv1oHa99lP-TWHFC0eZJ71dRzxrtEVIRj-FvcZTg8hlT5j6vsRPgluukdyhw0tD4xpF4ApzuLAMP6qrH1UDNO0yrFnWD9rUd/w640-h576/2023-06-26-21-47-02-image.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p>Navigate to your "download" folder and select the appropriate Anki deck file.</p><p><b>(4) <i>Optional: </i>Review Flashcards on the go with Ankidroid or Ankimobile</b></p><p>If you have not already done so in step 3, go to Ankiweb (<a href="https://ankiweb.net/">https://ankiweb.net/</a>), the free web-based version of the app, and create an account by clicking "signup" in the top right corner.</p><p>Now you can Sync your decks to Ankiweb, and then, if you like, install and review flashcards on-the-go with the free Android <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ichi2.anki">Ankidroid</a> app or the <em>not free</em> iOS <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ankimobile-flashcards/id373493387">Ankimobile</a> app. (<em>Note:</em> There are many knock-off apps that use the Anki name. My advice is to stick with Ankidroid or Ankimobile.)</p><p><strong>(5) Begin to take advantage of Anki's spaced-repetition system:</strong> By default Anki selects 20 cards from each deck to learn or review each day. The system is designed to bring up cards that you have trouble with for review more often than cards you know well. For more information, see the <a href="https://docs.ankiweb.net/background.html">manual</a> or <a href="https://leananki.com/how-to-use-anki-tutorial/">this handy tutorial</a>. The system works automatically. All you need to do is click on the deck and then click on "Study Now":</p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilskgoKl1IhrE5vi0VET2ick2zGKvOdSeREBCLAsyM1HcJs9CoIspL2122jHZeSSLJdz_SOnPyyH55yMYz0m5tN-_Z4KmC1djcssUy8-CBuPDnmSVrGQEK0qrOn7SrvZzV9XFN1M-SLdlW9MfEO7pgPZwX_i0WXQKpvRHraB74MKIeP7dWZenLZY9zEnu9/s458/2023-06-27-15-46-57-image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="458" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilskgoKl1IhrE5vi0VET2ick2zGKvOdSeREBCLAsyM1HcJs9CoIspL2122jHZeSSLJdz_SOnPyyH55yMYz0m5tN-_Z4KmC1djcssUy8-CBuPDnmSVrGQEK0qrOn7SrvZzV9XFN1M-SLdlW9MfEO7pgPZwX_i0WXQKpvRHraB74MKIeP7dWZenLZY9zEnu9/w640-h298/2023-06-27-15-46-57-image.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><strong>(6) Learn to Cram:</strong> Unfortunately, Anki tries to force everyone into the same review system. I don't question the effectiveness of the spaced-repetition formula, but sometimes — for example, when you are studying for a quiz on words in chapter 4 or all Piel verbs in chapters 8-10 or all Greek verbs for days 5-7 — you need to cram. The next two videos demonstrate two ways of selecting specific chapters or tagged cards for review. (The videos use the Hebrew decks, but the same steps apply to Greek):</p>
<p><strong><em>Video 1: Using Custom Study to review a single chapter or category:</em></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4Or7r8c-lio" width="320" youtube-src-id="4Or7r8c-lio"></iframe></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><br /></strong></div><p style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><strong><em>Video 2: Using Custom Study and Browse to review multiple categories:</em></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pvs_qpjc-Zg" width="320" youtube-src-id="pvs_qpjc-Zg"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>For more information on creating custom filtered decks, see the <a href="https://docs.ankiweb.net/filtered-decks.html">Anki Manual</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1v1TqRTUUE">this Anking YouTube video</a>. For more on Anki deck organization, take a look at this <a href="https://traverse.link/alternative-study-apps/anki-deck-organization">Traverse.link post</a>. I also found <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Anki/comments/9x3kpx/and_vs_or_multiple_termtagfield_searching_in_a/">this Reddit post</a> on Anki search syntax to be helpful.</p><p></p>
d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-28071284137848600262023-06-24T21:52:00.042-06:002023-06-29T11:19:47.042-06:00Biblical Hebrew Picture Flashcards in Anki<div><b><i>Update: </i></b>See links to the corrected Flashcard files below.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last summer I made a set of 270 Biblical Hebrew picture flashcards for our introductory Hebrew students:</div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJTBOex3asnRFHKCF24SMfY4IRUDXceUCbfw3IaLmJ0EG8q3ddp6NWrOkSuDw12wzWn1IX20HYHSN-BJOW6cOt69Ayt0fM1YzYjVoLgF-5Y8UpBt8xIs3yXStCcQbz0OYucF83mi15omuHj6GEJnCUX1b8pK3yD0wap2vvog5y2qCliTVKbPioh-Q6-T89/s3648/IMG_20230623_163537.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJTBOex3asnRFHKCF24SMfY4IRUDXceUCbfw3IaLmJ0EG8q3ddp6NWrOkSuDw12wzWn1IX20HYHSN-BJOW6cOt69Ayt0fM1YzYjVoLgF-5Y8UpBt8xIs3yXStCcQbz0OYucF83mi15omuHj6GEJnCUX1b8pK3yD0wap2vvog5y2qCliTVKbPioh-Q6-T89/w400-h300/IMG_20230623_163537.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The images help create a direct link between Hebrew words and their meaning. There is no English on the cards because our goal is reading fluency <em>in Hebrew</em><em>. </em>Bypassing English wherever possible — and avoiding the habit of mentally translating as one reads — speeds up the reading (and language learning) process. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCAPTdTepsWIyALmCZ18-HzkDmtOxSW5Ao1A-k0j4mua_KKMLRafKWt6VVNGKe9rpEy8wtPhgH04IcK1OaZdSX3iUfYb3BO7Fjoz3AjpINiipN3li1qKIt3Xtoag5sKBYZ7uy5hzfoQt52fzKEmq_yizRx4vS0NnlN_B6sU4NINf5OO3wqyRCqip_WL9n_/s2844/%D7%90%D7%9B%D7%9C.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2844" data-original-width="2477" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCAPTdTepsWIyALmCZ18-HzkDmtOxSW5Ao1A-k0j4mua_KKMLRafKWt6VVNGKe9rpEy8wtPhgH04IcK1OaZdSX3iUfYb3BO7Fjoz3AjpINiipN3li1qKIt3Xtoag5sKBYZ7uy5hzfoQt52fzKEmq_yizRx4vS0NnlN_B6sU4NINf5OO3wqyRCqip_WL9n_/s320/%D7%90%D7%9B%D7%9C.png" width="279" /></a></div><p></p><p>The cards are designed to be accessible to beginners and still useful to more advanced students. Students who have learned the alphabet can practice reading words they have already been introduced to in class, and ignore the smaller print around the borders of the cards. Some cards appear twice, first in the participle / <i>qotel</i> form (the normal Biblical Hebrew way of conveying present time):</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVhFTTl9XBSd5cn-Qf7yC7qAxBEdROqQ5Aud-6ryCT6_l6OoVEiYY5BPDPsWSBIRhHtvSKnczKLBtRGrWEJjaOZGpMfWgE6tDYy-bEIRlF3TnRyK9ANLCn7_ahzLEcyoh42ElWqUJkXDz-eTCOf_cJt9XZP5s7dWTmNIae3JWSXDkr3iqvQrVpVVVbwp-2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="771" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVhFTTl9XBSd5cn-Qf7yC7qAxBEdROqQ5Aud-6ryCT6_l6OoVEiYY5BPDPsWSBIRhHtvSKnczKLBtRGrWEJjaOZGpMfWgE6tDYy-bEIRlF3TnRyK9ANLCn7_ahzLEcyoh42ElWqUJkXDz-eTCOf_cJt9XZP5s7dWTmNIae3JWSXDkr3iqvQrVpVVVbwp-2=w394-h202" width="394" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>After the <i>qatal</i> / perfect form has been introduced in class, the same picture can be reintroduced with the standard dictionary form and more grammatical information in small print:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYDvd1JKWFH3KsnrYM80TkJds_uIOwnAvoQV2PCN7r2PHtUoghcoMxb6yTV4lQiGEpdX-E6D_YYQKm_SAlfnz4hicCUfj0ewBoC7l_nm03eLukhu7mgCFooHgkx8lf1bbio3Je-6okhor8cZRSWmKH_ZVpxDyszegoFIBM_rmWns2dkbyzYEB84xAvt_dD" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="789" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYDvd1JKWFH3KsnrYM80TkJds_uIOwnAvoQV2PCN7r2PHtUoghcoMxb6yTV4lQiGEpdX-E6D_YYQKm_SAlfnz4hicCUfj0ewBoC7l_nm03eLukhu7mgCFooHgkx8lf1bbio3Je-6okhor8cZRSWmKH_ZVpxDyszegoFIBM_rmWns2dkbyzYEB84xAvt_dD=w455-h234" width="455" /></a></div><br />In the top right corner, we learn that the word is a <i>verb </i>(פֹּעַל) that occurs in the <i>Qal </i>Binyan (קַל) and belongs to a class of weak verbs with an aleph in the first root letter (פ׳א). <div><br /></div><div>The bottom right corner draws on the method Randall Buth uses in his <i><a href="https://www.biblicallanguagecenter.com/product/lbh-selected-readings/">500 Friends</a></i> Hebrew word list to indicate succinctly what the verb looks like in a variety of verb patterns. (If you have studied Hebrew, you will see what I mean.)</div><div><br /></div><div>The bottom left corner classifies the word in one of several semantic domains—in this case, food (מַאֲכָל). </div><div><br /></div><div>The cards can, of course, be sorted and reviewed in categories (e.g., all words in the <i>piel</i> Binyan or all words in a particular semantic domain).</div><div> <br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4d26BpATSj7W0vRI6x6dD3HJIV0r_A0w42pQwSQpiMwtLqHqub7LJoipy33g8HFHo-2ksJxW4a_4FpF6Un93b9reECYCREfKf--Cxj8QwYF-gtPoDSDiyXk35QvYF6SkXq6KDGF6MY2uQidhwJZb-Ny3UNGUm6FhA2gEBdZMvc2t8qlncD1IO0-k7IMkA/s707/%D7%90%D7%A9%D7%81%D7%94.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="707" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4d26BpATSj7W0vRI6x6dD3HJIV0r_A0w42pQwSQpiMwtLqHqub7LJoipy33g8HFHo-2ksJxW4a_4FpF6Un93b9reECYCREfKf--Cxj8QwYF-gtPoDSDiyXk35QvYF6SkXq6KDGF6MY2uQidhwJZb-Ny3UNGUm6FhA2gEBdZMvc2t8qlncD1IO0-k7IMkA/s320/%D7%90%D7%A9%D7%81%D7%94.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Noun cards are similar:<br /><p></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2NAsk_f0iKHLTbo7Fe40XXZXSRqf0XIACtx7dJNZUijOAz0AWJv9WgAKfNV0YTaSsgJQcC5xQhO18iaocIrneFXQHYVhQ3EfhpksjY-A2EDtSDPLPSb6H7bnF2-h7dy-1rJkPVaBZOdTL1JPCCIUcWg9HzBD21b28UPHBDnloFQNnUN0Tm9JVSN_HKvbj" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="802" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2NAsk_f0iKHLTbo7Fe40XXZXSRqf0XIACtx7dJNZUijOAz0AWJv9WgAKfNV0YTaSsgJQcC5xQhO18iaocIrneFXQHYVhQ3EfhpksjY-A2EDtSDPLPSb6H7bnF2-h7dy-1rJkPVaBZOdTL1JPCCIUcWg9HzBD21b28UPHBDnloFQNnUN0Tm9JVSN_HKvbj=w412-h209" width="412" /></a></div>In the top right corner we learn that the word is a feminine (נְקֵבָה) noun (שֵׁם עֶצֶם). The bottom right corner provides singular and plural absolute and construct noun forms.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now that the school year is over, I have had time to complete a digital version of the flashcards for use in <a href="https://apps.ankiweb.net/">Anki</a>'s spaced repetition flashcard app. Here is an example:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjV9KaIpt5tPjY1PE7ah-xLJDQCfy5wOEtRUQIDctqtPNCIM42kzOwrOoWsC4uoIfU7PPmL1Ncgh_oqcP3VHojByNo05izZI2W9LxZldRC8sEPEFGju8QL5r3C9YNAyBxQsseDsL6RWZyE3T8Oe5DKv7DVQApGdiokjEAnc57ScbmSSdUgCwAq-KdsL10CM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="953" data-original-width="1157" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjV9KaIpt5tPjY1PE7ah-xLJDQCfy5wOEtRUQIDctqtPNCIM42kzOwrOoWsC4uoIfU7PPmL1Ncgh_oqcP3VHojByNo05izZI2W9LxZldRC8sEPEFGju8QL5r3C9YNAyBxQsseDsL6RWZyE3T8Oe5DKv7DVQApGdiokjEAnc57ScbmSSdUgCwAq-KdsL10CM=w344-h284" width="344" /></a></div>The back looks like this:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwCWKDhiW8v1MfHbBjrmAs6eaWKCek7FORVHI7SvAIGmzQKG8qzxnvpi6x9NJ0yccUELNSRBXyWCNAVNv2f-Bn5f_pXVDWpOozm1EoFH2N5y2ybf8Mb68KKcyl2OBHOSn7oyDkJY_MeG_Mhhm9g4SZzcEMbx3vtZQNfg1fispbhdYp2lR1GaCAruPsWa3R" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="175" data-original-width="1158" height="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwCWKDhiW8v1MfHbBjrmAs6eaWKCek7FORVHI7SvAIGmzQKG8qzxnvpi6x9NJ0yccUELNSRBXyWCNAVNv2f-Bn5f_pXVDWpOozm1EoFH2N5y2ybf8Mb68KKcyl2OBHOSn7oyDkJY_MeG_Mhhm9g4SZzcEMbx3vtZQNfg1fispbhdYp2lR1GaCAruPsWa3R=w508-h76" width="508" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgyckoonrJknYaH9408o_V-eFN4TXAcqwiLm2G9nLRbQLeX6HnOe5TQdOgI_edxDl4s-uGb8M_OW9yRLXRTTBiFA9sTkRU4FGelmVdFdIxwZ-sLDVBjXDENk00aMyXqNzYRrBh9OJ8YrY0S6sObuTOkmIIShoJzw2rN8fB4YLxLfgpSW4V3Miv-F281gkhq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="113" data-original-width="436" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgyckoonrJknYaH9408o_V-eFN4TXAcqwiLm2G9nLRbQLeX6HnOe5TQdOgI_edxDl4s-uGb8M_OW9yRLXRTTBiFA9sTkRU4FGelmVdFdIxwZ-sLDVBjXDENk00aMyXqNzYRrBh9OJ8YrY0S6sObuTOkmIIShoJzw2rN8fB4YLxLfgpSW4V3Miv-F281gkhq" width="320" /></a></div><br />Among other benefits, the digital version makes it far easier to sort and review specific kinds of cards. The digital version also makes it possible for me to share the cards freely online. You can download them here:</div><div><br /></div></div></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><div><div><a href="https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1128516269" target="_blank">Biblical Hebrew Picture Flashcards</a> </div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1414722552">Biblical Hebrew Picture Flashcards (Reversed)</a> </div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div><b><i>Update: </i></b>This post now links to a corrected version of the Anki Flashcard files. (Due to an error in my Excel spreadsheet, the tags on the original card decks were misaligned; the image filenames have also been simplified in this version.)</div><div><br /></div></div></blockquote><div><div>In this follow-up post I provide a brief set of instructions for those who are new to Anki: <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/06/biblical-hebrew-picture-flashcards-in.html">https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2023/06/biblical-hebrew-picture-flashcards-in.html</a></div><div><br /><br /></div></div>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-21039521629160147292023-05-23T20:45:00.004-06:002023-05-23T20:45:55.035-06:00Josephus and Jewish Ethnonyms: Evaluating Jason Staples's Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81CoEXGs+6S.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="855" height="400" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81CoEXGs+6S.jpg" width="251" /></a></div>I'm on to present a paper at the <a href="https://csbs-sceb.ca/">Canadian Society of Biblical Studies</a> annual meeting at <a href="https://www.federationhss.ca/en">Congress</a> in Toronto next Monday. I put the abstract together in January on a hunch, in the hopes that a deadline would force me to finish a book I wanted to read, and prime the writing pump. Since I didn't make nearly as much progress as I wanted over the semester, it also made a gauntlet of a winter-spring that much more demanding. Right now, however, I'm grateful because at least in a few moments over the last intense week of research and writing, the chance to concentrate on a single intellectual puzzle long enough to make headway has felt strangely like a mental vacation. <p></p><p>The abstract is not quite what I would say now that I have a more-or-less complete rough draft in hand, but it is close enough to what the paper is still trying to do that I will post it here in case anyone is interested:</p><p></p><blockquote>In <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Idea-Israel-Second-Temple-Judaism/dp/1108842860/">The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism</a></i> (CUP, 2021), Jason Staples argues that instead
of being mutually interchangeable terms for the same group, “Israel” referred to the “tribes of the
biblical northern kingdom” or to “the twelve-tribe covenantal people,” while <i>Ioudaios </i>(and
cognates) designated a “subset” of this larger group associated with the southern tribes and the
biblical kingdom of Judah. This paper will test Staples’s proposal against the evidence in
Josephus. I will consider Josephus’s explanation for his own shift in terminology within the
narrative context of the <i>Antiquities</i>; reevaluate the dueling claims of <i>Ioudaioi </i>and Samaritans in
<i>Antiquities </i>books 9 and 11; and examine the labels Josephus uses to designate both those who
returned from exile and those who remained “beyond the Euphrates.” We will see that within
Josephus <i>Ioudaios </i>could still serve as a label for the people as a whole, including descendants of
the northern tribes.</blockquote><p></p><p>I may have more to say once the draft is revised and the paper is presented.</p>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-91093043370440081982023-03-18T22:51:00.001-06:002023-03-18T22:51:13.233-06:00Briercrest's Fall 2023 Ancient Greek Semester<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Enoch_106.8-18%3B_Melito's_Homily_1-4_(CBL_BP_XII%2C_f.13v).jpg/800px-Enoch_106.8-18%3B_Melito's_Homily_1-4_(CBL_BP_XII%2C_f.13v).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Enoch_106.8-18%3B_Melito's_Homily_1-4_(CBL_BP_XII%2C_f.13v).jpg/800px-Enoch_106.8-18%3B_Melito's_Homily_1-4_(CBL_BP_XII%2C_f.13v).jpg" width="240" /></a></div>I am pleased to report that we will be running our third immersive Greek semester this coming fall on the Briercrest College & Seminary campus. As I wrote <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2021/06/koine-greek-immersive-semester-20.html">last time</a>,<p></p><blockquote><p>Our intensive series of five three credit-hour courses is designed to take students from the Greek alphabet to a reading knowledge of ancient Greek, including the Koiné Greek of the New Testament. In our immersive classroom context on the Briercrest College & Seminary campus, students have the opportunity to learn ancient Greek in ancient Greek, as they would any modern language. Because it is geared to the way people naturally learn languages, an active communicative approach to learning Greek leads to deeper and longer-lasting learning than the conventional grammar-translation approach used in most North American academic settings; it also appeals to a wider range of learning styles (and is more fun!) </p></blockquote><p>As far as I know, our immersive, semester-long approach to teaching Ancient Greek in Ancient Greek is unique in North America. (For more detail, see <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2021/06/koine-greek-immersive-semester-20.html">this post</a> and follow the links.)<br /></p><div><p>Our Immersive Greek Semesters run every second year. Almost four years after the first iteration, we have begun to see the payoff:</p><ul>
<li><p>There's the graduating student who took Greek Semester 1.0 in the fall of 2019, who tells me she still regularly reads her Greek New Testament.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Six students from Greek Semester 2.0 (fall 2021) elected to read through the Greek text of Acts last semester as part of their course requirements in my English-Bible Acts class. I sat down with each student twice during the semester to have a conversation in Ancient Greek about selected passages from Acts. None of us would claim fluency, but I was uniformly impressed at how much they understood from the text of Acts and how well they could make themselves understood in Greek.</p>
</li>
<li><p>I am currently sitting in on my colleague Wes Olmstead's Greek VII course, partly to see how he runs advanced classes, and partly because I wanted to read the extrabiblical texts he assigned. So far this semester, the seven students in the class have read Galatians, they are about halfway through Matthew's Gospel, we recently finished Plato's <i>Apology</i>--a text I had never read before in Greek--and we have started on Melito of Sardis's 2nd century Easter homily, <i>Peri Pascha</i>, a text I'm afraid I was totally unfamiliar with. Need I mention that the class is taught in Greek? </p>
</li>
</ul><p>
</p><p>In short, it's working. Care to join us? </p></div>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-89352123523384051912023-01-20T20:36:00.001-06:002023-01-20T20:36:35.482-06:00A 2022 "Reading" (and Listening) Retrospective<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1j4Cc8w8AdTQSa9t42FkAHNxqaOt9sKpU2Zoq146zm0imSFBnO3VXeLKarN1RCN2t5ZMGkQjTo9lbqd_8nSW24Dfpw-GkXivjBVZP8_CL5PCVEW2NMu2B8lf8_TOsWrjzrDyw4iCADIppK-aYGF7USGVuD2aVO-QO9pFpILJdd71IiSL1-_FrrATQMg/s3648/IMG_20230106_091903.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1j4Cc8w8AdTQSa9t42FkAHNxqaOt9sKpU2Zoq146zm0imSFBnO3VXeLKarN1RCN2t5ZMGkQjTo9lbqd_8nSW24Dfpw-GkXivjBVZP8_CL5PCVEW2NMu2B8lf8_TOsWrjzrDyw4iCADIppK-aYGF7USGVuD2aVO-QO9pFpILJdd71IiSL1-_FrrATQMg/w640-h480/IMG_20230106_091903.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>A modest discovery—prompted initially by the need to squeeze in as much Hebrew listening as I could—paid "reading" dividends last year: I realized that even a five minute commute is enough to make real headway in an audiobook or podcast, especially when the commute is multiplied by four and the playback speed is turned up to 1.5. When you add in the time it takes to put on and take off boots, toque, and jacket to prevent frostbite during our Saskatchewan winters, the amount of "reading" doubles. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJT-3URCPZIDk7S87iSCat7Hf5WgtuyETbWzvoY0D9B98DJq2dlv19qtx1_2U77uC3YP_FmhqpGeehuDicRuMCZBNaRNpdiYhtVBZkfi2hxTQiNaFlWLXZkzp896jKggxRPQ61fMy9vcWsnPqV9TgnC5AUW5FOaLekasbaV3VECiRTWQjLxJUrnIRQJA/s3648/IMG_20221229_110513.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="2736" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJT-3URCPZIDk7S87iSCat7Hf5WgtuyETbWzvoY0D9B98DJq2dlv19qtx1_2U77uC3YP_FmhqpGeehuDicRuMCZBNaRNpdiYhtVBZkfi2hxTQiNaFlWLXZkzp896jKggxRPQ61fMy9vcWsnPqV9TgnC5AUW5FOaLekasbaV3VECiRTWQjLxJUrnIRQJA/s320/IMG_20221229_110513.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Thanks to multiple daily mini-commutes, a couple longer road trips, household chores, and a decent set of Bluetooth earbuds, almost one third of the books I "read" in 2022 were audiobooks. For the glass-half-empty folks out there, the fact that nine out of thirty books "read" in 2022 were audiobooks means that I only completed a paltry twenty-one conventional books. Ten of the thirty were completed in December, which says something about the reading I was <i>not</i> doing the rest of the year. Twelve of the thirty were published in the last three years—surely a record. Aside from textbooks, I only made it through one monograph that can be said to be directly related to (one of) my primary research interests. On the other hand, the other reading was rich, rewarding, and often refreshing. Listening too: In addition to audiobooks and Greek and Hebrew audio, I (finally) subscribed to the excellent <a href="https://onscript.study/podcast/">Onscript</a> and <a href="https://biblingo.org/podcast/">Biblingo</a> podcasts. </div><div><br /></div><div>Without further ado, here is a lightly annotated list in reading sequence, with links to blog posts:
<div class="csl-bib-body" style="line-height: 1.35; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">
<div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Frankenstein</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. New York: Dover, 1818. </span></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Bolt, Robert. <i>A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts</i>. London: Samuel French, 1960. <i>[Followed a viewing of the Academy Award-winning movie, <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/02/a-man-for-all-seasons-and-trucking.html">when trucking convoys were in the news</a>.]</i></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Bauckham, Richard. <i>Jesus: A Very Short Introduction</i>. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. <i>[A textbook, re-read for at least the 3rd and 4th times]</i></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Barr, Beth Allison. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">The Making of Biblical Womanhood</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Brazos, 2021. <i>[The first audio book of the year, followed in succession by Kirsten Kobes du Mez (see below)]</i></span></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The%20Making%20of%20Biblical%20Womanhood&rft.publisher=Brazos&rft.aufirst=Beth%20Allison&rft.aulast=Barr&rft.au=Beth%20Allison%20Barr&rft.date=2021&rft.language=en"></span>
<div class="csl-entry">Bradbury, Ray. <i>Fahrenheit 451</i>. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. <i>[Last read during high school]</i></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_id=urn%3Aisbn%3A978-0-19-957527-5&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Jesus%3A%20A%20Very%20Short%20Introduction&rft.place=New%20York&rft.publisher=Oxford%20University%20Press&rft.aufirst=Richard&rft.aulast=Bauckham&rft.au=Richard%20Bauckham&rft.date=2011-08-11&rft.tpages=144&rft.isbn=978-0-19-957527-5&rft.language=English"></span>
<div class="csl-entry">Keefer, Kyle. <i>The New Testament as Literature: A Very Short Introduction</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. <span style="text-indent: -2em;"><i>[A textbook, re-read for at least the 3rd and 4th times]</i></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Zimmermann, Jens. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Hermeneutics: A Very Short Introduction</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. <i>[I expect to use this as a textbook the next time I teach undergraduate hermeneutics.]</i></span></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_id=urn%3Aisbn%3A978-0-573-01260-0&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A%20Man%20for%20All%20Seasons%3A%20A%20Play%20in%20Two%20Acts&rft.place=London&rft.publisher=Samuel%20French&rft.aufirst=Robert&rft.aulast=Bolt&rft.au=Robert%20Bolt&rft.date=1960&rft.isbn=978-0-573-01260-0&rft.language=English"></span>
<div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Longenecker, Bruce W. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">The Lost Letters of Pergamum: A Story from the New Testament World</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. 2d ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016. <i>[A textbook; read multiple times previously]</i></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Brown, Peter. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150-750</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. New York: Norton, 1989. <i>[Read aloud to the family; a classic I should have read years ago.]</i></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Frank, Anne. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Garden City, NT: Doubleday, 1952. <i>[Maybe it was the play rather than the diary that I read 30+ years ago.]</i></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Nayeri, Daniel. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Everything Sad Is Untrue</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Montclair, New Jersey: Levine Querido, 2020. <i>[See <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/06/parched.html">this post</a> for my recommendation.]</i></span></span></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_id=urn%3Aisbn%3A978-0-500-32022-8%20978-0-500-33022-7&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The%20World%20of%20Late%20Antiquity%3A%20AD%20150-750&rft.place=New%20York&rft.publisher=Norton&rft.aufirst=Peter&rft.aulast=Brown&rft.au=Peter%20Brown&rft.date=1989&rft.isbn=978-0-500-32022-8%20978-0-500-33022-7&rft.language=English"></span><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Du Mez, Kristin Kobes. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Liveright, 2020. <i>[Audiobook]</i></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Dinesen, Isak. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. New York: Vintage, 1989. <i>[Audiobook; s</i></span><i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">ee</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/06/parched.html" style="text-indent: -2em;">this post</a><span style="text-indent: -2em;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -2em;">for my recommendation.]</span></i></div><span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_id=urn%3Aisbn%3A978-0-679-72475-9&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Out%20of%20Africa%3A%20and%20Shadows%20on%20the%20Grass&rft.place=New%20York&rft.publisher=Vintage&rft.aufirst=Isak&rft.aulast=Dinesen&rft.au=Isak%20Dinesen&rft.date=1989-10-23&rft.tpages=480&rft.isbn=978-0-679-72475-9&rft.language=English"></span><div class="csl-entry"><div class="csl-entry">Stanley, Christopher D. <i>A Rooster for Asklepios: A Slave’s Story, Book 1</i>. 3rd edition. NFB Publishing, 2020.<i> [A fun historical novel written by a NT scholar; especially enjoyable if you have spent time in the historical sites in Turkey where the story is set.]</i></div><span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A%20Rooster%20for%20Asklepios%3A%20A%20Slave's%20Story%2C%20Book%201&rft.publisher=NFB%20Publishing&rft.edition=3rd%20edition&rft.aufirst=Christopher%20D.&rft.aulast=Stanley&rft.au=Christopher%20D.%20Stanley&rft.date=2020-06-10&rft.tpages=522&rft.language=English"></span></div></div><div class="csl-entry">Stroup, Christopher. <i>The Christians Who Became Jews: Acts of the Apostles and Ethnicity in the Roman City</i>. Yale University Press, 2020. <i>[A reminder not to trust dust jacket blurbs.]</i></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Buechner, Frederick. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">The Alphabet of Grace</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. New York: Seabury Press, 1970. <i>[I gradually realized <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2008/07/frederick-buechner-daniel-amos-and.html">I had read it before</a>; still good the second time]</i></span></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The%20Alphabet%20of%20Grace&rft.place=New%20York&rft.publisher=Seabury%20Press&rft.aufirst=Frederick&rft.aulast=Buechner&rft.au=Frederick%20Buechner&rft.date=1970"></span>
<div class="csl-entry">Jennings, Willie James. <i>After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging</i>. Eerdmans, 2020. <i>[influenced <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/08/on-academic-ambition-summer-miscellany.html">this post</a>; recommended]</i></div><div class="csl-entry">Buechner, Frederick. <i>Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale</i>. New York: HarperCollins, 1977. <i>[First read almost 30 years ago as a homiletics textbook; re-read aloud to the family.]</i></div><div class="csl-entry">Holland, Tom. <i>Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World</i>. Basic Books, 2021. <i>[Audiobook]</i></div><div class="csl-entry">Kuhn, Thomas S., and Ian Hacking. <i>The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary Edition</i>. 4th edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012. <i>[Audiobook; a classic I've been thinking about (without reading it) for 25 years]</i></div><div class="csl-entry">Jipp, Joshua W. <i>Reading Acts</i>. Cascade Companions. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2018. <i>[Textbook; re-read multiple times]</i></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Skinner, Matthew L. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Intrusive God, Disruptive Gospel: Encountering the Divine in the Book of Acts</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2015. <i>[Textbook; read for the first time but will probably do so again]</i></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Birkett, Kirsten. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Living Without Fear: Using The Psalms To End Your Worry And Anxiety</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Self-published, 2022. <i>[Recommended by my former colleague, Eric Ortlund; read aloud]</i></span></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Anne%20Frank%3A%20The%20Diary%20of%20a%20Young%20Girl&rft.place=Garden%20City%2C%20NT&rft.publisher=Doubleday&rft.aufirst=Anne&rft.aulast=Frank&rft.au=Anne%20Frank&rft.date=1952"></span><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Rowling, J. K. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">The Christmas Pig</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2021.</span></span></div><div class="csl-entry">Johnson, Luke Timothy. <i>The Mind in Another Place: My Life as a Scholar</i>. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022. <i>[Audiobook; thought-provoking enough to generate several blog posts (<a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/12/luke-timothy-johnson-on-not-wasting-time.html">here</a>, <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/12/luke-timothy-johnson-shoots-moon.html">here</a>, and <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/08/on-academic-ambition-summer-miscellany.html">here</a>)]</i></div><span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_id=urn%3Aisbn%3A978-0-8028-8011-6&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The%20Mind%20in%20Another%20Place%3A%20My%20Life%20as%20a%20Scholar&rft.place=Grand%20Rapids&rft.publisher=Eerdmans&rft.aufirst=Luke%20Timothy&rft.aulast=Johnson&rft.au=Luke%20Timothy%20Johnson&rft.date=2022-03-22&rft.tpages=272&rft.isbn=978-0-8028-8011-6&rft.language=English"></span><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Plass, Adrian. <i>The Horizontal Epistles of Andromeda Veal</i>. London: Marshall Pickering, 1988. <i>[Re-read]</i></span></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Strawn, Brent A. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Lies My Preacher Told Me: An Honest Look at the Old Testament</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021. <i>[Audiobook; "read" while crossing the Rockies on Dec 26]</i></span></div><span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_id=urn%3Aisbn%3A978-0-664-26571-7&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Lies%20My%20Preacher%20told%20Me%3A%20An%20Honest%20Look%20at%20the%20Old%20Testament&rft.place=Louisville%2C%20Kentucky&rft.publisher=Westminster%20John%20Knox%20Press&rft.aufirst=Brent%20A.&rft.aulast=Strawn&rft.au=Brent%20A.%20Strawn&rft.date=2021-02-09&rft.tpages=128&rft.isbn=978-0-664-26571-7&rft.language=English"></span><div class="csl-entry"><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">O’Donovan, Oliver. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Resurrection and Moral Order: An Outline for Evangelical Ethics</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. 2d ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994. <i>[The book I'm most proud of finishing this year (see <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/07/midsummer-reading-oliver-odonovan-and.html">here</a> and <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/08/oliver-odonovan-on-corruption-of.html">here</a> for why)] </i></span></div><span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Resurrection%20and%20Moral%20Order%3A%20An%20Outline%20for%20Evangelical%20Ethics&rft.place=Grand%20Rapids&rft.publisher=Eerdmans&rft.edition=2d%20ed&rft.aufirst=Oliver&rft.aulast=O'Donovan&rft.au=Oliver%20O'Donovan&rft.date=1994"></span><div class="csl-entry">Marsh, Charles. <i>Evangelical Anxiety: A Memoir</i>. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2022. <i>[Audiobook. The tagline could be, 'Of course, I needed Jesus; I also needed therapy.' James K. A. Smith calls it "a bold, beautiful memoir, at once transgressive and faithful," which seems about right, though one should underscore transgressive. This is Marsh unfiltered. Not rated for a general audience.]</i></div></div><div class="csl-entry"><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Hill, Wesley. </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality</i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010. <i>[Audiobook; "read" while crossing the Rockies on my way back to Saskatchewan on Dec 31]</i></span></div>
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Washed%20and%20Waiting%3A%20Reflections%20on%20Christian%20Faithfulness%20and%20Homosexuality&rft.place=Grand%20Rapids&rft.publisher=Zondervan&rft.aufirst=Wesley&rft.aulast=Hill&rft.au=Wesley%20Hill&rft.date=2010-09-21&rft.tpages=161&rft.language=English"></span>
<div class="csl-entry"><br /></div><div class="csl-entry">The first and only book I've completed so far in 2023 is a re-read of Adrian Plass's hilarious <i>The Theatrical Tapes of Leonard Thynn</i>, surely an auspicious start to the year. I'm also slowly digesting Jason Staples's <i><a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/01/a-2022-reading-list.html">Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism</a></i>, about which I hope to say more in due course.</div>
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.type=webpage&rft.title=SBL%202021%20Panel%20I%20Adele%20Reinhartz%20on%20John%20Within%20Judaism&rft.rights=Read%20-%202022%2F11%2F18&rft.description=%E2%80%9CI%20believe%20that%20such%20comments%20are%20intended%20to%20be%20inclusive%20of%20Jews%20while%20solving%20a%20dilemma%20for%20Christians%3A%20this%20approach%20allows%20them%20to%20uphold%20the%20sacred%20nature%20of%20their%20scriptures%20without%20at%20the%20same%20time%20adopting%20a%20hostile%20stance%20towards%20Jews%20and%20Judaism.%20Yet%20I%20wish%20I%20could%20help%20some%20of%20my%20colleag&rft.identifier=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancientjewreview.com%2Fread%2Fjohnwithinjudaism&rft.language=en-US"></span></div></div>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-40145369883252026362022-12-29T14:52:00.005-06:002022-12-29T14:54:20.580-06:00Luke Timothy Johnson Shoots the Moon<p><a href="https://news.emory.edu/stories/2021/09/er_candler_mcdonald_chair/thumbs/story_main.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="347" data-original-width="520" height="214" src="https://news.emory.edu/stories/2021/09/er_candler_mcdonald_chair/thumbs/story_main.jpg" width="320" /></a></p><p>In the final two chapters of his <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Mind-Another-Place-Life-Scholar-ebook/dp/B09HZM7J5V/">memoir</a>, Luke Timothy Johnson describes what it takes to be an excellent (and productive) scholar, someone with the requisite raw-material—intelligence, rapid reading fluency, memory—who is increasingly characterized by the <em>intellectual</em> virtues of curiosity, respect for evidence, mastery, wide and critical reading, imagination, clarity and cogency, and by the <em>moral</em> virtues of courage, ambition, discipline, persistence, detachment, contentment, and (surprisingly) multitasking. </p><p>Mastery for <em>mature</em> scholars of "New Testament and Christian origins" begins with "comprehensive knowledge of the content and rhetorical character of each OT and NT writing" as well as "a firsthand grasp of all the critical questions concerning those compositions." Mastery also entails "appropriate interaction with all of Greco- Roman literature, Jewish literature, and early Christian literature at least to the time of Constantine":</p><blockquote>
<p>"The mature scholar ought to be as comfortable with the <em>Sentences</em> <i>of Sextus </i>as with the <i>Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides</i>, with the Pirqe Avot and the Avot of Rabbi Nathan as with the Sifre on Deuteronomy, with the varieties of Jewish mysticism as with the hermetic literature, with Epictetus as with Plutarch, with the Didache as with Dionysius the Areopagite."</p>
</blockquote><p>Nor is it sufficient to know the text themselves. The evidence that a scholar must respect includes "the entire history of interpretation."</p><p>Among the moral virtues, ambition—"not in the competitive sense of seeking to outdo others but in the sense of desiring excellence"—is "the 'motor' that pushes the scholar to significant accomplishment."</p><p>Also essential is contentment, the "freedom from a scholarly possessiveness manifested by obsessiveness, compulsiveness, and perfectionism":</p><blockquote>
<p>"[I]f my identity and worth are not to be identified with my scholarship, then what I research and write can freely and generously be shared with others. As in other areas of life, so in scholarship: liberality and even prodigality reveal a freedom that is the opposite of a cramped perfectionism driven by anxiety, that only with great reluctance shares with others what I have discovered or crafted."</p>
</blockquote><p>Few contemporary New Testament scholars can match Johnson's scholarly productivity. His autobiography makes it clear that his was no charmed ivory-tower existence: he wrote 35 books and 75 scholarly articles while being actively involved in university life and supporting family through significant personal adversity. Although Johnson peppers his account of the scholarly virtues with examples from his own life, he is at pains to insist that the final two chapters are not a self-portrait but an ideal to which he aspired in his "long career as a scholar." Besides, his abilities and the opportunities that came his way are in fact gifts from God.</p><p>For those with ears to hear, the memoir as a whole can serve as motivation for those just starting out, or a kick in the pants for academics mid-career.</p><p>Still, I came away with a few questions:</p><p>
</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>First, what if the pursuit of scholarly excellence conflicts with the ultimate goal—the goal <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/12/luke-timothy-johnson-on-not-wasting-time.html">Johnson identifies as his own</a>—of becoming a saint? For ordinary mortals who don't possess Johnson's natural ability and rigorous training, and who perhaps lack his ambition, enormous industry and audacity, life may be more of a zero sum game where energy expended in scholarly production comes at the expense of other important things—one's family, for instance. At the very least, there is a temptation to cheat, to sacrifice those other important things instead of making room for both.</li><li>Second, there are other competing models of life before God and of scholarship that emphasize the virtue of moderation. (See, for example, the<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90707471/5-benefits-to-embracing-slow-work"> slow work movement</a>, and its application to the academy in Berg and Seeber's <em><a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/the-slow-professor/">The Slow Professor</a></em>.) Is the only option for <em>real</em> scholars such enormous effort? Perhaps.</li><li>Third, middle-aged me questions Johnson's definition of scholarship as "an intellectual life that is both focused and productive" because productivity tends to be defined in terms of scholarly publications. Is productivity in this sense really <em>the</em> mark of a scholar? To be fair, Johnson does not simply equate the two:</li></ul><p></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">"By productive, I mean that such learning gained by the mind is communicated to others, or is applied to the solution of other problems, with an eye to eventual communication, through teaching, writing, or other medium."</p></blockquote></blockquote>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Insofar as productivity is reduced to publication (by Johnson's readers if not by Johnson himself) I suspect infection by the diseased bureaucratic drive to quantify everything.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">To be sure, "[w]hen personal goals are insignificant, accomplishments will fall even shorter." Point taken. But most of those who aim high—even those who publish extensively—do not in fact succeed at producing anything that more than a few people read, <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/12/luke-timothy-johnson-on-not-wasting-time.html">as Johnson admits</a>. What is the point of it all anyway? The vast majority of people have their most lasting impact not through what they write but through personal contact over time.</p></blockquote>
<p>Questions aside, the story is interesting and well-told, and there is much to learn from, and to be challenged by, Johnson's example. Highly recommended! (If you listen to the audiobook, as I did, you get the added bonus of hearing Johnson narrate the book himself.)</p><p>Note: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>All quotations are from Luke Timothy Johnson, <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Mind-Another-Place-Life-Scholar-ebook/dp/B09HZM7J5V/">The Mind in Another Place: My Life as a Scholar</a> (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022) </li><li>See <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/08/on-academic-ambition-summer-miscellany.html">here</a> and <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/12/luke-timothy-johnson-on-not-wasting-time.html">here</a> for earlier reflections on the book.</li></ul><p></p>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-7132177071336524712022-12-13T18:29:00.002-06:002022-12-14T09:47:06.089-06:00Luke Timothy Johnson on Not Wasting Time<p><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/8140YXLWKiS.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="400" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/8140YXLWKiS.jpg" width="266" /></a></p><p></p><blockquote><p>"My first and most persistent goal in life was to become a saint .... In my own stumbling and clumsy fashion, I find that I truly do seek the face of God. Scholarship, like all other human endeavors, has always seemed to me secondary to the serious business of becoming a certain kind of person; scholarship is a game that can be played, and must be played, seriously and intently, with the scholar never forgetting that it is only a game, whose stakes are not ultimate." </p>"Sowing seeds by scattering them in every direction means much waste, and yes, the sower seldom actually sees whether any of the sown seed yields a crop. But I would not trade the hours I spent in preparing and presenting all this array of words for any other task I might have been assigned. As I gladly learned, so gladly did I teach."<p></p><p>"As for properly scholarly writing and publication, I am acutely aware how few minds I have changed or improved. I know, in fact, that some of my views are regarded by many other scholars as wrongheaded or eccentric. But I am also aware that I never stinted in the effort to make a difference in how important issues are understood. I know that I have employed the gifts God has given me—a modest intelligence, a wealth of energy, a passion for truth and beauty—as fully as time and circumstances have allowed. <b>I have never wasted time</b>, and I have never allowed circumstances to be an excuse for less than full effort. I have pursued truth as I have seen it. With that realization, I must be content." </p><p>- Luke Timothy Johnson, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Mind-Another-Place-Life-Scholar/dp/0802880118/">The Mind in Another Place: My Life as a Scholar</a></i> (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022), 31, 267.</p></blockquote><p>Luke Timothy Johnson has been a formative influence and sparing partner in my thinking about Luke-Acts for years, I'm a sucker for academic biographies anyhow, so no surprise that I find Johnson's memoir stimulating in all sorts of ways. Challenging too. Highly recommended for anyone interested in biblical scholarship (or biblical scholars) even if you disagree, as I do, with Johnson on various points.</p><p></p>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-58378719525547129452022-08-28T17:26:00.001-06:002022-08-28T17:26:07.362-06:00Oliver O'Donovan on the Corruption of Academic Authority<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdVo8icT6cvnFdm1yit0_BZA848_qNLvuweQb9CX5auZXwAB8EzCnqQXpHI4A6IYKtrCJqnNkpiblkTmCMtPD6O4waYqCfXNo4FatgD7SLvRdFPUZDigX6LUd2IhPFzF5N1vVJTH64aLskQZqNiSMw22TDydXa0U1bAWcr3WDm9Fjh89H3BCJUwps2Q/s5456/DSC02681%20Cropped.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2763" data-original-width="5456" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdVo8icT6cvnFdm1yit0_BZA848_qNLvuweQb9CX5auZXwAB8EzCnqQXpHI4A6IYKtrCJqnNkpiblkTmCMtPD6O4waYqCfXNo4FatgD7SLvRdFPUZDigX6LUd2IhPFzF5N1vVJTH64aLskQZqNiSMw22TDydXa0U1bAWcr3WDm9Fjh89H3BCJUwps2Q/w640-h325/DSC02681%20Cropped.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><blockquote>"The only authority that a particular person or thing may derive from the truth is a didactic authority which is self-effacing and points beyond itself. ... That is why our attachments of loyalty to individual wise men or particular books of wisdom are more problematic than our loyalties to favourite works of art, men of power or cultural traditions. Of course, such attachments may be delightful and enriching, as, for example, when we retain our reverence and affection for an inspiring teacher; but when that happens other elements have entered into his claim upon us which must not be confused with the claim of truth itself. When a wise man or a tradition of thought comes to be thought beyond reach of critical question, he or it is dishonoured. The translucent didactic authority to which it could once lay claim in the service of the truth has been replaced by an authority that is immediate and opaque. This changeling may be the authority of tradition, or it may be the authority of strength .... But either way the fundamental stance of the thinker <i>vis à vis</i> the truth, critical and open to criticism, will be betrayed by the seduction of the wrong kind of authority." - Oliver O'Donovan, <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2022/07/midsummer-reading-oliver-odonovan-and.html"><i>Resurrection and Moral Order</i></a> (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 126</blockquote></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4XMQ4CY3X2P5MPY9ct71EFuyqSU9ZrJ5bgWgpfKCsR1btG1V-6Coq93hCdKGyJgJ7N6V6TjJXXlqD4lArNokK37j-VPeaPQxwWfnaJwxofUsHEXG837uOxQke_SJX9fDkBBhTPGwbT0lmzluYY-betXk2Wv9Borq7_uWUvf-qpvYQOPBT4iuzb2dFQg/s5456/DSC02686%20Cropped.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2511" data-original-width="5456" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4XMQ4CY3X2P5MPY9ct71EFuyqSU9ZrJ5bgWgpfKCsR1btG1V-6Coq93hCdKGyJgJ7N6V6TjJXXlqD4lArNokK37j-VPeaPQxwWfnaJwxofUsHEXG837uOxQke_SJX9fDkBBhTPGwbT0lmzluYY-betXk2Wv9Borq7_uWUvf-qpvYQOPBT4iuzb2dFQg/w640-h294/DSC02686%20Cropped.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-73890516732619999742022-08-27T01:49:00.000-06:002022-08-27T01:49:03.446-06:00On Academic Ambition: A Summer Miscellany<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxg1kk4E4VMEzoWoz1a_bNPtuKPFWChTnZgb0DEQ3ihXJAsjeYK6XpFwRkxG2G-ivlx1m96SYDbauFbKmAu5sbyOQgtbyo_QVS80ps0PD-0j2X0Tt7OeCnZTj62TUKg1pbDK0jVK0UEpxen7WYBizYfnh9FNSGWve0U2B_i_kStjjxt-4eMp2BXVc2jA/s3648/IMG_20220814_203122.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxg1kk4E4VMEzoWoz1a_bNPtuKPFWChTnZgb0DEQ3ihXJAsjeYK6XpFwRkxG2G-ivlx1m96SYDbauFbKmAu5sbyOQgtbyo_QVS80ps0PD-0j2X0Tt7OeCnZTj62TUKg1pbDK0jVK0UEpxen7WYBizYfnh9FNSGWve0U2B_i_kStjjxt-4eMp2BXVc2jA/w640-h480/IMG_20220814_203122.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>“My first and most persistent goal in life was to become a saint.” So writes Luke Timothy Johnson in his <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Mind-Another-Place-Life-Scholar-ebook/dp/B09HZM7J5V/">academic autobiography</a>, which I have, so far, only read about. In <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/cruxsola/2022/03/interview-with-dr-luke-timothy-johnson-the-mind-in-another-place/">this interview</a> with Nijay Gupta, Johnson reflects on how this goal shaped his work as a scholar:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: left;">
<p></p>“First, I have always considered only one thing essential — to become (or better, to allow God to make one) a certain kind of person. Everything else I have considered as secondary and non-essential. The judgment of other humans is trivial compared to the absolute judgment of God. Such a conviction enables one to speak boldly and without fear. </blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“Second, I have considered scholarship as a serious enterprise, but one without ultimate importance. It is, indeed, a game that, like all games, must be played seriously if it is to be played well. But it is played best when it is played with the freedom that authentic faith gives and is not erected into an idolatrous project.<br />
<p style="text-align: left;">“Third, if scholarship is non-ultimate, then an <u>academic</u> career is even more nugatory. The academy should be regarded as a social arrangement whose importance is measured solely by the way it serves the ends for which it was designed. Do students learn? Do teachers grow in knowledge? Is the church and society made better by these processes? To the degree that “the academy” becomes absolute and self-serving, to that degree it has lost its way.” (Read the whole interview <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/cruxsola/2022/03/interview-with-dr-luke-timothy-johnson-the-mind-in-another-place/">here</a>.)</p></blockquote>
<p>Johnson, <a href="https://candler.emory.edu/faculty/emeriti-profiles/johnson-luke-timothy.html">a Roman Catholic New Testament scholar</a>, is surely riffing off of Thomas Merton:</p>
<blockquote>
“There’s a wonderful moment in Thomas Merton’s <em>The
Seven-Storey Mountain</em> when Merton — a new convert to Catholicism
— is whining and vacillating about what he should be: a teacher, a
priest, a writer, a monk, something else altogether maybe, a labor
activist or a farm laborer. And his friend Robert Lax tells him that what
he should want to be is a saint.” - <a href="https://blog.ayjay.org/a-proper-goal/">Alan Jacobs</a></blockquote>
<p>Academics who fail to get their ambitions straight all too easily end up with the apotheosis of scholarly vices that C.S. Lewis described as hell:</p>
<blockquote>
“We must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually
concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a
grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy,
self-importance, and resentment.” - C.S. Lewis, Preface to <i>The Screwtape Letters</i> (HT: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sean.davidson.14289/posts/pfbid02bqapyeNw6Hkr29fSK2tyo261fsNkpe7CLfRFrcRCe94jhnUNLu6WoVo6aQiZxrscl">Sean Davidson</a>) </blockquote>
<p>I suspect C.S. Lewis’s picture of hell is part of what Willie James Jennings has in mind when he argues in <i><a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=7dHoDwAAQBAJ">After Whiteness</a></i> that western theological education tends to form students into white, male plantation owners—those who seek control, possession, and mastery, and who know how to get it. “Whiteness,” Jennings says in this <a href="<a href="https://onscript.study/podcast/willie-james-jennings-after-whiteness/">OnScript interview</a>, is</p>
<blockquote>
“A way of being in the world and a way of seeing the world at the same time, a way of organizing, shaping, and envisioning the world. And whiteness is having the power to realize that vision. Whiteness is imagining the world from an imperial position of thinking and making. And whiteness has been presented as an aspiration for all those who have seen the possibilities of a world after the rise of colonialism—a world in which things can be changed, people can be owned, land can be owned. ... A white self-sufficient man ... embodies what I call three demonically derived virtues: control, possession and mastery. And that man has been imagined as the one who would build the world.” <a href="https://onscript.study/podcast/willie-james-jennings-after-whiteness/">Willie James Jennings –– After Whiteness | OnScript</a></blockquote>
<p>So which will it be—white male plantation owner or saint?</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wc7XJPOf-RbxQ52UBfVoogITomP4aQ91PvlXhBynmlc0bG96vpkQACcX1HaUG9rTnNVS3C-DePZABiCk0NKMpXuhQ-Ed3Tx0vwY8ONpJRDXg5Iu86Z5RQcUMskv-PjIw9O71N1073ah3KynCs8ecOfHu3gvmMt3fgyM_KIX0mDjZSPIWy4C6TleAaw/s3648/IMG_20220814_203107.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wc7XJPOf-RbxQ52UBfVoogITomP4aQ91PvlXhBynmlc0bG96vpkQACcX1HaUG9rTnNVS3C-DePZABiCk0NKMpXuhQ-Ed3Tx0vwY8ONpJRDXg5Iu86Z5RQcUMskv-PjIw9O71N1073ah3KynCs8ecOfHu3gvmMt3fgyM_KIX0mDjZSPIWy4C6TleAaw/w640-h480/IMG_20220814_203107.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-6939658242915807292022-07-30T07:52:00.001-06:002022-07-30T07:58:48.408-06:00Midsummer Reading: Oliver O'Donovan and Ephraim Radner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61FMEbOpIpL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="518" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61FMEbOpIpL.jpg" width="207" /></a>
</div>I checked out a copy of Oliver O'Donovan's <em><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Resurrection-Moral-Order-Outline-Evangelical/dp/0802806929/">Resurrection and Moral Order</a></em> 18 or so years ago on my PhD supervisor's recommendation. As I recall, I got a few dozen pages in before returning it to the library. The book was dense with lengthy excurses in fine print, and I was in my first year of teaching. Maybe also: the book was by a theologian, while I was a freshly-minted Biblical scholar. To be honest, I suspect I was not ready for it.
<br /><br /><div>This summer I checked out the library's copy a second time. Even though I typically only manage a few pages every now and then before bed, I am now about halfway through and find it mesmerizing. Humbling too. It is remarkable how the thirty-one year old O'Donovan was able to range so widely and so authoritatively over such a vast theological, philosophical and biblical terrain, and to do it in such a short compass with such clarity.* </div><div><blockquote><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* A note on clarity: <i>Resurrection and Moral Order </i>is still an academic book with occasional sentences like this one: <span style="text-align: left;">“</span>The value of the voluntarist emphasis lay in its perception that the dialectic between reason and revelation rests not on an accidental deficiency of human reason but on the aboriginal metaphysical fact that human reason is not transcendent.<span style="text-align: left;">”</span> Clarity, I suppose, is in the ear of the listener.</span></p></blockquote>
<p>Again and again one encounters convincing explanations of the implications of the death and resurrection of Jesus for Christian behaviour alongside compelling mini-exegeses of biblical passages. I keep telling myself I need to go back and add it to my course notes for several different classes. If this is what theology means, sign me up.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71EdxTSO+BS.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71EdxTSO+BS.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>Ephraim Radner's <em><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Time-Word-Figural-Christian-Scriptures/dp/0802879977/">Time and the Word</a></em> is <em>still</em> beyond me. I purchased an e-copy on sale after a former colleague, who had studied under Radner, enthused about it. Critics complain that Radner's prose is needlessly dense. <em>Time and the Word</em> <em>is</em> a difficult book and, it must be said, it is <em>not</em> a model of clarity. But, as Paul J. Griffiths put it in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/106385121802700309">his review</a>:<p></p><p></p><blockquote>“It's a real book, by which I mean that it's the written deposit of concentrated thought about a set of questions as if it were important to approach and answer them rightly. It's something more than journeyman academic work, and something more, too, than the work of someone who cares for the church and wishes to serve her. It has the unusual virtue of combining wide learning, intellectual passion, and devotion to Christ and his church. In reading it, it seemed to me that I was faced with a mind at work on something that matters.” </blockquote><p></p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/scottish-journal-of-theology/article/abs/ephraim-radner-time-and-the-world-figural-reading-of-the-christian-scriptures-grand-rapids-mi-eerdmans-2015-pp-vii-326-50003299/0FB2C616088A15EDF4CDDA201986B723">Kevin Vanhoozer</a> describes it this way:</p>
<blockquote>
“Time and the World is a demanding book: ambitious in scope, theological in substance, counter-cultural in spirit, at turns breath-taking and headscratching in style, yet always urgent and important in its moral and spiritual summons to acknowledge our status as creatures of God’s word.”</blockquote>
<p>The first time I tried, I made it through the first chapter and put it down. I am making another attempt this summer because I really like Radner's two short blog posts (<a href="https://covenant.livingchurch.org/2020/01/14/reading-scripture-well-part-1/">here </a>and <a href="https://covenant.livingchurch.org/2020/01/15/reading-scripture-well-part-2/">here</a>) on “Reading Scripture Well”; I now assign them in my college and seminary hermeneutics classes, and I thought I should learn more about the kind of theological reading he gestures toward in these two popular-level essays. I also wanted to consider the possibility that I might be missing something important.</p>
<p>As a NT scholar by trade and a wanna-be historian, I am not predisposed to allegorical interpretation—what Radner calls 'figural reading'—or to a reclamation of Augustine's neoplatonic speculations about time and eternity, which is what Radner seems to be offering. Yet Radner's historical arguments about how the Bible was read through the early modern period (chap 2) make a lot of sense to this outsider, and his insistence on the present reality of God raises questions about the extent to which my fundamental hermeneutical axiom—reading the Bible historically on its own terms in its own historical and literary contexts—defaults to a human-centred approach that brackets God out of the equation. In short, three chapters in, I feel the force of Radner's attempt to dislodge history as the arbiter of meaning, but the ideas are so mind-blowingly different I'm not sure what to do with them. Still, I can get behind a reading approach that claims:</p><p></p><blockquote>“Good reading takes us further into, not out of, of Scripture. ... The more our reading has us talking about ourselves, and the less about the Scriptures, the less good it is. ... Good reading, by contrast, leads us to put down stakes <em>in</em> the text. The text itself, after all, is God’s self-presentation. It is not us, not our family, our church, our politics, our situation, nor our intellectual or emotional interests. Good reading, therefore, will lead us to linger over words and phrases, to pause on and circle around events, to wonder about figures, to dwell on questions raised in the text, or on its oddities, amazements, even leaden and intolerable normalcies. ... “[R]eal life,” if Scripture is what I have suggested it is, is to be found <em>in</em>, not outside, of the text. If we must provide a homiletic application of a scriptural text – out of pastoral and circumstantial concern – we must rein it in proportionately. No more than one fifth of a sermon, perhaps, should be applicatory; and we should never leave it to the end, as if it were the sermon’s “point.” It isn’t, at least not if one is preaching on the Bible. Any such applicative “message” is a disappointment in the face of God’s Word! Sermons should begin, stay with, and end with Scripture itself. There’s nothing to worry about at that point: God is acting in his Word, say what we will.” - Ephraim Radner, “<a href="https://covenant.livingchurch.org/2020/01/14/reading-scripture-well-part-1/">Reading Scripture Well (Part 1)</a>”</blockquote><p>I may not get through either book before the fall semester closes in, but these are, so far, the reading highlights of my summer. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCC5dUBY317kghV_f8LHm3unzslScRzDXSCP_y8C4T5nehijYGBrl_iNRHVyl2oljMwjrX3_KRwbdR7XDUvLSF4_mIZkXdOgQbx4Uq6nWw7r9WLaZ04Ijgsvgjj08XnP5cIqFfZjLMQfx5aq93x4QPVTjSSGyQXQDTGOD1orBimbDJsdqLs48HgMH-eQ/s3648/IMG_20220724_091842.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCC5dUBY317kghV_f8LHm3unzslScRzDXSCP_y8C4T5nehijYGBrl_iNRHVyl2oljMwjrX3_KRwbdR7XDUvLSF4_mIZkXdOgQbx4Uq6nWw7r9WLaZ04Ijgsvgjj08XnP5cIqFfZjLMQfx5aq93x4QPVTjSSGyQXQDTGOD1orBimbDJsdqLs48HgMH-eQ/w640-h480/IMG_20220724_091842.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p></p>
</div>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-43647798073159392272022-07-09T11:02:00.007-06:002022-07-09T11:02:53.793-06:00Frederick Buechner on the Gospel as Tragedy<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3632" data-original-width="5456" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjujNPfnZCVi7jVR5oX2dqfudjvKI5t6QYRSW7sYar6o_YVxpw7u2lG0vB5vItImIw2Kr-X1QuYt0MV6PRdIdB4YnlmfT7ITCjl25YAoPYwcQsyGtkTuP6W9cVy9YSCvQEPnZVYNbmsJ19BSDfWWrsHwUJ9NLN-c4e6eBxCvdmNvIF8CTYNtP-UnzdgA/w400-h266/DSC02676.JPG" width="400" /></div></div>"There are all kinds of pressures on the preacher, both from within and without, to be all kinds of other things and to speak all kinds of other words. To speak the truth with love is to run the risk always of speaking only the truths that people love to hear you speak, and the preacher's temptation, among others, is to deal with those problems only to which there is, however complex and hard to arrive at, a solution. The pressure on the preacher is to be topical and contemporary, to speak out like the prophets against injustice and unrighteousness, and it is right that he should do so, crucial even, and if he does not goad to righteous action he fails both God and man. But he must remember the ones he is speaking to who beneath all the clothes they wear are the poor, bare, forked animals who labor and are heavy laden under the burden of their own lives let alone of the world's tragic life.<p>"There is the one who can't stop thinking about suicide. The one who experiences his own sexuality as a guilt of which he can never be absolved. The one whose fear of death is only a screen behind which lies his deeper fear of life. The one who is in a way crippled by her own beauty because it has meant that she has never had to be loving or human to be loved but only beautiful. And the angry one. The lonely one. For the preacher to be relevant to the staggering problems of history is to risk being irrelevant to the staggering problems of the ones who sit there listening out of their own histories. To deal with the problems to which there is a possible solution can be a way of avoiding the problems to which humanly speaking there is no solution. When Jesus was brought to the place where his friend Lazarus lay dead, for instance, he did not offer any solution. He only wept. Then the other things he said and did. But first he simply let his tears be his word. . . . <i>Rejoice</i> is the last word and can be spoken only after the first word. The sheltering word can be spoken only after the word that leaves us without a roof over our heads, the answering word only after the word it answers."</p><div class="csl-bib-body" style="line-height: 1.35; margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">
<span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fzotero.org%3A2&rft_id=urn%3Aisbn%3A0-06-061156-1&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Telling%20the%20Truth%3A%20The%20Gospel%20as%20Tragedy%2C%20Comedy%2C%20and%20Fairy%20Tale&rft.place=New%20York&rft.publisher=HarperCollins&rft.aufirst=Frederick&rft.aulast=Buechner&rft.au=Frederick%20Buechner&rft.date=1977&rft.tpages=112&rft.isbn=0-06-061156-1"></span></div><p><span style="text-indent: -32px;">~ Frederick </span><span style="text-indent: -2em;">Buechner, </span><i style="text-indent: -2em;">Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale </i><span style="text-indent: -2em;">(</span><span style="text-indent: -2em;">New York: HarperCollins, 1977),</span> 34-35.</p>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-68405108765606997502022-06-01T14:33:00.003-06:002022-06-01T14:33:28.359-06:00Parched<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9gxQ7KMyBEL55EyGq9x2_-d-iaRvFs4Kx3uwMny1mu6lDACHy7N91Pm1VevYaECcNVc7e2-VPULU-LentZezmRjWvN8bKV8MJJu7pirtFlvuRU8lbWfTjbNgVspA427-2rRoOm3fKu2T5lHMBJ3vj-PlhO4LcLtqxljD_FPQ1fICUqOkYDiCYrJuWw/s5472/DSC06249.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="5472" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9gxQ7KMyBEL55EyGq9x2_-d-iaRvFs4Kx3uwMny1mu6lDACHy7N91Pm1VevYaECcNVc7e2-VPULU-LentZezmRjWvN8bKV8MJJu7pirtFlvuRU8lbWfTjbNgVspA427-2rRoOm3fKu2T5lHMBJ3vj-PlhO4LcLtqxljD_FPQ1fICUqOkYDiCYrJuWw/w640-h427/DSC06249.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><p>This photograph, taken at the end of April on a hike around <a href="https://www.tourismsaskatchewan.com/listings/311/nicolle-flats-interpretive-area">Nicolle Flats</a>, represents my mental state at this time of year—dry, drained, a little deflated, and nothing to say or no energy to say it: scraps of paper holding scattered thoughts jotted down in haste with neither time nor resolve to collect them and press them into something permanent.</p><p>This time of year or this time of life. The years, in fact, run together. We have had drought in Saskatchewan. I planted grass last spring, but the rains never came and it died in the summer heat.</p><p>The last three years have been overfull, teaching short-staffed in the midst of the extra demands and challenges of a pandemic. The teaching itself—especially <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2021/06/koine-greek-immersive-semester-20.html">teaching Greek</a> and <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2020/11/on-learning-biblical-hebrew-as-living.html">Hebrew</a> as living languages using <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/search/label/Teaching%20Languages">a communicative approach</a>—has been rewarding and at times exhilarating. But the combination has been draining, and compounds a sense of malaise and loss. What should I be doing with this too-short life?</p><p>Last winter we had snow, and we have had plenty of rain so far this spring. There are still massive bare patches in what I charitably call my lawn, but the grass is already greener than it ever was last year.</p>
<p>Jotting these thoughts down a couple weeks ago on a mountain getaway just beyond the Rockies I dared to hope for another kind of rain. Indeed, the mountains are rain, as is the prairie landscape.</p>
<p>So are books. I recently finished listening to the Audible recording of <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Africa">Out of Africa</a></em>, Isak Dinesen's memoir of her years as a colonial farmer in Kenya, the land where I grew up. I hesitate to compare a classic to a recent best-seller, but—perhaps because I read them in sequence—<em>Out of Africa</em> reminds me of Daniel Nayeri's <em><a href="https://www.danielnayeri.com/everythingsadisuntrue">Everything Sad is Untrue</a></em>, a novelized memoir of Nayeri's childhood first in Iran and then as a refugee in Oklahoma. Both writers take up the mantle of Scherherazade and both draw heavily on the Bible. Rainy books for rainy days.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCey97lF8dBVCLer9ZB9U9qvH0JKRINO75FUfpq65QXsK3CaXv72HJsMS7H05kUbQUaa2y4-I3YF2_D_X-k4NcEqFQ_VpaLX-15V4Z1SrOf0IqcfflRwVCEKVrkiSJkGa_ZIPRKQJU_f5JIfvOs3Yv1VjCMHyFgwGuXkoxh0Pc17VxQXVZSxvuaRykjA/s5472/DSC06258%20(2).JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="5472" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCey97lF8dBVCLer9ZB9U9qvH0JKRINO75FUfpq65QXsK3CaXv72HJsMS7H05kUbQUaa2y4-I3YF2_D_X-k4NcEqFQ_VpaLX-15V4Z1SrOf0IqcfflRwVCEKVrkiSJkGa_ZIPRKQJU_f5JIfvOs3Yv1VjCMHyFgwGuXkoxh0Pc17VxQXVZSxvuaRykjA/w640-h426/DSC06258%20(2).JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p></div>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-5304382716130043352022-02-21T11:44:00.004-06:002022-02-21T14:40:30.601-06:00A Man for All Seasons and a Trucking Convoy<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Hans_Holbein%2C_the_Younger_-_Sir_Thomas_More_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="643" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Hans_Holbein%2C_the_Younger_-_Sir_Thomas_More_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>I enjoyed the 1966 Academy Award winning <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Man_for_All_Seasons_(1966_film)">A Man for All Seasons</a></i> so much I read the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Man_for_All_Seasons">play by Robert Bolt</a> on which it is based. This dialogue between Sir Thomas More, his wife Alice, daughter Margaret, and future son-in-law William Roper comes to mind when I encounter "Friends" on Facebook who seem to want to overthrow our democratically-elected government: <p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>MARGARET: Father, that man's bad.</p><p>MORE: There is no law against that.</p><p>ROPER: There is! God's law!</p><p>MORE: Then God can arrest him.</p><p>...</p><p>ALICE: While you talk, he's gone! </p><p>MORE: And go he should, if he was the Devil himself, until he broke the law!</p><p>ROPER: So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!</p><p>MORE: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?</p><p>ROPER: I'd cut down every law in England to do that!</p><p>MORE: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you—where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast—man's laws, not God's—and if you cut them down—and you're just the man to do it—d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.*</p></blockquote><p>YouTube to the rescue, here's the Paul Scofield version:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PDBiLT3LASk" width="320" youtube-src-id="PDBiLT3LASk"></iframe></div><br /><p>Sir <a href="https://thomasmorestudies.org/">Thomas More</a>—at least the character in Bolt's play if not also the historical figure—is my political hero. If you haven't seen the film, do yourself a favour and watch it. </p><p><br /></p><p>* More's speech in the play may draw on <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=O0w6AAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA42&ots=rClAN6DLDw&dq=%22if%20the%20parties%20will%20at%20my%20hands%20call%20for%20justice%2C%20then%2C%20all%20were%20it%20my%20father%20stood%20on%20the%20one%20side%2C%20and%20the%20Devil%20on%20the%20other%2C%20his%20cause%20being%20good%2C%20the%20Devil%20should%20have%20right.%22&pg=PA42#v=onepage&q=%22if%20the%20parties%20will%20at%20my%20hands%20call%20for%20justice,%20then,%20all%20were%20it%20my%20father%20stood%20on%20the%20one%20side,%20and%20the%20Devil%20on%20the%20other,%20his%20cause%20being%20good,%20the%20Devil%20should%20have%20right.%22&f=false">this passage</a> from William Roper's 1556 biography of More:</p><blockquote><p>"Howbeit this one thing, son, I assure thee on my faith, that if the parties will at my hands call for justice, then all-were-it my father stood on the one side, and the devil on the other, his cause being good, the devil should have right." (HT: <a href="https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2234&context=tcl">Robert Bork</a>)</p></blockquote>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-52740502114963828392022-01-21T11:52:00.007-06:002022-01-21T11:54:24.167-06:00A 2021 Reading Retrospective<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjwr90TGFaZKqBxo5n2eq4e_yCFF7BCb9nOhZkH-WW3QChokIAPTKDU_dHRraorG-JL0eqPGRePsNfH79z5cX3OSblEgosDlNp_v1vI6OFrUfA58mccHFyxAnbTKfgqhbSG4qjsUNyDjFryGgTrbLMwKecLFct4r2nvZmZgbny8-Y6ZRVeQZ1siFXp0YQ=s5472" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="5472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjwr90TGFaZKqBxo5n2eq4e_yCFF7BCb9nOhZkH-WW3QChokIAPTKDU_dHRraorG-JL0eqPGRePsNfH79z5cX3OSblEgosDlNp_v1vI6OFrUfA58mccHFyxAnbTKfgqhbSG4qjsUNyDjFryGgTrbLMwKecLFct4r2nvZmZgbny8-Y6ZRVeQZ1siFXp0YQ=s400"/></a></div><div>Instead of a belated <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2020/12/a-2020-reading-retrospective.html">tally</a> of books completed in 2021, which would impress no one,* I mention here a few reading highlights. In most cases these are not books--which means you can read them too, for free, online.</div><p>(1) <em>Black Lives Matter:</em> <a href="https://history.yale.edu/people/david-blight">David Blight</a>'s <a href="https://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119">Open Yale History course on the American Civil War</a> has nothing directly to do with last summer's protests, but it helped put them in historical perspective and--more than anything else I've read in the last two years--it explained why the protests matter. Sometimes the best way to learn about the present is to study the past.</p>
<p>(2) <em>Covid-19:</em> Judging from the place of privilege it occupies in my mental furniture, <a href="http://www.ayjay.org/">Alan Jacobs</a>'s musings on the <a href="https://blog.ayjay.org/scale-contd/">problem</a> of "<a href="https://blog.ayjay.org/an-artifact-of-scale/">scale</a>" are among the most significant I've read on Covid-19. They are developed in detail in Alan's<a href="https://hedgehogreview.com/web-features/thr/posts/the-school-for-scale"> essay in the Hedgehog Review</a>, though I expect I first encountered it on <a href="https://blog.ayjay.org/">his blog</a>, which I read assiduously, and you should too.</p><p>
(3) <em>On Reading:</em> The main thrust of Alastair Fowler's fascinating essay, "<a href="https://yalereview.org/issues/october-2003">C. S. Lewis: Supervisor</a>" (available in full <a href="http://www.lewisiana.nl/fowler/">here</a> and <a href="https://epistleofdude.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/c-s-lewis-as-phd-advisor/">here</a>), is to define education as reading--and remembering what you read. A few excerpts: </p><p></p><blockquote>"The flow of Lewis’s writing and speaking had much to do with this remarkable memory. .... It was not principally <i>memoria ad verba</i> but rather <i>ad res</i> – memory of the substance, aimed at grasp of contents through their structure. ... Lewis’s innate memorial powers were developed by education, first at school and then with his private tutor William Kirkpatrick. At Oxford they were strengthened by having to depend on the Bodleian Library rather than on his own books. .... Later ... his reading habits had become ingrained, and he continued to rely on memory. Often he used books almost in the medieval way, as memory prompts. Literary memory depends on use: it must be frequently refreshed. .... Lewis had almost total recall of words (he remembered new vocabulary after once looking it up in the dictionary), yet he had to go over texts frequently – sometimes immediately before a tutorial. Consequently his reading and re-reading were astonishingly copious. Reading habits, of course, were different in the fifties; I used then to read ten hours a day. Lewis, who read far faster, read with surer grasp, and read whenever commitments allowed – read even at mealtimes – read prodigiously."</blockquote><p></p><p><a href="https://blog.ayjay.org/reverting-to-type/">Alan Jacobs</a> explains why this matters:</p><p>
</p><blockquote><p>"[A] book becomes more fully itself when we see both how it resembles and how is differs from other books; one discipline of study takes on its proper hues only when we see its relations to other disciplines that stand close to it or very far away. My repertoire of analogies is my toolbox, or my console of instruments, by which I comprehend and navigate the world. It can’t be too large; every addition helps, at least a bit."</p></blockquote><p>Which reminds me, there are some books I should be reading ....</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/01/16/fashion/VIRAL-LIBRARY/VIRAL-LIBRARY-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="800" height="426" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/01/16/fashion/VIRAL-LIBRARY/VIRAL-LIBRARY-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/15/style/richard-macksey-library.html">NYTimes</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>*Not that impressing anyone is the point. ... right?</p>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-38774373391466276642022-01-06T21:41:00.003-06:002022-01-07T06:21:14.952-06:00A 2022 Reading List<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj802dwzc_iARAAWypCukiswjQGP2ZouYQ0uky4JbDcmorpRNmMHaFYjeQJJRpjsmAc8AfJoHgGuXXGKirY6WUu074x69255oOn3pTVR63egzQNtnrmhx920x6pDmlHw52tlokgX91EsNF0684BNiDFqDDJMOEDSO7y4iGSCTTfDyVmihYltpymfj40aQ=s3648" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1396" data-original-width="3648" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj802dwzc_iARAAWypCukiswjQGP2ZouYQ0uky4JbDcmorpRNmMHaFYjeQJJRpjsmAc8AfJoHgGuXXGKirY6WUu074x69255oOn3pTVR63egzQNtnrmhx920x6pDmlHw52tlokgX91EsNF0684BNiDFqDDJMOEDSO7y4iGSCTTfDyVmihYltpymfj40aQ=w640-h245" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://scotmcknight.substack.com/p/on-fountain-pens-for-beth-moore">Scot McKnight</a> used to give himself a new fountain pen every Christmas. This year I did something similar with books.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/611zvY1P8TL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="534" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/611zvY1P8TL.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I read a draft of Adele Reinhartz's <em>Befriending the Beloved Disciple</em> in Jerusalem in December 2000. My former teacher's sequel, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Cast-Out-Covenant-Anti-Judaism-Gospel/dp/1978701195/">Cast out of the Covenant</a></i>, has been on my to-read list since it came out in 2018. Now that I have a copy of my own, I hope to get to it sooner rather than later. For Adele's reflections on her "Journey with John" and an overview of the book's argument, see this <a href="https://www.ancientjewreview.com/read/2018/2/24/reflections-on-my-journey-with-john-a-retrospective-from-adele-reinhartz">short essay</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81CoEXGs+6S.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="503" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81CoEXGs+6S.jpg" width="201" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I first encountered Jason Staples's "new theory of ... Israelite identity"--to quote the sub-title of his 2021 monograph--years ago at SBL, and have kept an eye on his work ever since. When Scot McKnight named <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Idea-Israel-Second-Temple-Judaism/dp/1108842860/">The Idea of Israel</a></i> as the "<a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/scot-mcknight/2021/jesus-creed-books-of-year.html">best academic book</a>" he "read this year," I decided not to wait until the paperback edition comes out.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81XRhlUhOdL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="532" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81XRhlUhOdL.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Christopher Stroup's <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Christians-Who-Became-Jews-Ethnicity/dp/0300247893/">The Christians Who Became Jews</a></i> is not the only book whose title and topic make me wish I had written it first. Since my research and publishing efforts have centered on ethnicity in ancient Judaism and, separately, Luke-Acts, I decided to take advantage of a Yale University Press sale and a trip to the United States to pick up a copy of this monograph that treats both at once. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71BaO18YFjL.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="529" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71BaO18YFjL.jpg" width="211" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Also from Yale University Press, Lawrence Wills's recent <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Introduction-Apocrypha-Jewish-Christian-Bibles/dp/0300248792/">Introduction to the Apocrypha</a></i> promises to inform the course I teach on "<a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2018/09/modular-course-jewish-backgrounds-to.html">Jewish Backgrounds to Early Christianity</a>."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">To round out my Yale University Press order, I picked up a copy of Brent Nongbri's much-discussed, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Gods-Library-Archaeology-Christian-Manuscripts-ebook/dp/B07G5FYQKC/">God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts</a></i>, which is, fortunately, now out in paperback.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Attentive readers of titles (and subtitles) will notice a pattern here: "Jews and Anti-Judaism in the Gospel of John," "Jewish Books in Christian Bibles," "The Christians who Became Jews," "The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism." In different ways all four books deal squarely with my own persistent scholarly preoccupation with early Judaism, the Jewish context of early Christianity, and the relationship between Jews and early Christians. I don't expect to agree fully with any of these books (who does?), but I do expect to learn much and to be stimulated to look at familiar texts with fresh eyes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I suffer from a tendency to buy books faster than I read them, but these I hope to get to in 2022. Just perhaps--come spring--I may pull one or two of my own languishing projects off the shelf and make some headway on writing as well as reading in pandemic year 3.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to picking up a book order, our trip the United States including a little snowshoeing:</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXQzDixYXYsdW0EF046HthcbPJGqrbHWVbsdf0vNSZhTK8UrQxxbddjz5v5XxVnE3pv3r_uET37aJPvGIeA7Ep2lTSFd-gNX3QxkM_Cx7yll5z94M-qdpo2CTfncuUvK6vH0gmlfyVpbFKAOBvrEdIM5GrXPr4CG_2h6rutx4EsNXJf9BkmRf9RCHQMA=s5472" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="5472" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXQzDixYXYsdW0EF046HthcbPJGqrbHWVbsdf0vNSZhTK8UrQxxbddjz5v5XxVnE3pv3r_uET37aJPvGIeA7Ep2lTSFd-gNX3QxkM_Cx7yll5z94M-qdpo2CTfncuUvK6vH0gmlfyVpbFKAOBvrEdIM5GrXPr4CG_2h6rutx4EsNXJf9BkmRf9RCHQMA=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><br /><p></p>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-12625719426847212562021-10-19T05:40:00.000-06:002021-10-19T05:40:02.332-06:00Some News: Introducing Dr. & Dr. Miller<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2tFvkph_R4DQ6j_pAdcpt9afAWwt7-tpJVckokXR8rfRhv5UksIfKVuqu52cUsIKrMeiPztERMXSRY744-HMckXKC2bfnEI7w9K_g6UrABHDuzSQtoGIZqKMlqnCUtHBz4u2HXBRf_MX3/s2048/Doormat.png" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1687" data-original-width="2048" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2tFvkph_R4DQ6j_pAdcpt9afAWwt7-tpJVckokXR8rfRhv5UksIfKVuqu52cUsIKrMeiPztERMXSRY744-HMckXKC2bfnEI7w9K_g6UrABHDuzSQtoGIZqKMlqnCUtHBz4u2HXBRf_MX3/s320/Doormat.png" width="320" /></a>Four years ago the Miller family <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2017/04/some-news.html">traveled to England</a> so that t. could pursue a PhD in History at the University of Cambridge. We <a href="https://gervatoshav.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-difference-two-years-make.html">returned to Saskatchewan</a> in 2019, in time to shelter in place through a pandemic, but the Cambridge journey--or this leg of the journey--only recently came to an end. </p><p>In a way this is old news for us: t. successfully defended her thesis in August during a Zoom <a href="https://www.phdstudies.com/article/what-phd-students-should-know-about-the-phd-viva/#:~:text=The%20viva%20voce%2C%20usually%20referred,to%20%27with%20living%20voice%27.">viva</a>. But she only received official approval from the faculty of history last week, along with the examiners' comments and a note that she passed with "no corrections."</p><p>Short of attending commencement, which is not in the cards, this is as official as it's going to be. And this is as much authorization as I am going to get to publicly congratulate Dr. Miller on a job well done!</p><p><br /></p><br /><p></p>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-10090727643952773102021-10-05T16:36:00.000-06:002021-10-05T16:36:02.363-06:00Old Testament Faculty Position at Briercrest College<p>I am happy to report that Briercrest College is looking to fill a faculty position in Old Testament: </p><p></p><blockquote><p>Briercrest College invites applications for a full-time faculty position in the field of Biblical Studies - Old Testament commencing August 1st, 2022. </p><p>The successful candidate will be an enthusiastic teacher and researcher. Τhey will contribute to an established Biblical Studies Department in Briercrest's engaging intellectual and spiritual environment where the liberal arts, alongside biblical studies, stand at the core of all undergraduate degree programs. Candidates should possess a Ph.D. (although exceptional ABDs may be considered) and demonstrate potential for excellence in teaching, research, and service to the church. Experience teaching Biblical Hebrew using the communicative approach will be an asset.</p></blockquote><p>More details about the position are <a href="https://www.briercrest.ca/post/?ID=4617">here</a>. </p><p></p>d. millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16844676267073730959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143395511928869444.post-36490048692742183462021-09-25T07:58:00.000-06:002021-09-25T07:58:01.903-06:00Vaccination Aphorisms<blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When Christians are unmoored from love it dishonours Love. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When Christians are unmoored from truth it dishonours the Truth.</span></div></blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;">Notice that the aphorisms do not single out individuals for criticism. As Augustine observes in <a href="https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102/npnf102.v.iv.xxxvi.html">one of my favourite passages</a>, those who are sincerely wrong—as we all are a lot of the time—are to be corrected, but those who knowingly spread falsehood are culpable. I would add that those who abet falsehood are also culpable. <a href="https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/its-time-to-stop-rationalizing-christian">David French</a>, I suspect, would agree. </span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />Christian leaders charged with speaking about the Truth must also speak truth as far as they are able. This does not mean anyone can or should comment on every matter of public interest (especially in areas outside their competence). Stamping out fires is a distraction from the Truth-speaker's and Truth-seeker's vocation. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">But posture matters. Part of the humility that comes with pursuit of truth and love for the Truth is acknowledgement of the limits of one's own knowledge and a posture of respect for those with expertise in fields other than one's own. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">And sometimes—say, in a national health crisis when evangelical Christians are among the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/us/covid-vaccine-evangelicals.html">most</a> <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-08-10/white-evangelical-churches-and-the-crisis-of-vaccine-hesitancy">vaccine</a> <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-when-true-believers-become-a-danger-to-themselves-and-others/">resistant</a>—the truth is called for: Get vaccinated.</span></div><div>
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