Theopedia, dot cooooooooooooooooooooom

Recently, I stumbled upon a "proselytized" wikipedia, www.theopedia.com. This web site resembles the all the benefits, and the pitfalls, of the original wikipedia, just with a biblio-theological emphasis. You can still search, log-in, or edit to your heart's content. Though I cannot attest to its depth at this point, the shear potential for this site is amazing. Enjoy!

Some DSS and Some R-n-R

What do the Dead Sea Scrolls, Tov, and Chipotle Burritos have in common? Come on! This is an easy one! Simple, they all are on my agenda for my annual pilgrimage back home to Kansas City. I am so stoked for this trip and not just because of the burritos. For those who have not masticated on a Chipotle Burrito yet, trust me on this one, the trip would be worth just that.

"Well they're just old pieces of paper. What's the big deal about them?" This was the comment of my wife when she entertained the explanation for my Homeresque, "Wahoo!" when I heard the good news about the DSS sabbatical in KCMO. Needless to say, my response to her was not the most amicable. After assuring her I would not divorce her for such a statement, I attempted to present some superficial analogy that would give her some insight into my queer hobby. When this failed, the classical tautological response, "It is what it is," was issued as to stifle any further resurgence of such no-sensical ramblings of a non-OT scholar.

Anyway, here is the link for those who will be in KCMO between February 8 and May 13, 2007 and have not see the scrolls before or for those who want to hear one of the lectures. I will be there on February 20 to listen to Emanuel Tov lecture on The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament.

The Missing Link

I will caveat this post for the onset that I am utilizing large brush-strokes and maybe some generalizations in order to raise a theological question. What I have heard re-iterated time and time again from my dispensationalist professors (minor excursus: If you have not inferred it yet, let me be explicit at this juncture: I am not a dispensationalist! The closest camp that I have been able to align myself with is Covenant Theology, without the Covenants.) is that there is no explicit text concerning a change in the “land” aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant, ergo you cannot abrogate it or relegate it to a “spiritual” fulfillment in Christ. I will not take the opportunity at this juncture to rehearse my official rant about how this is a foul in the use of their logic concerning subjecting theological inferences; rather, necessity has constrained me to mention what I believe is a much excluded text from the argument.

In the context of Romans 4, Paul has been arguing for sola fide via a theo-historical rehearsal of Abraham’s faith. In v. 12, Paul describes the universality of Abraham’s paternal relationship with all those, circumcised or not, who follow in his faith. Paul immediately supports this proposition in v. 13 through stating a thesis that the modus operandi of the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham or his decedents would only be via faith. What interest me at this juncture is “What is the content of the promise?” Look closely at v. 13. The content of the promise is “The world,” and not “The land.” A quick Bibleworks search reveals that this is not a LXX substitution but a Pauline or maybe OT expansion (the latter require verification). A perusal of Romans will reveal that the most natural use contextually and theologically for world here is the physical land and all that goes with it.

Some may immediately respond, “Well, your point is moot seeing that Abraham’s descendants are his physical descendants in this context.” Initially, I thought this was not just a valid interpretation but perhaps ever the proper one. But to continue to hold to such a view seems to not deal with the contextual definition of “descendants.” In v. 16, Paul reiterates the result of a salvation that is sola fide, viz. the promise—remember v.13’s definition—would be universally enjoyed by all of Abraham’s descendants, including the goyim. Paul even supports the universality of this enjoyment by citing a fraction of Gen. 17:5.

So what are my conclusions? To be frank with all of you, I do not have an answer to that question articulated in my mind as well as I would like to have it. I will posit this though for the blogsphere to digest and discuss, viz. that Pauline theology relegated all the promises made to Abraham, specifically in context the land promise, to his true descendants, those of faith, not to his physical descendants.

How many gods?????

On a recent post on Higgaion (click here), Chris Heard related recent developments within the socio-religious evolution of Israel’s deity. The crux of this post was the interplay of two articles from October of this year (“Are Yahweh and El Distinct Deities in Deut. 32:8–9 and Psalm 82?” by Michael Heiser (Hiphil 3, 2006) and “Who Is the Real El? A Reconstruction of the Prophet’s Polemic in Hosea 12:5a” by R. Scott Chalmers (Catholic Biblical Quarterly 68, October 2006)) that challenge the late merger of the two gods, “El” and “YHWH,” into the one deity as an earlier process in the development of Israel’s religion.

Though I do hold to the belief that the early Israelites where “Philosophical Monotheist” (i.e. though they worshipped YHWH alone holding to His supreme deity, they did not reject the idea of the existence of other deities), I would infer from the text of the Old Testament that the religion of Israel did not develop along the same socio-religious lines as its contemporary neighbors. Ergo, this discussion is an engaging intellectual exercise but does seem to be lacking in foundational assumptions.

To be frank, I do not wish to turn this post into a drawn-out polemic (I feel far too amicable for that today). With that stated, let me make a brief point. This whole line of questioning and reasoning seems to have an a priori of classical source criticism and progressive socio-religious thought. I along with many moderate scholars have considered these suspect in their original presentation. So for me to engage in such dialogue as to the merger of two deities into a monotheistic form, I must first have some questions answered and concede some other lines. I do appreciate though this post as it directed my attention to another dimension of Old Testament studies.

A Bad Day At The Office

For those of you who don't know me too well, one thing you will find out about me very quickly, besides my passion for OT studies, is my like passion for all things poker. Poker is a game essentially of skill with a dash of chance. Today during my on-line play, it felt like someone poured in a cup of chance and a large portion of bad luck. I try to play very, very tight playing most of the time only the top 10-20 pocket cards espeacially during limit hold'em. Unfortunately, I have only been dealt one of the top 10-20 pocket cards during my last hour of play! If you compare this to yesterday where I was dealt one of the hands every other round, this day has been disappointing. Fortunately, I am up for the week and will stay that way. "May your cards always be live and your pots be monster."

Confessions of an Ex-Dispensationalists

You'll laugh until you realize that you once viewed life through this paradigm. Click here for a good laugh and some hidden shame.

Our Favorite Homeboy

We've heard rumors about it. We started to create its myth. But ladies and gents, I have found the Holy Grail, in sorts. Click here to get the t-shirt transfer from e-bay.

Bad Book Buys

Ok, time to rant. At the seminary I attend, we have a Fall bibliophilic ritual. Let me rehearse this ridiculous tradition. Toward the beginning of October, the student body pines with anticipation for a 16 page pdf document containing the a virtual cornucopia of theological, linguistic, and philosophical works. After reviewing this manuscript like a student of the dead sea scrolls, the gitty customers submit their orders to Eerdmans and with juvenile Christmas-like anticipation eagerly await the arrival of their new found joys.

Seriously, this group needs to wake up. The majority of this group misinterprets the "sale" being advertised as some sort of major savings. Please! Listen, do a quick price comparison with http://www.bestbookbuys.com/, and all of you will realize that you are beginning duped. You are still paying too much for these books. As a fellow bibliophile, I exhort you all, "Make your money work for you!!!" I would rather take a "used" book with a roughed edge than pay three times as much for a book on "sale." Anyways, don't be duped and try to balance quantity with quality.

Collectorz, G!

No, this is not a typo; and no, I am not falling prey to the “hip-hop” culture that permeates our day. What I am referring to is a program that is a need of any true bibliophile out there. Collectorz.com provides visually interactive database programs that allow collectors of nearly any type of media to record and catalogue their entire cache. These databases cover music, movies, comics (Baylor, this is just for you), MP3’s, games, photos, and most importantly books!

For those who want an encompassing program to track their collections, this is it. After what my wife labeled as “an impulsive” buy, I think we were both presently surprised. The first thing I noticed was the user-friendliness of this program. With just a click of a button, Book Collectorz Pro places you within a user friendly wizard through which you can input any of your books by just entering the ISBN. With the compatibility to utilize a barcode reader, this system becomes that much more user friendly! The wizard completes the process of adding a book to your collection by importing data, such as book summary, pages, publisher, even cost, via the major book sellers and libraries.

Another aspect of this program that piqued my attention was not only its ability to excessively query your own personal databases but also to print or export to multiple formats the finished queries. This makes sharing recommended lists or the more important wish-lists easier than ever! Wed to all this the ability of Book Collectorz Pro to track all of your book loans with a touch of a button, unlimited free updates, and an incredible user-friendly visually based interface, Book Collectorz Pro becomes an easy decision for any bibliophile. For only $39.95 for the full unlimited download, it becomes an easy decision for a book collector on any a budget. I would highly recommend this product for anyone serious about maintaining an extensive yet user-friendly database of their book collection. That’s it for today. Word to you mother, collectorzzzzz!

Tag. I'm it!

Of course, I have to post on a "chain-blog" and not on something serious. Thanks, Tim. Schmuck.

1. One book that changed your life: Though not technically a book, it was reading the Westminster Confession of Faith my Senior year of high school which turned me into the 5 pointer I am today!

2. One book that you've read more than once: Biblical Hebrew Syntax. If anyone says I need to get a girlfriend, I read it before I met my wife.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: Bible - HCSB

4. One book that made you laugh: Kaiser's Toward an Exegetical Theology. Read his intro, and you will see why. Also, so people do not pigeon-hole me as too much of a nerd, The Rule of Four.

5. One book that made you cry: Anything by von Rad.

6. One book you wish had been written: How to Interpret the Old Testament by Paul with the rest of the Apostles.

7. One book you wish had never been written: Contributions to Old Testament Introduction by De Wette - basically, the OT had little or no historical value.

8. One book you're currently reading: Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible by Sparks.

9. One book you've been meaning to read: Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times

10. Tag 5 others: Conley, my Wife, . . . .

The Prodigal Blogger Returns

The rumors of my being shuffled off this mortal coil have been greatly exaggerated. For those of you who are still out there, I am back!!! What you might ask has brought about this miraculous about face? You can thank, reluctantly of course, the expert news casting of CNN. One of their “breaking” stories was on the role of blog and other electronic forums play in the contemporary dialogue. As you can guess, it was more than I expected. Ergo, I am exchanging my garb as a mere observer in for the more appropriate and necessary uniform of a participant. So let’s get this hagim started!

In the beginning. . .

Hello, cyberspace. This is my first attempt at blogging. At first, I thought such a vehicle for the expressing of one’s ideas was, well, lame! I kept having friends such as Nate Mihelis, who I am convinced gets paid for full-time blogging, and Tim Baylor turn me on to blogging. All I would hear was, “Did you see what so-and-so said on such-and-such blog?” Of course, I could only answer , “no;” so to prevent the continued squelching of my already fragile need for acceptance I proceeded to delve deeply into the wonderful world of blogging. So here I am, and here we go.

I would ask all those who do come to this blog in its early stages to please show mercy with your criticisms. As I stated previously, I am new to this; and unlike some of my friends, my job does not grant me the luxury of blogging (but some of my classes do!!!). My hope and prayer is that this blog will become a place of dialogue on First Testament ideas and topics with the goal of edifying the New Covenant community. In closing, I join my voice with the sons of Aaron who can now truly say through the coming of Christ, “The LORD bless you and protect you; The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”