Old Testament scholar Christopher Rollston, in his 2015 book Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel, makes the case (among several related cases) that literacy in ancient Israel was almost exclusively confined to an elite, educated class, and not something that your average Jacob and Rachel Israelite could handle. It’s a wonderfully informative book, even it presumes of […]
Old Testament
Briefly, 3 Edgy Things about How the Old Testament Works
A willingness to accept how Scripture comes to us is a mark of faith and trust in God, not an act of disloyalty to God.
What the Old Testament Has that the New Testament Doesn’t
If all we read is the NT and we are also living though a period of God’s absence, abandonment, a period of doubt, a dark night of the soul, we may likely conclude that there is something very wrong with us for feeling this way.
5 Modern Insights about the Old Testament that Aren’t Going Anywhere
Any notion of, say, inspiration or revelation that seeks to gain traction cannot be formulated in blissful isolation from or in antagonism toward these 5 point. The ship has sailed, the horse is out of the barn, cats are beyond herding, worms are out of the can—pick your metaphor.
5 Old Testament Reasons Why “Original Sin” Doesn’t Work
Does the Old Testament portray Adam’s disobedience in the garden of Eden as the cause of universal human sinfulness and guilt? No it doesn’t. Not even remotely.
Land and the Transformation of Israel’s Story in the New Testament
The early followers of Jesus, like the Gospel writers and Paul, took up the challenge of transforming Israel’s scripture—with its focus on Land, Temple, and Law—to connect it to the story of Jesus, where those elements were no longer central.
And the main point of the Old Testament is . . . (drumroll)
A dominant storyline that runs through Israel’s entire historical narrative and prophetic writings is about a small nation’s struggle with land—God’s promise to give it, Israel taking it, what Israel needed to do to keep it, losing it anyway, and getting it back.
a quick word about how genealogies in the Bible aren’t “history”
If you clicked on this post—what is wrong with you?
the Bible is like . . . a room of wise elders . . .
Below is a quote from Kent Sparks’s “Genesis 1-11 as Ancient Historiography,” which is his contribution to the 2015 book Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither?, one of Zondervan’s many Counterpoints books, where multiple perspectives are offered on a given subject. The other contributors are James K. Hoffmeier (Wheaton College) and Gordon J. Wenham (Trinity College, Bristol, England, […]
Pete’s Bible Trivia Bonanza #2 — prepare to have your mind blown
Did you know there are 3 Rahabs in the Old Testament? Of course you didn’t. You probably never even bothered to think about it. You’ve just been going about your life, carefree, thinking “I’m sure there is only on Rahab in the Bible” and that’s that. This is why I’m here. This is what I […]