5 Minute Bible

Bibleref but no markup

2008-05-09T15:19:00.001+12:00

For more than a decade I've wanted an easy way to make Bible references like these: Amos 9:7; Ruth 4:7 link to the Bible or to popup the verses cited, I put a lot of work into doing that for the Amos commentary.

Now, thanks to the nice folk at Logos, who I expect will benefit from their kindness through lots of links ;-) I have been able to add this facility to this blog, and to my others,. It automatically takes most Bible references I type and uses Sean's clever Bibleref system to add the verse as a popup, and make the reference a link to the passage. My only two disappointments are

that apparently it does this without rewriting the source code for the page, so probably Google etc. will not be able to use this semantic markup :( maybe in a later implementation?
and that somehow though I asked for the version to be TNIV it shows up as New Living... maybe this is a temporary glitch, rather than a sign from heaven as to which really is the New Inspired Version to follow the NIV which followed the AV.

The Perspicuity of Scripture (i)

2008-04-18T15:28:00.004+12:00

My tradition (the Baptist part of the Nonconformist or radical Reformation) has stressed the idea that Scripture is perspicuous, that the Bible is easy to understand, and that anyone can understand it - or at least grasp its essentials - without special training or equipment. Yet there are for sure some difficult passages. There are also passages that seem to flat out contradict other parts of the Bible. How can you call a book like that "perspicuous"?

In this post I'll argue that one key mistake we make is to think of the Bible as if all its parts were also "Bible", they aren't they are merely fragments!

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Some other posts dealing with related topics include:

Or you could explore the menu on the right...

Working with what the Bible doesn't say

2008-03-08T21:29:00.003+13:00

In this post I'll start looking at how we respond to the Bible's silences, often there are questions we want to ask the Bible, which the Bible does not answer. What do we do then? Some of these questions, like the one I start with produce classic biblical puzzlers...

By the way, if the sound quality is not as good as usual, or if you hear building work or children playing in the background, that's because I recorded this post in the middle of a refugee camp! See another blog for more information.

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Twisted tales: or should the book of Judges be censored?

2007-12-13T15:00:00.000+13:00

Judges is definitely not suitable for Sunday School reading, the bits that are told are firmly censored, and few of us go back to notice what we are missing. But, if we do, what we find is a book chock full of horrid twisted tales, brutal, brutish and sadly not short. Why? Can such a nasty collection of stories be justified, or should it simply be banned?

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Text, canon, and the woman caught in adultery

2007-11-28T07:03:00.000+13:00

The pericope in John 7:53-8:11 is a fascinating test case in the interaction of text criticism and canon. Both the history of canon, and textual criticism seem dull and unexciting. Yet here they combine into a detective story or a theological conundrum that contributes to making the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy conflict with most Christian preachers' practice! In this post I won't address the detective story. But I will discuss this passage as a hint that we need a supple and flexible view of Scripture to deal "properly" with this passage.

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Note 1. The word "pericope" is transliterated from Greek, it is used in theology and biblical studies to refer to a traditional textual unit, especially one used as a unit in church or synagogue. By extension it is sometimes used as a fancy way of saying "textual unit". Here it would appear that our text was such a traditional unit in the early period, but by the time the chapter divisions were made the first verse had been attached to the "previous" unit. [_RETURN]

Note 2. For the detective story approach see e.g. A. Watson, “Jesus and the Adulteress” in Biblica 80 (1999): 100-108 [_RETURN]

Cliché Theology: Joshua 11:1-9

2007-11-24T10:53:00.000+13:00

Sometimes a good old-fashioned cliché is the best way to achieve your desired effect, and communicate your theological message. I'll illustrate this using Joshua 11:1-9. The story of how Jabin of Hazor and all his allied kings were defeated by Joshua and Israel. (With some help from their friend!)

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Ezra and the foreign wives

2007-11-07T06:35:00.000+13:00

At the end of the book of Ezra there a horrid account of Ezra and the "officials" gang up to force Judeans who have married foreign women to divorce them and send away them and their children. What do we do with passages like this? And as part of our thinking on this, where DO our values come from? If they don't come from the Bible, then do we have to use values established elsewhere to "judge" Scripture? Many people today do just that. But I'm a Baptist, Scripture is my final authority in matters of faith and practice, or is it?

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What is the Bible? (Part 2) a hologram?

2007-10-26T15:03:00.000+13:00

Many people think the Bible is like a hologram, any part of which shows the truth. The practice of scholars, preachers and teachers, of citing single verses or lists of verses to demonstrate something, encourages this view. The claim that the Bible is "inerrant" in all its parts seems to seal the idea. Yet in the Bible God itself told us in the Bible that it is false!

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Obadiah and Jonah

2007-10-18T15:29:00.000+13:00

Juxtaposition: putting things together to make something "more than the sum of the parts" is a common artistic skill, it is common (but often unrecognised) in the Bible. As my least favourite book of the Bible helps reveal!

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Complaint Psalms: Part Two

2007-10-06T17:45:00.000+13:00

This second look at the complaint psalms continues to focus on Psalm 22. Part three will return to Jeremiah...

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Humour elsewhere

2007-10-06T07:36:00.000+13:00

For those of you feeling deprived of no new episodes added to the humour in the Bible series, while you are waiting, you can head over to two posts of Lingamish's which elicited quite an array of candidates. First was Whoa to you who laugh and then incorrigibly followed by Funny Stuff in the Bible a short post with a long tail!

Complaint Psalms: Part One

2007-10-04T16:16:00.000+13:00

This post starts to talk about Psalm 22, mentioning Job 10 on the way, we will examine these passages as a way into understanding "complaint psalms". Complaints are the commonest type of psalm in the book of psalms. You might like to listen to my earlier post "Arguing with God: Jer 12:1-4" first, it sets the scene for this one, and should probably have been called "Complaint psalms: Part One"!

I hope the next post - in a few days - will follow up looking some more at Psalm 22.

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Jonah 1:3-5 : What's Jonah doing?!

2007-08-24T17:42:00.001+12:00

The puzzle of Jonah's actions, and other strange goings-on don't stop in Jonah 1:3, but deepen (pun intended) as we begin to read on... we meet the ship that had plans of its own and hear echoes of Santa Claus in the telling of Jonah's story...

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Jonah 1:2: three little words

2007-08-24T16:54:00.000+12:00

Continuing the series on Jonah, we rush ahead into the second verse of the book, only to spot yet again possibly more than one meaning. Jonah's task however is clear.

By the way I am sorry about the long delays recently, I hope to post more regularly again, but not till after enjoying a two week holiday - starting on Sunday.

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Isaiah 40 in Babylon

2007-06-26T16:35:00.000+12:00

It is certainly one of my favourite Bible passages, indeed it is many people's favourite Bible chapter. Isaiah 40 is just full of superb phrases and pictures. Whenever it was composed, this chapter really comes to life and sparkles when it is heard as the Judean exiles in Babylon heard, it just before Cyrus the Persian king captured the city. For a better idea of the background watch the Video "Babylon as background to hearing Isaiah 40" (4MB).

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Matthew 5:17ff. and reading the Old Testament

2007-06-17T15:06:00.000+12:00

More than 5 minutes, so not a podcast for here, but if you want to listen to something longer (like 30 mins plus question time) I've posted this morning's sermon to my blog: Matthew 5:17ff. : How to Read the Old Testament. Taking the "difficult" passage from the sermon on the mount and asking what does it mean to say that Jesus "fulfils" the Old Testament.

Sexual humour in Esther

2007-06-14T09:45:00.000+12:00

The book of Esther tells a terrible story, of attempted genocide averted. Too often Christian readers miss the humour in the story, of course some of it is sex related, and/or poking fun at gender expectations, so perhaps there are reasons for the blindness.

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Babel 2: Gen 11 a straight up and down story

2007-06-09T09:05:00.000+12:00

This podcast takes a second look at Babel, with a focus on the structure of the story, and its themes. It includes "homework" for which you should ideally have a photocopy of Genesis 11:1-9 (preferably in a fairly literal translation like NRSV, RSV, TNIV, NIV, ESV...) and some coloured markers or crayons.

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Babbling about Babel: Gen 11:1-9: Part 1

2007-06-07T17:32:00.000+12:00

Stephen suggested I do a 'cast about the Babel story, so here it is... a first 'cast about Babel. In this one I'll begin with points of view and language. Since this will have to be a series we'll follow up from there later!

For more about "point of view" and "frames" you could see my Introduction to Narrative and Narrative Poetics which is not as technical as it may sound!

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Biblical Narrative: Fraught with Background: Genesis 24

2007-05-28T20:29:00.000+12:00

Eric Auerbach's famous quote about Biblical Narrative being "fraught with background" can sound puzzling. Here I'll try to explain it with reference to some trivial but intriguing details in Genesis 24. Reading the chapter in the Hebrew class we spotted several minor details in the telling that suggest, or hint... well, listen and find out what!

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Arguing with God: Jer 12:1-4

2007-05-19T09:20:00.000+12:00

In What is the Bible (Part 1) I talked of the Bible as witness, and mentioned stories where Abraham and Amos haggle with God, and ended with a reference to arguing with God in the Bible. Here I'll begin to explore Jeremiah's side of the conversation from Jer 12:1-4 (we'll get to God's reply later!)

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What is the Bible? (Part 1)

2007-05-17T07:49:00.000+12:00

How do we picture Scripture? That is what is/are the (unconscious) models in our heads as we read and use the Bible?
This 'cast refers particularly to Gen 18:20ff. and Amos 7.

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Jesus as fulfilment of Scripture: Slavery and Spanking

2007-05-13T13:56:00.000+12:00

This 'cast continues the theme of Jesus as the "fulfilment" of Scripture, looking at one topic that's been settled for decades, and another that's as hot as today's headlines. (At least here in NZ where a bill to criminalise parents spanking children is set to become law shortly!)

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What DOES "fulfil" mean?

2007-05-09T08:45:00.000+12:00

Matthew often says that Jesus "fulfilled" some passage from the Old Testament. What does he mean? This 'cast begins to explore this question.

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