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Four Gospels...why?

3/23/2018

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I'm getting very close to being done with my Great Bible Readthru of Lent 2018. I have just read three of the four gospels; all three synoptic gospels down, John to go. Which begs the question that has occurred to me from time to time: why are there four gospels? And why are three so similar, while the fourth is so different? When you read them all in a row, it becomes very clear how similar Matthew, Mark, and Luke are to each other. And then you reach John, and things get really different. It's still kind of amazing and confusing to me that someone in the early days didn't sit down and just compile all of the gospels into one super-gospel. Don't get me wrong, I'm kind of glad they didn't; it's more interesting to have the New Testament as it is. But it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, does it?
​The most common modern answer tends to be the old "car accident" analogy: if there is a car accident witnessed by several different people, who saw it from different angles, wouldn't you want all of the reports? And wouldn't they all be slightly different? This one has always struck me as being a little silly. Of course you would get several different reports, but wouldn't you eventually want to compile those disparate reports into a coherent narrative? To extend the car accident metaphor: if you were a reporter who had interviewed all the witnesses, you would probably collate the reports into one narrative, perhaps quoting from the different witnesses. You wouldn't just write down all the different reports, one after another. This analogy also doesn't explain why John's gospel is so different from the other three, and why the synoptics obviously borrow material from each other, down to specific wordings.
​I've also read about how the four gospels examine Jesus' life and ministry in different ways: Matthew appeals to the Hebrew Scriptures more often, Mark's account is really concise, Luke's gospel is more meticulously researched, John's is more "spiritual" in its approach. I agree with this analysis, but it still doesn't explain why there are four, and not, say, five...or twelve. And while I agree that it's useful to be able to view Jesus from different perspectives, it still doesn't explain why the canon developed in this way. I guess it's a little like the way the narrative from Samuel and Kings in the Hebrew Scriptures were reinterpreted in Chronicles. It's still weird, though...
​I can't find it online right now, but I've also read that, in the early days of the development of the canon, some church fathers said there have to be four gospels, just as there are four points of a compass. In other words, there was a mystical kind of numerological significance to the number four. I imagine it could have been related to the ancient concept of four elements: earth, air, fire, water. Or the "four corners" of the earth. This strikes me as a little more accurate than a lot of the modern analogies. Our forefathers were more concerned about the meaning of the canon, and there are probably some questions about how that canon developed that we'll never really know the answer to. (After all, we don't find many New Testaments that include the Didache or the Shepherd of Hermas, do we?)
​I guess, in the end, the answer to my question is simply..."just because." We have four gospels because we have four gospels. (And despite the Jesus Seminar's attempt many years ago to get the Gospel of Thomas accepted into the canon, there's not a significant movement to expand Scripture in that way.) As I said above, I'm actually glad there are four gospels; I think the New Testament is a richer tapestry because of it. But if anyone has any other perspectives on the topic, I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to comment...
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Lenten Bible reading: another update

3/2/2018

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We're just under a month away from Easter at this point, and I am nearing the midpoint of the Bible. I am halfway through the book of 2 Chronicles, so I'm basically in the middle of a big recap..."Previously on...THE BIBLE!" It's not the easiest read: there are lots of long stretches of genealogies that make it slow going. And I can't help thinking, "I just read about all these people...why do I have to go through the whole thing all over again?" It actually gives me greater appreciation for the traditional Jewish order of the Hebrew Scriptures, where Chronicles comes at the very end.

Still, now that I've finished the whole saga of the kings of Israel and Judah, as told in 1 Samuel-2 Kings, I do feel a sense of accomplishment. Sure, it's an almost endless saga of good king/bad king, but it ends with the very dramatic event of the Babylonian Captivity, so there is a payoff at the end of the sequence. Meanwhile, 2 Kings has one of my favorite odd stories in it: the little paragraph at the end of the second chapter, where the boys mock Elisha the prophet, with disastrous consequences. I'll let the Bible tell it...
He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”  And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.  (2 Kings 2:23-24, ESV)

Pretty weird, no? It's one of those weird little, oddly detailed stories that you come across in Scripture from time to time. They often don't advance the larger story at all, but they are interesting.

But back to Chronicles for a second. It's also interesting to me that the Chronicles version of King David's story completely skips the embarrassing tale of Bathsheba, and David's murder of Uriah the Hittite (Bathsheba's husband). If you were to read only the Chronicler's depiction of David, you would come away with a picture of him as the greatest king ever, with no evidence to the contrary. Oh, and another thing: the story of King Saul almost completely disappears in Chronicles. It's a really big deal in the earlier version of the story: Saul trying to kill David, and David always outwitting him. Saul only rates a brief paragraph in 1 Chronicles, almost an afterthought. The Chronicler just wants to move the story along to the hero--King David.

Well, after Chronicles, it's just a few relatively short books before I come to the Writings (as they're often called in Jewish Bibles): Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon. That's good stuff, and I'm looking forward to reading it all again.  Thanks for reading!
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Reading through the Bible this Lent

2/19/2018

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This year for my Lenten observance (about which I've been very lax these last several years), I chose to do something I haven't done in many years: read through the entire Bible from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. With the reading plan I'm using (created by Logos.com), that amounts to twenty or so chapters per day, a fairly large amount of reading, but not impossible. Some thoughts as I've been reading over the past six days:
  • There are definitely some boring parts. I feel bad saying this about the Bible, but there's no denying that some of the genealogies, and the census figures in Numbers, and the lengthy passages about the construction of the tabernacle, are pretty slow going. I'm not going to pretend I didn't skim through some of those sections.
  • It's way more violent in some places than Sunday School lessons would have you believe. There is an awful lot of violence (and a fair amount of sex) in many of these Old Testament stories. So when people say that they read the Bible for comfort, I sometimes wonder if they've read some of these slightly less than comforting stories.
  • Lots of the patriarchs are pretty horrible people. Joseph is often egotistical and cruel, Jacob is a total jerk, Moses vacillates between rage-filled prophet and insufferable whiner, and even Adam comes across as a wuss, who blames God for giving him a woman who won't do the right thing. If you're looking for squeaky clean heroes, the Bible is not the place to look.
  • That being said, one of the great things about reading all of the Bible is that you get a much better sense of just how human most of the characters are. The Bible as it truly is, not just how it's been edited for Sunday School, shows humanity at our worst and our best. I'm reminded of Abraham arguing with God, trying to get Him not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, or some of Moses's face-to-face talks with God, or Esau embracing Jacob when he has good reason not to do so. There's something refreshingly mundane about these stories: it's not all giant miracles, or tribes going to war with one another. Some of it is just people relating to each other, or relating to God in a very personal way.
I will try to remember to record some more of my thoughts as go on this Lenten journey through scripture. In general, I'm not in favor of trying to read through the whole Bible as if it's simply a long book. After all, it's more of a library of small books than it is one single book. However, the discipline of reading it all the way through can be a useful reminder at how diverse and unusual this collection of writings is. May I keep that in mind as I read...
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King James Bible Audio

2/10/2018

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There's an awful lot of free audio of people reading the King James Bible out there. About the best one I've discovered recently can be found here: King James Bible Online. All you have to do is to navigate to your favorite passage, and click on the listen icon in the Bible Options box (see below). Presto! You get to hear a fine reader with a plummy British accent. Enjoy.
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My Bible collection...updated

9/15/2016

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 From time to time, I like to post the current spreadsheet of my Bible collection. The reason for this is actually twofold, now that I think of it. First, I suspect my readers (whoever they are) might enjoy seeing it, and second, it gives me a back-up copy online, just in case. So without further ado, here is my Bible collection as of 9/15/2016. (I'm embedding a copy here in this blog post as well...) At the moment, I have a total of 291 volumes in my collection. I may actually have missed a few, so this number may change in the near future!
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God's DNA? What?!?

7/28/2016

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I know that some mainline Protestant denominations (including the one where I work) are still trying their best to promote the Common English Bible (CEB), but the more I read of this Bible, which came out back in 2011, the less I like it. Several months ago, I had this verse brought to my attention:
Those born from God don't practice sin because God's DNA remains in them. They can't sin because they are born from God. (1 John 3:9, CEB)
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Oh my, this is such an awful rendering of that verse! "God's DNA"? What, now?

The Greek word in question is σπέρμα (sperma), which (as you may have guessed, is pretty similar to the English word "sperm." Now obviously, they weren't going to translate the verse as "God's sperm remains in them." They want to sell a few copies, at least. Most other translations say something along the lines of "God's seed is in them," which seems a bit more tactful. But using the word DNA? That just seems ridiculous to me. What's more σπέρμα, or some variant thereof, appears a few dozen times in the Bible, but this is the only verse where the CEB translators rendered the word as "DNA." So it's inconsistent at best, completely anachronistic at worst.

I've complained in the past about the CEB's use of "Human One," rather than "Son of Man." That one still grates on me, even though I understand the linguistic/theological choice behind it. But the DNA thing is just...weird. And don't even get me started on their use of the word "divvy" in Psalm 22...

I don't generally rant against particular Bible versions, but the CEB was the go-to Bible in our church for quite awhile. It actually looks like the pastors have been leaning back towards the NRSV lately, which I think is a good choice. And I don't think the CEB is completely worthless. I just don't think it will ever become a standard choice for my personal use. Thanks for reading.
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St. John's Bible--a beautiful piece of work

7/19/2016

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I'm gradually collecting all seven volumes of an illuminated Bible called St. John's Bible. So far, I have both volumes of the New Testament, and the Psalms are on the way! You can read more about the St. John's Bible at its official website.  All the original calligraphy was done by hand, and the artwork is stunning. I'm including a brief gallery below, with some pictures of some of the artwork. The seven volumes of the series are as follows:
  1. The Pentateuch
  2. Historical Books
  3. Wisdom Books
  4. Psalms
  5. The Prophets
  6. The Gospels and Acts
  7. The Letters and Revelation
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John 1:1- Typatone

7/18/2016

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Today, I discovered a website called Typatone, that assigns musical tones to letters typed into it, thereby making anything you type into a musical composition of sorts.  Just for fun, I typed the text of the first verse of the Gospel According to John, in both English and German, just to hear what it would sound like. The results are rather lovely, I think...

Typatone John 1:1

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A handy guide to online Bible tools

7/18/2016

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[The following is re-blogged from a Tumblr user with the handle wisdomfish.tumblr.com. It's a nice, concise guide to some of the best Bible search engines on the interwebs.]

If you are looking for access to the Word of God, you will find that there are a number of options for reading the Bible online. You can find full-text Bibles, as well as different versions.
  1. E-sword: e-Sword is a fast and effective way to study the Bible. e-Sword is feature rich and user friendly with more capabilities than you would expect in a free software package.
  2. Online Parallel Bible: This online Bible helps you compare verses in multiple different versions of the Bible. A great way to learn about what’s in each translation. Includes tools to help with context and cross reference.
  3. Oremus Bible Browser: New Revised Standard Version (American and Anglicized versions), and several versions of the Psalms.
  4. The Bible Gateway: One of the best ways to look up verses, search various translations and find passages of interest.
  5. Bible.Logos.com: Read the Bible online, choosing the translation of your choice. Includes a search feature to help you find what you are looking for.
  6. King James Bible: A great place to go to read the King James translation. Divided by law, history and other subjects so it’s easy to find books and verses.
  7. Bible.com: As you might expect, this web site is all about the Bible, and reading different translations.
  8. Blue Letter Bible: Helps you find verses and phrases quickly and easily. Advanced Bible search, accompanied by great tools and information.
  9. Online Bibles: Go to this page to get access to different Bibles in different languages. A great resource for those looking for different translations.
  10. The Unbound Bible: Searchable Bibles. Look at different versions, and display different verses, from different versions, side by side.
  11. Bibles Online: Different versions of the Bible that can be perused at will.
  12. YouVersion: A great Bible that allows you to set up your own study schedule, and decide on the version that you understand best.
  13. LifeWay’s Online Bible Library: Access to Bibles, commentary and devotionals. You can read different versions and translations.
  14. New Advent Bible: Read different editions of the Bible, and get access to different books. Easy to navigate.
  15. Audio Bible Online: If you want to hear the Word of God, you can listen with the help of this online audio Bible.
  16. Bible Portal: Access to Bibles, as well as Bible dictionaries and concordance.
  17. Audio Treasure: The AudioTreasure site exist to offer audio Bible files for  download in as many languages as legally possible.
  18. Biblia: Biblia.com is your place for Bible study online. Part of a family of services from Logos Bible Software, it offers free access to a collection of Bibles and Bible reference works, with an easy user interface and powerful search engine.
There are many more. Add your favorite.

(Source: accreditedonlinebiblecolleges.org, via wisdomfish)
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    (adj.) wild and frenzied; from Greek κορυβαντες (Korybantes)

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