CT Review of Coined by God

Christianity Today review of  Coined By God: Words and Phrases That First Appear in English Translations of the Bible , a book detailing the vocabulary of English that is first attested in the Bible (like stargazer). 

They made some interesting use of language processing technology for their research (concordancing, for example). From an academic point of view, i might question whether “first appeared in a Bible translation” really means the same as “was coined by a Bible translation”. It certainly seems possible that some terms may have been in contemporary use, but other sources using them simply didn’t survive to document the fact. But i shouldn’t judge that without reading the book.

Bible Studies on DVD?

Factoid from Barna Research:

Since 2000, DVD players have been the most rapidly selling technology in the country, more than tripling in penetration (from 18% to 56%). DVD players are now as common in American households as desktop computers and Internet access.

I wonder if anybody is producing Bible studies for small groups on DVD?

Two Kinds of Hearing

Working on Luke’s Gospel in the “Imperatives of Jesus” project, i was reminded of two imperatives that i rarely think of when i consider what Jesus asks me to do:

[Luke 8:8] He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

He who has ears to hear?!? Obviously you can’t hear at all without ears. But there’s a crucial semantic difference between the two kinds of hearing Jesus refers to here. One is the kind that anyone with ears has: the sound lands on your eardrums. The other refers to a spiritual perception that goes beyond passively receiving sound waves, beyond hearing new ideas, and beyond mere reflection on those ideas. To really hear the words of Jesus means to put them into practice. As He explains in the context of the Parable of the Sower, it is a response to truth by those who “hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”

[8:18] Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.

This makes it clear that the kind of hearing Jesus is most concerned about involves our hearts and wills, not just our ears. How we respond to what we hear crucially affects its impact on us. We talk about “covering our ears” to avoid hearing something unpleasant. But failing to act on Jesus’ words is just as effective a way to lose them. It’s actually worse: because we’ve “heard”, we think we know, and we’re less able to recognize our own ignorance. Only obedience prepares us to learn more.

ESV Web Service

This is very cool: 6 lines of Perl (and an access key, which i’ve applied for) and the ESV web service will deliver passages of Scripture to you. This will definitely open up new possibilities …

Recognizing Jesus

Brian McLaren’s sermon this morning (audio should be here soon) from John 20:1-18 talked about how Mary Magdalene came to the event of the Resurrection. She brought her own perspective on the current situation (someone had stolen His body), her own deep emotional response to the trauma of His crucifixion just two days before, and her own vantage point, weeping outside the tomb. And even when the Risen Lord stood before her, she did not recognize Him: she thought he was the gardener! But when Jesus spoke her name, she saw Him for who He was, and the picture changed completely. And she went and bore witness to the other disciples: “I have seen the Lord” (v. 18).

Lord, help me to hear you, and open my eyes so that i too can see Jesus the Lord!

A Web API for the English Standard Version

More often than not, when you think you’ve had some new and brilliantly unique idea … somebody else already did too.

In the case of “Scripture Permalinks”, the publishers of the new English Standard Version “get it”! A link like this

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+3:16

is what’s behind John 3:16. This effectively turns a URL into an API, as Jon Udell says: “If you build Web-based information systems — and who doesn’t? — it’s a great idea to  wrap them in Web services APIs. “

The ESV builds on the traditions of the RSV, long my favorite for detailed Scripture study, using the “essentially literal” approach.  I recognize enough names among the endorsers to be confident that this will be a good translation. I’ll be referring to the ESV in Blogos from now one. (now, if i just had a Radio macro to construct the link!) 

Here’s an example of the search box they make available (HTML is here)


(e.g., John 1 or God’s love)

Once my style stabilizes, i expect i’ll add one of these to Blogos.

More on Scripture Permalinks

More about “Scripture permalinks” … there are three things like this that i’d use a lot:

  1. Scripture references
  2. Dictionary lookups in dictionary.com or the like
  3. Book references against Amazon or another vendor, given an ISBN

Hyperlinking is one of the things that makes a blog dynamic: it ought to be easier (read, lower-tech) to do this.