Books
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In The Mail: Small Group Edition
I am going to be co-leading a small group this spring on spiritual disciplines. A couple books were suggested to help with planning, and since I didn’t have either in my library, I decided to go ahead and grab them:
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Used Books Day
Friday, my wife had to be dropped off in Easley. I decided to go the extra distance and make a run to Mr. K’s Used Books. Supporting such a trek was the fact that my wife had set aside a box of books to trade in, while cleaning out her office. Turns out that most of the books were not accepted as trade-in. But, with the little bit I had made, I was able to pick out a couple interesting items: Introduction to the Theory of Relativity by Peter Gabriel Bergmann Der Spieler und andere Romane (Dostoyevski, in German!) Medieval and Modern Greek by Robert Browning (ooooooh) And the opportunity…
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In The Mail: Social Sciences, Mathematics and Fiction
So, this is likely the last of the new books for a while, considering the holidays are over, and I don’t know of any more on the way. These came before the weekend, but I’ve been fairly busy…
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After You Believe
I had the pleasure of preaching today, a 30,000 ft. view of discipleship. I quoted from After You Believe, and said I would post a link. Well, I will do just a bit more and provide the quote itself: Love is great-hearted; love is kind,knows no jealousy, makes no fussnot puffed up, no shameless ways,doesn’t force its rightful claim;doesn’t rage, or bear a grudge,doesn’t cheer at others’ harm,rejoices, rather, in the truth.Love bears all things, believes all things;love hopes all things, endures all things.Love never fails… Fair enough to hold before yourselves that astonishing portrait. But don’t imagine that you can just step into it on a cheerful sunny morning and stay there effortlessly forever. The last…
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In The Mail: Spoken Uyghur
I’ve been drooling over this book for a while. Time to remove it from my wish list! It is aesthetically quite fetching, I think. Pretty reds and oranges, crisp paper. An interesting amount of extra white space at the bottom of each page, though.
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Linguistics & Biblical Exegesis: Motivation
The final three chapters, chapters 6-8, were a nice bridge from the shortened specifics of linguistic study and history towards a sounder study of scripture. Six focused on issues directly relating to Hebrew, seven to Greek, with eight being a well-spoken defense, a resounding “yes” answer to the question, “Is it all worth it?” Chapter 6 focused on issues with Hebrew linguistics, and my background and grasp of Hebrew is smaller than it is for Greek (itself not all that great). I’ll admit that as the author spoke on the troubles of understanding the verbal stems and their potential relations, I was intrigued. But I also felt like I was…
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Linguistics & Biblical Exegesis: Groundwork
At this point, I am about to start Chapter 6. It’s a good breaking point to look back and review. Chapter 1 was a simple, crisp introduction, a nice chilled soup starter. Chapters 2 through 5 are more substantial, a meaty sort of entrée1. It remains to be seen if the remaining chapters are a full on main course, an entrée in the American sense, a matched course, with substance following gracefully on what has come before, or a round of dessert, potentially fruity, cake-y, dense, decadent or sugary sweet. Or maybe it will be some mixture of all of them! Now that the saliva is going, back to the…
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Library Outing
After reviewing my local university’s library website, I found that at least one of the books I earlier posted about was available. Helpfully, I am an alumnus, and so can borrow books pretty easily. Thirty minute trip later – parking is a pain, though traffic is light right now – I had Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication in hand. Unfortunately, it is a much older edition (1979). Turns out even the edition cited in L&BE (6th, 2010) has been superceded. The size difference is immense, also, with the edition I borrowed having 357 pages, and that of the latest (7th, 2017) edition being 608 pages. At a whopping…
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Linguistics & Biblical Exegesis: Suggested Reading
I started Linguistics & Biblical Exegesis yesterday. And right off the bat, I am enjoying it. In the first chapter, Wendy Widder offers a lovely introduction to the idea of linguistically informed Biblical study, and the topics the book specifically will address. Capping it is a list of resources with explanation. As much for myself as any other, here are her suggestions (from pp. 11-12): I’m particularly interested in the Silva entry… (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
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Quotable Common Sense
This is the first of the quotes I intend to share after having completed Common Sense: Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence… Common Sense (AmazonClassics Edition, p.3) – Thomas Paine He is articulate, if not quite pithy, here. Government, and the resultant loss…
