Sermon preached on August 30, 1997.
Sidebar: Scholarly Attitudes to John
With the rediscovery of Jewish roots to John’s Gospel, scholars pay more attention to layers of historical data within the Gospel.
John’s Targumic Allusions
However one translates John 1:17, both clauses should be positively portrayed. After all, it is John himself who states that “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22) and that “the Hebrew Scriptures testify about Jesus” (John 5:39).
That Small-fry Herod Antipas, or When a Fox Is Not a Fox
We need to start translating “fox” with its proper Hebraic cultural meaning.
Inspiration, History and Bible Translation
To believe in the Christian Bible is also to believe in God’s working through the church, and to believe in the church is also to believe in its constitutional documents, the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.
Pursuing Righteousness
A reconstruction can only be adopted by a theologian or a historian. A Bible translator must translate what the text of Scripture actually says.
Book Review: Robert L. Lindsey’s Jesus, Rabbi and Lord
There are many unique proposals in this book which deserve serious consideration.
“And” or “But”—So What?
Writings that were originally composed in Greek tend to have a higher ratio of de to kai than writings that have been influenced by a Semitic language.
What Is the Priest Doing? Common Sense and Culture
Common sense is connected to cultural expectations. What is understandable in one culture may be opaque in another.
Matthew’s Aramaic Glue
Knowledge of the different ways of joining stories in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic can help us understand the history and relationships of the Synoptic Gospels.
Book Review: Michael Sokoloff’s A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period
Professor Sokoloff’s A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period limits itself to the best and most reliable sources of JPA
What Kind of Blessing Is That?
In some cases a more informed understanding of the original setting of the Gospels can be communicated easily in a translation. A good translation will reflect that fuller, culturally appropriate understanding.
“Son of Man”: Jesus’ Most Important Title
There is a common thread uniting the views of those who think that Jesus signaled Daniel 7 by using the Aramaic bar enash in the middle of Hebrew speech. Anyone who holds this view must assume that Jesus spoke or taught in Hebrew much of the time. That Jesus used Hebrew a significant amount of the time is a sociolinguistic conclusion that has a growing number of supporters in New Testament scholarship, but one that is still a minority opinion.
Your Money or Your Life
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Jesus’ reply to the question about paying taxes to Caesar is that Jesus disarms his opponents and at the same time places a total demand on them.
