Spring Cleaning
I still have not had a chance to read my blog comments (sorry to all of you), but I'm determined not to miss a day so early in the month, so I'll just mention that I have a new post up on Open for Business contemplating the advent of the large hard disks we are using these days.
I'll return soon.
Not One to Break a Resolution Already
I haven't even had time to read my blog comments, but I didn't want to break my resolution to post a challenge question today, so here we go.
Intermediate Question (2 pts. for each possible answer)
Which nation(s) joined the EU as of today?
Happy New Year (Really)!
Well, my last post was early, but now I can officially wish y'all a very happy new year! Ah, 2007! This should be a good year, I think. Tomorrow, my resolution is to bring some new asisaid Challenge questions for my wonderful blog readers to be tormented with.
In the mean time, just a few moments ago, I decided on a few resolutions:
- I don't have a lot of hope for learning a musical instrument, but it is time I became fluent in at least musical notation. Then I could play around with MIDI stuff and maybe compose something (even though I couldn't play whatever I came up with).
- Aim for fluency in Greek. I want to be able to read the Greek New Testament as my primary Bible some day. Maybe not this year, but this is the year I need to expand into reading it more often.
- Write a book. I need to quit talking about this and actually put the pen to the paper. I have the beginnings of a novel as well as a book on philosophy of religion. One of them should be at least in a rough draft by the end of 2007.
Feel free to share your resolutions below. Once again, Happy New Year!
Happy New Year (Almost)!
Well, it seems a shame to end 2006 with a really short post, but better a short one than no post, right? Anyone have a highlight of 2006 you'd like to mention?
Update (31-Dec-2006 22:44): Well, I'm back for a moment. I'm not sure why I'm so tired today, but I'm just down right slaphappy. Earlier, I couldn't think of “Happy New Year” and almost said “Merry Christmas” instead — and not because of my well known desire to spread out Christmas (I have been continuing to wish people “Merry Christmas”) but simply by accident. And no, I am not drinking anything stronger than coffee or water.
Incidentally, I realize I never updated the asisaid copyright to include 2006. I guess I'll jump right to 2007. Oh well, I wonder if that would affect my ability to defend my copyright if someone decided to raid all of the “valuable materials” I have on my site?
Nifty Bible
I just opened a Christmas gift of the Reformation Study Bible (ESV). It is edited by R.C. Sproul and has extensive notes on each page. It reminds me a lot of my Harper-Collins Study Bible (NRSV), save that it comes from a conservative scholarly viewpoint rather than a liberal scholarly viewpoint. It is nice to see it is a scholarly conservative viewpoint — the type of thing Sproul is good at providing — usually conservative leaning study Bibles seem to ignore or entirely dismiss the other side without sticking to scholarship. This new Bible and my Harper-Collins ought to balance things quite nicely. It seems to deal with points such as the documentary hypothesis rather fairly even as it expresses its disagreement with those points.
Oddly, for my general detachment from the KJV tradition (other than that I like the way the KJV sounds), my two study Bibles have a heritage linked to it. I'm not familiar with precisely how much influence the KJV exerted over the NRSV and the ESV, but the former is the official heir to the RSV and the ESV apparently draws enough from the RSV to merit reference to the RSV copyright.
Interestingly, the ESV apparently picks up the middle ground on gender translation, favoring a neuter reference (such as “people”) when the original text is not referring specifically to a male, but retaining the usage of “brothers” and other similar words as opposed to “brothers and sisters.”
I've ended up with two other ESV Bibles over the last six months, but I've not yet investigated it much. We'll see. I'm still partial to the NIV and NCV and I'm still using the NLT the most (since that's what edition of the One Year Bible I own).
To use Christopher's phrase, me likey.
Biblical Christianity
Biblical Christianity is a title I'm getting tired of hearing about, because, quite frankly, it is meaningless. Generally, it is only useful in as much as it lets one group make itself feel superior to whichever group it deems as not being biblical. It is extremely rare that such a designation actually distinguishes those who follow the Bible from some group of Christians that (clearly to everyone else) do not.
Tonight I ran into a site objecting to neo-orthodoxy. Now, some folks have proper objections to neo-orthodoxy and that's perfectly fine. Neo-orthodoxy's lack of insistence on a “literal” interpretation of the Bible is usually what rubs people the wrong way. But even that is difficult to say, because it is not that neo-orthodox theologians typically seek to interpret literal parts of the Bible metaphorically, but rather a debate exists on whether this or that part of the Bible was intended to be interpreted literally. Everyone (or nearly everyone) interprets some parts of the Bible metaphorically (parables being the clearest example). Regardless, part of the misunderstanding of neo-orthodoxy is judging it by the standards of its foes, the neo-orthodox Christian could very well have perfectly Evangelical views on the Bible and still adhere to the basic beliefs of neo-orthodoxy. That neo-orthodoxy does not insist on such does not mean it is anti-Bible or anything like that.
But, I digress. Neo-orthodoxy has its set of claims, and the objector I ran into tonight was busy defending a differing set of claims as “Biblical.” Now, one might ask, how does one define Biblical? I would expect the person would race off to Scripture and try to demonstrate their position as Biblical by, well, using the Bible. But, as often is the case, the person did not, they simply quoted a statement of faith that objected to neo-orthodoxy's views. The reader was expected to assume neo-orthodoxy was unbiblical because an extrabiblical statement of faith said so. Oooookay.
Now, if someone responded by quoting another extrabiblical source — oh, let's say the pope — precisely how do you think this guy would response? I betcha he'd say “Sola Scriptura!” Never mind the fact that he himself was happily quoting authorities outside of the Bible for his own purposes.
The term Biblical Christianity just isn't useful. Every Christian probably thinks he or she is part of “Biblical Christianity.” So, for starters its useless. The fact that often claims in support of “Biblical Christianity” come from places other than the Bible just serves to increase the absurdity.
The Story So Far
OK, so I'm going to give Mike the full 20 points on Eliot; he didn't get the title, but he did get some of the background. The quote is the beginning of “the Wasteland,” a poem made up of five smaller poems. The first poem, the one quoted, is “the Burial of the Dead.” Eliot wrote “the Wasteland” in the early twenties, in response partially to the collective societal shock and breakdown after World War I, and also his own personal nervous breakdown that brought him to Switzerland to recuperate.
Some of the other significance stems from the negative look at flowers and April. Eliot is nothing if not an allusionary poet. He is always alluding to other works, and what is a better known beginning to a poem in English literature than the beginning of Chaucer's prologue to the Canterbury Tales? While Chaucer's April is full of life budding, Eliot's reinvisioning of the world as a wasteland turns that happy image on its head.
Y'all should go read “the Wasteland.” It is worth it, just be forewarned it isn't easy, but I have confidence that my readers are up to a challenge.
Mike: 20 pts.
Jason: 5 pts.
Dave: 3 pts.
More to come.
Merry Christmas (on the Second Day of Christmas)
Well, so I am late. Things have been really busy here the last few days, and it seemed like I only had enough time to read e-mail (and not even reply). But, now that I'm back, I wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. I hope all of you had a good Christmas.
I'm hoping to get back into regular posting over the next few days. Perhaps I'll aim to add to the asisaid Challenge tomorrow, including a final tally regarding last week's edition. In the mean time, let me say it again “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
Some of My Favorite Things: Gifts Under $100
The mad rush to shop for last minute gifts that your recipient will actually enjoy need not be a desperate mad rush, at least. I picked out five of my favorite highly giftable items – all one hundred dollars or less, in descending price order, no less – perhaps one just right for your soon to be happy giftee. So, if you need to spend a little time playing a ripe jolly old elf, read on and see what I have in my sack. Read my gift picks on Open for Business.
