Bible Geek Gone Wild

Bible Geek Gone Wild is moving

2008-07-26T09:58:00.003-05:00

Greetings to all of the Bible Geek Gone Wild readers out there in cyberspace. I just wanted to give everybody a heads up that I'll be moving all of my future blogging efforts to http://www.biblegeekgonewild.com. In addition to moving to a new domain name, I've also made the move to wordpress. I'm planning on moving some of my old content to the new site, but will for the most part be taking this site down and using it for other purposes. Please visit the new site and update your RSS feed. Have a blessed weekend!

Between Two Worlds: What Did Jesus' Tomb Look Like? An Interview with Leen Ritmeyer (Part 2)

2008-07-24T22:43:00.000-05:00

Between Two Worlds: What Did Jesus' Tomb Look Like? An Interview with Leen Ritmeyer (Part 2)

Between Two Worlds: What Did Calvary Look Like? An Interview with Leen Ritmeyer (Part 1)

2008-07-24T22:41:00.000-05:00

Between Two Worlds: What Did Calvary Look Like? An Interview with Leen Ritmeyer (Part 1)

Sho Baraka - Turn My Life Up

2008-07-19T21:36:00.004-05:00

A while back Nick had some posts about Trip Lee's new album 20/20. I enjoy rap music, but didn't really give it a listen at the time. I was browsing around tonight and found my way to Reach Records. They have a very unique hip hop ministry focus. Unlike most of the "Christian" rap/hip hop of our day, the lyrics on these albums are deep and gospel focused. They have several other artists in addition to Trip. I really enjoyed the sample tracks from Sho Baraka. Be sure to give 'em a listen.

Half-Price Books Goodness

2008-07-19T20:24:00.003-05:00

Every once in a great while, my wife & I actually make it out on a date. We happened to have a $20 Half-Price Books gift card, so we decided to pay them a visit. Most of what we found was for the kids, but I did find 1 book. It was a good value @ $3.98.

Concept Banner for new site

2008-07-18T12:35:00.001-05:00

Greetings to all the Bible Geek Gone Wild readers out there. Progress on the new site is moving along slowly. I had some extra time on my lunch break, so I put together a concept of the banner I'm designing. The orange blob on the stick-man's head is supposed to be a tongue of fire and the thing he's holding in his left had is supposed to be a Bible. I'll be working on some book pictures this weekend. I'm hoping to add a leaning stack of books that looks like it could fall over on the stick-man. I'd love to hear your suggestions on color scheme, design changes, etc. If you want to see where the new blog is at, please go to http://www.biblegeekgonewild.com.

Phil Vischer is back...

2008-07-17T22:29:00.000-05:00

www.jellytelly.com

Almost as cool as Nick's desk shelf

2008-07-17T22:17:00.001-05:00

While I don't have a wooden desk shelf like N.T. Wright and Jim West or a cardboard shelf courtesy of Amazon like Nick Norelli, I do have bookends that came from the law office my Mom used towork at. ; )

Finding the time......

2008-07-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

Do the rest of you suffer from an inadequate amount of available time? Work and family have been tapping most of my free time over the past few weeks. Carving out a little bit of space in my daily regimen for quiet time, exercise, reading, blogging, etc. has been very difficult. Ultimately, the solution I've come up with is to put myself on a planned schedule. I'm hoping this will allow me to make the most of the available time I do have. Also, I've been getting up an extra hour early in the morning. This has afforded me some extra time for prayer, bible reading and other reading (if there's any time left). Also, I've started either going for a walk or finding a quite place to read during my lunch break. Between rising early and using my lunch break, I've been able to reclaim 2 hours per day. Do any of you have any tips, tricks, or lifehacks for balancing schedules?

An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts

2008-07-14T23:00:00.004-05:00

Peter M. Head had some positive things to say about David Parker's new book. It sounds like a fascinating read. Peter's post is available here. More about the book is available here.

Phil Sumpter - July's Blogger of the Month

2008-07-14T22:39:00.001-05:00

Phil Sumpter is Biblioblogs.com's blogger of the month for July 2008. You can read the interview here. Phil's blog is available here.

Ben Witherington talking about the Gabriel Stone on CNN

2008-07-14T22:31:00.002-05:00

Ben Witherington noted on his blog last Saturday that he contributed to a CNN news segment on the Gabriel Stone. You can follow the developing discussion on his blog post. You can also watch the video here.

Yahweh - A Moral Monster?

2008-07-14T22:18:00.003-05:00

Tyler Williams has started a discussion titled, Yahweh - A Moral Monster?. I've posted my response / question below.

Tyler,

In a post available here, Greg Boyd references some forthcoming work from Dr. Jerome Creach, Professor of Old Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Creach’s view is that herem is not meant to be taken literally. Do you think this is a reasonable solution to the problem? I’d be curious to hear your thoughts.

Religious Affections Audio For Free

2008-07-14T22:14:00.002-05:00

Tim Challies notes in his "A La Carte" post for 7/14 that his readers are able to download Johnathan Edwards' The Religious Affections for free. See Tim'soriginal post here.

Prayer Request

2008-07-14T21:12:00.003-05:00

Good Evening Bible Geek Gone Wild Readers,

I wanted to ask for your prayers for a good friend of mine. His wife is pregnant with their 3rd child and due to some complications, it looks like she is going to be in the hospital on bed rest for the next several weeks. Needless to say this complicates their life a whole lot. Most of all pray for Sarah and the baby, that she'd be able to sustain the pregnancy for a while longer. Also, pray for Peter as he comforts Sara through this time and tries to juggle work, home, and time at the hospital. Thanks in advance for your prayers.

Moving to wordpress - Day 2

2008-07-12T06:55:00.003-05:00

I was busy putting the final touches on our new bathroom yesterday, so progress on the move was pretty minimal. So far I've been able to get the new domain setup on the web server. I've also downloaded wordpress.org. Time permitting, I'll get it setup on the web server this weekend. Stay tuned.

More books to review

2008-07-12T06:41:00.004-05:00

I wanted to to extend my thanks to the folks at Crossway Books for sending me several review copies. Reviews to follow soon. The books are as follows:

Quote of the Day

2008-07-12T06:32:00.002-05:00

Many Christians today lack grounding in the riches of church history. We may find ourselves "rootless and drifting in a barren secular and ecclesiastical landscape." The church fathers offer us context and tradition that will help establish the roots we need. They do so by taking us deeper into the rich resources of Scripture, helping us to read holy writings with ancient eyes.

Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings (Page 7)

The Move to Wordpress Begins

2008-07-11T07:19:00.003-05:00

Well, I've finally decided to take the plunge and move to wordpress. In my last post related to web hosting, I indicated that I was looking to host an additional domain name. I just wrapped up purchasing: biblegeekgonewild.com. In addition to moving my blog to wordpress, it will also be moving to this new domain name. While I plan to still use shauntabatt.com, the focus will change. Rather than hosting my blog, it will become the personal homepage of some guy who thinks he's an aspiring author and Biblical scholar. : ) I'll keep all of you updated as things progress.

Quote of the Day

2008-07-11T07:01:00.002-05:00

The judgment seat of Christ has the potential either to bring a Christ-follower to his or her knees in terror or to cause them to stand and shout "glory!" How can one event evoke such a diverse response? Misunderstanding.

The judgment seat of Christ is the most important day in your future and an important subject often neglected in Christian Literature.

Facing Your final Job Review: The Judgment Seat of Christ, Salvation, And Eternal Rewards (Page 45)

Birth Control As Selfishness

2008-07-11T06:45:00.004-05:00

There is a discussion on the topic of birth control as selfishness going on over at Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. You can read the whole message thread here. I've posted the comment I left below:

The birth control subject is a touchy one. Many of the arguments I’ve heard from people for using birth control is to prevent conception at the present time, so they can achieve this goal, wait to have kids until they earn more money, etc. I’ve heard sermons indicating some forms of birth control are a form of stewardship (i.e. have only as many kids as you can afford). On the other side of the argument you have people who view children as a blessing and they’re going to have as many children as God blesses them with. This group is sometimes known as the “quiverfull movement”. Personally, I have 5 children, so I’ll let you guess which way I lean on this issue. : ) Mark Driscoll preached a great sermon about birth control. My only critique on this sermon is that he gave mostly negative examples of the home schooling, quiverfull crowd. Otherwise, I thought it was a thorough treatment of the issues. Here are a few interesting books related to birth control, quiverfull movement, etc.:

Be Fruitful & Multiply - Nancy Campbell

A Full Quiver - Rick & Jan Hess

Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions - Randy Alcorn

To host or not to host....that is the question

2008-07-10T13:52:00.001-05:00

I've been using GoDaddy as my web host for several years. Overall, I have been very pleased with their service. I'm thinking about hosting more than one web site, so I'll need to upgrade my hosting account. This will increase the overall yearly cost an additional $15-$20. I was wondering what hosting services some of you utilize for your sites and blogs. Who do you feel has the best overall value for a reasonable cost? Would it be more beneficial to just redirect the new URL to a wordpress.com blog, rather than buying additional hosting? I look forward to your feedback, so I can make an informed decision.

Quote of the Day

2008-07-10T12:15:00.002-05:00

"And I think that rebellion starts from the top down... That if we didn't do something by the end of Clinton's presidency people were going to be fornicating (or worse yet, dancing) in the streets of Grand Rapids and Wheaton."

Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) - Page 60

Finding myself on the web...

2008-07-10T02:07:00.004-05:00

I was doing some searching for "Bible Geek Gone Wild" on google and noticed that a quote from my mini book review of In the Shadow of Grace was mentioned on Richard Morgan's web site. You can click on the picture below to see the quote in context. : )

Review: A Reader's Hebrew Bible

2008-07-10T00:05:00.003-05:00

General Editor: A. Phillip Brown II, Bryan W. Smith
Binding: Italian Duo-Tone
Page Count: 1680 Pages
Publisher: Zondervan
Publication Date: March 2008
ISBN-10: 0310269741
ISBN-13: 9780310269748

Based on the success Zondervan had with A Reader’s Greek New Testament, you knew it was only a matter of time before they’d put together a similar resource for the Hebrew Bible. To the delight of many, A Reader’s Hebrew Bible was released this past March. I’ve been looking forward to writing this review and wanted to express a word of thanks to the folks at Zondervan for sending me a review copy. I’ll be breaking this review into two parts. Part one will discuss the physical characteristics and also the packaging for this Bible. Part two will take a look at what’s inside this Bible.

Let me start by talking about the physical characteristics of A Reader’s Hebrew Bible. It has a very appealing look about it; one might go so far as to say it’s beautiful. The binding is a light brown Italian Duo-Tone. You will find the title stamped on the front cover and the spine in silver lettering. The page edges match the lettering as they are also gilded silver. This volume measures 7.2 in. wide by 9.9 in. high by 2.1 in. deep, which makes it a bit larger than the other Hebrew Bibles I am familiar with. The paper used for this Bible is a bit thinner than the paper used in some of the other Zondervan Bibles in my library. It is slightly transparent as you’re able to make out some of the text on the other side of each page. However, this in no way hinders the readability of the Hebrew text. I felt that the decision to go with this paper was probably design-related as it lends to the overall elegant look and feel of the Bible. In addition to the great look and feel of this Bible, Zondervan went the extra mile by creating great packaging for it. This Bible comes in what I would consider a presentation quality box. The front of the box is windowed to show the front cover with the title in silver lettering. The back of the box has a well laid out list of information that will be important to someone who is looking to buy this Bible.

Next, I wanted to take a look at the inside of A Reader’s Hebrew Bible. There are 28 pages of worthwhile introductory material at the front of the Bible. This includes the Author’s Preface, a Quick User’s Guide, an Introduction, and Abbreviations & Sigla. I am very excited to note that all of the introductory material is written in English. Many of the Hebrew and Greek Bibles available in the bookstores of Bible Colleges and seminaries come from the German Bible Society. The difficulty for many American students is that the introductory material is written in German. Since most of the students are not fluent in German, they miss out on the introductory information, which will help them to make the best possible use of their new Bible. Following the introductory material is the actual Hebrew text. I really appreciate that the Hebrew text goes across the entire page, with all of the notes appearing at the bottom. This serves to make the text more readable as you don’t have any notes or references in the margins, breaking up the text as you’re trying to read it. I think this will be especially useful to first year students who are working on their Hebrew reading as it will minimizes the distractions on the page. When the reader comes across a word they’re not quite sure about, they can refer to the notes at the bottom of the page which contain glosses and definitions of Hebrew words occurring 100 times or less and Aramaic words occurring 25 times or less. These notes will prove very useful to the 1st year student as well as the more casual reader whose Hebrew skills may be a bit out of practice.

Let me summarize by saying that I think Zondervan did a great job with A Reader’s Hebrew Bible. It’s a very attractive and high quality Hebrew Bible at a reasonable price. The layout and notes will be invaluable for the 1st year student or the more casual reader. It will make a great gift for students, pastors, or the layperson interested in Biblical Hebrew.

A. Philip Brown II (PhD, Bob Jones University) is associate professor of Bible and Theology at God’s Bible School and College in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the author for the 4th edition of Handbook of New Testament Greek, a publication for Bob Jones University.

Bryan W. Smith (PhD, Bob Jones University) is Bible integration coordinator at Bob Jones University Press.

You may download a PDF of this review here: LINK.