photo credit: Lawrence OP

Sing for Joy

Every Sunday morning the pretentiously titled local classical station–The Classical Station–airs several syndicated programs featuring sacred music. One of those is Sing for Joy, a production of Minnesota’s St. Olaf College. Every week the College Pastor presents choral music selected to coincide with the readings from the revised common lectionary. The result is a beautiful production that is well worth your listen, especially if you come from a non-liturgical tradition such as I. I’ve found that keeping up with the common lectionary vocally enhanced by world-class choirs is a delightful way to connect with the Church universal. Sing for Joy presents that certain bountiful depth of sacred music that is too often forgotten. My only disappointment is that the broadcasts, as far as I can tell, are not available via podcast. There is, however, a vast streaming archive available on their site of current and past episodes. You can listen wherever you are no matter the day of the week. Check it out.

Lectionary at Lunch

I discovered this second gem on iTunesU. Concordia Seminary St. Louis hosts an enviable Lectionary at Lunch group every Wednesday that is led by a professor who reads through the OT and NT lessons in Hebrew and Greek, translates them and discusses particular points of interest. The podcast of the group is available free of charge and is well worth your listen, especially if you’re interested in exegesis, translation and original language study. I can’t tell you how beneficial this is to listen to. Check it out.

Today’s my birthday, my twenty-fourth birthday: April Fool’s Day. I’ve done a few things in my twenty-four years of existence but when I compare myself to others before me, I fall short. Really short. When I pointed this out to my wife, she replied, “But did they know how to DJ?” If it’s either/or, I’ll leave djing behind in a heartbeat. Check these guy out; different times and places, I know, but seriously: check these guys out.

John Calvin

• By the age of twelve he was a bishop’s clerk. I was just a jerk.
• Soon after, he started college and began taking Latin from one of the greatest teachers of the language. I waited until my senior year of high school to take Latin I. I started college at eighteen.
• By age twenty he had been to two or three different universities and knew Greek. OK, so we’re about even on this point though I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to say I know Greek.
• At twenty-three his commentary on Seneca was published. Only things I’ve ever published are right here through WordPress.
• At twenty-four some thought him a heretic for being aligned with reformation-esque sentiment. He fled. Though I try to punk people out in a Reformation spirit, nobody listens and I needn’t flee.

John Gill

• By age ten he had read through the entire Greek New Testament and began teaching himself Hebrew.
• Mastered Latin classics by age eleven. At age eleven, I mastered my BB gun.
• Before his teens, local clergy would stop by and find out what little Johnny thought. Sunday School teachers told my parents what a brat I was.
• He was the first Baptist to develop a complete systematic theology and a verse-by-verse commentary on the whole Bible. I was probably the first toddler to poop on a church sidewalk.
• He was called Dr. Voluminous. Me? Not even a doctor.
• There was a saying in his day “As sure as John Gill is in the bookseller’s shop.” A saying based on me might be, “As sure as Drew is on his laptop.”

Jonathan Edwards

• At eleven he wrote a remarkable essay on spiders. By eleven, I had barely even killed one.
• Started at Yale not even thirteen years-old. Me: Marshall University, age eighteen.
• At twenty, he pastored a church in New York. At twenty, I hadn’t even been to New York, let alone a pastor.
• Around the age of twenty-three he wrote his rigorous and convicting Resolutions. I’m a slacker now twenty-four.

I Am What I Am

What do I take solace in on my birthday knowing that these Johns before me have accomplished way more than I by my age? Djing. Playing records on turntables. Nay!

Paul writes in1 Corinthians 15:10,

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Twenty-four down? Twenty-four down. Let’s keep moving, working harder by God’s grace that is with us.

Or should I say that Zhubert is gone for bad? It is truly lamentable that Zhubert.com and other Greek New Testament (GNT) projects utilizing the MorphGNT database are running into copyright issues with the German Bible Society (GBS).

For example, where Zhubert once provided a portal for the study of the GNT it now reads:

It has come to my attention that the MorphGNT team has had to pull their text offline at the request of the German Bible Society, so this site is offline as well. As their database was the heart of the window-dressing we provided here, there’s not much to show without it.

Others projects like Open Scriptures, an open source project in the works to carry on the baton of Zhubert, is running into similar copyright infringement problems as it utilizes the same MorphGNT database which is in question. Why MorphGNT is still available I’m not sure. The MorphGNT web site says it will be back soon; but I wonder if “soon” isn’t an overly-optimistic word choice. I would hope all efforts are being made to bring projects involving the GSB’s copyrighted text into full compliance.

German Bible Society

When the pioneer of Open Scriptures emailed the GBS concerning the use of their text in his open source project, he received this reply:

The German Bible Society is a not-for-profit religious foundation. Its
mission, in collaboration with other members of the United Bible Societies,
is to promote biblical research and worldwide Bible translation work in
order to make the Bible available to everybody in their own language.

Biblical research and translation work costs a lot of money. Therefore,
according to the standing rules of our foundation, we have to earn money
with our texts to enable further Bible translations worldwide.

Please understand that as a matter of principle we don’t license the NA27
or the UBS4 Bible text for open source projects.

Regarding the “MorphGNT with UBS4″ on the Open Scriptures website: This is
again a copyright infringement as the basis of the text is the UBS4. We ask
you to remove this text from your website, too, as we are the copyright
holder of the UBS4.

The GBS is not to be blamed for bringing or slowing these projects down. Their principles are sound and understandable and should be respected by those looking to forward any Scripture project. At the same time, it can be desired that an agreement be reached in which all parties benefit from their labors and are equipped to continue with their projects. I know I’m not the only one hoping for such a cooperative, Scripture-propagating outcome.

Watch the “Licensing and the German Bible Society” thread on the Open Scripture forum for updates.

Alternative: E-sword

While online projects work to reach an agreement with the GBS, those interested in GNT studies can make use of the exceptional freeware E-sword which utilizes public domain texts not in danger of copyright infringement. E-sword offers six GNT Bibles free for download: the Majority Text, Scrivener Textus Receptus, Robinson/Pierpont Byzantine Greek New Testament (w/ Strong’s), Textus Receptus Greek New Testament (w/ Strong’s), Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament (w/ Strong’s), and Greek New Testament (w/ Variants). Though these are obviously not the UBS4/NA27 text, they are very good, helpful and important for original language study. Don’t overlook ‘em!

A Word about the Robinson/Pierpont Byzantine GNT

Of the above six versions of the GNT freely available, the most salient, in my opinion, is the Robinson/Pierpont Byzantine Greek New Testament. Here is a life’s work carried on by a professor at my seminary (SEBTS), Maurice Robinson, who believes that the Word of God should not be copyrighted nor sold for profit. It is the Word of God and for all. Praise God for such labors of love!

The Bottom Line

Don’t get rid of your red UBS4!

In my own words, an etymological root fallacy is anachronistic retrospective eisegesis. Dunamis (power) is most often the unfortunate victim of such shoddy (mis-)interpretation. What do I mean by this cumbersome phrase “anachronistic retrospective eisegesis”? Well, it is a looking back (retrospective) on a word which predates English (anachronistic) and forcing the meaning of a present day English word back onto that Greek word (eisegesis) from whence the English word came. So, for example, people read dunamis inRomans 1:16 and think that dynamite’s root in this Greek word gives the reader license to read dunamis with this present day concept of dynamite; but bear in mind that Paul had no concept of dynamite when he wrote that the gospel is the power (dunamis) of God for salvation. Therefore, don’t read any concept of dynamite back onto dunamis though the English “dynamite” undoubtedly comes from it.

It may preach, but it’s not correct!

It could just be that the most important Greek word for the Christian man is found only three times in the New Testament. Paul Coughlin in his forthcoming book Unleashing Courageous Faith: The Hidden Power of a Man’s Soul claims that the average, emasculated Christian man needs to tap into what the Greeks called thumos, or courage. (Interestingly enough, English versions translate thumos in its three occurrences as “wrath.” Cf.Romans 2:8, Ephesians and 4:31 andRevelation 15:1.)

This book may have worked better (though it is still forthcoming and too early to tell for sure) on the heels of John Eldredge’s similarly-themed books, Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul, etc. (Note the similarity of subtitles even!) Having therefore read Eldredge, Coughlin’s message strikes me as a bit outmoded. I feel like I have read this before and learned more about the author’s dog than biblical masculinity (the first chapter “When a Dog is More Manly”). It’s a been there, done that kind of feeling.

Although, to quickly contradict myself, its message does seem consonant with a recent trend in evangelicalism toward encouraging boys to grow up and to be men. The Harris brothers’ Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations is representative and immediately comes to mind. Also, the social justice telos of Coughlin’s thumos contemporizes what is otherwise Eldredge recycled. This push towards real, meaningful action (rather than fishing or climbing a mountain) may be wherein lies the book’s contribution to masculinity.

The critique of Unleashing Courageous Faith I have to offer is much of the same offered concerning Eldredge’s work: a lack of biblical exegesis while drawing deeply from the well of cultural media (movies [in this case Wizard of Oz], songs, etc.). Coughlin’s observations and questions are on target while his response repeatedly returns to a need for thumos. He asks good questions but gives no timely answer based on Scripture, favoring instead the Greeks’ notion of raw man-courage. His proposed solution to the lack of masculinity which is based on Greeks, movies, Nobel prize laureates, and songs in the end proves burdensome when the solution that seems apparent to me is Jesus.

Yes, many have an effeminate Jesus in mind when they consider our Lord, but the solution is not to tap into a Greek notion of man-courage, but to study the ways of our Lord in the Scriptures. While tapping into thumos feels burdensome, there is one who says,

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:25-30).

This is a gender-inclusive mandate from Christ to examine his ways and learn from him. Would that the time spent meditating on the latent kernel of man-courage thumos be better employed studying the ways of Christ.

Codex Sinaiticus Project website goes live July 24, 2008.

phil-omni-glot (from Greek phil “love” + Latin omni “all” + Greek glot “tongue, language”) : noun. A lover of all languages. (A personal coinage of yours truly.)

Why love all languages?

The point has been made that the reason people from every tribe, language, people and nation are seen worshiping around Jesus’ throne inRevelation 5 is because people from every tribe, language, people and nation will find him all-satisfying. In other words, what is special about the one true God is that people from every ethnicity and tongue find in him what they need and they worship. God is therefore not a tribal deity whose “splendor” is seen by a select, remote view, but he is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and his Son is the One through whom all that has its existence was created (John 1:3).

Analogy: If I design a pair of shoes and only people in West Virginia like them, I won’t be a failure, but I won’t be a complete success either. However, as in the case of Nike, if I can design shoes that are desired and praised by people all over the world, that points to a superior shoe. A diverse body recognizes its value.

By his blood Jesus ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev. 5:9). This is their “new song” (Rev. 5:9a), praising this act. The answer then as to why to love all languages is because God loves all languages and ransomed people from every language by the blood of his Son. Moreover, the telos of each of those languages is to find praise and adoration for the Lamb who was slain and is worthy on the lips of the ransomed speakers.

The Christian has another reason to love languages: because the Scriptures were written in other languages (i.e., not English). Consequently, since I know you’ve heard of sermon jams, you’ll want to give the John Chapter 1 Jam herein linked a listen (featuringJohn 1:1-3 from the Greek New Testament and the Latin Vulgate courtesy of GreekLatinAudio.com [sorry, maybe one with Hebrew will be forthcoming]).

Long live philology!

A friend I gained over the summer while studying Biblical Greek for three semesters has changed names. Zhubert.com is now ReGreek.com, The Resurgence Greek Project. There’s an interview with the lead guy behind the project over at the Resurgence blog. They have a wonderful vision of providing the interested learner with free tools and resources in a slick, cutting-edge interface, wedding the study of God’s word with technology.

In our goal to resource multiple generations to live for Jesus so that they can effectively reach their city with the gospel by staying culturally accessible and biblically faithful we must not only study our city, as well we must study our bibles. The Resurgence Greek Project helps you study the Bible more effectively and more easily than ever before. No more flipping through numerous resources or problem solving an online tool that was designed in the early 90’s. Re:Greek brings you the latest technology to study the most timeless treasure, God’s Word, as part of the free online resources of theresurgence.com.

Fantastic.

I’ve seen others post on their blogs about seizing that often small amount of time between lying down for bed and actually falling asleep. Talk about redeeming the time! I’ve often lain in bed at night willing to God that I could read with my eyes closed, after Emily’s told me to go to sleep and my eyes are still struggling like Atlas to uphold their lids. I eventually give in–there comes a point where you have to. Unfortunately at that point your mind is still going and you feel that if you had the energy (or, in my case, God had granted the miracle that you could read with your eyes closed [however that might work out]), you could still be doing something productive.

Well, this post isn’t meant to be primarily about sleep, productivity, eyes that read while closed, or redeeming the time, but about a website I discovered this weekend that made me so happy I could have planted a tree. It’s called GreekLatinAudio.com, an “internet New Testament recording project. This web site offers free MP3 audio-files of high-quality recorded readings of the New Testament in fluid koine Greek and vulgate Latin.”

Friday night, as I lay me down to sleep, I downloaded John’s gospel in Greek and Latin and slapped them onto my MP3 player (quickly adding in the omitted ID3 tags). Loving both, I didn’t know which to listen to first. Greek it was. A rather gruff sounding man rolls through it. It sure beats me trying to read out loud to myself for this man flawlessly, naturally, and mellifluously brings the text alive. Sometimes I can’t quite pick up all the phonemes (the little pieces of sound that carry the meaning) and the text seems to run together just as it would be trying to listen to a radio broadcast in a language with which you’re unfamiliar. (His pronunciation is a little different than mine. I don’t believe he uses what’s known as the Erasmian pronunciation; I’m not quite sure though. His omicron is different.)

Nonetheless, the recordings done in a quality, listen-to-able manner, bring with them a new appreciation for both Koine Greek and the original autographs. Is this what it would have been like being with the church at Ephesus after receiving a letter from Paul, hearing it read aloud to the congregation? I like to imagine it so and that my hearing it read aloud links to me them and the original autograph somehow.

Also, I never noticed how poetic John chapter one sounds. It’s beautiful! Both the content and the form! Each short phrase is like the stroke of a brush painting a vibrant picture of Jesus ho logos. What a gift to the church!

The site has completed 25/27 books of the New Testament in both Greek and Latin with 2 Corinthians and John in progress (chapters 1-6 completed). Also,Genesis 1-25 and Jonah are available in Hebrew. Here’s a link into the download directory for the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. This site may be old news for you–shame on you for not telling me if that’s the case! I’m hoping that these recording will aid memorization of the Greek text.

Now, you can read, like me, with your eyes closed.