…has been published and is available here.
Posted by Con Campbell
My review of Granville Sharp’s Canon and Its Kin, by Daniel B. Wallace
21 04 2010Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Granville Sharp, Greek
Categories : Uncategorized
Anakin & Luke Skywalker = Adam & Christ
3 02 2010I’m reading Mike Bird’s great little book, Introducing Paul, and had to share this analogy of Paul’s contrast between Adam & Christ. I’m sure the analogy should not be pushed too far, but it’s great for what it’s worth.
In want of a modern analogy, George Lucas’s six-part saga Star Wars can be called a ‘Tale of Two Skywalkers’, and in many ways mirrors the Adam–Christ contrast of Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, where Adam and Christ stand for the two respective heads of humanity. They are representatives or types of either a corrupted humanity (Adam) or a redeemed humanity (Christ). The first Skywalker (Anakin Skywalker) faced the temptation to give in to the dark side of the force: he gave in to it and death, destruction and chaos followed. In contrast, the second Skywalker (Luke Skywalker) faced the same temptation, but was faithful and obedient to the Jedi vocation, and consequently hope, life and the triumph of good followed. In fact, Luke was able to redeem the first Skywalker, his father Anakin, from evil through his faithfulness.
Introducing Paul, 43
Posted by Con Campbell
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Introducing Paul, Mike Bird, Paul
Categories : Uncategorized
Keep your Greek: Testing some lines 8
29 01 2010From the chapter on using your senses:
Increasingly, teachers are harnessing different methods for learning Greek, including catering for different learning styles and utilizing the power of our senses for language acquisition.
Because Greek is normally treated as a dead language (though it is far from it!), there is often little interest shown in pronouncing it or hearing it read aloud. This is a great shame. Speaking Greek out loud can be a very useful way to internalize the language.
It seems that singing Greek is all the rage at the moment.
Personally, some of my fondest Greek memories are associated with Kalamata olives and feta cheese, but that doesn’t really help with paradigms.
Posted by Con Campbell
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Uncategorized
Keep your Greek: Testing some lines 7
27 01 2010From the chapter called Get it right the first time. This chapter is aimed at students learning Greek for the first time, rather than pastors who need to recap.
If you’re a student at seminary, bible college, or university and are currently studying Greek, you will never have a better time to get it under your belt.
Keep in mind that you want to know Greek so that you can teach God’s word with depth of understanding, observing its subtleties and nuances, many of which cannot be conveyed in translation.
The more capable you become with Greek when you first learn it, the easier it will be to keep your Greek in the future.
If you can get yourself to that place, you will find it easy to keep your Greek. And that means that you’ll have years ahead of you to read the New Testament in Greek, study it in detail, and teach it with depth and understanding.
Posted by Con Campbell
Comments : 7 Comments »
Tags: Keep your Greek
Categories : Uncategorized
Keep your Greek: Testing some lines 6
25 01 2010From the chapter on reading slowly:
While it’s a good thing to practice reading Greek quickly (see the last chapter), it’s very important to balance that with reading slowly. Not because reading slowly is necessarily an inherently good thing, but the point is that you practice reading Greek carefully.
This can be incorporated simply into our daily Greek reading, as can reading quickly. The key is to mix it up so that your daily Greek reading is fast on occasion, and slow at other times.
The irony is that reading slowly and carefully will ultimately enable you to read quickly and easily.
Posted by Con Campbell
Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: Keep your Greek
Categories : Uncategorized
Keep your Greek: Testing some lines 5
19 01 2010From the chapter on reading Greek quickly:
When we read Greek quickly, it helps us to get ‘the vibe’ of the language. To get the vibe of something, you need frequent exposure to it, but also some comprehension of the bigger picture.
Reading quickly will also help you to ‘internalize’ the language in a way that slow and careful reading may not. To ‘internalize’ a language means that you no longer treat it as an abstract ‘code’ to be deciphered. Rather, it becomes more like a song you know really well.
Reading quickly also feels more like you’re actually reading because you’re taking in more content, and therefore piecing together the ideas and the wider message of the text.
Read Greek quickly and dig the vibe, man.
Posted by Con Campbell
Comments : 11 Comments »
Tags: Keep your Greek
Categories : Uncategorized
A Not-So-Silent Night
29 12 2009This is a bit late for Christmas, but will be useful for next year.
I was sent a copy of his new book, A Not-So-Silent Night: The Unheard Story of Christmas and Why it Matters, by my friend, and Zondervan senior editor, Verlyn Verbrugge.
Verlyn explores the ‘dark side’ of Christmas, setting the events of Jesus’ birth in their historical, scriptural, and cultural contexts. While there is of course much to celebrate at Christmastime, Verlyn argues that there is also much for sombre reflection. He likens Christmas to Good Friday: it’s good in a bad way.
It’s a great read. Some of the highlights include the exploration of the shame culture in which Mary suffered, being pregnant out of wedlock, the connections to the cross in the birth narratives, the debunking of the notorious “no room at the inn” story, and the many allusions to the beginning of a celestial war marked by Jesus’ birth.
The book is pitched at a popular level, so it’s short (98 pages) and easy to read (I read it in about 80 minutes). But it’s one of those books that, while being easy to read, is full of provocative (and in many cases, new) ideas.
I will definitely be dipping into this book for future Christmas sermons.
Posted by Con Campbell
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Christmas, Preaching, Review
Categories : Uncategorized
Introverts in the Church
21 12 2009
I picked up this new book, by Adam S. McHugh, at the SBL conference in New Orleans. When I bought it at the IVP stand, the woman serving me said, ‘So, you’re an introvert, huh?’ To which I replied, ‘Isn’t everybody at SBL?’.
At a conference for Bible geeks, there is no doubt a high proportion of introverts. But introverts are certainly not on home turf in many of our churches.
I recently read the book and recommend it for any introverted Christian, AND all extroverted pastors.
It’s helpful for introverts to alleviate the guilt that our extroverted evangelical culture sometimes causes. The book offers understanding that some introverts may not yet have about themselves, and provides lots of helpful hints and tips for being an introvert in ministry. It lets introverts off the hook at times, and challenges us at other times.
It’s helpful for extroverted pastors to help them to understand 50% of their congregations, and to be able to have effective team ministry with introverts. The book describes some ways in which extroverts and introverts can work together powerfully for good.
Probably the chapter I found most helpful was on introverts in leadership. There is a lot of helpful advice here for introverts who find themselves leading ministry teams, and how to lead as introverts, rather than pretending to be extroverts.
There are a few things in the book that I found a bit odd, arising out of the author’s apparently slightly-mystical version of evangelicalism. Extolling the virtues of some monastic practices was one of those things, but there’s still food for thought there.
If you’re an introvert, read it. If you’re an extroverted pastor, read it.
Posted by Con Campbell
Comments : 6 Comments »
Tags: Church, Introverts, Ministry
Categories : Uncategorized
Morality Not an End in Itself
13 12 2009
- Image via Wikipedia
C. S. Lewis once said:
“I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that thought Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke. Everyone there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filed with light. But they are too busy looking at the source from which it comes. But this is near the stage where the road passes over the rim of our world. No one’s eyes can see very far beyond that: lots of people’s eyes can see further than mine.”
Posted by Bruce Lowe
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=ebb64d8e-9b7c-4260-b46f-e9d4610686d9)
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Uncategorized
“Pursue Academic Responsibility”
9 12 2009
- Image by Naked_Eyes via Flickr
Recently I came across this quote from and old book: “Letter’s Along the Way” (Carson and Woodbridge). I thought it was worth posting:
“Pursue academic responsibility and trust God to work out the details of who hears you and what influence you have. Responsible scholarship has far more potential for discovering and buttressing truth and for winning people’s minds than mere respectability anyway. If instead you take the lower road and pursue mere academic respectability, you may gain more plaudits from the world, but it is far more doubtful that you will have the approbation of Heaven. Once in a while there have been scholars who have gained both; it is doubtful if they have ever done so by pursuing respectability.” (p176)
Posted by Bruce Lowe
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=eadf9bc6-6653-4cc3-868b-c770e7fb4947)
Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Uncategorized
Rick Creighton
Bruce Lowe
Con Campbell
RSS feed - Posts
Subscribe by Email
Recent Comments