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Archive by category Biblical Studies (Page 2)
So you are reading a prophetic vision story in the Bible, perhaps say, 1 Kings 22:19ff, and God appears sitting on a heavenly throne. Have you ever asked yourself the question… “Who invented the throne… God or People?” For that matter, who invented the chair? Did God sit...
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April 22, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Old Testament Studies
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Once upon a time in a far away land, people made covenants. They were very happy with their covenants and everyone understood them. These covenants were so powerful in their message and work that the great God of the land, Yahweh he was called by those who knew...
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April 19, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Old Testament Studies
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In our last episode, we introduced the bare bones essence of water baptism as an ancient covenant ratification act saturated with typical death imagery and corresponding OT interests in ordeal (the divinely ordained safe passage through the maws of death, representing divine election and/or divine decrees of innocence). ...
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April 18, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Intertestamental History & Literature, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
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So you read the whole Old Testament. You read it several times. Having immersed yourself in the literature that your Bible, by its basic structure, seems to promise as the precursor to the rest, you finally turn to the New Testament. This is how it always goes isn’t...
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April 16, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
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I will never forget my first Master’s paper at Regent University. I called it, “How They Got This Out of That.” I worked hard in my undergraduate programs (Yes, programs plural… I had a sordid flirtation with more than one Bible College before beginning my graduate studies.) but...
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April 15, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies, Text Criticism Issues
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I love the word asymptotic. I’m not a mathematician. No offense intended to all you left brained calculus types, but I actually hate doing math. It seems to me, however, that asymptotic defines my life’s work… and yours too if Christ-likeness, Biblical understanding, theology, and/or any other branch...
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April 12, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, Society
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One of the benefits of a being raised in a blue collar environment and receiving academic training is that I tend to experience the full force of learning. This means that no matter how much I succeeded in my education, writing and research, I labored hard for it…...
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April 12, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Inductive Study Methods
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There is a certain beauty in translation. It is not only a science, but also an art… some would say not even a science. There are all kinds of philosophies that govern how a given translation attempts to render one language into another, and while I don’t have...
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April 11, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Language Issues, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
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The resurrection of Jesus is not just one grand miracle amid a ministry filled with grand miracles. It stands alone among all the works of Jesus for the magnitude of its significance in the lives of the followers of Jesus, the Christ. It is a unique event not...
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April 10, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, New Testament Studies, Theology
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To the Hebrews context mattered a good deal. Our own struggles to understand the use to which some New Testament writers put certain Old Testament texts may make us doubt that they cared about the Historical Grammatical and Literary context of a passage but we would be wrong....
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May 28, 2018 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
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There are many bingo phrases that Christian’s throw around at church that I am convinced they barely understand. If you ask them what their favorite terms mean, you will, more than likely, get a rather short answer which misses the mark if, for nothing else, its very brevity....
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May 25, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
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I had a professor once, gifted in languages, but not in relationships. He could not only read more than his fair share of languages even for a scholar, but he was also a fluent conversationalist in several. He decided that he wanted his wife to learn to speak...
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May 21, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
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The late questionably great comedian Andy Kaufman, apart from his iconic role as Latka on Taxi, spent his days devising comedy routines that played the audience for fools. His manager once asked him, (I paraphrase) “Who are you trying to entertain, the audience or yourself?” This might describe...
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May 16, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, New Testament Studies, Old Testament Studies, Uncategorized
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Today is a guest post by Scott A. Woodlee, pastor of Franklin Alliance Church (in Franklin, PA) and a contributor with Biblical Literacy Ministries. In the movie The Princess Bride the Sicilian mastermind Vizzini decries, “Inconceivable” after every foiled attempt to outwit others. For him, to have someone be able to match...
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May 14, 2018 Scott Woodlee
Bible Backgrounds, Communication, Society
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Though appearing over 1000x in Scripture, HOLY is a tricky notion to express in modern secular communities. Few raised in the modern western tradition today have the proper mental and emotional categories to contain its full weight and meaning, even when accurately defined through extended description; and we...
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May 2, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
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Maybe it’s just me, but a lot of uber-Evangelicals seem kind of nervous. Maybe its from watching too many horror movies, but I tend to doubt it. Now, I am the last person to disparage church folk for being guilty of things that are just as common to your...
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April 28, 2018 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, New Testament Studies, Old Testament Studies
One of the things that separates us from the animals, other than our smashing good looks, is the ability to use sound to form words and to use words to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. This combination is often called grammar or syntax. A friend once quipped, “Don’t...
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April 27, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark
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Years ago, during my first Master’s degree, I spent on-again off-again bouts of time considering the relationship of the two stories in the middle of Isaiah to the material that was around it. What bothered me, initially, was discovering that the events for these four chapters are presented...
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April 25, 2018 Andrew Sargent
HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
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I always wanted a mentor when I was young. I was hungry for truth and hungry for the Scriptures, but had the misfortune to find myself in a church that cared little for either. There were more than enough egotistical blowhards to go around, so if I wanted...
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April 23, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, HAGALAH, Old Testament Studies
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One of the things I’ve learned about debate is that you can present powerful, yet, utterly false arguments for almost any position you choose to take. Debate is not about being right, it’s about convincing people… and if you can humiliate your opponent at the same time, Kudos!...
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April 20, 2018 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Old Testament Studies
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