Category: Bible Backgrounds

Bible Backgrounds Biblical Language Issues Biblical Studies Inductive Study Methods Meeting the Jesus of Mark New Testament Studies NT's Use of the OT

Technical Terms We Only Think We Understand: Gospel in Mark 1:1

May 25, 2018 Andrew Sargent

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…

Bible Backgrounds New Testament Studies Old Testament Studies Uncategorized

Fun with Mourning: The Disconnected Roots of Biblical Mourning Rituals

May 16, 2018 Andrew Sargent

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…

Bible Backgrounds Communication Society

“Inconceivable!” When Old Words and New Meanings Meet in Bible Study

May 14, 2018 Scott Woodlee

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…

101 Most Misunderstood Verses Bible Backgrounds New Testament Studies Old Testament Studies

Lordy, Lordy, Look What’s Forty

April 28, 2018 Andrew Sargent

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…

Bible Backgrounds Old Testament Studies

1 Reason I Think the Double Isaiah Vision Needs Corrective Lenses

April 20, 2018 Andrew Sargent

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…

101 Most Misunderstood Verses Bible Backgrounds Biblical Studies Biblical Theology Old Testament Studies

Wells: The Singles’ Bars of the Ancient Near East

March 28, 2018 Andrew Sargent

One of my great-uncles, a true good-ol’boy from west Texas, once said to my great-grandmother, “Mamma, it’s hard to find a good woman like you out there.” She replied, “There…

Bible Backgrounds HAGALAH Society

Mother Necessity Reads the Bible

March 19, 2018 Andrew Sargent

There is little doubt in my mind that there is a constancy to human nature that maintains a vital unity and relevance for human experience from age to age and…

Bible Backgrounds Biblical Language Issues Biblical Studies Biblical Theology Old Testament Studies Text Criticism Issues

There is no Jehovah

March 16, 2018 Andrew Sargent

Being that few of my friends and neighbors have names that really mean something to us, (Other than Marsha Mello, Amanda Lynne, and Justin Case Yelle). I am intrigued about…

101 Most Misunderstood Verses Bible Backgrounds Biblical Language Issues Biblical Studies NT's Use of the OT Old Testament Studies

Hallelujah: Call “of” Praise or Call “to” Praise

March 12, 2018 Andrew Sargent

After discussing, in my recent blog post, “Hallelujah is a Sentence,” that the biblical “term” Hallelujah has grammar and that we should both be aware of that grammar and use…

Bible Backgrounds Communication

Time Out!—The Kinetic Communication Wars

March 2, 2018 Andrew Sargent

Today we have a guest Blogger. John Donnelly, Biblical Literacy Ministries Educator, Church Planter, Part-year missionary to India. Several years ago I was in Iguaçu Falls Brazil, planting churches with…

101 Most Misunderstood Verses Bible Backgrounds Biblical Studies Biblical Theology HAGALAH New Testament Studies NT's Use of the OT

A Prophet in Nain: Luke’s Portrait of Jesus in 7:11-16

January 3, 2018 Andrew Sargent

In my previous post “The Inanity of Nain,” I introduced the importance of the physical association of Jesus’ raising of the widow’s son with Elisha’s wondrous raising of the Shunammite’s.…

101 Most Misunderstood Verses Bible Backgrounds Biblical Studies HAGALAH Old Testament Studies

The Inanity of Nain

December 29, 2017 Andrew Sargent

Geography is part of historical context. Yaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnnnnn!!!!! No! Not just maps and boring stuff, but real places and the experience of living and moving and having one’s being there. Like…

101 Most Misunderstood Verses Bible Backgrounds Biblical Language Issues Biblical Studies Biblical Theology Theology

Why the Word “God” Makes me Uncomfortable

December 13, 2017 Andrew Sargent

“Whose an Elohim? Raise your hand.” One of the problems with being a biblical theologian is the discomfort I suffer whenever someone’s question crosses lines between biblical and “Christian” categories.…

101 Most Misunderstood Verses Bible Backgrounds Biblical Studies Biblical Theology Theology

4 Things You May not Know about Holiness

December 11, 2017 Andrew Sargent

Words for Holiness in Greek, Hebrew & Aramaic appear over 1000x in Scripture. Issues of holiness were important to those in the biblical era. Almost every aspect of life was…

Bible Backgrounds Biblical Studies Biblical Theology Society

Our Pagan Souls

December 6, 2017 Andrew Sargent

Read my blog long enough and you will find that I frequently bring up the frustration I feel as a right brained individual being often under the biblical studies thumb…

101 Most Misunderstood Verses Bible Backgrounds Biblical Language Issues Biblical Studies Intertestamental History & Literature Old Testament Studies

Tweaking Your Enemies Hebrew Style

December 4, 2017 Andrew Sargent

In my previous blog, “What’s in a Name?” I started a discussion on the importance of paying attention to the meaning of names in the Bible. Sometimes what comes out…

Bible Backgrounds Biblical Theology Intertestamental History & Literature Society Theology

The Power of Women in the Ancient World

November 29, 2017 Andrew Sargent

I am not insensible to the rage many women feel over the modern misconception that the plight of women in the world is almost solely the result of a grand…

101 Most Misunderstood Verses Bible Backgrounds Biblical Language Issues Biblical Studies HAGALAH Uncategorized

What’s in a Name?

August 14, 2017 Andrew Sargent

In our own western culture the connection between names and meaning is rather slight. I know this, in part, because I am one of those annoying, but well meaning, people…

Bible Backgrounds Biblical Studies Biblical Theology HAGALAH Inductive Study Methods Theology

The Engendering of Gender Generalities

August 9, 2017 Andrew Sargent

Doing biblical theology requires one to lay aside even precious biases in order to hear the message of Scripture speaking from foreign lands in foreign tongues out of foreign cultures.…

Bible Backgrounds Biblical Language Issues Biblical Studies Biblical Theology HAGALAH Old Testament Studies Theology

The Limits of Biblical Theology

August 4, 2017 Andrew Sargent

One of the advantages, or disadvantages as the case may be, of being a biblical theologian, in which my phenomenological (i.e. believer’s) approach to the text within a historical grammatical…