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Archive by category Theology (Page 5)
Who is the grand “HE” in Isaiah 44:18.[1] Of Idol makers and Idol worshipers, Isaiah says, “They do not know; they do not understand because he plastered over their eyes so they cannot see, their hearts so they cannot understand.” Calvinists usually identify the “HE” as YHWH/God, and...
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July 29, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
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Isaiah 28:10 is one of those verses that people love to use as a tagline to add a feeling of dedicated, diligent, and trustworthy study of Scripture in their endeavors, especially if that endeavor is supposed to be some form of inductive study. It is usually shortened, and...
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July 27, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
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Samuel’s speech to Saul in 1 Samuel 15:28-29 contains an important theological message for both Saul and the reader. It’s meaning, however, has been concealed within rather strange cultural practices regarding hems and herem slaughter, which have often been overshadowed themselves by other statements that seem more powerful—”To...
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July 25, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies, Theology
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In a place like the world of the Bible where people were given names like “Festive” (2 Samuel 3:4~ Haggith), “Hot” (Genesis 10:1 Ham), and “Wild Goat” (Nehemiah 7:58~Jaala), you might imagine that the names of their gods might also have some descriptive quality. Of particular interest is...
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July 18, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
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In our last few posts on 1 Samuel 15:27-31, we attempted to unpack the text in context in order to draw out of it, the narrator’s intended theological message… i.e. the reason he included the story in the larger Samuel narrative. Individual stories function in larger biblical narrations...
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June 3, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
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So far, we have considered 1 Samuel 15 from a different angles. We have discovered how serious Saul’s sin is. A sin akin to defiling the Ark of the Covenant and stealing the golden lampstand for good measure. We have examined the meaning of Saul’s grasp of Samuel’s...
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May 30, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
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We are looking at the divine condemnation of Saul’s dynasty in 1 Samuel 15, having already considered the seriousness of the sin which lead directly to it. In the midst of the exchange between discredited king and holy prophet, 1 Samuel 15:27-31, a strange social ballet of sorts...
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May 27, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
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Okay, Saul goofed. He failed to perfectly enacts a rather brutal command to exterminate another people group. It’s hard to get our modern hearts around this too much. We aren’t so keen on genocide these days, and we have more than a little resentment for the kind of...
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May 25, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
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I am continuing today with my week long summary and reflection on Martin Buber’s monumental work, I and Thou. If this confuses you, I recommend reading or re-reading my previous four posts on Buber’s work. I-thou represents the attitude of man in communion with God and his creation....
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May 16, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Theology
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I am continuing today with my week long summary and reflection on Martin Buber’s monumental work, I and Thou. If this confuses you, I recommend reading or re-reading my previous three posts on Buber’s work. I-thou represents the attitude of man in communion with God and his creation....
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May 13, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Theology
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I am continuing today with my week long summary and reflection on Martin Buber’s monumental work, I and Thou. If this confuses you, I recommend reading or re-reading my previous two posts on Buber’s work. I-thou represents the attitude of man in communion with God and his creation....
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May 11, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Theology
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I am continuing today with my week long summary and reflection on Martin Buber’s monumental work, I and Thou. The best way to introduce Buber’s idea in his book I and Thou is with his own words. “To man,” he says, “the world is two-fold in keeping with...
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May 9, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Theology
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I read a lot. I read a lot of lots of different stuff. For my academic work I read large amounts of material on linguistics, history, theology, interpretive methodology, and biblical studies, (not to mention reading articles about politics and religion and psychology and the like all day...
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May 8, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Theology
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It is often the case that in a misguided attempt to combat one thing, human beings inadvertently destroy something else… or cause the very thing they seek to avert. It’s the natural result of being short-sighted, selfish, and prone to seek the path of least resistance. Nobody is...
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May 5, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Society, Theology
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Even though I specialize in Old Testament Studies and interpretive methodology, I still find certain areas of study quite difficult to unravel. The world of the Old Testament has many secrets that the millennia have yet to whisper into our modern ears. The exact meaning of much...
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April 29, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
This is a sensitive post for me today. I want to respond to another Christian blogger’s post. Unfortunately, by doing so, I set myself up to look bad, to look like a big meanie who poo-poos a post meant to be loving and honoring. I set myself up...
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April 27, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Society, Theology
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Today we have a guest Blogger. John Donnelly, Biblical Literacy Ministries Educator, Church Planter, Part-year missionary to India. John has a Master’s in Old Testament Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Masters degree in New Testament studies from the same. So here he is on “The Unseemly Assumptions about...
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April 25, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
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Joseph Bonham, M.A. is today’s guest blogger. Joseph has his own blog called the Biblical Bean, linked below. In addition to a Bachelors in Biblical Studies, he holds a master of arts from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Biblical Languages / Hebrew Bible. ·He has agreed to address a question I...
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April 18, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Meeting the Jesus of Mark
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We’ve been discussing some important points about Covenant both in Scripture and in the ancient world. So, if you’ve been following my string of posts on Covenant, here are our facts so far: Today, I’d like to add a 6th element to this list. So here goes: 6....
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April 13, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Old Testament Studies
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Since we live in a contractual world, not a covenantal world, a crash course in biblical era covenant cutting is in order. Now, don’t get me wrong, we still have the tattered remnants of covenant-making in our modern western societies, but it mostly resembles the scattered debris of...
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April 11, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
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