Books, News, and Projects

Random stuff post ahead!

As I am sure most of you who read this blog already know, codex Sinaiticus will be going online this week here: http://www.codex-sinaiticus.net/. Thanks to Wieland for pointing out the link.

And another bit that I mention just because I find it funny. Reading the B-Greek list a reference to this news story was made about the website. I haven’t even read the whole thing. It’s probably because a) I’ve read about it elsewhere and b) the picture is not from Sinaiticus but from a Syriac manuscript! News people...

I have put most of my blogging and much of my regular studying on hold for the last few weeks to work on a short series that I taught at the church. It was on a proper Christian worldview for the mission of the church and was in three parts: scriptural foundations, historical examples of good and bad Christian worldviews (Ignatius, Constantine, Christian Monasticism, Fall of Rome, and St Patrick and the Irish), and time with some questions for pondering. It was a very fun series and a learned a lot studying for it. But now it is over. Perhaps I’ll share some...but for now I’m back to my normal study plan and projects.

You wanted me to read Ehrman’s Lost Christianities and I am about half way through. Good book (with caveats) so far.

I went to DTS yesterday to look at something in the library and I dropped by the bookstore. I saw something that was at a good price that I could not resist: The Many Gospels of Jesus: Sorting Out the Story of the Life of Jesus. When I’m finished with Ehrman I think I may read that one next.

And since we are on the topic of bookstores, I have gone into two "popular" or "normal-people" or "non-academic" bookstores in the last couple of weeks. One was Family Christian Bookstores. The other was Mardel. Though there is a great deal of fluff in Mardel, they do have some really nice books. They obviously don’t have the selection that the DTS bookstore has, but there are a number of books on Greek, Hebrew, Christian History, and Theology that aren’t just introductory material. Go Mardel! As for Family Christian Bookstores, well, I just don’t see me going in there again anytime soon...

If you are not a subscriber to the B-Greek mailing list, I would recommend it. I don’t really contribute much, but I enjoy listening to the discussions. Lately they have been having a discussion on BDAG and Thayer, and it has been very informative. I’m a big fan of BDAG but now have a renewed respect for the other. Anyway, it is discussions like that which make the list interesting.

Comments

Esteban Vázquez 2008-07-22 09:15:13

I’m sorry, but the Family Christian Stores (which chain I am wont to call "The Emporium of Blasphemous Christian Trinketry") don’t count as a "normal-people" bookstore.

(Incidentally, I was a freshman in college when they changed their name from "Family Bookstores" to "Family Christian Stores." My friends and I--all of us very smart, you see--took it upon ourselves to go regularly into the large FCS then on campus and ask them to sell us a Christian. Har har. ;-)

Eric 2008-07-22 09:41:27

Clever. And yes, I guess I shouldn’t call it a "normal-people" store because it is insulting to the average Joe to associate such a poor conception of what makes for good Christian literature with him. Maybe I’ll go ahead and call it the "depraved-people" store. Your name is good too, but it sure involves a lot of extra typing!