Category Archives: Textual Criticism

the status of homer in the ancient world

Posted on May 3, 2014 by christopher fisher

Homer wrote the Odyssey and the Iliad between 750 and 650 BC. Around 570 BC, Xenophanes introduced the notion that the Greek gods were false. Instead, the real god was without body: Clement of Alexandria Miscellanies 5. 109: Xenophanes of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Calvinism, Greek History, Plato, Textual Criticism, Theology | 1 Comment

hermeneutics

Posted on May 3, 2014 by christopher fisher

Hermeneutics is defined as methods of Biblical interpretation, although this term would also apply to other religious texts such as the Greek Iliad and Odyssey or any other ancient document. The Bible is a historical text, much like the array … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Figures of Speech, Textual Criticism | Leave a comment

walter brueggemann on Scripture as advocacy

Posted on April 1, 2014 by christopher fisher

From Walter Brueggemann’s Theology of the Old Testament: …it is clear that Israel’s testimony is intended to generate an accepted, normative narrative construal of reality in which the members of Israel can live… It is readily imaginable that other testimonies … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Calvinism, Open Theism, Textual Criticism, Theology | Leave a comment

william lane craig debates ehrman

Posted on January 31, 2014 by christopher fisher

William Lane Craig is said by atheists to be someone atheists should never debate. Atheists self-admittedly get trounced by William Lane Craig. Here is Common Sense Atheist on the matter: Let me repeat. Craig has done 20+ years of Ph.D+ … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Bible Critics, Church History, Ehrman, Textual Criticism, videos | Leave a comment

huffpo gets something right

Posted on January 10, 2014 by christopher fisher

From a post titled “5 Common Misconceptions About the Bible“: The character “Yahweh” in the Hebrew Bible should not be confused with the god of western theological speculation (generally referred to as “God”). The attributes assigned to “God” by post-biblical … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, God, Omniscience, Textual Criticism | Leave a comment

interpretation of languages

Posted on December 6, 2013 by christopher fisher

I’ve linked to this in the past but it is worthy of its own post. In this video Joel Hoffman explains a few points about interpreting foreign languages. Although I dont totally agree with him on everything, he makes very … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Figures of Speech, Textual Criticism, Theology, videos | Leave a comment

obfuscation and illustrations

Posted on December 5, 2013 by christopher fisher

When in debates, especially concerning theology, there is a tendency for each side to accuse the other of trying to switch topics. In a field as wide as theology, where different people have a wide number of interconnected beliefs which … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, critical thinking, Figures of Speech, Human Nature, Textual Criticism, Theology | Leave a comment

basic questions on acts 15

Posted on December 3, 2013 by christopher fisher

When watching movies with my wife, she tends to intuitively identify bad plot writing. She will turn to me and say: “Why did xyz character do xyz action?” I will respond often with “because the movie has a terrible plot … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Dispensationalism, Textual Criticism, Theology | 2 Comments

walter brueggemann on a literal reading of the Bible

Posted on December 3, 2013 by christopher fisher

From Walter Brueggemann’s Theology of the Old Testament: Israel’s testimony, however, is not to be understood as a claim subject to historical explication or to philosophical understanding. It is rather an utterance that proposes that this particular past be construed … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Calvinism, God, Open Theism, Textual Criticism, Theology | Leave a comment

beware calvinism

Posted on November 24, 2013 by christopher fisher

Calvinism is simply defined as a theology that borrows divine attributes from Platonism. Platonism originated the idea of the Summum Bonum, the perfect good. To Plotinus, the “perfect good” was a timeless, unchanging, omnipresent, and omniscient being (all the negative … Continue reading →

Posted in Augustine, Bible, Calvinism, God, Open Theism, Textual Criticism, Theology | 5 Comments