Blog
Better News for Biblical Studies at Sheffield
The Facebook group “Don’t Shut down Biblical Studies at Sheffield” has reported to its 1100+ members that “[t]he Biblical Studies Department is essentially back from the dead.” Jim West has the university’s memo to this effect posted on his blog.
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 52.3
The fall issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in the mail yesterday and includes the following: New Testament Kevin W. McFadden, “The Fulfillment of the Law’s Dikaiōma: Another Look at Romans 8:1–4,” pgs. 483–97 Jewish Scriptures Greg Goswell, “The Order of the Books in the Greek Old Testament,” pgs. 449–66 Chee-Chiew…
Good News for Biblical Studies at Sheffield
Biblical studies students at Sheffield apparently now have some good news. According to Christianity Today, Following student protests, the University of Sheffield in England decided to not close the department of biblical studies. A review by the pro-vice-chancellor had recommended shutting down the department down after current and 2009-2010 students completed their degrees, citing the…
מורה הצדק and Qumran Hermeneutics
In working through some bibliography recently for a conference paper proposal about מורה הצדק (the teacher of righteousness), I came across the following: Der Lehrer [der Gerechtigkeit] ist von Gott autorisiert, die Geheimnisse der Prophetenworte zu enträtseln, denn die Worte der Propheten sind Geheimnisse (רזים [pHab] 7,5), die man ohne Auslegung des Lehrers nicht verstehen…
Hermeneutics and “the Near”
Concerning interpreters’ obligation to look beyond themselves, Hans-Georg Gadamer observes the following: We are always affected, in hope and fear, by what is nearest to us, and hence we approach the testimony of the past under its influence. Thus it is constantly necessary to guard against overhastily assimilating the past to our own expectations of…
Paradigms and Communities
In Thomas Kuhn’s analysis, new paradigms attract adherents from older alternatives by producing sufficiently unprecedented achievements, but these new paradigms still leave work to be done because of the new problems that they create or the new issues they suggest (Kuhn 10, 17–18, 80). Yet, the community that accepts a given paradigm implicitly judges the…