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Book Review: A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible, 2nd ed. (Zondervan Academic)
Because I am involved in teaching the biblical languages at the seminary level, I am regularly asked about Greek and Hebrew Reader Bibles. I have not had much experience with Reader Bibles so I asked Zondervan to let me review their 2nd edition of A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible. I hope this review will be helpful both to my students as well as the academically-inclined reader of the blog. The Aesthetics, Bulk, Weight, etc. First of all, I was impressed with the texture of the hard cover and the quality of the binding. Granted I am no expert on book bindings, but it seems very solid, and lays flat immediately. It is one of the more annoying things to have a book that doesn’t lay flat, so this is much appreciated! It is 4 LBS, and contains 2272 pages. It seems comparable my Biblia Sacra which is about…
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When We Wrestle with God for the Wrong Reasons
I recently was pointed to an article by Desiring God which encourages the believer to wrestle with God like Jacob wrestled with God at Peniel/Mahanaim (Gen 32:1-32). The implication of the article is that Jacob’s wrestling match with God is a pattern for us to follow—we too ought to wrestle with God! I have written before about the bad habit of reading Bible stories inappropriately, but this is a good example of this bad practice. Like many well-intentioned Bible readers, the author assumes that the actions of the characters in the story are to be emulated and the events of the story should form our expectations of how God operates with us. For example, the author notes the following: God will meet you in your anguish, fear, and uncertainty. But he may not meet you in the way you expect or desire. Your greatest ally may show up looking at…
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The Christian and Fiction
Growing up I remember some people in my church telling me that the books about Harry Potter were from the Devil, and no Christians should read them. I didn’t really pay too much attention to the debate because I was not interested in those books at that time anyway. However, as I grew older I became much more of a reader. I currently try to read every day, and read from a wide variety of genres. The last year and a half I stepped up my fiction reading, and have completed the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (John Carter Series), J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter), and Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson). My fiction reading has helped increase my reading speed and ability to focus. It has also given my imagination a needed boost. In my opinion the above are a few of the many benefits of reading fiction for the Christian.…