I had my first encounter tonight with a published author who sees nothing but negativity and self-centered control in Ezekiel’s message of restoration and hope. Brought up all sorts of feelings in my heart, mostly revolving around: “NO! You’re completely twisting it!” I’m encouraged that this academic project has not hardened my senses to what is true and right.
When writing a thesis, don’t abandon the way that you’ve been taught to write and the way of writing that has been successful for you throughout your whole time at graduate school. Trying to write in some other way, that you think your supervisor is telling you to write is unproductive and not helpful. Not to mention completely stressful.
Praise the Lord He had me come to this realization now. It’s after midnight and I’m pretty tired, but this is the least stressed I’ve been in the last four hours.
Back to outlining then writing.
Wondering about the Pual use in Ezek 14:9. Is it “if he is persuaded” or “if he let himself be persuaded”? HALOT suggests it could be either. The rest of the verse drastically changes depending on how one understands it. Any thoughts? Anybody know of any grammars that discuss a reflexive use of the Pual? JM doesn’t seem to mention a reflexive use…
A second type of criticism of the image of God as sovereign ruler over his creation is that it represents God as distant from the world, rather than involved in and with his creation. This criticism is misconceived when it is made against transcendence as such. Transcendence requires the absolute distinction between God and finite creatures, but not at all his distance from them. The transcendent God, precisely because he is not one finite being among others, is able to be incomparably present to all, closer to them than they are to themselves. This point is relevant to Revelation, because it explains how the God whose transcendence is so emphasized can in the new creation make his home with human beings (21:3). His nearness to his creation in the language of 21:3-4 is as striking as his transcendence in the vision of chapter 4. Moreover, even the image of the throne becomes, in the New Jerusalem, an expression of God’s closeness to his people (22:3-4; and cf. already 7:15-17).
– Richard Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation,p. 46
After a lengthy hiatus, Jennifer Knapp is back. We’ll be purchasing that album for sure.
HT: Mandy
I’m looking for some one to sponsor us this semester. So I don’t have to work and can just focus on the thesis full time. Any takers?!
In related news: I’ll be meeting with my professor in the next day or so to nail down a few more details on the thesis. Then I’ll post some about the whole project. I’m really looking forward to it.
Richard Bauckham, talking about the nature of the Gospels. Cool.
Want to see the movie, but haven’t yet. Don’t want to see it enough to shell out money for a theater ticket, so it’ll be in our Netflix queue in a year. But saw this interesting piece and wanted to share.
HT: Nathan W. via Facebook
For those around GCTS, the North Shore’s best mechanic is Dave’s Mobil. Great service, I’ve always gotten fair pricing from them. (See below for another). I got an oil change at Dave’s today and the price is the same as Jiffy Lube (less if you use one of their coupons). Plus, you don’t get the sales pitch that something is wrong with your car and should be replaced right then and there. They finished up, handed me the invoice and the guy at the cashier’s desk rung it up. Brilliant.
Do make sure to call ahead though since it is a mechanic and not a walk-up place. I called just after 8:00am this morning and the gentleman on the phone said he had room for me at 11:00am. When I came at 11 and asked for the oil change, he said he wouldn’t have time til tomorrow (not knowing who I was). I said I was the guy who called earlier that morning and he replied: “Alright. You’re the guy I was waiting for then. We’ll start the oil in 5 minutes.” 30 minutes later the oil change was done.
It’s been difficult for me to type out Textual Criticism symbols when doing papers. I have always had to approximate them; the professors understand the students’ difficulty with it and are gracious. But fear your text crit symbols no more. Ben Blackwell at Dunelm Road has helped us all.
