Category Archives: Language

The Name of God

Posted on May 6, 2013 by

God’s name is singular: he only has one: Yahweh. All the other words are designations or descriptions, like referring to myself as “theologian” or “author” or “annoying.” But neither of those is my name. Some people have nick names. And … Continue reading →

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Three Blind Mice

Posted on May 4, 2013 by

One day when my middle daughter and I were sitting and waiting in her pediatrician’s office, she noticed a painting on the wall of a children’s nursery rhyme. And we wondered who had written it, what it might be about, … Continue reading →

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The Equality of Women

Posted on April 2, 2013 by

Pastor Ralph Drollinger, who used to be a minister associated with Grace Community Church in Southern California, was quoted in 2004 as writing that a woman is scripturally and specifically “prohibited from leadership in the institutions of marriage, family and … Continue reading →

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Bible Codes

Posted on September 4, 2012 by

Martin Gardner had a column in Scientific American that ran for years and years, in which he would discuss various mathematical and scientific oddities. One item he discussed years ago is the concept of the Bible codes that became popular … Continue reading →

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Syriac

Posted on August 24, 2012 by

One of the languages I have taught is called Syriac, an obscure dialect of Aramaic. Syriac is a Semitic language, related to both Hebrew and Arabic in the same way that German is related to English. An English speaker will … Continue reading →

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Pharisees

Posted on July 19, 2012 by

Assuming the article on NBCNews.com is accurate, LifeWay Stores, which are associated with my denomination (the Southern Baptist Convention), pulled the movie, The Blind Side from their shelves about a month ago because a pastor in Florida by the name … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Culture, Language, Religion, Theology, Writing | 3 Comments

Translation

Posted on June 21, 2012 by

There is an old Italian saying: “Translators? Traitors!” The meaning behind this short couplet (the two words actually sound even more similar in Italian than they do in English) is that no matter what a translator accomplishes, he or she … Continue reading →

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Teaching Languages

Posted on June 20, 2012 by

I don’t just write books. I also teach in a small, church-based seminary, where besides lecturing on systematic theology, the Bible, logic, and research methodology, I have been known to regularly teach a foreign language. For more than twenty-five years … Continue reading →

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Gluttony

Posted on April 9, 2012 by

The meanings of words can undergo surprising alterations over time. On occasion, the shifts are so drastic that we may end up entirely misunderstanding the actual intent of the word, with serious consequences. There can be cultural shifts that happen … Continue reading →

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Quote for the Day

Posted on June 23, 2011 by

The proverbial German phenomenon of the verb-at-the-end about which droll tales of absentminded professors who would begin a sentence, ramble on for an entire lecture, and then finish up by rattling off a string of verbs by which their audience, … Continue reading →

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