I’m eagerly anticipating the arrival of my copy of the soon-to-be-released JPS Illustrated Children’s Bible. The illustrations look to be beautifully rendered. But even more than the illustrations, I am looking forward to reading the stories from a fresh point of view. From the introduction: My chief aim in writing this book has been to [...]
I’m doing a bit of research right now that puts me into various genealogies listed in scripture. Many people have one of two reactions (or both) when encountering these passages–fear of trying to pronounce all the names and/or the need to keep poking themselves to stay awake while they read those sections. However, have you [...]
Erik Hersman, who grew up in Kenya and Sudan, is the White African, and his blog is a great read. This week he posts 15 tips for traveling to Africa. His suggestions are great, but be sure to read the comments as they are just as useful. You should also trek on over to his [...]
Daniel and Tonya tagged me in the recent book meme that is making the rounds: Name 5 books or scholars that had the most immediate and lasting influence on how you read the Bible. In no particular order: 1. Mark Smith’s (peer-less) work on the Baal Cycle introduced me to the world of Ugaritic and [...]
This is not a hypothetical situation. A friend (and former student) of mine will be traveling to China this summer to teach Biblical Hebrew to a group of about 50 students (who are mostly pastors). The facts (as I know them): 1. Number of students: 50 adults 2. Time frame: 10 class days (2 weeks), [...]
Chris Heard of Higgaion is attending the week-long workshop for the COHELET Project. He’s posted the first of what will hopefully be daily updates. Read the comments for some discussion about when to teach the aleph-bet. UPDATES: Here is the link for Chris’s second post about his participation in the workshop. Final summary from Chris [...]
If you are writing a doctoral dissertation, you should register with phddata.org. This site holds a database of doctoral dissertations in progress around the world. The site is an open academic community effort to: Avoid duplications in doctoral dissertations Create the ultimate meeting place for researchers Allow for interaction between them On the other hand, [...]
Daniel & Tonya have posted the first installment of their “hypothetical” syllabus for teaching Biblical Hebrew to a group of adults. They describe the class (and participants) this way: This hypothetical Hebrew class is offered through and meets at a hypothetical, local Baptist church. All the hypothetical students are members or attenders of the church. [...]
[I'm being a bit antagonistic on purpose with that title to get some reactions, but only a bit!] Tonya & Daniel (bloggers at Hebrew & Greek Reader) asked me a question about communicative methodology in learning Hebrew when they interviewed me. After that, Seumas MacDonald wrote a four-piece essay (here, here, here, and here) on [...]
