James's Weblog

I picked up a second-hand copy of G B Caird's Penguin Commentary on Luke from 1963. Second-hand is all you'll get, but if you spot one in a second-hand bookshop, I'd say: Buy it!

Short. Insightful. Refreshing. Helpful.

I keep finding things written by Christopher Idle at the moment. It's purely co-incidence: Looking for something unrelated and stumble upon it. First some comments on the poem Death is Nothing at all, and now this.

Idle wrote a short article in New Directions magazine. I'm not particularly wanting to endorse or plug the publication – I've never seen a copy – I stumbled upon his article online.

What is an Evangelical? is a short article (so, reader, click through and read!) whose title partly defines what he's writing about. He's actually not seeking to define us evangelicals historically, doctrinally or in any other sense of what we should be. Rather he offers “a snapshot of what today's evangelical looks like. Or rather, a brief slice of fuzzy film where we have been caught on CCTV for a few minutes one Sunday.” And, yes, Idle and I are both evangelicals. This is a slightly satirical depiction from within.

How do we pray the Psalms as new covenant Christians? What difference does it make that they have been prayed before — now not just by king David but by king Jesus?

Is there any mileage in seeing the Lord's Prayer as a key part of this answer?

Those who were in my A-level maths class at school had the pleasure of being taught by a delightful teacher, who pretended not to didn't know what was on the syllabus. We were taught maths, and at some point he had a quick peak at the syllabus to check we were ready for the exams.

How heart-warming to read the BBC News headline: Too much maths 'taught to test'.

Having used it a little, Robert Alter's The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary looks to be a highly worthwhile book to have.

Robert Alter has done lots of work over the years on understanding how Hebrew poetry works. Here, he offers his own translation of the Psalms, together with a short commentary on the text. The comments are brief, but insightful. The translation is fresh, and where he differs significantly from most English versions he explains why he translates as he does.

Let me give an example, from Psalm 1:2

Translation:

But the LORD's teaching is his desire, and His teaching he murmurs day and night

Comment:

2. murmurs. The verb hagah means to make a low muttering sound, which is what one does with a text in a culture where there is no silent reading. By extension, predominantly in post-biblical Hebrew, it has the sense of “to meditate.”

Steve Leighton, of Has Bean Coffee has launched a simple new website, called Coffee 101. Want to learn a bit more about coffee? Here's what the site says about itself:

I'm just discovering, and enjoying doing so, Goldingay's commentary on the Psalms. (Volume 1 covers 1-41, Volume 2 coverse 42-89, and Volume 3, not out until December 2008, will cover 90-150.)

Some snippets from the introduction:

John Richardson offers us some interesting reading on Mark 13. He argues a few points somewhat more carefully than I have before, which I think clarifies things helpfully. Thanks John!

Back in May, we had some great moments on our CME weekend on preaching, led by Pete Wilcox, Canon Chancellor at Lichfield Cathedral. I have been meaning to blog these thoughts on lectionaries for some time, but somehow never got around to it. Anyway, finally, …

God is just. He punishes every sin exactly as it deserves. Not every sin is equally heinous, so not every judgement at the judgement day will be the same. God is just. And that is a wonderful truth.

There are lots of places in Scripture we could go to see this, but I've just found one I hadn't seen before, so I thought I'd share it.

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)