Tyndale House Journal

Greetings

2010-12-24T17:00:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone!

ἐξήγησις: A New Blog

2010-04-22T07:00:00.001-07:00

I am announcing today that I am beginning a new blog. What? Starting a new blog, another blog? Well, yes, but it may be that this new blog will become the focus of all my blogging. For far too many reasons to enumerate or even to begin to express, I am finding that I need to concentrate my energies on fewer matters but especially concerning those things wherein my own skills and abilities will make the most difference.

So, today, I am beginning a new blog titled ἐξήγησις, exegesis for non-Greek readers. The banner indicates that the blog will feature exegetical inquiry concerning the Greek New Testament. It will offer exegetical insights from my own labors in the GNT, but it will also raise concerns, issues, and questions about passages within the GNT over which I puzzle.

Spring 2010 Tyndale House Newsletter

2010-01-28T08:17:00.000-08:00

Read the latest newsletter from Tyndale House.

Tyndale House

2010-01-02T05:23:00.000-08:00

Tyndale House, Cambridge, has a nice new web site. Take a look.

The Faith of Jesus Christ, Paternoster

2009-03-10T12:13:00.001-07:00

The Faith of Jesus Christ:Exegetical, Biblical and Theological Studies (page 3).

Edited by Michael F. Bird and Preston M. Sprinkle

The Faith of Jesus Christ represents an attempt to grapple with one of the most perplexing problems in Pauline studies, namely that of the phrase pistis christou. Issues of considerable theological import hinge on how we interpret it (does it mean ‘faith in Christ’ or ‘the faithfulness of Christ’?). The topic is now well rehearsed in contemporary scholarship and this volume sheds new light on the question by presenting rigorous exegetical studies from both sides of the debate. It also brings creative new proposals to bear on the problem, and orients the discussion in the wider spectrum of historical, biblical and systematic theology.

The Faith of Jesus Christ represents the most penetrating and comprehensive attempt to date to grapple with the significance of Jesus’ faithfulness and obedience for Christian salvation and the extent to which it is represented in key biblical texts.

Contributors include Francis Watson, Douglas Campbell, Stanley Porter, David DeSilva, Paul Foster, Richard Bell, Joel Willitts, Mark Seifrid, Barry Matlock, Michael Bird, Andrew Pitts, Mark Elliott, Ardel Caneday, Peter Bolt, Bruce Lowe, Bill Salier, Debbie Hunn, Ben Myers, and Preston Sprinkle. Foreword by James D.G. Dunn.

Michael F. Bird is Tutor in New Testament at Highland Theological College, Scotland; Preston M. Sprinkle is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Cedarville University, USA Apr 09 / 978-1-84227-641-9 / £14.99 (est.) / 229 x 152mm / 208pp (est.) / World (excluding North America) / Biblical Studies/New Testament

The book is to be published by Hendrickson in the USA.

The essay that I wrote for the book came out of some of the research that I did while at Tyndale House during my sabbatical during the winter-spring of 2007.

TH Newsletter

2009-03-10T12:11:00.001-07:00

Check out the 2009 edition of the Tyndale House Newsletter.

Tyndale Bulletin Now Online

2009-01-08T05:39:00.000-08:00

This is a wonderful way to start off a new year. We may now access online back issues of the Tyndale Bulletin, beginning with 1956.

Thanks to David Instone-Brewer and all at Tyndale House for tackling and completing this massive project. When I was studying at Tyndale House two years ago, at this time, the folks were clearing out closet space by removing boxes of back issues and giving them away as they were beginning the digitizing process.

This project provides a great resource for scholars world-wide. Thanks Tyndale House!

Free online access to all SAGE journals

2008-09-30T06:17:00.000-07:00

Free online access to all SAGE journals until October 31, 2008

You can now register for free online access to over 500 SAGE journals with content available from 1999–current, until October 31, 2008!

Earlier this year, SAGE celebrated the launch of the 500th journal site on the SAGE Journals Online platform. SAGE Journals Online provides users access to one of the largest collections of social science, humanities, and scientific, technical, and medical content in the world.

You can register here.

New Book Published

2008-09-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

I just received word that A Cloud of Witnesses: The Theology of Hebrews in its Ancient Contexts has just rolled off the presses. This book, edited by Nathan McDonald, Trevor Hart, Richard Bauckham, and Daniel Driver (once all of the University of St. Andrews), derived from papers presented at the University of St. Andrews Conference on Hebrews and Theology held in July 2006.

I was invited to contribute my essay to the book, which I was pleased to do. My essay is "The Eschatological World Already Subjected to the Son: The Οἰκουμενῆ of Hebrews 1:6 and the Son’s Enthronement."

Global Implosion and the Korah Effect

2008-04-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Far more serious and far more terrifying than the "global freeze" scare of the late 1970s and early 1980s or the "global warming" fright that presently holds activists, politicians, scaremongers among the media, and moonbat educators in its grip is the issue no one, and I mean no one, is talking about or expressing any concern about it. The issue is "global implosion." Far more serious than any scare or fright attached to rumors that fossil fuels are quickly being depleted is the horror that looms beneath our feet.

The earth is imploding. Sinkholes all around the world are harbingers of horrors to come. The "Korah Effect" threatens humanity. Because of humanity's greed, earth's fossil fuel resources are becoming depleted at alarming rates. Consequently, the earth is fighting back, swallowing up large portions of land, gulping down houses, devouring vehicles, all to warn humans that they will also be swallowed alive like Korah, Dathan, Abiram and their whole families. See Numbers 16.

Scientists are sounding the alarm, but no one in the media is willing to carry the story. Earth scientists are making urgent appeals to world government leaders, but no one gives them an ear. President Bush callously turns a deaf ear to these scientists who warn that all mineral mining, all drilling for oil, all drilling for natural gas, and every other form of mining for earth's treasures must stop immediately. Otherwise, the earth will continue to implode at alarming rates.

Some scientists theorize that only those portions of earth's surface where no mining or drilling is or has taken place may not suffer implosion. However, scientists admit that they are merely speculating. Even those places untouched by mining and drilling may implode. They warn that if individuals seek safety by fleeing their at risk regions to areas of earth's surface that have experienced no history of mining and drilling, the added weight of refugees may put extra strain upon those regions as well, causing even those areas to implode.

Sweden already has begun measures to move an entire town. Reuters reports,

The Arctic town of Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost municipality, is under threat as cracks caused by decades of iron ore mining slowly erode its foundations.

Such is the fate of humans worldwide. The earth is collapsing because of human greed. Mining must cease immediately. Leave the diamonds in the earth. Stop looting the earth's coal resources. Iron ore should forevermore remain where it lies under the earth's surface. Oil must stay in the earth to support the earth's surface. Stop cutting, scraping, digging, drilling, and scarring the earth. If we do not stop, earth will swallow us all alive, just like with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. We will all be doomed.

Will we survive to see another April 1?

Time Saving Tyndale House Toolbar

2008-03-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the latest addition to the Tyndale Tech blog. FInd posted information about the new Tyndale Toolbar . It is a wonderful tool for doing research, especially biblical research. Download the toolbar here. The only toolbar that I have used, until now, is Google's. I have downloaded the Tyndale House toolbar and have been using it for a week or more. I recommend it. It is a great time saver.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T09:28:00.001-08:00

καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας. . . . ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος. ὅτι ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐδόθη ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο.

And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us and we beheld his glory, glory as of the unique One from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . For from his fullness we all received even grace in the place of grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

Tyndale Tech Moves to Blog Format Site

2007-12-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

Recent correspondence from David Instone-Brewer, Senior Research Fellow in Rabbinics and the New Testament, Tyndale House, indicates the following.

"Tyndale Tech tries to keep you up to date with electronic resources for Biblical Studies.I've now moved it to a blog-style site where you can add your comments on the issues. All the old posts are there, and new ones will be posted there as well as appearing in email.This means you can add your wisdom on the various topics to share with other scholars.It also means you can hear about new posts using RSS as well as or instead of emails."

I am delighted with the news. Access to these helpful electronic biblical resources is now much easier. Find the tech materials here or here, integrated into the Tyndale House web pages.

Interview with P. J. Williams

2007-08-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

Click here for an informative interview with P. J. Williams, Warden of Tyndale House.

Stay with Clive and Carmel

2007-06-14T20:33:00.001-07:00

Hey, readers! Check this out. Clive and Carmel, owners and hosts of Cumberland House near Gatwick have launched their new web site and they have included comments by yours truly and have even linked to my Tyndale House Journal.

Next time you have a stopover at Gatwick, please do call upon Clive and Carmel if you find yourself in need of a comfortable bed, friendly hosts, a good rest, and a hearty English breakfast all for a modest price. Mentioning my name probably won't get you any discount, but it may prompt a few memories.

Enjoy!

ETS President, Francis Beckwith Resigns, Returns to Catholic Church

2007-05-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

See the entry on my blog, Biblia Theologica, for the story.

David Instone-Brewer in Wall Street Journal

2007-04-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

Dr. Instone-Brewer, senior research fellow in rabbinics and the New Testament at Tyndale House in Cambridge and the author of "Divorce and Remarriage in the Church" (InterVarsity Press), has published an essay in the Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal title, "Evangelical Separation Anxiety--What the Bible says about divorce."

Last Day at Tyndale House: Sad Ending. Joyful Anticipation.

2007-03-02T12:07:00.000-08:00

After I arrive home and have an opportunity to settle back into the routines of our home life, then I will offer some reflections upon studying and research in Cambridge at Tyndale House. For today, I simply offer this simple observation. It is a day of sadness mingled with joyful anticipation, sadness that long days (8:00 AM to 10:00 PM) dedicated to research in a superb biblical studies library had to come to a close, but joyful anticipation of embracing my wife, Lois, at the airport in Minneapolis tomorrow afternoon and being reunited with our sons, their wives (John & Naomi, expectant with our second grandchild, and David & Renae) and our granddaughter, Anna.

Toss a measure of disappointment into the mix of sadness and joyful anticipation, too. Today, as I was leaving Tyndale House, Martin Hengel was arriving. The good folks at Tyndale House hosted Martin Hengel who will be honored tomorrow now in his eightieth year. Dr. Peter Head, New Testament Research Fellow at Tyndale House and Fellow at St. Edmund's College (Cambridge University), kindly arranged for Tyndale House to host Martin Hengel during morning tea time. Regrettably, when I made my travel arrangements I had no knowledge of the special event tomorrow. Had I known, I almost surely would have extended my stay by at least one day. The bright side is that I have an even greater event awaiting me tomorrow, I will see my wife again. Sorry Dr. Hengel.

The Georgian pediment and familiar red door, the front door to my residence for the past several weeks, welcomed me when I arrived and bid me goodbye as I departed. Truly, it is a doorway to biblical studies.

As the bus rolled out of Cambridge I looked upon a number of scenes that had become quite familiar during my stay in the old city--bicyclists wending their way to lectures, children walking to school, athletes practicing with a ball on the green, scholars carrying their bags as they walk to their colleges, and a man with sunken eyes and no teeth scrounging for food in a refuse can on the green as people of all walks of life busily pass by taking no notice of him.

After leaving Tyndale House by Panther Taxi to Dummer Street, I boarded a National Express bus bound for Gatwick airport by way of stops at Stansted and Heathrow airports. About four and half hours later we arrived at the south terminal of Gatwick airport. I called Carmel at Cumberland House, and in just a short time she was there to pick me up. (If you need a room near Gatwick, I commend Cumberland House. Carmel and Clive are wonderful hosts.)

For dinner, I trudged through the rain under my umbrella down to Ye Olde Six Bells pub, where the aroma and warmth of flames in the fireplace welcomed guests. I'll have you know that I did not make the same mistake about ordering water as I did last time. I decided this evening to celebrate the close of several weeks of intensive research and my anticipation of being home tomorrow. So it was neither bottled 'still water' nor tap water on ice for me.

As I sat alone, enjoying my meal quietly celebrating an end and a beginning, I observed others in the pub. Two couples, in particular, were of interest, and both were Americans, as I surmised by overhearing their manner speech and content of conversation. One was a married pair of 'seasoned citizens.' The other was an obviously unmarried couple early in middle age. The married couple barely conversed. Oh, I suppose that they care for one another, but no one would have made the mistake of thinking they did, given their demeanor. The other couple, quite obviously not married to one another but speaking of their spouses or former spouses and children, were also obviously enjoying one another. They talked continuously and with noticeable gestures of affection. "What a situation!" I thought. Two couples, one married but barely speaking to one another, another not married to one another but clearly romantically involved with one another, and there I sat, married but without my wife. We would have been speaking with one another, romantically involved with one another, and married to one another. Tomorrow, I will hug her and kiss my wife. One more night, then I'm home.

Update: While at Gatwick Airport, I happened to see both couples that I had seen the night before at the pub. The younger couple were airline flight attendants walking together toward the gate for their flight. The older couple were as detached from one another as the night before.

A Pleasant Discovery at Tyndale House Library

2007-03-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

Today has been preparation day for my departure from Tyndale House tomorrow. One of my tasks has been to replace the stacks of books that I have been using for research. (The library is a self-serve resource center. Use a book and replace it when finished with it. The design is efficient and saves on paying someone to do what we researchers can do ourselves.) Well, as I was replacing a Ph.D. dissertation, I spied another dissertation that I could not resist taking back to my study carrel.

I sat down and began to read the dissertation. After reading the introduction and preliminary pages, one chapter in particular, Chapter X, caught my attention. So I devoted a fair amount of time to give it a careful reading. The chapter is titled "Justification by Faith." Oh, I didn't tell you whose dissertation it is. It is J. I. Packer's Ph.D. dissertation. Packer gave the copy as a gift to Tyndale House in May 1957. It is titled, "The Redemption and Restoration of Man in the Thought of Richard Baxter: A Study in Puritan Theology," presented for the degree of D.Phil. in the University of Oxford, Trinity term, 1954. Packer's dissertation is extremely long; it is 499 pages. Yet, to look at it on the shelf, one would think that it was only 150 to 175 pages. How does it look so thin? It is typed on onion skin paper. Imagine a dissertation that is 499 pages. No supervisor today would allow such length.

My friend and fellow Ph.D. student and candidate at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Tim Beougher, now Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, wrote his dissertation on Richard Baxter. I know that he accessed J. I. Packer's dissertation, and Dr. Packer was his External Reader for his dissertation. As I recall from several conversation with him, Tim Beougher focused his dissertation on Baxter's beliefs concerning justification. Hence, I was eager to read Packer's treatment of Baxter's view.

Richard Baxter forges his beliefs concerning justification on the anvil of controversy with men called "Antinomians," particularly men such as Tobias Crisp (Christ Alone Exalted) and James Saltmarsh. Whether they were justly called "Antinomians" is disputable. Nevertheless, Baxter took a view of justification by faith that he distinguished from the view articulated by Crisp and others. Baxter saw his own view as in agreement with that of the Puritan Divines, such as William Perkins, Samuel Bolton (True Bounds of Christian Freedom), Thomas Hooker, and others. Baxter's views roused several critics and caught the sharp point of John Owen's pen as they engaged one another. This, then, is the focus of Chapter X of Packer's dissertation.

It seems suitable to quote a portion of J. I. Packer's commentary on the controversy stirred by Richard Baxter's beliefs.

But in fact Baxter's alleged heterodoxy amounted merely to this: he had assimilated the four characteristic Protestant positions concerning justification (that it is a forensic act, done in this life; that it is grounded on Christ's satisfaction; that it is secured through faith; and that a dead fait justifies nobody) to his 'political' doctrine of the new covenant as a legal instrument for its conveyance; and he had distinguished two decisive moments in justification, one present and one future, where other Protestants recognize only the first. The charges brought against him were ludicrous. But we can see why they were made. His readers were completely bewildered by the 'political method'. It involved re-definition right and left: terms like law, works, merit, righteousness, justification, imputation, instrument, all meant something different in Baxter from what they meant in the rest of Protestant literature. Few had the patience or the ability to master his method and definitions; consequently, a great deal of breath and ink were wasted in confuting what he would have meant had he been using these key words in the accepted sense. The controversial wranglings between Baxter and his critics on justification make tedious and unprofitable reading, for the two side make no intellectual contact at all. Both Baxter and the orthodox Calvinists had perfectly consisten positions granted their first principles, and constructive discussion between them could only take place at the level of their first principles. But their endless acrimonious dissections of each other's statements never got down to this level. The only issue of these exchanges was that each side learned to state its own position more accurately. The root difference between Baxter and orthodox Calvinism, from which all their other disagreements sprang and to which they can all be reduced, may here be pin-pointed. It concerned the idea of law. . . .

To orthodox Calvinism, the law of God is the permanent, unchanging expression of God's eternal and unchangeable holiness and justice. It requires perfect obedience from mankind, on pain of physical and spiritual death, and confers salvation and eternal life only upon those who perfectly obey it. God could not change this law, or set it aside, in His dealings with men, without denying Himself. When man sins, therefore, it is not God's nature to same him at the law's expense. Instead, he saves sinners by satisfying the law on their behalf, that He might continue just when He becomes their Justifier. . . .

Baxter's 'political method' led him to a very different idea of God's law. To him, God's justice is merely a rectoral attribute, a characteristic quality of His government, and His laws are no more than means to ends. Like all laws, they may under certain circumstances be changed, if the desired end is attainable by other means. When man had fallen, and God purposed to glorify Himself by restoring him, He carried out His plan, not by satisfying the law, but by changing it. . . . Where orthodox Calvinism taught that Christ satisfied the law in the sinner's place, Baxter held that Christ satisfied the Lawgiver and so procured a change in the law. Here Baxter aligns himself with Arminian thought rather than with orthodox Calvinism. And from this source, as is now clear, all his differences with orthodoxy on the subject of justification took their rise.

We may think that Baxter was wrong; we may even judge him wrong-headed; but we must recognize that it was not gratuitous pedantry that drove him to new ways of stating old truths. He was sure that they were Scriptural and necessary for the Church's holiness and peace ("The Redemption and Restoration of Man in the Thought of Richard Baxter," 302-306).

I quote these words at length because they seem quite relevant to the controversy that swirls in the church today. Another Englishman is at the center of the current vortex, N. T. Wright. One may disagree with N. T. Wright, but wouldn't it be wonderful if disagreement would bring about more than the controversy of the seventeenth century yielded in Puritan times?

Crocuses and Daffodils

2007-02-28T08:57:00.000-08:00

Spring has sprung in green England. Since I had to take my laptop computer to the University Computing Center this morning, I took the opportunity to enjoy the colors bursting forth. Crocuses, which have been pushing up for some time, are now in full and variegated bloom. Daffodils, too, have broken out in their yellow dress. Shrubs and trees are blossoming. It seems that the blossoms precede the leaves on many of the shrubs and trees.

I leave England's spring on Saturday to enter snowbound Minnesota. According to my wife, Lois, they received about 15-18 inches of snow in the past few days and expect 11-13 more inches by Saturday morning. Well, I am enjoying spring while here in Cambridge. And, when I return home, I will enjoy the final gasps of winter and enjoy the return of spring all over again.

Here are some flowers at Queen's College, daffodils and crocuses. Tulips are also blooming.

Villainous Computer

2007-02-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately Tuesday was not very productive. I learned that the technicians at the University of Cambridge Computing Center identified my computer as a villain to the network and particularly invasive to their data bases. (Isn't it a bit frightening that the technicians can isolate which computer is posing undesired issues?) It's not a happy thought that I am operating a villainous computer, my Traveling Companion. I was requested to disconnect my Traveling Companion from the network and briefly connect once or twice a day just long enough to read e-mail. Well, now, that was a bit more final than I was prepared to hear. I inquired if there was not another option, particularly having my computer checked by one of the Cambridge University computer technicians. Well, inquiry paid off. Off to the Computing Center I marched. Much to my amazement, a technician spent at least two hours on the computer, cleaning up a number of problems that have evidently been operating for a long time. Four o'clock struck and she was gone. She wants me back at 10:00 AM on Wednesday.

Update: Wednesday morning I was waiting for the technician at 10:00 AM. When she came to look at the computer and to work her technical magic, she placed the computer before her and suddenly the screen became pixelated, discolored, and it turned black. Of course, all operations seized and functionality ceased. I tried to resurrect the computer, but nothing worked. I gave it all I could to resuscitate the poor thing, but my powers were gone. Of course, the technician muttered numerous words and expressions of deepest foreboding, of darkest calamity, and of impending death. At any moment, it seemed, a eulogy should be uttered. Her words were not eulogy-worthy, however. My heart sank. I felt lost. I carefully packed the expiring computer into its padded sleeve and placed the sleeve into its pouch in my bag. As I thanked the technician and walked out the institutional waiting room, I felt as though I were departing a hospital after having resigned myself to the death of a close friend. (Oh, I may be exaggerating just a bit.)

I trudged back to Tyndale House pondering my options. It would seem that the computer is verging on its final days, if not hours. Is there any life left in it? If not, what are my options? A computer is quite essential to most of the research work I have been doing in the library. Well, I suppose that I could put the computer away and either work without its assistance in some limited way, or I could put it away and explore a few parts of Cambridge that I have not yet seen. I decided to give my Traveling Companion one more opportunity to prove itself. It booted up without any screen issues. Now it is functioning, but I do not know for how long. So, I will continue to work in the library as long as possible. And, I will try to fill out my journal as well as I can, given my Traveling Companion's capacity to hold on for my sake.

Update (3/07/07): When I arrived home, my laptop computer died completely. It is now at the coroner's office awaiting an autopsy.

Update (4/26/07): The computer went to Silicon Cemetary. Fortunately, it was still under warranty, so I received a new Gateway computer to replace the dead one. The new one works wonderfully.

Today's Research, N. T. Wright

2007-02-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

As I enter my final week of research and reading at Tyndale House I decided to give N. T. Wright's doctoral dissertation a closer read than my earlier rather cursory reading of it.

First here are the bibliographical data concerning the dissertation:

Wright, N. T. (1980). "The Messiah and the People of God: A Study in Pauline Theology with Particular Reference to the Argument of the Epistle to the Romans." Oxford University. Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation.

Many if not most of the views that Wright has expressed in his numerous publications are present within his dissertation in seed form at least. Some of his later published views are fairly developed in the dissertation, especially his view of the relationship between Israel and Christ, which is at the core of his thesis.

It seems evident to me that N. T. Wright has become a noticeably improved writer since his doctoral research days. The argument in his dissertation is cumbersome to track. It is quite scattered in its presentation. It is not well focused. Though his thesis is about Paul's letter to the Romans, Wright regularly follows trails that lead away from that letter into Paul's other letters, such as, Galatians, Philippians, the Corinthian letters, etc. One gets the distinct sense that Wright attempted to do too much. One also receives the sense that he could have used closer guidance to tighten his argument and to tie each portion into the core of his thesis much more closely than he did. Often his exegesis leaves one puzzled. Either his argument was too thinly demonstrated, too densely expressed or else my reading capacity is too dense to follow with approval.

The formatting of the dissertation leaves much to be desired. Given that it was typed on a typewriter and not compiled with a word processor, it is understandable why footnotes were eschewed in favor of endnotes. Flipping to the back of the copy to locate footnotes is annoying, but even more annoying is the compressed and packed format of the notes. Margins spill over any formatting regulations, such as found in Turabian, running almost to the paper's edge.

The dissertation copy that Wright gave to Tyndale House puzzles me. Elements of this copy prompt me to wonder if it is unique or if the wording and format is actually the same as the presentation copy Wright submitted to Merton College, Oxford University. I have never seen this phenomenon in any thesis or dissertation before. It contains several pages that have whole sections covered over with paper upon which different text has been typed. On one page, page 159, the lower half of the page is covered over with paper upon which different text is typed. One can read at least ten lines under the paper that have not been replaced with different text. This unusual feature gives Wright's dissertation the feel that portions of it are a palimpsest. If I ever get back to the Bodlein Library at Oxford University I will try to remember to access Wright's dissertation to compare it with the copy Tyndale House holds.

Ely Cathedral

2007-02-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

On this, my final Sunday in Cambridge, I visited St. Andrews Street Baptist Church with my friend Barry, who attends the church. There are two matters of interest in the church. One is a cane-bottom chair used by William Carey in Serampore, India. The other is the stained glass window in the front of the sanctuary. It features three characters from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress: Valiant-for-Truth, Christian, and Faithful.

Following the worship service, Barry and I drove to Ely to tour Ely Cathedral and grounds. What a massive and majestic cathedral it it! We took the Octagon Lantern tour. We climbed narrow, I mean extremely narrow, spiral staircases up two different towers. The first tower is situated on the northwest corner of the main transept. It brought us up to a catwalk overlooking the main transept where we saw the huge base organ pipes. Above us, in the center of the transept, was the octagon lantern designed by Alan of Walsingham following the collapse of the original square tower in 1322 that had stood for two centuries. That same tower brought us up to the interior where we could observe the massive oak beams that support the octagon lantern tower structure and open the panels to view the up close. The beam structure shown was put in place in 1322-1328 when the lantern tower was rebuilt as an octagon to replace the former square structure that had collapsed.

Ely Cathedral is immense and impressive. Its length is 537 feet. For other dimensions, click here. The present cathedral dates from the 11th century.

After touring the cathedral we took a tour of Oliver Cromwell's house which is just west of the cathedral.

Below is a floor plan of the cathedral and a view from the west. Observe that there is no north (on the left) transept and tower off the west tower. It separated from the main structure, due to shifting soil, and had to be dismantled during medieval times.

Panoramic View from Tower of Great St. Mary's Church

2007-02-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure which was more difficult, climbing up the spiral staircase or negotiate the narrow wedge steps on the way down the tower of Great Saint Mary's Church. At any rate, it was worth the climb to see a panoramic view of Cambridge. Here is the westerly view with majestic King's College Chapel on the left, Trinity Hall in the center, Clare College midway back, the University Library in the far background, and Gonville and Caius (pronounced Keys) College court to the right of the Senate House.

Young Scholars at Tyndale House

2007-02-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

One of the delights of being a reader at Tyndale House is the opportunity it offers to meet young scholars who are working on the theses or dissertations. If the patterns of Tyndale House history persists, some of these dissertations will likely be published as monographs by one of the British or European publishers that specialize in scholarly monographs.

Two of the young men whose acquaintance I have had the pleasure to make are Ryan Jackson and Jonathan Griffiths. I found camaraderie with both upon our first conversations. Tea time provides lots of opportunities for such conversations. I deeply resonate with both Ryan and Jonathan concerning the direction that their research is taking them on their respective topics.

Ryan is working on Paul's use of the expression "new creation." Contrary to the direction that present scholarship is going, Ryan is convinced that Paul's use, such as in 2 Corinthians 5:17, derives from Isaiah 65:17 and context as well as from Isaiah 66:22 and context. Watch for a monograph with his name on it in a few years.

Jonathan, who is leaving for a time today, is working on the concept of eschatology in Hebrews 12. Jonathan requested a copy of the paper I presented at the Saint Andrews Conference on Hebrews and Christian Theology in July 2006. As it turns out, it seems that my paper will provide him some substantial research assistance and support, for he and I share the same basic understanding of eschatology in Hebrews, that there are two notable axis evident in Hebrews, both temporal and spatial. If you wonder what I am talking about, you may check out my paper here. It is on Hebrews 1:6--"And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, 'Let all God's angels worship him.'"

These young men expressed such gratitude for the opportunity to converse with me about their research topics. What I regarded as a friendly conversation, they viewed as tutorial moments. How humbling! Whatever little contribution I may have offered for these young men, it is heartwarming and delightful, for it was my pleasure to meet them. Tyndale House is a research conduit for many up and coming young scholars.

Bruce M. Metzer Obiturary, The Independent

2007-02-22T11:33:00.000-08:00

Today, The Independent contains an obituary of Bruce M. Metzger written by J. K. Elliott, Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism, University of Leeds.

Professor Bruce Metzger

New Testament scholar

Published: 22 February 2007

Bruce Manning Metzger, biblical scholar: born Middletown, Pennsylvania 9 February 1914; ordained a minister of the United Presbyterian Church 1939; Teaching Fellow in New Testament Greek, Princeton Theological Seminary 1939-40, Instructor in New Testament 1940-44, Associate Professor 1948-54, Professor 1953-84, George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature 1964-84 (Emeritus); married 1944 Isobel Mackay (two sons); died Princeton, New Jersey 13 February 2007.

Bruce Metzger, Emeritus Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at the Princeton Theological Seminary, was a Bible translator and New Testament textual critic. His Text of the New Testament: its transmission, corruption and restoration (1964) has been the standard primer for students for over 40 years; in 2005 it went into a fourth revised edition.

Among his many publications that also remain in print are other fundamental studies: The Early Versions of the New Testament: their origin, transmission and limitations (1977), dealing with the translations from Greek into other early languages of Christianity, and The Canon of the New Testament: its origin, development and significance (1987).

For those whose biblical studies are concerned with verifiable scholarship, Metzger has always been a wise guide; his publications are filled with the results of wide reading, encyclopaedic knowledge and meticulous research. His enviably fluid English style brings these topics to life, and his incessant curiosity into the byways of the disciplines throws up some entertaining obiter dicta in footnotes.

On a more popular level, his Manuscripts of the Greek Bible (1981) is an album of photographs of manuscripts with his explanatory notes that introduced the disciplines of palaeography, codicology and papyrology to a public who previously may have thought such subjects belonged to hospital wards.

Metzger was at the centre of major international research work. As a member of the Greek New Testament Project committee he was involved in the preparation of a thesaurus of variant readings in the Greek manuscripts of Luke's gospel, which was eventually published by the Clarendon Press under the editorship of J.K. Elliott in two volumes in 1984 and 1987. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Vetus Latina Institute in Beuron in Germany, whose work involves the recovery of the pre-Jerome Latin Bible. He was also an adviser to the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in Münster, from which much pioneering work emerges.

It was his membership of the small committee that was set up by the international bible societies that made Metzger's name well known among New Testament scholars. The United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament which they produced has gone through several editions since it was first published in 1966. Metzger wrote its companion volume, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (1971) which explained the textual variants printed in the New Testament and the reasons why the committee decided on what to print as its text. That vade-mecum has been a useful first port of call to generations of students.

The text this committee produced was adopted for the 26th edition of the Nestle Novum Testamentum Graece and this ensured that the principal Greek New Testament used today for academic study and as the basis for translations is the one co-edited by Metzger. In addition, for decades Metzger also edited the scholarly monograph series "New Testament Tools and Studies" published by Brill of Leiden.

Amazingly, given his many scholarly commitments, Metzger was also very active for several years as the Chairman of the Bible Translation Committee for the New Revised Standard Version. This inevitably brought him wide recognition. The translation was published in 1990 in the United States to great critical acclaim. The British version appeared in 1994. Its dignified but clear modern English puts it head and shoulders above other modern translations and it is equally valued in public worship and for private academic study.

A few years earlier Metzger was involved with a more controversial project initiated by Reader's Digest. The condensed Reader's Bible (1982) he edited for them obviously upset many traditionalists, but it did succeed in bringing the Old and New Testament within the grasp of a new readership. Another project of a more popular nature was his editing (with Michael Coogan) of the encyclopaedic Oxford Companion to the Bible (1993).

Bruce Manning Metzger was born into a legal family in Pennsylvania in 1914 and attended Lebanon Valley College before entering Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey as an ordinand of the Presbyterian Church. His successes as a Master's and as a doctoral student there led to his joining its faculty in 1940; he then spent his entire academic life at Princeton. He retired as the George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature in 1984.

His wife, Isobel, was the daughter of the Rev John Alexander Mackay, the third president of the seminary. Metzger's full and active life regularly took them well beyond New Jersey. He was an indefatigable traveller, giving lectures throughout North America as well as in New Zealand, Australia, Europe, South America, South Africa, Korea and Japan, among other countries; he was much sought after as a speaker and consultant on the Biblical text. He spent three sabbatical terms in Oxford and Cambridge, and regularly visited Britain. He lectured throughout the British Isles including London, Leeds and Dublin.

Understandably, many academic honours came Metzger's way. He was elected a corresponding fellow of the British Academy and he was especially proud to be awarded its F.C. Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies in 1978. He was also honoured by three Festschriften, in 1981, 1985 and 1994.

A familiar figure at large conferences, Metzger became president of the American Society of Biblical Literature in 1971 and of the international New Testament society Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas the same year. All who met him or corresponded with him attest to his friendliness and his generosity with time and help. His formidable erudition was coupled with an old-fashioned courtesy that branded him a Christian gentleman and scholar.

J. Keith Elliott

"Amazing Grace" Opens Tomorrow, February 23

2007-02-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

Evangelicals rally around — and disagree on — 'Grace'

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Special for USA TODAY

In the 1780s, a Briton named William Wilberforce had a religious conversion that led to his life's crowning achievement: persuading Parliament over 20 hard-fought years to abolish the slave trade.

Today, Wilberforce's fellow evangelicals in America are recasting their hero's faith for a 21st-century audience — and stirring debate in the process.

Friday marks the 200th anniversary of Parliament's historic vote in 1807 to abolish the slave trade throughout the British Empire. In more than 800 U.S. theaters, Bristol Bay Productions releases Amazing Grace, a film about Wilberforce's sense of calling and career as a lawmaker.

But in the film, Wilberforce (played by Ioan Gruffudd) seeks God in a garden, not a church. He never refers to Jesus. He displays none of the historical figure's passion for winning converts to Christianity.

"The spiritual side (of Wilberforce) has been extremely toned down," says associate producer Bob Beltz, one of several evangelicals involved in the project. "The purpose of the film is to introduce him to a new generation" by appealing to a broad audience that is not necessarily religious.

But other evangelicals criticize the "toned down" approach.

"His stance (on slavery) might seem 'obvious' to us today, but it was inexplicable in his day without his deep evangelical faith," says Timothy Larsen, a Wheaton College theologian and author of the 2006 book Crisis of Doubt: Honest Faith in Nineteenth-Century England (Oxford University Press). "To leave this out is to falsify who the man was."

Though Wilberforce isn't well known to many Americans, he has long been important to evangelicals. Methodist evangelicals named the nation's first historically black college after him when they founded Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, in 1856. Today, Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship outreach project sponsors a Wilberforce Forum think tank. The Wilberforce School in Princeton, N.J., emphasizes "the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all things." Books and lecture series also are planned.

Wilberforce's contributions also are being honored in Great Britain for the anniversary year. Britons are issuing commemorative coins and stamps and will reopen a Wilberforce House Museum.

Still, no anniversary event is likely to have more impact than the Amazing Grace movie. With that in mind, some groups are rallying to take part in tie-in activities to make the movie as successful as possible.

Movie marketers declared last Sunday "Amazing Grace Sunday." More than 4,200 churches registered on a coordinating website to take part. Some congregations sang the hymn Amazing Grace, written by a repentant former slave ship captain, John Newton, who is portrayed in the movie as influencing Wilberforce. Some churches also downloaded movie clips to show during worship.

Evangelicals say marketing a movie in church requires a sensitive touch. Craig Detweiler, a theologian and co-director of Fuller Seminary's Reel Spirituality Institute in Pasadena, Calif., says a promotional clip could "seem like a commercial in the context of worship."

But on balance, he says, the movie and its worship-based marketing are positive developments.

"The faith community has been clamoring for this opportunity to vote with their feet" and reward faith-friendly mainstream filmmaking, Detweiler says. "The chance to support films that we may believe in is certainly preferable to (merely) protesting what we don't like."

In another innovation, Bristol Bay Productions is encouraging viewers to help end modern-day slavery at amazingchange.com. Amazing Change organizers say as many as 27 million people around the world still endure forced servitude.

According to the Boston-based American Anti-Slavery Group, such situations range from forced prostitution to domestic servitude without pay and without freedom of movement. They say these include as many as 17,000 people who are illegally trafficked into the USA each year.

In waging a film-based activism campaign, Detweiler says, Bristol Bay is following in the footsteps of former vice president Al Gore's global-warming movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which also steered viewers to a website and suggested courses of action.

"More and more films are being used as advocacy for political action," Detweiler says. He notes that Blood Diamond, the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring movie that exposes the dark side of the African diamond trade, belongs in the same genre. "We just haven't seen it cross over into the religious market very often."

Why Are British Cars Right-Hand Drive?

2007-02-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

It still looks unusual, but I'm getting more accustomed to looking at an oncoming vehicle and realizing that there actually is a driver in the car but on the right side where I ordinarily expect a passenger to sit. Having an inquiring mind, I've asked friends here at Tyndale House why the British chose to drive their vehicles on the left side of the roadway from the right side of the vehicle. The answer that I received made sense. See what you think.

It seems that the British driving pattern derives from early days, days of horses and horsemen. Evidently, it seemed only reasonable that a horseman would meet another horseman by keeping to the left. This would enable the horseman to remain in the most advantageous position in the event that he would need to draw his sword quickly to defend himself against the on-coming horseman. Given that most people are right handed, approaching another on the left would enable the horseman to employ his right hand more freely. According to one report that I have read, Pope Benefice issued a Papal Edict around A.D. 1300 requiring all to keep to the left on roadways.

In Britain under King George III the Government issued the General Turnpike Act of 1773. Of its various provisions, one seems to have been commendation of keeping to the left on public roadways and streets.

If meeting oncoming horsemen on the left was advantageous and stuck in Britain, why did other countries decide to have traffic meet oncoming vehicles on the left? One offers the following explanation, at least for France.

Reasons to travel on the right are less clear but the generally accepted version of history is as follows: The French, being Catholics, followed Pope Boneface's edict but in the build up to the French Revolution in 1790 the French Aristocracy drove their carriages at great speed on the left hand side of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right side for their own safety. Come the Revolution, instincts of self preservation resulted in the remains of the Aristocracy joining the peasants on the right hand side of the road. The first official record of this was a keep right rule introduced in Paris in 1794.

Here is a slight variation on this explanation with finer detail.

Political events in France had a big effect on driving habits. Before the Revolution of 1789, the aristocracy drove its carriages along the left side of the roads, forcing the peasants to the other side. But once the Revolution started, these nobles desperately tried to hide their identity by joining the peasant travelers on the right. By 1794 the French government had introduced a keep-right rule in Paris, which later spread to other regions as the conquering armies of Napoléon I marched through much of continental Europe. It is not surprising that Napoléon favored keeping to the right. One reference work explains that because he was left-handed, “his armies had to march on the right so he could keep his sword arm between him and any opponent.”

An explanation for why the French made the change is not likely to provide explanation why any other country made the change. Why, for example, do Americans drive on the right side of the road from the left hand position in the vehicle? Here is one answer offered.

In the late 1700’s, a shift from left to right took place in countries such as the United States, when teamsters started using large freight wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. The wagons had no driver’s seat, so the driver sat on the left rear horse and held his whip in his right hand. Seated on the left, the driver naturally preferred that other wagons pass him on the left so that he could be sure to keep clear of the wheels of oncoming wagons. He did that by driving on the right side of the road.

It makes sense. Doesn't it? And you all thought I was here at Tyndale House to research only in the area of biblical studies. Inquiring minds want to know, not just biblical stuff.

Reflections upon Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

2007-02-21T04:48:00.000-08:00

This sabbatical research time at Tyndale House in Cambridge has given me plenty of opportunity to reflect upon singleness. One of my friends and renewed acquaintances is Barry Danylak. I first met Barry when he was a M.A. student at Wheaton College. He was runner up in the graduate student paper contest sponsored by the Midwest Region of the Evangelical Theological Society of which I was Vice President at the time. I sat to hear his paper and offered my observations to assist the judges in making their decision concerning the winner. The winner of the graduate student paper contest that year, as Barry reminded me, was a friend of his and an acquaintance of mine, Matt Harmon, who now serves as Associate Professor of New Testament at Grace Theological Seminary (see Matt's blog). Well, I have digressed. Barry Danylak, who is single, is a reader at Tyndale House who is working on his Ph.D. dissertation on the area of the apostle Paul's instruction concerning singleness from 1 Corinthians 7. This brings me back to my point.

I want to offer a few reflections upon Ecclesiastes 4:9-12.

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down,
     his friend can help him up.
     But pity the man who falls
     and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together,
     they will keep warm.
     But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
     two can defend themselves.
     A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

This passage played a role in various conversations when I was a single man, including some conversations with the woman who would become my wife, Lois. I remember well that the portion about keeping warm was a particularly attractive segment of the passage.

Well, singleness has its advantages, some of which the apostle Paul mentions in his great letter to the Corinthians (7:17-39). But, as Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 point out, singleness has its disadvantages, too. I have been keenly reminded of them these several weeks as I have been working on my B.L. (Bachelor of Loneliness). Yes, by choice to step back into singleness for a designated period of time and not for an indefinite amount of time, for one who is married it is a time of loneliness and a time of being reminded of the great benefits of marriage.

Two are truly better than one. If something needs to be done, I am obligated to do it. No one else will do it for me. Everyday, since I have been at Tyndale House, I have been keenly aware of this. Again, today I have been reminded of this because I have been occupied with washing clothes and cleaning my room. I'm not complaining. It's just that in marriage Lois and I divide various household responsibilities. Marriage lightens the load of each partner. How keenly aware of this I have been today. I miss my wife for these reasons and a whole lot more, including the "lying down together" and "keeping warm" parts mentioned in Ecclesiastes 4. I look forward to getting home to Lois.

Henry, the vacuum cleaner, is hardly a substitute companion. He helped me clean my room, but he lives in a closet.

For you in the upper mid-west region of the USA, remember the Midwest Region of the Evangelical Theological Society Meeting, March 16-17, 2007.

Biblical Scholarship and Proper Humility

2007-02-21T02:05:00.000-08:00

D. A. Carson reviews David A. Brondos. Paul on the Cross: Reconstructing the Apostle's Story of Redemption. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006. Pp. xiii + 241. Paper. $20.00 ISBN 0800637887.

If you have read this blog from its inception, you will recall my entry titled A Humbling Experience While Researching. In it I indicated that I had read a couple of journal articles on precisely the same biblical passage upon which I had earlier written a rather substantial essay, "'Redeemed from the Curse of the Law'": The Use of Deut 21:22-23 in Gal 3:13." If you take a look at it, you will see that it is technical in that if offers a close and tight exegesis of the passages involved. It so happens that David Brondos, whose book D. A. Carson reviews, is one who wrote an essay on the same passage, "The Cross and the Curse: Galatians 3:13 and Paul's Doctrine of Redemption," Journal for the Study of the New Testament 81 (2001): 3-32.

When I read Brondos's essay, I decided to put the best construction on the fact that he made no reference to my essay, which, by the way, shows up in every major index system, including ATLA. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt that he had simply missed my essay in the ATLA listing as he researched essays on the selected passage. Yet, I wondered if he selectively ignored my essay because it demonstrates from biblical evidence an argument that leads to conclusions that counter his own conclusions. Upon reading D. A. Carson's review of Brondos's book, Paul on the Cross, which I have not had an opportunity either to see or to read, my formerly private thoughts may be more accurate than my previously expressed public thoughts. Is it conceivable that I misplaced the cause of my expressed humility? Which is the cause? Did he accidentally overlook my essay by missing it on the ATLA or other index retrieval system? Or, did he overlook my essay by suppressing it because my argument and conclusions countered his own? You be the judge. Read D. A. Carson's review of Brondos's book. As in his book, so also in his essay, Brondos contends that

Pauline scholars have tended to look to some version of the doctrines of atonement found in later Christian tradition for the narrative framework and ideas necessary to interpret Paul's thought in Gal. 3.13. However, a proper understanding of the foundtational story found in the primitive Christian tradition provides us with all the elements we need to understand this passage: by being obedient unto death in seeking the redemption of others, Christ attained that redemption once for all when God responded by raising him, since now exalted in power, he is certain to redeem God's people from the law's curse when he comes again ("The Cross and the Curse: Galatians 3:13 and Paul's Doctrine of Redemption," JSNT 81 (2001): 32 [Brondos's own abstract]).

Taking offense at the longstanding Christian belief in substitutionary or vicarious atonement may have prompted his slighting of my essay, for, as you will see if you read the following paragraphs, I make a case that Deuteronomy 21:22-23, in the Old Testament covenant framework, depicts substitution. On the other hand, it seems somewhat odd that Brondos did not cite my essay as a contemporary example of one who holds what he regards as a wrong view of Paul's understanding. Here, then are crucial excerpts from the conclusion of my essay.

Reading Deut 21:22-23 from this hermeneutical matrix clarifies the legitimacy of Paul's use of that passage in Gal 3:13. In its OT covenantal context, Deut 21:22-23 prepares for and anticipates Christ's curse bearing upon the cross. The corpse of the covenant-breaker is hung “upon the tree" as a gruesome sign that he is an object of curse. He is suspended between heaven and earth, exposed to the vengeance of God to propitiate his wrath toward Israel (Num 25:4; 2 Sam 21:6ff).

From his salvation-historical perspective, Paul argues that Christ hung “upon the tree" in Israel's place, bearing the curse of the violated covenant and turning away God's wrath from his people by redeeming them out from under the law's curse. This redemption of believing Jews from the law's curse is epochal in character, for Christ replaces the law for Jews and in so doing extends to Gentiles the blessing promised to Abraham. Thus, Jew and Gentile together are made recipients of the long-awaited Spirit of the new covenant.

If this study is reasonably correct in its identification of biblical authorization for Paul's quotation of Deut 21:22-23 in Gal 3:13, it demonstrates the short-sightedness of exegesis that becomes unduly entangled in pursuing hidden midrashic link-words. Paul's warrant for employing his selected passage, though undoubtedly influenced by gezerah shawah, is not bound to the middoth, nor is he driven to find and appropriate in an ad hoc manner OT passages to validate the NT creed. The eye of faith, reading the OT through Paul's optic (namely the coming of Christ) will yield fresh and rewarding insights concerning how the NT cites the OT.

Do scholars selectively ignore some books or articles that do not fit the direction of their research or challenge the conclusions to which they have come? I am afraid that we scholars are very much tempted to do just that when we encounter an essay or a book containing an argument, especially a carefully reasoned exegetical argument, that does not fit our template. Do scholars have templates in their minds from which they argue. Indeed, we do. Is it possible to overcome the temptation to lay our preconceived notions and beliefs upon the text and avoid coming to the conclusions that we presume from the beginning? Yes, but it is difficult for us as it is for all others.

We are made rather uncomfortable with the ideals and principles that ought to guide all scholarship. Why? It is because true biblical scholarship will arrive at conclusions to which the biblical text leads, and often those conclusions cut cross-grain with our preconceived notions and ideas. Is there a danger in submitting ourselves to wherever the biblical text will lead us? Indeed, there is, for our ideas, beliefs, prejudices, and conclusions may be significantly challenged by the biblical text rightly read and followed. Such is the nature of Scripture. Is it not? Is this not precisely why biblical scholarship must always be prepared to be humbled rightly and even greatly by the biblical text? Herein is proper humility.

The other essay that shows no indication of any knowledge of my essay is Kelli O'Brien, "The Curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13): Crucifixion, Persecution, and Deuteronomy 21:22-23," JSNT 29 (2006): 55-76. Here is the author's abstract.

It is widely accepted that Christians were persecuted for preaching a crucified messiah because, according to Deut. 21.22-23, one who is crucified is also accursed. However, the arguments in favor of that position are weak. A larger examination of Jewish texts on Deut. 21.22-23 and crucifixion per se demonstrate that attitudes toward crucifixion and its victims were generally very different. The article conclues that Deut 21.22-23 is an unlikely basis for early Jewish rejection and persecution of Christianity and that other causes should be sought.

How could a scholar who gives careful examination to Galatians 3:13 and to Deuteronomy 21:22-23 fail to account for a substantial essay that addresses both passages at length? May God spare me from failing to account for essays, theses, dissertations, and books in my research, and especially those that I need most crucially to read and to examine in that they will challenge me and push me to examine the biblical text more closely and to scrutinize my own predilections and assumptions. Amen.

Book Reviews

2007-02-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

Here is the most recent set of reviews provided by SBL's Review of Biblical Literature:

Roger Beck
The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun
Reviewed by Jan N. Bremmer

Tomas Bokedal
The Scriptures and the Lord: Formation and Significance of the Christian Biblical Canon; A Study in Text, Ritual and Interpretation
Reviewed by Tobias Nicklas

David A. Brondos
Paul on the Cross: Reconstructing the Apostle's Story of Redemption
Reviewed by D. A. Carson

Clayton N. Jefford
The Apostolic Fathers: An Essential Guide
Reviewed by Laurence L. Welborn

Antti Laato and Johannes C. de Moor, eds.
Theodicy in the World of the Bible: The Goodness of God and the Problem of Evil
Reviewed by Lorenzo DiTommaso

Philip L. Mayo
"Those Who Call Themselves Jews": The Church and Judaism in the Apocalypse of John
Reviewed by David L. Barr

Donald K. McKim, ed.
Calvin and the Bible
Reviewed by Henning Graf Reventlow

Aharon Oppenheimer; ed. Nili Oppenheimer
Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society
Reviewed by Edward J. Mills III

Kim Paffenroth
The Heart Set Free: Sin and Redemption in the Gospels, Augustine, Dante, and Flannery O'Connor
Reviewed by Alice M. Sinnott

Udo Rüterswörden, ed.
Martin Noth-aus der Sicht der heutigen Forschung
Reviewed by Steven L. McKenzie

Joachim Schaper
"Wie der Hirsch lechzt nach frischem Wasser.": Studien zu Psalm 42/43 in Religionsgeschichte, Theologie und kirchlicher Praxis
Reviewed by Stefan Beyerle

Udo Schnelle; trans. M. Eugene Boring
Apostle Paul: His Life and Theology
Reviewed by Kenneth Atkinson

Edward Stourton
Paul of Tarsus: A Visionary Life
Reviewed by Valérie Nicolet Anderson

Christiane de Vos
Klage als Gotteslob aus der Tiefe: Der Mench vor Gott in der individuellen Klagepsalmen
Reviewed by Marianne Grohmann

Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat
Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire
Reviewed by Angela Standhartinger

Research Productive Despite Interruptions

2007-02-20T12:31:00.000-08:00

Despite attending three meetings--weekly chapel, a residents' meeting, and a lecture at the Faculty of Divinity--I suppose that I should assess today as fairly productive. I read two books that make quite different claims concerning Paul's Letter to the Romans.

Chae, Daniel Jong Sang. Paul as Apostle to the Gentiles: His Apostolic Self-Awareness and its Influence on the Soteriological Argument in Romans. Paternoster Biblical and Theological Monographs. Carlisle, Cumbria: Paternoster, 1997.
Kim, Johann D. God, Israel, and the Gentiles: Rhetoric and Situation in Romans 9-11. Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series 176. Atlanta, Georgia: SBL, 2000.

I have also dipped into Demetrius K. Williams' Enemies of the Cross of Christ: The Terminology of the Cross and Conflict in Philippians. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Series 223. Sheffield. 2002. Another monograph that caught my eye from the shelf as I was reaching for another book is the engaging dissertation by Jung Hoon Kim, The Significance of Clothing Imagery in the Pauline Corpus. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 268. London: T. & T. Clark, 2004. I have worked my way through much of it. I find it particularly heartening in that the conclusions that Kim has drawn, on well-reasoned exegesis, are the same to which I have come on much less detailed and developed exegetical work. His carefully reason monograph confirms what I have been claiming concerning Paul's unclothing and clothing imagery, such as the apostle's affirmation (Col 3:9-10) and admonition (Eph 4:20-24) to put off the old man and to put on the new man. Other noteworthy passages are Romans 13:11-14 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-54. I have contended, as Kim well shows, that the imagery derives originally from the nakedness/unashamed imagery of Genesis 2:24-25 and the ashamed/clothed imagery of Genesis 3:1-8 and Genesis 3:21-24.

TV License Fees, Electronic Snooping, and Police State.

2007-02-20T04:45:00.000-08:00

For as long as I have been at Tyndale House in Cambridge, I have watched television for about a total of 2 1/2 hours. Most of that was for the first half of the Super Bowl on February 4. As a rule, watching television consumes very little of my time. I do not watch many programs even when I am at home. While at Tyndale House, television consumes virtually none of my time since all day, from 8:30 AM until 10:00 PM, I am researching in the library. If, however, I were to grant myself more leisure time, television still would not get more than an extremely thin slice of time. Perhaps I am missing the "good" television programming available, but on the rare occasion that I step over to turn on the television in the Residents' Commons I have invariably turned it off within moments, because I have not found anything of any interest. Certainly, my experience cannot be taken to be the measure of British television programming. I am quite aware of this. Yet, one would think that when Tyndale House is obligated to hand over £131.50 per annum in order to operate a television on its premises that there ought to be something worth watching when one turns the set on.

Today I learned at a Tyndale House residents' meeting that the £131.50 (approx. $262.00) per annum fee is not voluntary in the sense that residents pay the tax to keep a clear conscience. No. No. There are government vehicles that patrol streets and roads with electronic snooping equipment to check whether one's residence is emitting telltale signals that indicate that a television is operating and tuning into channels. If so, expect to receive notice and pay up.

Are you considering taking up residence in the UK for a few months and you plan to use a television? Here is the page for you to consult. English is not your mother tongue? No problem. There are links for numerous languages so that you can read the web pages in your own language.

If you want to obtain a general overview of the television user fee license, Wikipedia offers a good beginning point here.

Incidentally, during our residents' meeting, when we were told about the government vehicles that snoop about to detect whether residents' televisions are tuned into channels or simply playing DVD or VHS movies, one resident quipped, "That's like a police state!" Touché.

Fellow Americans, our television tax is more concealed. There is a television and radio tax. You did know that. Right? Oh yes. It simply is more veiled in that Congress allocates collected tax revenues to fund National Public Radio and Public Television. It is a less direct tax than here in the UK. We do not pay a direct tax, nor do we acquire a license to operate our television sets. Thank God! We pay a price, of course. We endure more commercials, but then commercials actually do serve various purposes. Now, don't they?

Update 12/17/2008: The fee has gone up since I first published this entry. Now a TV License for color is £139.50 and for black and white is £47.00.

Special Event at Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge

2007-02-20T01:54:00.000-08:00

FACULTY OF DIVINITY

MARTIN HENGEL AT 80

Professor Hengel is respected internationally
as a leading Biblical scholar.
For many decades he has maintained a close link
with our University and Faculty,
and with many of our Biblical scholars.

Saturday 3 March 10.15 to 4.30
Venue – Runcie Room, Faculty of Divinity.

At the one day conference in the Runcie Room
a set of short papers will interact with some of the many
strands in Professor Hengel’s scholarly work.

Speakers will include:

Andrew Chester
Peter Head
William Horbury
Larry Hurtado (Edinburgh)
Justin Meggitt Graham Stanton
Roland Deines (Tübingen &Nottingham)

Professor Hengel will contribute to the discussions, as will one of his most
distinguished former pupils, Professor Jörg Frey (Munich).

Coffee from 10 a.m. Buffet lunch (Selwyn College)

No charges!
All Welcome
Parking spaces available close to the
Faculty building, off West Road.
R.S.V.P.
If you plan to attend, please inform
Stephen Witmer in person in Cambridge,
or by e-mail: sw356@cam.ac.uk

Pembroke College, Founded 1347

2007-02-19T03:03:00.000-08:00

Across the street, Trumpington, from Peterhouse is Pembroke College. This college was founded by Mary de St Pol, daughter of Guy de Chatillon, wife of Aymer de Valence, who was Earl of Pembroke. She received her license for the college on Christmas Eve 1347 by Edward III. Pembroke is the third oldest college in Cambridge, following Clare College which was founded in 1326. As is true of many of the colleges in Cambridge, Pembroke is built around open courts (quadrangles in Oxford) and beautiful gardens.

Various fellows of Pembroke suffered as martyrs during the Reformation period. Nicholas Ridley, after whom Ridley Hall is named, refused to renounce his Protestant faith and perished under Queen Mary I, the Catholic monarch. Americans know of a renowned graduate from Pembroke, Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island.

On the left above is the library. To the right is the old court. Below left is the chapel which replaced the first chapel. The present chapel, designed by Christopher Wren, his first architectural commission, was put into service in 1690.

For more pictures of Pembroke click here

White or Wong? That is the Question.

2007-02-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

In church today, I witnessed something quite amazing, something that I sincerely doubt would be allowed to pass in any church in the States. Nevertheless, it was accepted at Eden Chapel and with considerable amounts of laughter.

During the morning worship services at Eden a segment is devoted to addressing the children. Some churches in the States do similar things. The last church I pastored reserved a portion of the morning worship for "Kids' Korner." Many adults often commented to me that they received as much profit from my messages to the children as they did from my regular sermons. (Maybe I should have taken that as a clue about my sermons.)

Today, a college-age young man tailored his message, as is regularly done, to dovetail with the sermon. Given that the sermon was on Mark 6:31-44, the narrative of the feeding of the multitude from five loaves and two fish, the children's message focused on bread. The young man had put together a quiz about bread. He called for two contestants. Two boys stepped forward. Then he called for Stewart White to stand to the right and Marvin Wong, assistant pastor and the gentleman who would preach the sermon, to stand to the left. Then he instructed the two boys, "If you think that the statements that I make about bread are right, stand by Stewart White. If you think that they are wrong, go stand by Marvin Wong." Of course, at that point the entire congregation erupted with laughter, sustained laughter. Neither Stewart nor Marvin exhibited the slightest embarrassment or disgust.

As an American, I may have exhibited surprise, though no one surely took notice. All were enjoying the hilarity of the moment. There are numerous aspects of political correctness in Britain that go well beyond its depths in America. State-sponsored politically correct programs run deep and broad in the UK. Yet, what I witnessed today in church, I sincerely doubt I would ever witness in any church in the USA. If the young man who presented the children's message in Eden Chapel were to do the same in a church in the US, I sincerely expect that he would be severely reprimanded if not banned from any leadership role in the church again.

I may be right or wrong in my above assessment, but one thing is surely right, "White or Wong" was hilarious. It was rather refreshing, actually, to witness people laughing at language-based humor (not ethnic-based humor) without shame, without embarrassment, without outrage, and without the humor stormtroopers descending upon the place with their sanctimonious righteous indignation. Pastor Wong laughed as much as everyone else. (His English is excellent. He has no difficulty pronouncing the "r.") Let's all lighten up, Americans. It was funny.

Pastor Marvin Wong's sermon on Mark 6:31-44 was superb. He showed how Jesus dramatized his "New Moses" role by feeding the multitude in the wilderness. As such, Moses foreshadowed the Messiah, and Jesus fulfilled Scripture's prophetic foreshadowing. Pastor Wong rightly showed that details of the biblical story in Mark, such as, "he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd," deliberately echo Moses' prayer, recorded in Numbers 27:16-17, "May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd." Pastor Wong demonstrated other Old Testament echoes also. All in all, it was a superb sermon, the best biblically-theologically integrated sermon I have heard for a long time. For anyone who plans to visit Cambridge, I commend Eden Baptist Church. It may take a few days for Pastor Wong's sermon to be uploaded, but if interested in hearing it, you may download it here.

Peterhouse, Oldest College in Cambridge

2007-02-17T12:12:00.000-08:00

The oldest college in the University of Cambridge is Peterhouse, so name, of course, after Peter the Apostle. Founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, Peterhouse is, nonetheless, the smallest College in Cambridge.

The foundation of Peterhouse dates from 1280, when Hugo de Balsham, the Bishop of Ely, planned to start a college on land that is now part of St. John’s College. In 1284, he transferred to the present site with the purchase of two houses to accommodate a Master and fourteen “worthy but impoverished Fellows”, and Peterhouse was founded. A hall was built two years later; this is the oldest college building in Cambridge. Balsham died in 1286, bequeathing a sum of money that was used to buy further land.

In the early seventeenth century, under the Mastership of Andrew Perne, the College was known as a center for Arminianism.

Would you like to see more of Peterhouse. Here are three ways to see more. Take a Virtual Tour of the college, view the Peterhouse Photo Album, or view the 3-D Map.

To the left are the chapel doors. Observe the date on the right hand door, 1630. Above and to the right is the chapel interior. To the right is the court from the chapel doors.

Below is the Master's Lodge, built in 1702 by a Peterhouse Fellow, Dr Charles Beaumont, for his own residence. He willed the house to the college, and upon his death in 1727, the college occupied the house as the Master's Lodge and has done ever since.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

2007-02-16T07:25:00.000-08:00

Less than satisfied with my level of productivity today because I'm not feeling completely well, I have decided to take a break from research to visit The Fitzwilliam Museum. It looks like a fairly good museum. Best of all, it's free. I was able to view only about three fourths of one floor of exhibits at The Fitzwilliam Museum. It is quite an impressive museum. The portion I viewed is antiquities, Persian, Egyptian, Roman, Grecian. There is a lot to see. I look forward to returning to the museum to continue working my way through other collections. In particular, I hear that the museum has a nice collection of illuminated Bibles. Some of you may wonder what an illuminated Bible is. Here is a picture of a page from an illuminated Bible. "Illuminated" is the term antiquarians use. "Illustrated" is the term lay folks might use. Most illuminated Bibles and prayer books date from the Middle Ages. Skilled scribes adorned manuscripts, Bibles and prayer books, with pictorial or graphical designs, with borders, with ornate initial letters, or with miniature pictures in colors and gold.

Monks at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, took on a variation of a modern scriptorium by preserving Medieval illuminated Bibles and Books of Heures (prayer books) through microfilm and microfiche. For anyone interested in their work, it is well worth a stop. The monks are pleased to accommodate visitors.

Bruce M. Metzger Died February 13 (1914-2007)

2007-02-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

Update: For a great sequence of tributes to Dr. Metzger, click here. Mike Holmes, a colleague in our close neighboring institution back home, has written the obituary for Metzger for the Society of Biblical Literature.

I find the following story ironic and strangely coincidental, if I may say this respectfully. On Tuesday, February 13, during our chapel here at Tyndale House, during the announcements time, a Greek New Testament was held up with a query as to whom it belonged. David Baker, who led the chapel service, noted that the GNT bore the signature of Bruce M. Metzger, surely a prize to whomever the testament belongs. Little did any of us know at the time that Bruce Metzger would die that day.

Bruce Metzger, authority on biblical manuscripts, dies at 93
February 14, 2007, 2:04 PM EST

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Bruce Manning Metzger, professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary and an authority on Greek manuscripts of the Bible, has died at age 93.

Metzger, who was born in Middletown, Pa., died Tuesday of natural causes, according to The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home Princeton.

At the time of his death, he was the George L. Collord Professor Emeritus of New Testament Language and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary.

The son of Maurice and Anna Metzger, he earned a bachelor's degree from Lebanon Valley College in 1935, a bachelor of theology degree from Princeton Seminary in 1938 and a doctorate in classics from Princeton University in 1942. He became an ordained minister with the Presbyterian Church in 1939.

Metzger began his teaching career at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1938, where he stayed in the New Testament department for 46 years. During his time at the seminary, Metzger developed 25 courses on the English and Greek texts of books in the New Testament.

He was also involved with committees in the production of three new editions of the Scriptures: the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament (1966), the Reader's Digest condensed Bible (1982) and the New Revised Standard Version (1990).

In 1986, Metzger was elected to the American Philosophical Society in the class devoted to the Humanities and in 1994 he was awarded the F.C. Burkitt Medal by the British Academy for his contributions to biblical studies.

Metzger is survived by his wife of 62 years, Isobel Mackay Metzger, two sons and a sister. A memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 20, in Princeton.

Read another account at the Home News Tribune.

See John Piper's Personal Tribute to Bruce Manning Metzger at the newly inaugurated Desiring God Blog.

HT: JT.

I respectfully reserve comment for those who knew Professor Metzger personally. I knew him only through his works, and what significant works they are. My first introduction to him was in reading the UBS Greek New Testament while in college and then his Lexical Aids.

A Reading Day

2007-02-14T10:26:00.000-08:00

Among the various things I have been doing today, reading has definitely dominated my time. One of the areas in the library that has drawn me is the thesis and dissertation bay. The holdings of theses and dissertations are from British universities, particularly from graduates who have done research here at Tyndale House.

Many, perhaps most, of these theses and dissertations have become published books, mostly in series such as SNTS, JSNTS, or JSOTS. It is fun (Is that the right word, Jeeves?) to see the dissertation versions of many books that I have read. There are too many to recall or to list. One of interest was to take a look at D. A. Carson's dissertation from 1975 which later became a book, Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility: Biblical Perspective in Tension. Another dissertation that caught my attention today is that written by N. T. Wright in 1980, "The Messiah and the People of God: A Study in Pauline Theology with Particular Reference to the Argument of the Epistle to the Romans." Wright, to my knowledge, never published his dissertation. Nevertheless, upon reading his dissertation today, it is plainly evident that his dissertation anticipated the trajectory that his work has taken to this day. His ideas and thinking are plainly expressed, at least in seed form, throughout his dissertation. His The Climax of the Covenant: Christ and the Law in Pauline Theology gives significant expression to much of his dissertation but expands significantly upon it, in that the book also addresses Paul's Letter to the Galatians.

Bah, Humbug, You Grinches!

2007-02-14T02:22:00.000-08:00

Phew! I didn't contribute to global warming. Or, did I? These doomsdayers are killjoys, grinches who find a way to steal joy from every event. Bah, humbug! You grinches, you're not stealing my joy! I sent flowers. I squeezed them real tight and sent them via wire all the way across the Atlantic Orcean and halfway across the American continent. When they arrived on the other end, they instantly expanded to their normal size, full, beautiful, and fragrant. Take that, you Valentine Flowers Grinches! Here are the beautiful flowers, straight from America, no jet transportation required.

Valentine bouquets 'are bad for the planet'
By Nicole Martin

The Valentine's Day bouquet — the gift that every woman in Britain will be waiting for next week — has become the latest bête noire among environmental campaigners.

Latest Government figures show that the flowers that make up the average bunch have flown 33,800 miles to reach Britain.

In the past three years, the amount of flowers imported from the Netherlands has fallen by 47 per cent to 94,000 tons, while those from Africa have risen 39 per cent to 17,000 tons.
Environmentalists warned that "flower miles" could have serious implications on climate change in terms of carbon dioxide emissions from aeroplanes.

Andrew Sims, the policy director of the New Economics Foundation, said: "There are plenty of flowers that grow in Britain in the winter and don't need to be hothoused.

"Air freighting flowers half way round the world contributes to global warming.

"You can argue the planes would be flying anyway but the amount of greenhouse gases pumped out depends on the weight of the cargo."

Vicky Hird, of Friends of the Earth, said: "We don't want to be killjoys because receiving flowers can be lovely but why not grow your own gift?"

The figures also revealed that imports of roses from Ethiopia have grown from zero to 130 tons a year since 2003.

Kenya is the second biggest exporter of flowers after the Netherlands, followed by Colombia and Spain.

In total, Britain imports more than £315 million of flowers, with the typical Briton spending £39 a year on them.

"That's very little when you think what we spend on CDs, coffee and even lipstick," said a spokesman for the Flowers and Plants Association.

He said the boom in Third World flowers would help poorer countries to build schools and boost the economy.

HT: NewsBusters Matthew Sheffield.

Research Concentration

2007-02-13T06:37:00.000-08:00

My initial concentration was upon revisiting a paper that I initially wrote for and presented at the annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, November 2005. At the time of presentation, the paper turned out to be quite different from what I initially expected. Since then, the paper has taken a more firm and developed form. The paper, initially titled "The Ox and The Man: The Use of Deuteronomy 25:4 in 1 Corinthians 9:9," has morphed into, "The Muzzled Ox and the Abused Apostle: Deuteronomy 25:4 in 1 Corinthians 9:9." I have brought research for the essay up to date, I believe, and have it almost prepared to submit for publication. I have not yet decided to which journal I would like to submit it.

Now, as I gather information, the focus of my research at Tyndale House library has turned to three areas. I am scheduled to complete three essays for publication before the end of December.

First is an essay on Paul's Letter to the Romans for the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. It will be a reworking of another essay I presented at the 2004 meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society in San Antonio, Texas. The paper was titled, "They Exchanged the Truth of God for the Lie: Echoes of Adam and of Israel in Romans 1:21-25." I anticipate that the essay will bear a different title because it will be broader, less narrowly focused, less technical, and more thematic in its approach.

Second is an essay for an edited book titled, The "Faith of Jesus Christ:" Exegetical, Biblical, and Theological Studies. It will be published by Paternoster. Michael F. Bird, lecturer at Highland Theological College, and Preston M. Sprinkle, a recent graduate of University of Aberdeen, are the editors. The working title of my essay for this book is "The Faithfulness of Jesus as a theme of Pauline Theology."

The third essay that I am working on is one for a five views book on the relationship between Israel and the Church. It will be edited by Chad Brand and published by Broadman & Holman. I will let readers wonder and guess which of the five views I will be presenting.

Traditional Dispensational View.
Progressive Dispensational View.
Kingdom Theology Perspective.
Traditional Covenant Theology Perspective.
New Covenant Theology Perspective.

Farewell to Trond

2007-02-13T01:28:00.000-08:00

Today, my friend Trond Skinstad of Norway left for home. He was here for about a month of study. He plans to return in May to continue his research and writing project.

Here Trond and I pose in front of the William Tyndale portrait the graces the wall near the entrance of Tyndale House. Tyndale House is truly an international community with someone present from virtually every continent.

A Tribute to Two Great Men: Abraham Lincoln & William Wilberforce

2007-02-12T03:21:00.000-08:00

I am old enough to remember when we actually honored President Abraham Lincoln by commemorating his birthday, before Americans fell into the ugly trend of taking most holidays on Monday and treating the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln' and of George Washington (February 22) as one generic holiday called "Presidents' Day," which no one actually celebrates, except car dealers and certain other businesses by holding big sales.

On this day, February 12, it is fitting and proper that we should honor two men who shared a portion the same century, the nineteenth, but were separated by an ocean, accomplished the extraordinary feat of ending slavery in their respective nations: William Wilberfo rc e (1759 - 1833) and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). Due principally to the indefatigable efforts of Wilberforce, slavery was outlawed in the British Empire on March 25, 1807, just under two years before Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12.

The story of William Wilberforce's labors to bring slavery to an end in the British Empire is told in the movie to be released this month (Feb 23, 2007), Amazing Grace, the account of the influence John Newton, former slave ship captain had upon Wilberforce. This is the bicentenary of John Newton's death. Dying on December 21, 1807, the former slave ship captain lived long enough to see slavery ended in his beloved homeland and throughout the British Empire.

William Wilberforce is one of many favorite sons and graduates of St. John's College, Cambridge University. Suitably, St. John's College Chapel narthex features a marble statue of William Wilberforce seated.

For an account of factors that played roles in Wilberforce's conversion to follow Christ Jesus, look here.

Thanks to the labors, courage, and sacrifice of William Wilberforce and Abraham Lincoln, our world is quite different from what it once was. Slavery is no more in Britain and America. Most regrettably, slavery persists in altogether too many places in the world, most notably in Africa, where Muslims continue to enslave non-Muslim Africans. For further details, read The Unknown Slavery: In the Muslim world, that is -- and it's not over.

136 Inches--That's a Lot of Snow

2007-02-12T02:17:00.000-08:00

Village May Set N.Y. Mark for Snowfall

A Beautiful Sunday Afternoon in Cambridge

2007-02-11T02:26:00.000-08:00

The day began overcast, prompting me to carry my umbrella when I went to church on the east side of town at Eden Baptist Church. Rev. Julian Handyman returned to the pulpit today after an extended absence of six months due to illness. He preached a fine sermon on Jeremiah 45. I appreciated the worship service. The sanctuary was filled. Many students attended.

When I emerged from church, it was obvious that I would not need my umbrella today. What a beautiful day in Cambridge! The temperature was around 55 to 60 Fahrenheit, perfect for a Sunday afternoon stroll about Cambridge. First, I took a tour of the King's College Chapel, begun in 1441 and completed in 1547. What an exquisite structure! I learned that the stained glass windows, which took 30 years to complete, were removed piece by piece and stored in a safe place throughout the duration of World War II. The windows are priceless. They depict the biblical narrative, Old Testament on the upper portion of the panels and the NT on the lower portion. Click on the picture to the right to read the description of the windows.

As beautiful as the windows are, the elegance of the ceiling is the definitive feature of the Chapel. The ceiling consists of interlaced ornate ribbing that form fans. Keep in mind that the ceiling is 80 feet high. Imagine the scaffolding required to hold the artisans who constructed the ceiling. If you ever come to Cambridge, you will want to tour King's College Chapel. It is truly grand!

Another cathedral in England that features this exquisite fan vault is the Bath Cathedral.

Sunday afternoon was still young when I had to leave the Chapel, due to an Evensong service that was scheduled to begin shortly. So, I continued on to several other colleges, but I will tell more of these at another time and offer some pictures as well.

Rainy Day Outside. Productive in the Library

2007-02-10T13:09:00.000-08:00

Today it has been drizzling and overcast all day. Thus, I have not been outside all day. I have worked in the library throughout the day, and it has been a much more productive day than yesterday, when all I did was wrestle with my computer which was causing all kinds of problems. Today, the first thing I did was sit down to figure out how I could master my computer to make it useful and efficient rather than malfunctioning and testing my patience each time I use it. By God's grace, I stumbled onto information that was extremely useful. Had it been disclosed to me yesterday, I could have resolved most of my computer problems yesterday in 5 to 10 minutes. Instead, that happened today. And since I installed the proxy server software, the computer has been humming along without a hitch.

I am planning to attend Eden Baptist Church tomorrow. I have heard good reports concerning Eden going back to my student days. Now I have an opportunity to attend. Of course, I will be walking to church in the morning. As I've been told, it should take about 40 to 45 minutes.

A Humbling Experience While Researching

2007-02-09T06:37:00.000-08:00

It was not always this way, but now after having written and published for magazines, journals, and books, while doing research, it is not unusual to come across my published materials in books or journals or magazines that I read. This week I had an occasion to read an article in a very recent issue of a scholarly journal on the New Testament concerning the same crucial passage in one of Paul's letters on which I had published a sizable and significant article several years ago, an article that derived from my work on my dissertation. As I read the recent article, I observed that the author showed no knowledge of my research and gave no indication that she had accessed my article, even though it is indexed in all of the major scholarly indexes of journal articles.

Well, it was humbling that the author showed no indication at all of having any knowledge of my essay. Humbling as that was, however, it was even more humbling to reflect upon an experience that I had within the past year. I received notification that an essay I had submitted for publication in another scholarly journal for biblical studies had been rejected because I did not show that I had interacted with a particular essay that had touched upon the same passage on which my essay was based. This reflection gave me pause to be humbled further to realize that not even the referees of the journal in which the woman successfully published her essay knew of my ignored, forgotten, not cited, and not even mentioned essay.

Some have said that scholars write things that only other scholars read. Perhaps this is true. However, an corollary may also be fitting: Scholars write things that not even other scholars read.

Update: Humbled again. Today, as I was continuing to research in the area that I addressed in my dissertation, as I revisit that work to update my files with a view to possibly publishing some essays, I came upon another essay that was sort of a twist on the title of my dissertation, "The Cross and the Curse" whereas my dissertation is title, "The Curse of the Law and the Cross." Again, this essay shows no awareness of neither my essay published in 1989 nor my dissertation completed in 1991. What is particularly disconcerting about this essay is that the first segment offers "A History of Interpretation of Galatians 3:13." How thorough was the research that supported this summary of the history of interpretation. The odd thing is that my essay is even available on the internet, here and listed here. Once again, I'm humbled.

A Touch of Minnesota In Cambridge

2007-02-08T02:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I introduced you to Selwyn College, one of the many colleges that make up Cambridge University. This morning, take a look at Selwyn College now. I took a shot of Selwyn College Chapel from the same angle as yesterday.

The weather forecast was correct. I awoke to snow this morning. I rose early and took a stroll through familiar streets of Cambridge to snap some pictures to share with all of you.
It wouldn't be right for me to neglect some shots of Tyndale House. Here are a few snaps of the House in the freshly fallen snow. On the left is the main entrance from Selwyn Gardens (street). Below is another shot of the main entrance from the walkway in front of the library. On the right is the rear entrance walkway covered with virgin snow.

Below on the right is is the Holy Trinity Vicarage house No. 2 directly across Selwyn Gardens from Tyndale House.

I wandered on down to take a few pictures of Mathematical Bridge before returning to Tyndale House for some breakfast. What's a disappointment! I took an early morning stroll through romantic Cambridge graced with a fresh blanket of snow without my romantic one, my wife. Next time I come to Cambridge, Lois will surely be with me.

Enjoy these shots of Mathematical Bridge dressed in snow. View my earlier pictures of Mathematical Bridge here.

What a difference one day can make!

As I sit at my study carrel, it continues to snow. Unfortunately, I also hear the wailing of sirens, many times this morning.

Freshly Fallen Snow on Cambridge

2007-02-08T02:33:00.000-08:00

Enjoy a few more pictures of freshly fallen snow on Cambridge.

How Well Do You Know Your Bible?

2007-02-08T02:15:00.000-08:00

John, my son, challenged me to take this Bible quiz (How Well Do You Know Your Bible?). Oops! I got a few questions wrong. A few Old Testament questions caught me.

You rank 80% on the biblical comprehension scale.

Well done! You have comfortably passed this advanced biblical comprehension test. You are clearly an attentive student of the Scriptures. There may be a few areas where you are a little rusty, though. Hopefully this test has helped you to identify some of them. Keep up the good work!

How Well Do You Know Your Bible?
Quizzes for MySpace

Selwyn College, Cambridge University

2007-02-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

I will introduce you to a lovely college just a block or so from Tyndale House. Tyndale House is located on Selwyn Gardens, a cul de sac, off Grange Road which runs by Selwyn College. We readers at Tyndale House are permitted, if we desire, to go to the dining commons at Selwyn College for dinner in the evening. This is something I have not yet done.

Selwyn College receives its name from a missionary, George Augustus Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand (1841-68) and later Bishop of Lichfield (1868-78). The College crest incorporates the Selwyn family arms and those of the Diocese of Lichfield.

Click here to view the Selwyn College Chapel and Choir. On my way to Barclay's Bank to exchange dollars for pounds (ouch!), I strolled through the quadrangle of Selwyn College and snapped a few pictures to share with you. Take note of the greenness of the grass, you poor folks in cold Minnesota.
On the left is the college gate. To the right is a view of the chapel from within the gate. Below is a view of the quadrangle. Imagine college students and personnel walking around this quadrangle as if it were routine, nothing extraordinary, just any day's activity. I'm trying to blend into the landscape by not appearing to be too much agape.

If you click on the picture of the gate to enlarge it, you may notice a Greek quotation over the arch. It is from 1 Corinthians 16:13, "Stand firm in the faith; be men of courage."

A View of Tyndale House Library

2007-02-07T05:34:00.000-08:00

Click on the graphic above to get a larger view. The desk I use is indicated by the dark circle. It faces Selwyn Gardens street.

The library is full. It receives about a thousand volumes each year. You may view plans for expanding the library area. Funds are needed to undertake this project.

Below is a picture of my study carrel. It's quiet. It's spacious. It's my study area for these many weeks while in Cambridge.

Today has been a productive day of research. Productivity, at this stage, is measured by how successful I am at locating and gathering resources that I have itemized on my bibliography. Given the stacks of resources, I would say I have been quite successful. Now I have to read all these items. That success will be measured differently and realized more slowly.

Senior NT Seminar Lectures

2007-02-06T04:39:00.000-08:00

This morning I learned from fellow readers, here at Tyndale House, of an opportunity of which I intend to take advantage. At 2:30 pm, today, I expect to attend the lecture for February 6.

University of Cambridge
Faculty of Divinity
SENIOR NEW TESTAMENT SEMINAR
Lent Term 2007

The Seminar will take place in the Lightfoot Room at the Faculty of Divinity at 2.30 p.m.
on the following Tuesdays:

23 January
Dr Andrew Chester
(Selwyn College)
The Law of Christ and the Law of the Spirit
6 February
Prof. John Riches
(Emeritus Professor, University of Glasgow)
Westcott and the traditions of Cambridge New Testament scholarship Revisited
20 February
Prof. Ithamar Gruenwald
(University of Tel Aviv)
What can the New Testament tells us of the Judaism of its Time?
A joint meeting with the Hebrew, Jewish and early Christian Studies seminar
6 March
Mr Jonathan Moo
(Corpus Christi College)
Roman 8.19-22 and Isaiah’s Cosmic Covenant

Mr Ryan Jackson
(St Edmund’s College)
Cosmic Christology and New Creation Epistemology in 2 Cor 5

All welcome

GNS

Lost Sleep and Lost Memory in Cambridge

2007-02-05T10:53:00.000-08:00

Lost sleep. Today has been less productive than I would have wished. I stayed up to late, until 1:00 am watching the first half of the Super Bowl game as the Bears and the Colts slogged it out. I watched with two friends, Barry Danylak and Trond Skinstad, with whom I attended Evensong at St. John's College chapel. Barry, having lived in Chicagoland, as I have, rooted for the Bears. Trond, on the other hand, is from Norway. That made it fun. He was learning the game of American football. As we watched, we enjoyed fine cheeses with crackers left over from a fancy reception for the launch of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, not the ordinary snack for watching a Super Bowl game.

I suppose that I should not have been surprised when I rose this morning to discover that the Bears lost. I hope to watch the other half of the game when I return home in March. John, my son, recorded it for me in high definition.

Well, now about losing memory. Before I left home for Cambridge, I had ordered an upgrade of RAM for my laptop computer. Unfortunately, it had not arrived before I left. Today, it arrived via DHL. I was eager to get it, hoping that it will ease some of the strain on the computer, given the increasing demands of software. Regrettably, I discovered that one stick of RAM is defective. Of course, to discover this took considerable amount of time and some alarm. I did not narrow it down to one stick without numerous attempts to sort out where the problem resided. Upon carefully and meticulous placing the RAM sticks into the computer, the laptop would not boot up. It simply ground away. At last, I received an alarming message, "system32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys" missing. Oh no! Now what do I do? Well I decided to place the original RAM back into the computer. Voilà! It booted up properly. Thanks to Google, I after searching the web for "system32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys," I discovered the likely problem. Bad RAM. Sure enough, one stick is no good. So, after having received the RAM upgrade, it unfortunately does not help my situation. The old RAM is back in the computer. Memory gained and memory lost, all in one day.

Mathematical Bridge at Queen's College--A Sunday Afternoon Stroll

2007-02-04T01:53:00.000-08:00

Research in the library is not possible on Sunday afternoon, given that the library is closed, and wisely so, for otherwise scholars would become more eggheaded than they already are. So, after having enjoyed a pleasant dinner with new friends, Don and Melissa Howell, in one of the flats at Tyndale House, I took a stroll through old Cambridge. I snapped the picture on the left of "Mathematical Bridge," spanning River Cam at Queen's College.

Mathematical Bridge strains under a load of several legends. It's a wonder that the bridge remains intact, given the weight of these myths. Here are some of the myths that shroud the truth about the construction of the bridge:

That the bridge is of Chinese origin and that its design incorporates some form of special mathematical technique from which it derives its name.
That the bridge was designed and built by students. It was so perfect that the planks were laid one on top of the other and held together by their weight and the angles by which they were put together. The professors were so intrigued and in awe of its architecture that they took it apart to see how it was built. Their downfall was that they could not piece it back together again and therefore the bridge is now held together by nuts, bolts and screws.
That the bridge was designed by Isaac Newton, but that he did so without the need for bolts to hold the wood together - the story of college members then dismantling it and being unable to reassemble it is also part of this version of the myth. This version is unlikely to be true because Newton died in 1727, 22 years before the bridge was constructed.

The bridge connects to older segment of Queen's College (The Dark Side) with the newer portion (The Light Side).

Here are few other shots to acquaint you with Queen's College.On the left is the Gate House viewed from the Old Court. To the right is the Queen's College shield.

On the left is the cloister with the long gallery on the left. To the right is the President's Lodge. Finally, below is a shot of the bridge in winter, on a frosty morning, many of which we are having at this time.

For further information on Mathematical Bridge click here.

Heavy Research Day. Anticipate Church Tomorrow.

2007-02-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

As I close out my first week at Tyndale House, things are beginning to click for me. I'm learning the library system, how things are to be done, I've finally figured out the photo copy/scanner machine, and where various resources can be located. So, I've been gathering resources today and have been reading quite a lot.

Given the number of essays, books, and theses on one of my fields of research, the apostle Paul's view of the Mosaic Law, that have burgeoned since my last major research in the field, I am overwhelmed with volumes of materials. In order to maximize my research time in Cambridge, I fear that I may have to alter my intentions somewhat. I think I may need to narrow my research and be less ambitious about what I intended to accomplish. Instead of focusing upon revisiting the full subject of my dissertation (a study of the faith-works of the law antithesis in Galatians 3:1-14), I believe that I will use my allotted time more effectively if I narrow the focus of my work to concentrate upon three essays that I am scheduled to complete before the end of December 2007.

This is what a week's worth of research has done to me. It has confirmed what my wife knew all along, namely, that my designs were overly ambitious for a few weeks of research at Tyndale House.

For tomorrow, I have been invited to join a fellow Tyndale House researcher and his wife to attend The Round Church at St. Andrews the Great, here in Cambridge. As I recall, my colleague, Dr. Jackie Glenny's C.S. Lewis's Cambridge: A Walking Tour Guide begins at the Round Church. For future reference for anyone visiting Cambridge, here is a little blurb about the walking guide.

C S Lewis's Cambridge: A Walking Tour Guide, Jacqueline Glenny - The story of C S Lewis's translation to Cambridge and his last few years is charmingly told by Dr Jaqueline Glenny, an American academic. A Walking Tour Guide, which takes you on a tour of the town and is very well illustrated but also paints a fascinating portrait of Lewis the man as well as Cambridge.

New Acquaintances and One Old

2007-02-02T03:39:00.000-08:00

What a small world! At tea this morning I struck up a conversation with a gentleman whose name is Kevin Conway, a theological educator in Croatia with a mission organization out of southern California. Kevin introduced me to two other gentlemen, Peter Lau from Australia (working on ethics in the book of Ruth) and Jason Fout (working on the glory of God in Christian theology).

Jason responded, "Actually we have met before." I'm sure my face showed great puzzlement, for I had no recollection of meeting Jason. He tested my memory, which is usually quite sharp, but I could not coax any recollections of seeing his face before. So, I begged, "Give me a context where we may have met." Jason responded, "College of Lake County." Talk about an obscure segment of my life! That was truly obscure. In the fall of 1988 I took a course in German as I was preparing to take the qualifying exam for my Ph.D. program. Jason, fresh out of high school, and I sat in the same classroom under the teaching of Herr Krupp. I, of course, have little recollection of students in the class, because I was on campus only to attend that one class three days each week.

Jason also knows another gentleman who is presently studying at Tyndale House. The two attended the same high school together. He is Jonathan Moo. Of course, I have a connection with Jonathan. His father, Douglas Moo, served as my first reader during the dissertation phase of my Ph.D. program. Douglas Moo is now Blanchard Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College.

Today, I received my University Centre card. It gives me access to university buildings, but especially to the University Center. It will be useful this evening when I go to the centre for dinner with a friend from Tyndale House, Barry Danylak, who is working on a Ph.D. through St. Edmund's College, but living and researching at Tyndale House. Before we go to the University Centre we plan to attend Evensong at St. John's College, which is reputed to have an excellent male choir. I shall hear for myself this evening. Come to think of it, I do not have to wait until this evening. I can listen now, which I am doing on-line. I am listening to the Epiphany Carol Service 2007. You may listen as well.

Thanks for stopping by to read my journal.

Inescapable Inequality

2007-02-01T09:31:00.002-08:00

I have been busy with research today. During the course of my day I came upon the following from a British minister, J. C. Ryle, from the nineteenth century. He was educated at Oxford, not Cambridge. Below is a portion of his exposition of The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side” (Luke 16:19-23).

J. C. Ryle (1816-1900) was an evangelical Bishop who knew how to apply the teaching of the Scriptures to the society in which people lived. In this extract from his work Practical Religion he challenges the developing ideology which claimed that all men should be equal in wealth. Ryle countered such arguments by demonstrating that inequality is a fact of life in a fallen world and can be an instruction toward challenging character development in the poor and the rich.

Many in every age have disturbed society by stirring up the poor against the rich, and by preaching the popular doctrine that all men ought to be equal. But so long as the world is under the present order of things this universal equality cannot be attained. Those who speak against the vast inequality of men’s fates will doubtless never lack an audience; but so long as human nature is what it is, this inequality cannot be prevented.

So long as some are wise and some are foolish-some strong and some weak-some healthy and some diseased-some lazy and some diligent-some prudent and some careless; so long as children reap the fruit of their parent's bad behavior; so long as sun, and rain, and heat, and cold, and wind, and waves, and drought, and plague, and storms are beyond man’s control-so there will always be some rich and some poor. All the political order in the world will never erase the fact that, “There will always be poor people in the land.” [Deuteronomy 15:11]

Take all the property in our country by force this very day, and divide it equally among the inhabitants. Give every man above the age of twenty an equal portion. Let everyone share and share alike, and begin the world over again. Do this, and see where you would be at the end of fifty years. You would have just come back around to the point where you began. You would find things just as unequal as before. Some would have worked, and some would have been lazy. Some would have always been careless, and some always scheming. Some would have sold, and others would have bought. Some would have wasted, and others would have saved. And the end would be that some would be rich and others poor.

Let no one listen to those vain and foolish talkers who say that all men were meant to be equal. They might as well tell you that all men ought to be of the same height, weight, strength, and skill-or that all oak trees ought to be of the same shape and size-or that all blades of grass ought to always be the same length.

Settle it in your mind that the main cause of all the suffering you see around you is sin. Sin is the great cause of the enormous luxury of the rich, and the painful degradation of the poor-of the heartless selfishness of the highest classes, and the helpless poverty of the lowest class. Sin must first be cast out of the world. The hearts of all men must be renewed and sanctified. The devil must be locked away. The Prince of Peace must come down and take His great power and reign. All this must be done before there can ever be universal happiness, or the gulf filled up that now divides the rich and the poor.

Beware of expecting a millennium to be brought about by any method of government, by any system of education, or by any political party. Work hard to do good to all men. Pity the poor, and help in every reasonable endeavor to raise them from their life of poverty. Seek to help to increase knowledge, to promote morality, and to improve the earthly condition of the poor. But never, never forget that you live in a fallen world, that sin is all around you, and that the devil and the demons are everywhere. And be very sure that the rich man and Lazarus are emblems of two classes, which will always be in the world until the Lord returns.
J. C. Ryle, Practical Religion (from chapter 13).

Brief comment: The fact that we live in this fallen world where inequities abound, where wealth and poverty reside adjacent to one another, provides ample opportunity to conduct ourselves as Christians, extending love and kindness indiscriminately to both the wealthy and the poor and to people who fall along every other kind of disparity and inequity.

Touring Cambridge on a Mission

2007-01-31T12:26:00.000-08:00

I took a non-tourist brisk walk through the heart of Cambridge today, passing by building after building rich with history and representative of extended traditions. I walked by campuses with familiar names--Newnham College, Ridley Hall, Queens College, St. Catherine's College, Corpus Christi College, King's College. I behaved, however, as though I were not a tourist nor as if it were my first time in Cambridge. Why? I was on a mission. I was heading to Sainsbury's, the major food market in the heart of the city. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to get to know the lay of the city.

The streets are narrow. Motor vehicle traffic is extremely restricted. If one drives a vehicle into the city without a permit, bollards of various kinds will rise from the pavement to attack the vehicle and leave it in rather poor condition. Bicycling and footing it are the chief ways to get around Cambridge.

I am getting settled in to researching. These first few days have not been very productive, however, because I am learning the system of the Tyndale House library. Now that I am getting a little better accustomed to the system, I anticipate that my productivity will increase.

I have particularly enjoyed getting to know other scholar-readers at Tyndale during tea time which is at 11:00 am and 4:00 pm. I've had particularly delightful conversations with David Peters, professor of political science at Biola University, Don Howell, professor of New Testament Greek at Columbia International University, and Onesimus Ngundu, one of seventy African contributors to the Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary. I have invited Onesimus to submit a copy of his resume for me to bring back to the Department of Biblical & Theological Studies for consideration for a possible faculty position in Christian Theology.

Cafe Naz

2007-01-30T10:10:00.000-08:00

For my Northwestern College readers, I want you to know that I am not far from Cafe Naz. No, not the Cafe Naz at Northwestern College, but the Cafe Naz in Cambridge, England, an Indian Restaurant.

Since I did not get to a grocery store today, I decided to eat a good meal at a pub nearby. A friend recommended Hat & Feathers. The feature tonight is steak with chips, peas, and tomatoes. I chose another dish instead, and hmmm, let me tell you it was delicious. I chose Roast Chicken Breast with cream potatoes topped with bacon and a rich sauce. The side dish included boiled cabbage, julienne carrots, new red potatoes, and steamed broccoli. Am I making you hungry? I received a very generous portion of all. It was excellent. It was particularly enjoyable since I've not had a real dinner for several days.

If you ever come to Cambridge, may I commend Hat & Feathers at the intersection of Grange and Barton Roads? I took tap water with ice this evening, which cost me nothing, so I cannot speak for the spirits or ales, but I can speak concerning the food. It's good.

Now back to that for which I came to Cambridge.

Dry Mini Wheats or Mini Wheats with Milk?

2007-01-30T02:21:00.000-08:00

It is a strange sound at the end of January to wake to the sounds of song birds chirping, each one contributing its own notes to a harmonic cacophony.

Having had insufficient time yesterday to stock my pantry with bread, milk, and other perishable goods, I rose to realize that I would be eating dry mini wheats unless I took a walk to locate a market to purchase a few items. With no specific clarity as to where I might find a corner market but only a general sense of the direction where it might be, I set out in the cool morning air to locate a storefront that would look like a market. At last, I found it tucked away in a spot where I would not have expected it.

I gathered a few items--milk, bread, butter, orange juice. I left the half dozen "free range" eggs that I had picked up and pondered. They're not refrigerated. That seemed strange to me. Unrefrigerated eggs? Hmmm! Maybe that's the way here. I don't know. I'll need to inquire about that. I did observe yesterday at Cumberland House B&B that the yolk of my egg was unusually orange, not yellow, but actually orange. Maybe it was a "free range" egg.

As for the quart of orange juice, it cost the same as my blue bottle of "still" water at Ye Olde Six Bells, £2.95. It contains twice the liquid that the blue bottle held, but it is still rather pricey. Think of it! One quart of orange juice at the equivalent of $6.00. Hmmm! Will I have to give up drinking orange juice?

In the end, I didn't have dry mini wheats. I didn't have mini wheats with milk, either. I didn't even have mini wheats. Instead, I had toast with butter. I had pondered whether I should purchase some raspberry "conserves" ("preserves" for us Americans). I should have done so. It would have made the toast more delectable. Perhaps I will have my raspberry jam tomorrow, but if so, I will need to take a break today to go to the super market and make some larger purchases today.

Déjà vu

2007-01-30T01:51:00.000-08:00

It's déjà vu. It's off to college, all over again. That's what it feels like as I endeavor to settle in to dormitory life and into the library. I distinctly remember how elated I was when I spent my last day and night in the dorm when in college.

Now that I am residing in the end room in the men's dorm again, all the affective aspects of dorm life are returning for me. I hear the jangling of keys and the tapping of keys turning lock cylinders echoing through the empty hallway. Doors creak open and closed as one by one residents rise to make their way to the loo after a night of sleep. Strange, though, isn't it, that we dorm residents almost always manage to proceed unseen as we ambulate from our rooms? It's almost as if there were some unwritten code that guides us lest we encounter one another in the dormitory hallway. Strange, very strange. But it is all coming back to me now.

Such is the way of dorm life. I suppose that I shouldn't say anything about the aromatic qualities of dorm life, an aspect that I have not missed since the days of youth. But it is the aspect that is altogether too much present though unseen in a men's dorm. Less than entirely adequately tended to necessary rooms have a way of pervading the hallway with aromatic pungency dominating one's olfactory senses. Why must it be this way? Update: It's better today. Some cleaning and freshening made it sweeter.

Four Hour Bus Ride and Settling In

2007-01-29T12:17:00.000-08:00

Following a full English breakfast (egg, sausage, bacon, potato cake, tomato, beans, and toast), Clive shuttled me to Gatwick airport to take the bus to Cambridge. The ride would have been a touch more pleasant, if the National Express would spend just a few pounds to have someone hose down the bus to remove the grime, dirt, and dust that covers the large coach side windows that were engineered into the coach for viewing the countryside. Oh well! Four long hours later, I arrived at the bus station in Cambridge only to transfer to a cab for a £5.80 ride to Tyndale House.

I received a quick tour of the properties for orientation, I've been settling in today, received network and internet connections for my computer, and I've done some correspondence. Tomorrow I start engaging heavy-duty research.

Of Dollars and Pounds and 16 Ounces of Water

2007-01-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

My body and my clock do not correlate at present. My body tells me it is 9:25 PM January 28. My clock indicates otherwise, that it is 3:25 AM January 29. Presently, my body prevails. So, I am awake and writing this note. And to what do my late night thoughts turn? Economics.

Economic news back home has routinely called attention to how "weak" the American dollar is to the euro but especially the British pound sterling. After my meal last evening, GMT, or earlier on Sunday morning, US Central time, I have been thinking about economic perspective. As it appears to me, the US dollar is not "weak" in relation to the British pound sterling. Rather, the British pound sterling is excessive in relation to the US dollar. What do I mean? Let me illustrate the matter with 16 oz. of water.

When I ordered my Roast Sirloin of Beef at Ye Olde Six Bells pub, I had in mind that I would save some money. Instead of ordering a soda, as I characteristically would do with a meal, I ordered a glass of ice water. I thought that was simple enough, but alas, I should have remembered from previous visits to the UK that such an order here is not as simple as back home. Culture change! I was instantly faced with a decision. "Sparkling or still?" inquired the pub cashier. Quickly processing the query, I realized that "still" must mean either tap water or spring bottled water. I responded, "Still." The pub cashier, now bar tender, twisted the top off a fancy blue bottle, not chilled, and poured it into a glass half filled with ice.

I proceeded to my selected table, located in the fireplace room, to enjoy my bottled but "still" water. Oops! Then, upon looking at the menu, I learned that my 16 ounce glass of beginning-to-chill still water was costing me £2.95. Having no conversation partner and having already read everything within reach, including the entire menu, my mind began to process the matter of the water. Three things promptly presented themselves to me.

First, in the States, when one asks for ice water, one does not ordinarily have to pay for it as a distinct menu item. The water is drawn from the tap. Second, flowing from this (pun intended), one is not restricted to one glass of ice water. Water and ice are replenished as frequently as one asks, and at no additional expense.

Third, however, is the major economic issue that I want to address. One US $ back home regularly buys 16 oz. of chilled water either from a vending machine or at a kiosk. Consider, then how expensive it would be to purchase 16 oz. of water for £2.95. Imagine buying water at nearly $6.00 for 16 oz. Yet that is precisely what I did earlier today. Ouch! Now consider this. If 16 oz. of water cost £2.95, then 1 gallon (128 oz) of water, at this rate, would cost £23.60. Convert this amount to US dollars, and what would 1 gallon (128 oz.) of water cost at this rate? It would be approximately $47.20. Would anyone, except in dire straits, purchase one gallon of water for $47.20? I would not. Yet, I did purchase 1/8 of a gallon of water for $6.00. This was not even "penny wise and pound foolish." It was simply foolish, no matter how one views the matter. (Note to self: No more "still" water from fancy blue bottles.)

So, is the US dollar weak against the British pound sterling? I suppose that it is. But is it not really a matter of perspective? It seems to me that the British pound sterling is staggeringly excessive in relation to the US dollar.

In a global economy, one has to be prepared for such things as my water expense crisis. I realize that the South of England has suffered drought which surely increases water costs. Thus, it is understandable that a pub may not serve tap water as freely as we do in the US. All things considered, though, the British pound sterling is excessively costly. Why should the British pound sterling be the standard by which the US dollar is judged "weak"? Why do we not, instead, point to the US dollar as the standard by which we assess the British pound sterling or the euro? It is rather evident that the US dollar has much greater purchasing power in the US than the British pound sterling has in the UK.

Update: When I spoke of my experience concerning the pricey water with my hostess, Carmel, this morning, she cracked, "Go on beer! It will be cheaper. You can get a pint for a £1.50." I inquired of Carmel how to order water in a British pub. She said, "Be sure to ask for chilled tap water. You should not have to pay for tap water, even if chilled." Good news! I had to laugh, though, when Carmel said, "Go on beer!" She is Irish. She knows something about beer. Whether I will take Carmel's advice, I will leave you to wonder.

Arrived in Gatwick

2007-01-28T09:30:00.000-08:00

After sitting in the plane at the gate in Minneapolis for a half hour past the scheduled lift off time, we finally took off. Even so, we arrived a half hour early in London. However, once we landed we had to wait for emergency workers to come onto the plane to tend to a woman who had a medical emergency about halfway through our flight. Evidently she had a recent heart transplant and flew against her doctor's orders. It seems that she was alright. Overhearing one of the flight attendants, it seems that she may have had a panic attack.

Thanks to my colleague, Ed Glenny who recommended this Bed & Breakfast in Horley not far from Gatwick Airport, for tonight I am staying in the Cumberland House and will take the bus in the morning to Cambridge. Just a short walk down a street lined with quaint homes and cottages, where the street takes a sharp bend, is Ye Olde Six Bells Pub. I had a wonderful meal there this evening, Roast Sirloin of Beef. Eating alone at a pub is not a particularly enjoyable experience even though the food was delicious. Pubs are meant to be enjoyed with companions and friends.

I enjoyed reading the clever wit posted about the pub. Low half-timber ceilings called for warnings to watch the head, such as, "Duck or Grouse."

Introduction to Tyndale House Journal

2007-01-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

From January to March, Tyndale House in Cambridge, England, affiliated with Cambridge University, will be my home. I will be studying here while on sabbatical leave from my regular teaching responsibilities at Northwestern College, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

As I research and write at Tyndale House, I desire to give some time each day to write a journal of my activities and accomplishments first as a way to communicate with friends and loved ones but also as a record from which I will provide a report to the Dean of Faculty and the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at our college upon my return to regular teaching responsibilities next autumn.