I have decided to broaden my area of study and stop reading just history books and work on a better understanding of the Bible and my faith. I started studying this type of content when I was going to CBU, but stopped when I started wanting to learn more about history. I feel like such a broad topic of God and Christianity are things that should be studied for a lifetime with the expectation that a lifetime is only long enough to scratch the surface. I have started with the New Testament and have been reading Craig L. Blomberg's Jesus and the Gospels, Bart Ehrman's A Brief Introduction to the New Testament and Ben Witherington's The Christology of Jesus. I am also listening to a lot of interesting lectures and finding a lot of good stuff online. If your interested, you can listen to some of the lectures that I find most interesting here, here, here, and here. I have also updated the links on the left of my blog with a bunch of interesting links where I've found a lot of good information. My favorite is the Veritas link. You can read what they're all about here. I'm going to share some interesting stuff that I learn as I go just in case someone else might share an interest, but mostly to help myself remember what I learn. I am especially enjoying this new area of study because I am coming in the middle of the conversation, like the quote that I used here, and I find peace in the fact that people have been struggling with the same questions and issues that I am for thousands of years. I feel like I have joined a community of people seeking Truth.
So, here is the first mildly interesting thing that I have learned. Craig Blomberg wrote about the authorship and intended audiences of the gospels. Luke wrote the most purposefully historical gospel, and addressed it to "most excellent Theophilus." Every time I had read that in the past, I always thought that Theophilus was one of Luke's friends, but Theophilus is Greek for "lover of God" or "God's beloved" so some say Luke intended his gospel for all Christians.
O.k., so that wasn't that interesting, but it was something new that I learned. I swear I'll start sharing more interesting things than that!
4 comments:
Do you do any actual work while you're at work?
I try not to.
I'm curious as to why you decided to include Bart Ehrman in your reading. I mean, I think it's good to get a skeptical perspective once in awhile, but Ehrman's approach to history is pretty out to lunch in my opinion. Witherington is good - I took a class from him in seminary. I also like the work of Veritas. Have you read Kelly Monroe Kullberg's books?
Anyhow, just saw your blog and thought I'd drop a comment on it. Congratulations on your growing family!
Hi John,
Thanks for visiting my blog. I chose Bart Ehrman because you are right, it is good to get a skeptical viewpoint if for nothing less than to see what other people are saying. I find that seeking different opinions strengthens my faith by helping me to understand better why I believe the things that I believe. I disagree with a lot of what Bart Ehrman says, but he is a great scholar. Witherington mentioned on his blog (http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2006/03/misanalyzing-text-criticism-bart.html) that Ehrman is dishonest in his statement that he is doing "value-neutral text criticism", and I agree that he is intentionally "trying now to deconstruct orthodox Christianity" but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't read him. I do not hold him on the same level as Witherington or Blomberg, or others like Harbermas or William Lane Craig, but he is an interesting read and my faith in the inerrancy of the Bible is strong enough to withstand the likes of Ehrman.
Thanks again for visiting my blog and sharing your opinion!
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