Category: books

My updated bookshelf

Suggestions for Missionaries in Lockdown

March 19, 2020 /

I have a young friend currently serving a mission in Norway, who is confined to her apartment except for groceries and cabin-fever prevention walks. She asked me to send her some reading, which prompted this post.

Missionaries tend to be out and about. Being in an apartment with minimal internet or personal connection can lead to feelings of wasted time and lack of utility. But it’s also a real opportunity for missionaries to dedicate time they wouldn’t otherwise have to some intensive and important study, about our own scriptures (especially the Book of Mormon), scripture we share with other Christians (especially the New Testament), or Church history and doctrine. Continue reading

My updated bookshelf

March Madness! With books and deals!

March 3, 2020 /

I’ve been a user of Logos for almost 20 years. It’s my research library. I’ve written about how to use its free software; you buy the books, and can buy extra functionality, but you can download and get a lot of usage out of it for free. My previous posts about using Logos to get at Greek and Hebrew (instead of using Strong’s) here and here. I made some video demos, and there are many more on the logos.com site.

Every March, Logos holds March Madness uh, March Matchups. It’s a little different every year, but books, authors, or collections go into a bracket, and users vote. Every week, the winners move forward, with increasing discounts, until there is only one.  The winning books/collections this year get 60% off, which can be significant. Below is my “voting guide” for LDS users. Continue reading

Pic from linked Berkely website

Robert Alter, at BYU and Amazon

February 14, 2020 /

Robert Alter is an emeritus professor of Hebrew, Literature, and Jewish Studies at UC-Berkeley. He recently completed his entire translation and commentary on the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament, in traditional Christian terms). It’s a lovely 3-volume hardcover set retailing for $125. However, [ad link] Amazon frequently sells it for about $65, sometimes with a checkbox coupon for another $20 off. That’s is a screaming deal on the magnum opus of a wonderful scholar, Continue reading

My updated bookshelf

New Testament Gospel Doctrine Resources (Post 2): The Bible, Text, and Translation

December 6, 2018 /

My updated bookshelf: Mission triple, quad, Jewish Study Bible, Reader’s Hebrew Bible, Reader’s Greek New Testament, Jewish Annotated New Testament, Hart’s New Testament.

(Link to Part 1, the Short List)

I want to emphasize that the absolute best and easiest thing you can do to increase the quality and frequency of your Bible study is to supplement your KJV with a different translation. Continue reading

Some thoughts on scripture study for adults and youth

October 29, 2018 /

George Cattermole, “The Scribe” public domain.

 

A friend asked me about teaching youth about scripture study recently. I happened to have some notes I’d collected, so I wrote it up here. These are things I think LDS adults should know and model to the youth. I’ve grouped them under three logical, progressive headings. Now, I think the Church does a great job getting us to read scripture, and to apply scripture in spiritual and practical ways, but not always how to understand or interpret scripture very well. Continue reading

My old bookshelf

Group study: Recycling an old suggestion

October 9, 2018 /
My old bookshelf

My old bookshelf

 I have more thoughts on group and family study to supplement replace our lost hour of Church, but in the meantime, this post (originally 2011, reposted last year) might be helpful. 

I plug modern Bible translations one way or another in virtually everything I write and teach. Now that you have two or three translations, how do you integrate them into your family study or teaching? Here’s one suggestion. Continue reading

Raymond Brown on Understanding and Teaching Complicated Historical Issues

August 14, 2018 /

Raymond E. Brown SS, was a Catholic priest and Bible scholar, known for his Introduction to the New Testament, his volumes in the Anchor Bible Commentary series, and other academic and semi-popular works. He also wrote a popular book called 101 Questions on the Bible which has some really great stuff. As you might expect from the title, he presents this in Q&A format.

Several questions address the nature of scripture and genre, but also how to teach and preach passages where there is a large difference between scholarly understanding and popular traditions. (Virtually all the italics are mine.) Continue reading

Some quick and short book notes

August 10, 2018 /

My image.

As is my wont, I’m excited about a few books, two popular and two more academic.

First, Peter Enns has a new book coming early next year, How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News. Enns is one of my favorite authors, an academic who can also write for normal people. In fact, my Mom’s been reading his Genesis for Normal People and loving it. (Enns has been on the Maxwell Institute Podcast a few times and spoken at BYU.) For a content summary from the publisher, see here.

Second, Kyle Grenwood’s edited collection, Since the Beginning: Interpreting Genesis 1 and 2 through the Ages should appear in the next month. Greenwood’s book on science and cosmology in the Bible is on my top 10 list for the early chapters of Genesis.

A claim is often made like “Christians have always interpreted Genesis literally until science came along!” There’s a lot wrong with that claim, which I’ve written about…somewhere. I can’t find my own darn post. Greenwood’s volume will not be the first to tackle the various interpretations of Genesis throughout the ages, but I hope will do it well and in an accessible and popular way. It’s no good for academics to know this stuff if it doesn’t filter down to popular discussion and debate. Continue reading