So with this being the week of “If you can’t have the Bible you love, maybe you should try Loving the Bible you have,” as noted over at Unsettled Christianity, I thought that an apropos theme song for Bible lovers this winter might be the following from Stephen Stills:
Tag Archive - humor
Peliculate with Me
As those of you who are attentive to my Facebook or Twitter feeds already know, a new word has entered the English language this week.
The word is peliculate.
peliculate. verb. intransitive. to watch a movie. (from the Spanish, película: movie)
Why introduce another word into the English language? Because we have no elegant verb for watching movies.
Consider, for example, the song lyric, “Won’t you Charleston with me?” Note how seamlessly we could sing, “Won’t you peliculate with me?” whereas, “Won’t you watch a movie with me,” is entirely too clunky.
And although movie revenue might be down, most of us still peliculate on a regular basis, and peliculation remains an important dynamic in current American culture.
So please, let’s adopt this neologism as a salutary addition to our vocabularies. I don’t know about you, but after a long week there’s little I like better than crashing with the wife for a little peliculation.
Tools in Hand, No Skill Required!
I want to tell you a little bit about how awesome I am. I’m usually not this direct, though many of you have suspected that this is how I see myself. Here are a few more things about my awesomeness you should know:
I have a circular saw. This means, of course, that I can build anything I want to. I can sit down and lay out plans for a tree house, buy the wood, fit the joints, and make the whole thing level, safe, and sturdy.
I have a baseball bat. This means, of course, that at any given moment I could jump onto the local softball team and become their ringer. Every time I step up to the plate I can get on base, and I usually get a hit. I have a bat, after all.
I also have an encyclopedia at my fingertips. This means, of course, that I know a little bit about almost everything in the world. I know about all the presidents, all the countries, and all the bacteria that cause diseases.
I also have a smart phone. This means, of course, that anytime I wanted to I could create a spaceship to put people on the moon. My EVO4G is more powerful than any mainframe they had way back in the ’60s. I’m amazing. I have power untold at my fingertips.
I also have access to Accordance and Bibleworks. This means, of course, that I know everything I need to know about the Greek language. I can translate and parse and investigate what words really mean. I can preach from the Greek and Hebrew. And I can probably write a grammar.
I’m so awesome because I have awesome tools. And once you have tools, what further need do you have for knowledge or skills?
Not so addicted
James McGrath is more addicted to blogging than I am.
Created by OnePlusYou – Take your test here and get plugged into free online dating–what a deal…
(FYI: I did not go for the online dating part of this…)
April Fool Rankings
The Top 50 Biblioblog rankings are out. It seems I’ve slipped a bit out of the Top 10.
I feel the urge to chastise you for this, because as an INTJ I know it can’t be my fault. The burden must fall to the shoulders of my readers. However, In the spirit of humility which I am attempting to cultivate, I will simply try to do better this month. I promise to try to post about sex, homosexuality, inerrancy, and women in the church at least 4 times per week. And thus, appeasing your thirst for controversy, I will regain what has been lost.
Starting tomorrow…
New Bible Translation
Of late we have been graced with several new Bible translations.
The NIV 2011 has updated the evangelical favorite, incorporating a number of changes that the now-defunct TNIV had made.
The Common English Bible (CEB) produced a new translation for what seems to be a mainline Christian crowd.
And just yesterday my attention was drawn to an even more recent translation project, directed toward those whose social location is defined, more or less, by the phrase “I can haz cheeseburger?”
Yes, the lol cats bible translation project, launched in 2007, has now borne fruit in the brand new LOL Cat Bible.
Having just learned of this yesterday, I haven’t had time to do a full perusal of the translational and theological impulses behind it.
It looks like they have gone with the subjective genitive rather consistently. Moreover, I find a disturbing amount of theological simplification–perhaps what one expects in a Bible directed toward grammatically incompetent felines.
Here’s Romans 3:21-26:
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21 But nao we knowz about goodness comin from Ceiling Cat. Teh Law an teh profettz tellded us about it.22 We get dis goodness thru beleevin in Jebus.23 Evribodi haz maded Invisible Errors an iznint as good as Ceiling Cat,24 but we can go to teh ceilin enniwai bcz Jebus died to taek awai our Invisible Errors.25 Ceiling Cat did thingz dis wai on purpus,26 to show how niec he iz.
This certainly cuts the Gordian Knot of the text, but one wonders whether important nuance is lost in the broad language of expiation employed here.
Also, I note in my spot-checking that the gender-exclusive language of “brothers” is chosen, raising serious questions about how female cats and the cisgendered, androgynous, spayed, and neutered readers will respond to the text.
Similarly, the conservative theological impulses are reflected in Romans 16, where Phoebe is a “helper”, and the apostleship of Junia is buried beneath a reminiscence of past mischief.
In all, it seems that in terms of reaching a new people group, the translation is a success, but in terms of theological depth and hermeneutical sophistication, as well as other points of connecting with a contemporary audience, the translation leaves much to be desired.
Self-Flagellation
I am indebted to Michael Bird for alerting me to what is definitely the greatest comment yet made in review of my work, and perhaps rates somewhere in the top 100 comments ever made in an academic book review.
Jane Heath of the University of Aberdeen writes:
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Kirk’s passionate chronicle of the evils of some Reformation emphases in exegesis of Romans may be somewhat one-sided self-flagellations of his own church tradition. Yet his monograph is very welcome for both its exegetical and systematic insights, which provide a new and useful vantage point for the scholarly endeavour as it continues to stand under the long shadow of the sixteenth century. (ExpT 122(4): 202-3)
“Self-flagellations”?! Outstanding!
In all seriousness, the review does a very nice job of dealing with a short space in which to communicate the point and tenor of the book. Thanks for the good work, Jane. (You know? Jane Heath also happens to be the maiden name of my mother-in-law… Very disorienting…)
[A] More [Definitive] Blog Ranking[s]
Things are getting better in the world of blog rankings (which means, of course, that I’m finding blogs in which I’m ranked higher than my Alexa rating would have me).
BibliobloggersTop10.wordpress.com is your source for voicing your preference for the glories of Storied Theology or whatsoever you should choose.
I have to concur with the people’s choice of Exploring Our Matrix as the #1 blog.
Of course, the whole thing has Bob Cargill calling for a BCS.
It’s a great time to be in Biblical Studies, my friends…
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