Bible Study for Amateurs

This is the tenth of ten episodes examining Paul's letter to Philemon.

This is the ninth of ten episodes examining Paul's letter to Philemon.

This is the eighth of ten episodes examining Paul's letter to Philemon.

This is the seventh of ten episodes examining Paul's letter to Philemon.

This is the sixth of ten episodes examining Paul's letter to Philemon.

This is the fifth of ten episodes examining Paul's letter to Philemon.

This is the fourth of ten episodes examining Paul's letter to Philemon.

This is the third of ten episodes examining Paul's letter to Philemon.

This is the second of ten episodes examining Paul's letter to Philemon.

This is the first of ten episodes examining Paul's letter to Philemon.

There are a lot of Simons in the New Testament. In this episode we look at one you may not have given much thought to.

Works Cited: 

Adela Yarbro Collins, Mark: A Commentary, Hermeneia Commentary Series (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007), 222-223.

"Καναναῖος," A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, third edition, revised and edited by Fredrick William Danker (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000). 

Richard A. Horsley and John S. Hanson, Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus (Minneapolis, MN: Winston Press, 1985), 216-217.

In his notes on Isaiah 14:12 for the Scofield Reference Bible, C.I. Scofield taught that the diatribe against the king of Babylon was really a veiled reference to the demise of Satan. Let's investigate.

Works Cited: 

R.E. Clements, Isaiah 1-39, The New Century Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980), 142.

C.I. Scofield, The Scofield Reference Bible (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996 [originally published in 1909]), 726.

In chapter 16 of the book of Acts, the narrator switches from using the third person to the first person plural. Why does he do that? 

Works Cited

• C.K. Barrett, Acts: A Shorter Commentary (London: T&T Clark, 2002), xxiv.
• William Sanger Campbell, The "We" Passages of the Acts of the Apostles: The Narrator as Narrative Character (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2007), 87-91.
• Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.14.1. Translation taken from The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1957). 
• Mikeal Parsons, Acts, Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 238-240.

In what direction is the podcast headed? 

Typically scholars refer to Matthew, Mark, and Luke as the Synoptic Gospels. But what if there's a fourth?

Works cited: 

• Mark Goodacre, "Parallel Traditions or Parallel Gospels? John's Gospel as a Re-Imagining of Mark," in John's Transformation of Mark, edited by Eve-Marie Becker, Helen K. Bond, Carin H. Williams (London: T&T Clark, 2021), 77-89.

Where did the disciples first meet Jesus following the resurrection? Was it in Galilee or in Jerusalem?

When Jesus speaks of the "eye of a needle" in the Gospel of Matthew, was he referring to something tangible like a gate in Jerusalem?

Ziemnińska's piece - https://tinyurl.com/y7r4shkm

There are many different creation stories in the Hebrew Bible. Job 26 has one you may not be familiar with. 

The Acts of the Apostles claims that Paul was a citizen of Rome. But was he?

Does the book of Jeremiah offer support to the Pro-Life movement the way they think it does?

When Papias speaks of Mark as Peter's "interpreter," how would a reader in the second century CE understand that? 

Is Paul thinking of atheists in his diatribe in Romans 1? I'm not convinced. 

On the epistle of Jude and its place in the Christian canon.

And now, the Benediction. 

Jude offers hope for the community, as well as a guide for helping those deceived by false teaching. 

Jude attempts to keep the family together. 

Jude quotes from 1 Enoch.

Jude turns up the megaphone.

What a dispute over Moses's body tells Jude's audience. 

Three cautionary tales.

Intruder alert! Intruder alert!

The first of ten episodes looking at the NT epistle of Jude utilizing some of the tools from my amateur toolbox mentioned in episodes 11-20. 

Caution: do not throw in anger as it is a massive tome.

A commentary by women and about women but for everyone. 

Covers both testaments? Check. Well written? Check. Diverse voices. Check!!!

Christians don't have a monopoly on writing introductions to the New Testament! 

Michael Coogan is da man!

The New Testament is a lot more Jewish than some give it credit for.

Want to know more about the Apocrypha? Boy, do I have the book for you!

Yes, you need The Jewish Study Bible.

The next item in this amateur's toolbox - The New Oxford Annotated Bible.

What belongs in every amateur exegete's toolbox? Let's take a look at my own, beginning with The HarperCollins Study Bible.