Iron Show: Discussing Preterism with Brian Godawa

A couple of weeks ago, Johnny and I interviewed Brian Godawa about his newest novel, Tyrant: Rise of the Beast, and it's non-fictional companion piece, End Times Biblical Prophecy: It's Not What They Told You. Brian takes a preterist stance, meaning that he sees most Biblical prophecy, including the Olivet Discourse, as being fulfilled at or immediately after the …

Blog Recommendation: Sleepwalker’s Row

A good friend of mine from synagogue just started a new blog and I wanted to show him some love. I think his own introduction says it best: n which a lifelong insomniac, artist, and breakthrough junkie launches a public thought-lab at the behest of several friends. History will be recovered. Food critiqued. Books reviewed. Art created. Stories told. Ideas …

Book Review: The Unseen Realm, by Dr. Michael S. Heiser

This is a post I've literally wanted to write for years, ever since I was first introduced to Dr. Michael Heiser's work on his first A View From the Bunker interview with Derek Gilbert. I've spent the last six years gleefully stalking the good Doctor, reading everything that he's published online (particularly on TheDivineCouncil.com), several …

Messiah in Genesis

A reader of the old Hebrewroot page expressed concern about losing an article that I wrote back in the day called, well, "Messiah in Genesis." In the interest of preserving my old work (even if it looks more like a few notes than a finished article), I'm reposting it here. Obviously, it crosses over significantly …

Book Review: Return of the Kosher Pig

I have to confess, when I first heard the title of this book, my assumption was that it was going to be yet another Christian attack on the laws of kashrut. I couldn't have been more wrong, and I'm extremely grateful to a good friend who gifted me with a copy of this book. The author, …

Using Your Wide-Margin Bible – Part 6: The Life and Times of [Fill in the Blank]

Scholars call the Bible a “High Context Document.” This is a fancy way of saying that the Bible expects you to know a few things when reading it. After all, most of its authors were completely unaware that they were writing words that would be poured over and delved into thousands of years later, and …

Using Your Wide-Margin Bible – Part 5: Starting Word Studies

This section is going to assume that you have a wide-margin Bible rather than a notebook. After all, if you have a notebook, or a series of notebooks, you have all the space in the world to write down every little thought, teaching, and reference that comes to mind. If you have a wide-margin Bible, …

Using Your Wide-Margin Bible – Part 4: Pick a Book, Any Book

Okay, so now you're all ready to go. You've got your highlighters and your pens, you've worked out your color scheme, and gone ahead and marked down some basic cross-references in your New Testament (and hopefully remembered to also mark the return references in your OT). Now it's time to pick out your first book …

Using Your Wide-Margin Bible – Part 3: Preparing Your Bible

Okay, so you’ve gotten through the last post and haven’t fallen into despair yet. Good! Now let’s pick up your shiny new wide-margin Bible and . . . still not write in it just yet. Give some thought to a system for how you want to mark the text first. Start with a good set …

Using Your Wide-Margin Bible – Part 2: Before You Pick Up a Pen

I’ve previously written on Jewish hermenutics and their application to the New Testament, so I’ll here lay out some thoughts by other authors. Dr. Heiser lays out his own rules for Bible study (which he explains in greater detail on his soon-to-be revived Naked Bible Podcast): There is no substitute for close attention to the …