Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

Saturday morning I leave for a week to lead a group session on Mk. 8-16 at a retreat/conference. I'm quite excited about this and as you might expect, I won't be blogging a whole lot next week. My schedule, as of now, consists of 29 hours of working through the second portion of Mark's narrative (though, I personally don't neatly divide it into 2 sections e.g. chapters 1-7 and the chapters 8-16). Even though that seems like a lot of time to get through the 42 pericopes in that portion of the story, I actually feel like it's still not enough hours! Regardless, this is the task at hand and I'll do my best to achieve the goal before me. After sitting down and working through some planning, here's a rough draft of my schedule: * Saturday: Travel & Prepare * Sunday: 4p-6:30p (Introductions, Recaps, Mk. 8.1-30); 7:30p-10p (Mk. 9.2-50) * Monday: 9:30a-12:30p (Mk. 10.1-52); 4p-6:30p (Mk. 11.1-33) * Tuesday: 9:30a-12:30p (Mk. 12.1-44); 4p-6:30p (Mk. 13...

It's been a while since I've utilized this feature of Pisteuomen, but I'm proud to resurrect it and bring it back to life, the feature is: A Beginning Blogger . I started this feature for the following reasons (here's what I wrote in the initial piece about it): "...I realize how tough it is to get people to visit your site, comment, add you to their blogroll, etc. Now, I've done a lot to make my blog both resource and user-friendly and I believe that's contributed to its success but it might have also helped if some more well-known persons helped draw attention to Pisteuomen. Well, with the conviction that the biblio-blogosphere is not about constantly catering to the egos of a select few or having to be around for years in order to make it (among other things, like creating a resourceful, edifying online community), I thought I'd add this feature." The Beginning Blogger that I'd like to mention today is Mike Koke. Mike maintains the blog ...

Here is the audio (pre-recorded) version of the paper that I gave at SCJ today. The title, which partially shares this post's title, is "Why Jesus Was Baptized: Immersed in Mark's Story & Culture". You will note that my view in this paper/lecture is quite different than the view that I offered in Study #10 of my " Studies in Mark " series. Anyway, give it a listen (or click the link below to download the mp3) and let me know your thoughts. Why Jesus Was Baptized: Immersed in Mark's Story & Culture

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This weekend I'll be attending the Stone-Campbell Journal Conference where I'm giving a paper titled "Why Jesus Was Baptized: Immersed in Mark's Story & Culture". Here are the schedule and titles of other papers that others are giving, some of them look really interesting! (You may need to use your browser controls to zoom in for reading)

Today Lord, Saturday, life seems more dialectic than usual. On one side of me stands a grievous cross and on the other, an empty tomb. If I look back to yesterday, I see the desertion of a few who were close to you but when I ponder the faithfulness that billions offer you today, I am hopeful. A glance backwards to Golgotha reminds me of the lies that led to your execution while a glance toward the Parousia strengthens my confidence that you are the Truth. If the past didn't matter, then neither would the present or the future, Lord. Darkness was over the land but a Light lives in the world. The tension of today, Saturday, the day we have to wait, is an exasperating tension. I'm pulled back and forth. I'm stretched to and fro. Tell? Don't tell? Go? Stay put? Trust? Hide? I was far but now I'm close. Dirty hands have been made clean and a malformed heart been bent toward You. What holds this day, Saturday, together? Is it the tension? Is it the questions? Is it the h...

Here's a sermon that I delivered at the church I'm currently attending. It was last Sunday (Palm Sunday) and covers Mk. 11.1-11. Let me know what you think.

Many thanks to Mark Goodacre for pointing out Syneidon's recent podcast on the Gospel of Mark. In this installation, Robert Foster and Richard Goode from the SYNEIDON Research Project at the University of Birmingham, begin their exploration of this year’s Lectionary Gospel, the Gospel of Mark. This episode looks at the structure and style of Mark, the things which make Mark distinctive from the other Gospels. It also includes the first part of an interview with Professor David Parker (University of Birmingham) who takes us through some of the literary characteristics of Mark’s writing. The podcasts will also feature recommended and books and resources to help further your exploration of a fascinating and influential little book. You can listen to the podcast by clicking the play button on the music player below:

This is the second listing concerning “Key Figures in Markan History” and the first one can be found HERE which covers the years 1900-1949. However, there is some overlap between these two posts as the last prominent person I listed in the previous post was from the year 1942. These are, in my opinion, the key figures in Markan exegesis during this time span. Let me know if I missed anyone you would include and if so, why I should include them. · (1947) Joachim Jeremias: Jeremias was interested in the search for the historical Jesus and is noted for his attempt to get back to the very words of Jesus (ipsissima verba). He paid close attention Jesus’ linguistic mannerisms and wrote a lot on the parables. In his NT Theology (1970) he argued that Mk. is written in primitive Greek and is quite unsophisticated (an argument many would later disagree with). · (1947) Morton S. Enslin: Wrote “The Artistry of Mark” contending that Mark’s “canvas” is laced with creativity and is a beautiful p...

Recently, I have been working through the history of the interpretation of Mark's Gospel in the twentieth century (so, S. P. Kealy). Below is a list, in my opinion, of the "key" figures in Markan exegesis in the years ranging from 1900-1949. Let me know if I missed anyone you would include and if so, why I should include them. · (1900) Benjamin W. Bacon: Bacon is “often called the founder and pioneer of American biblical criticism” despite the fact that he never achieved a PhD and still claims that he could not pass Yale examinations today. He wrote a lot on the Synoptics, an introduction to the NT and a also a work on its creation. One of his most famous Markan works was: The Beginnings of the Gospel Story: A Historico-Critical Inquiry into the Sources and Structure of the Gospel According to Mark . Perhaps two of his most influential works, however, were: Is Mark A Roman Gospel? and The Gospel of Mark: Its Composition and Date . · (1901) William Wrede: Wrede’s influe...

Okay, so, earlier today, I posted a quiz question on Facebook and it has still yet to be answered correctly, so, I thought I'd add the riddle here. The question is: Who was the first (biblical) theologian to die in a plane crash? Some of the wrong answers were: Jesus, God, Pontius Pilot/Pilate and Buddy Holly. Those were quite funny in the context of the discussion but come on people, doesn't anyone out there know this? Take a shot at it and post your answer in the comments section of this post.

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