Pisteuomen - πιστευομεν - T. Michael W. Halcomb

I was floored last year when Liberty University invited Glenn Beck to be the commencement speaker. I guess I shouldn't have been, however, because Liberty has a long history of and has made a name for itself by mixing right-wing politics with Christianity. In fact, in many ways, the two seem to be equivalent in the eyes of said university. In the last several years, Liberty has invited the following speakers: * 2004 - Karl Rove * 2005 - Sean Hannity * 2006 - John McCain * 2007 - Newt Gingrich * 2008 - Chuck Norris (actually kind of cool!) * 2009 - Ben Stein * 2010 - Glenn Beck Based on this lineup, can you guess who is speaking there this year? Okay, I know the picture above has already given the answer away, but if you said Mitt Romney, you'd be correct . (If you guessed wrongly, you might need glasses!) In the last decade, Liberty has secured and reserved some of the most well-known right-wingers out there to speak at the graduation event. What is the...

I am encouraged by this!

Here's a quick-and-dirty Koine Verb Contractions table for anyone interested. Click to make the image larger.

At some point in the next couple of weeks or so, I hope to post a review of a recent book I received from Baker titled New Testament Greek: A Beginning and Intermediate Grammar . The volume is co-written by James A. Hewett, C. Michael Robbins, and Steven R. Johnson. I really like the clean feel of the book, and am eager to check out the CD that accompanies it. For now, however, I'm going to be working through the book and taking some notes. I would like to say "Thank you!" to Baker for the complimentary book. You can pick up your copy at the Baker site HERE , or at Amazon HERE .

Hello friends, I just wanted to share with my readers that I have been selected by A Foundation for Theological Education (AFTE) to be a John Wesley Fellow. This is such an honor, and I feel incredibly privileged to be able to stand in a circle of scholars such as Ben Witherington III, Richard Hays, Lawson Stone, Joel Green, Duane Watson, and so many others .  Ben has written a nice piece about AFTE and its legacy HERE .  Several of my Asbury peers such as Brad Johson, and Brian Yeich are also Fellows. I received the news on Friday, via phone, about 4 minutes before I went up to deliver a paper at a conference. Needless to say, I was pretty amped up, and probably spoke a bit fast. The goal of AFTE is the spiritual revitalization and renewal of the church, particularly within the United Methodist denomination, through theological education. This, of course, is something I am quite passionate about! Anyway, I just thought I'd share the good news with everyone. Again, thi...

This year I submitted one abstract for the annual meeting of the SBL and fortunately, that abstract was accepted. I submitted to the Performance Criticism of Biblical and Other Ancient Texts section, which I have been attending the last few years when possible. Below is the title and abstract: Title : Come On Feel the Noise: The Function of Screams in Mark and Ancient Performance Abstract : A topic that continues to scream for scholarly attention from Markan exegetes is none other than the role of screams throughout the narrative. Heeding the call, in this paper I seek to show how screaming, when situated within the context of ancient performance, sheds light on this fascinating feature of Mark. In particular, I will focus on screaming from the standpoint of the ancient performer and how it might have caused him or her to be viewed. Additionally, I will address the intended effects of screaming in relation to other aural devices. In the end, the hope is that we will not...