People of the Sea
May 13, 2008 on 11:44 am | In Non-fiction | Comments Off
People of the Sea: The Search for the Philistines
by Trude Dothan and Moshe Dothan
c. 1992
Trude and Moshe Dothan are Israeli archeologists who have spent their lives searching the coastal areas of Israel for the cities of the Philistines listed in the Old Testament, primarily the sections dealing with David and Samson. What they found surprised them just a bit. They expected to find warrior barbarians but instead found the farming homes and cities that the warriors left behind and went home to each night.
They went looking for where these peoples came from and how they came to settle in the area. In doing so they started with the assumption that they came from Cyprus and in looking at pottery, they could confirm that but they also found considerable Egyptian influence as well.
This book is well written with the authors writing in tandem concerning the areas they worked on. They looked at pottery, funeral jars, and wall motifs as well as the architecture of the buildings they were excavating. I would not recommend the work for children, however, due to the fact that the reader needs some background in archeology, primarily in how digs are run and types of pottery to adequately understand what is being described though the work is filled with many pictures and diagrams.
The authors refer specifically to scriptures in their writing and quote them directly which is a plus. They also refer to all religions as “cult practices” which is also a plus though they refer to Jewish beliefs in the same way the one time they are mentioned. Another plus for younger readers is that they never describe Philistine sacrifices but only refer to sacrificial altars and utinsils.
This is the beginning of a look at the common Philistine and not the warriors we read about in the Bible. This is a good work for background puposes but not an end-all work. No complete conclusions are reaches as is the case in most archeology. The Dothans end the book with more questions than answers though they do confirm many scriptures such as that Ekron would be uprooted. No city has been rebuilt on the sight of Ekron making it an easy site to excavate.
Biblically and historically based. This is a good archeological overview for the archeologically minded scholar.
Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism
May 13, 2008 on 9:42 am | In Christian | Comments Off
Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism: Biblical Responses to the Key Questions
by Wayne Grudem
c. 2006
What role does the Bible really set up for women? Are they to sit and be silent or do they have a specific calling to ministry? Has society changed so much that the teachings of Paul no longer apply? Were there women pastors in the New Testament church? What does the Bible teach about authority, head coverings, prophecy, slavery, and jewelry in regard to women’s roles? Did the New Testament leaders view women as uneducated, lesser beings?
Wayne Grudem answers these and many other questions relating to Women in Ministry in this book. He uses scripture and contemporary Greek secular works to look at what the original words meant to the audience for which the scriptures were written. He actually counts the number of times certain Greek words were used in certain types of context.
This work is an abreviated version of his earlier work Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of More Than 100 Disputed Questions which runs 900+ pages. This work, which refers to the larger work an outrageous number of times, is a mere 300 pages. It is full of questions and answers and is fully backed by both scripture and secular references.
In answer to the question “can women have a ministry?” the answer is “yes” but Grudem draws the line at a woman being in any kind of authority over a man such as pastoring or being a deacon in a church. Teaching in private side by side with her husband is a different matter entirely. Teaching a group of high school boys in Sunday School or youth group, for Grudem, is also allowable due to the age of the boys, i.e. they would still be under the authority of their mothers in the home.
Grudem gives each question its own chapter and most run only 3-5 pages. He gives the feminist claim backed up with footnotes and quotes from writers in the Evangelical Feminism movement. (He also has a bibliography of Evangelical Feminist works at the end of the book.) He then answers each question, not once, but backed by at least two other scenarios and scriptures.
Even if you don’t agree with him totally, this work makes for an interesting discussion and study. It is well written in an engaging style. He doesn’t use a lot of theological or Greek words but uses common English for common folks. He states his thoughts without talking down to the reader. Except for the first couple of chapters which are long, this would be a great book to use in a Bible Study for women seeking to find their place in the Ministry of Jesus Christ.
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^
25 queries. 1.641 seconds.
Powered by WordPress with jd-sky theme design by John Doe.