Parchment & Pen Blog

1. Perhaps the number one myth about Bible translation is that a word-for-word translation is the best kind. Anyone who is conversant in more than one language recognizes that a word-for-word translation is simply not possible if one is going to communicate in an understandable way in the receptor language. Yet, ironically, even some biblical [...]

There’s an old Italian proverb that warns translators about jumping in to the task: “Traduttori? Traditori!” Translation: “Translators? Traitors!” The English proverb, “Something’s always lost in the translation,” is clearly illustrated in this instance. In Italian the two words are virtually identical, both in spelling and pronunciation. They thus involve a play on words. But [...]

Two days before Good Friday, Al Hsu posted a provocative piece in the online version of Christianity Today entitled, “He’s Calling For Elijah! Why We Still Mishear Jesus”.  Hsu’s article has gone viral among evangelical Christians. He opens his essay by asking the following questions: “Is God the kind of God that turns his back [...]

I am conflicted. It was Muslim terrorists who flew commercial planes into the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon, killing 3000 people. It was Muslim terrorists who did another coordinated attack in eight different locations in Mumbai, India in 2008, killing 173 people and injuring at least 327. It was Muslim terrorists who [...]

On Wednesday, February 1, 2012, I debated Bart Ehrman on his home turf at UNC Chapel Hill. The topic: Is the original New Testament lost? The format was a 30-minute opener from each of us (Bart, then me), followed by two rounds of 5-minute responses to the other man. Then, questions from the floor and, finally, a one-minute closing [...]

When Christian leaders talk about how to live a godly life, they eventually turn to the gray areas those things that are right for some but wrong for others. You know the list: drinking, smoking, watching R rated movies, playing cards, dancing, using colorful language, listening to Country-Western music (OK that last one is not [...]

On August 12, 2011, the Associated Press released for wide distribution a story with the provocative title, “In Jerusalem, scholars trace Bible’s evolution.” The story went viral on the Internet in nanoseconds. I got countless emails from friends and strangers within 24 hours of the story’s release, all wondering if their faith was in jeopardy. [...]

Bultmann was not right about everything, but he was certainly right when he recognized that presuppositionless exegesis was not possible. There are few texts where an exegete’s presuppositions can cloud his interpretation more than Mark 2.26. The issue here is not simply a conservative vs. liberal debate. Of course, battle lines are drawn by one’s [...]