Excursions in Covenant Eschatology

An essay on the historicity and pseudonymity of Daniel 4 As with many of the books in the Old Testament, interpretation of the Book of Daniel is beset by questions of pseudonymity and historicity vis-à-vis the book’s author, its characters, and events. Did all of the characters described actually exist? If so, did they act and interact in history in the same way they do in the biblical narrative? If not, how do we account for these discrepancies? Is the eponymous hero of the book the author of any of it? In the case of the individual stories in the Book of Daniel, the fourth chapter’s tale of Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliation and subsequent enlightenment seems a tailor-made subject for these perennial exegetical questions. "Nebuchadnezzar" by William Blake (1795/c. 1805) public domain

Updates on the End of the End of the World. Not quite two years ago I posted The End of the End of the World , an introduction to partial-preterism. Today I thought about updating that blog post with a few videos I'd watched recently about preterism. But I decided instead to just fix a couple of dead YouTube links on that original post and then embed these recent videos on a whole new post. So here we are. "The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem" by David Roberts (1850) public domain

The grateful victim has been identified. I've finished writing the thesis for my master's degree (MTh). The final edit has been done and it's ready to go to the printers. I officially submit next week. Then I get to wait anxiously for three months while it's with the examiners (two of them). Then, sometime in September, I find out just how well the last two years actually went. If it's as well received as I hope, I will probably move on to doctoral studies ... eventually. "The Good Samaritan" by Jacopo Bassano public domain

Six short exegetical comments on the Book of Daniel His hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails became like birds’ claws (Dan 4:33 NRSV). 1. Hebrew Supremacism As well as “set[ting] the scene for the subsequent stories of court life,” the first chapter of the book of Daniel does much to establish one of the many underlying themes of these subsequent stories: the racial and (especially) cultic superiority of the “conquered” Israelites over the “conquering” Babylonians. From a certain perspective, chapter one could be seen as Hebrew-supremacist propaganda.

Those who hold the futurist view of the End Times have to divide the disciples' question of Jesus into two unrelated parts: The first part asking about the timing of the destruction of the Temple, and the second, for no apparent reason, about signs of the end of the whole world.

Another unfortunate KJV-Onlyist attempt at "Gottcha"! David and Goliath , by Osmar Schindler (c. 1888) Spend any time at all in the comment sections under Christian Youtube videos and you’re bound to run into the dreaded cultic KJV-onlyist . I am intimately familiar with these people, and their way of thinking, because I used to hold similar beliefs regarding the Textus Receptus . Without getting into the whole controversy (see James White's excellent video series here for more details), let's just say that these people are, for the most part, well-meaning but unsophisticated believers who are sadly ill-informed about the process of translation and the vital field of textual criticism. This lack of understanding results in their mischaracterization of the KJV as an inviolate and unimpeachable biblical text--the standard English Bible from which any deviation is deemed satanic heresy. Recently, upon citing a verse from the ESV, I was immediately challenged...

Just completed the first of three semesters for my MTh. Η ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΙΣ Tempus fugit ... and that's a good thing. I've just completed two of the three taught-courses required for my degree of Master of Theology. I'll start the third one next semester along with my 30,000 word thesis. Providing I get approval to do it, I'll be completing my degree in only three semesters (which'll take to the end of Feb 18). So only two more semesters to go!