Reading on Sign and Shadow

Announcing a New Experiment: Greek Geek Weekly

tommy@signandshadow.com (Tommy Keene) — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Ever wish you could read the Greek New Testament alongside a distinguished professor of NT? Well too bad, they’re not available. But I’ll do it!

The Beginning of Things tells you Stuff: Determining Genre

tommy@signandshadow.com (Tommy Keene) — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In the previous two posts of this series argued that one of the reasons we have trouble understanding the Bible is because we do not read it in the ordinary way that books are to be read. ((This article original appeared on the Christward Collective.)) We assume that because the Bible is the Word of God (which it most definitely is), and because it is therefore inspired and inerrant, that it must consequently “break the rules” of ordinary human communication. I argued, by contrast, that the miracle of the Bible is that it speaks to us about extra-ordinary things (and with extra-ordinary accuracy) in a nevertheless ordinary way. We concluded, then, that one should read any biblical book, be it a letter or a narrative or a history or a compendium of wisdom or a doctrinal treatise, in the same way that you would read any other book of that type. Read any biblical discourse as if it were a particularly exemplary instance of other similar kinds of discourse, even though the ultimate author of this discourse is the One True God.

The Problem with Reading the Bible Verse-by-Verse

tommy@signandshadow.com (Tommy Keene) — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In a previous post we established that good Bible reading requires us read the Bible as God speaking to us in a manner that we can naturally understand. But how do we actually do that? ((Note: a version of this article was originally published on Christward Collective.))

Seeing New Things in Old Texts: More Tips for Exegetical Inquiry

tommy@signandshadow.com (Tommy Keene) — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In the previous post I argued that one of the most important skills you can develop as an exegete is asking good questions of the text. Give yourself the challenge of coming up with as many questions as you can regarding a paragraph or so of Scripture. It’s actually pretty difficult! It requires practice and skill, just like anything else in life. How do you cultivate exegetical inquisitiveness? What are some ways to ask more questions of the text?

Why you should buy a Reader's Bible right now

tommy@signandshadow.com (Tommy Keene) — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Why would you want a Bible with no verse numbers? Oh, and it also has no headings. No annotations. No notes. No references. No columns. No extras. Why would anyone want such a bible?