Dr. Stephen Cook's Blog ~ Biblische Ausbildung

 

For this "Pay it Forward"/#FollowFriday, I want to highlight the excellent blog of my former seminary professor, Dr. Stephen L. Cook.  Dr. Cook is a scholar of the Old Teatament / Hebrew Bible at Virginia Theological Seminary.  He is an excellent teacher, scholar, and mentor, and has taught hundreds of students in his career.  Dr. Cook's love and devotion of scripture is intertwined with a keen and incisive mind and many years of delving into the Old Testament / Holy Scriptures.  Do go check out his excellent blog, Biblische Ausbildung!

~Peter+

http://biblische.blogspot.com/

"Workflow" for IOS Olive Tree Bible Study App ~ Recommended by Dr. Stephen Cook

I was searching around on Biblische Ausbildung, Dr. Stephen Cook's blog and found this cool post.  If you're into learning the Bible and also am slightly (or more) tech-geeky (which I am), you may want to check out this resource!

~Peter+

New “Workflow” for iOS Olive Tree Bible Study App

I know this a Bible-Geeky thing to have done, but I’ve been fooling around with using the WORKFLOW iPhone app to create a verse-chooser today-widget and homescreen icon for iPhone and iPad. Try it out and let me know what you think. You can enter the full name of the Bible Book, or you can use any of Olive Tree’s Bible Book abbreviations. Essentially, the "workflow" opens the BibleStudy app to any specific text reference.  To enjoy, click here.

http://biblische.blogspot.com/

Encountering the Mystery of God: Reading Stephen Cook's, "Conversations with Scripture: 2 Isaiah"

One of the brilliant teachers I was blessed to have in seminary was Dr. Stephen Cook, who is a wonderful Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) scholar, as well as a great teacher and writer (also, check out his blog HERE). He published "Conversations with Scripture: 2 Isaiah" this year and I have browsed it just a bit until this point. Being the final day of the year (at least in the Julian Calendar), and being that this is a day "off" (though occupied with watching children, cleaning the house, etc), I picked it up again. This book has a wonderful discussion and exposition of 2 Isaiah, the 2nd part of the book of Isaiah, a book of the Old Testament that (along with the Psalms) is quoted the most in the New Testament, and one that we hear often in the Christmas season. It is a good read, and Cook is brilliant in helping us to see this book with new eyes, not making the complex overly simple, but giving some "onramps" into this incredible text.

The "mystery" of God is central to 2 Isaiah, and Cook has helped me to encounter this "awe-ful" aspect of God in new ways, here is just an excerpt from the Introduction:

"Awe before Isaiah's God refreshes our reverence. It submerges the ego, paving the way for owning up to our frailty. It turns us outward from concern with self to the need and suffering for others, especially the poor and peripheral. As we repose ever more deeply in God's mystery, the Lord who is absolutely sufficient for our succor increasingly works through us to relieve others' brokenness. Simultaneously, the Holy transforms us into ever more reverent advocates of the natural world."

Just brilliant, thank you Dr. Cook!

~ Rev. Peter M. Carey

The Unclaimed Crown of Zechariah from Biblische Ausbildung

...my former Old Testament seminary professor, Dr. Stephen Cook, has a fascinating post today on the unclaimed crown of Zechariah and its connection with the unclaimed throne of Gondor in the Lord of the Rings ... it has me thinking a bit about the ways that we tend to put ourselves, our church, our leaders, our "Anglican Communion," our polity and everything else into the "throne" when we should really be leaving it empty for the true King! ... check it out HERE, I've posted a bit below, as well as Stephen's posted picture above...

from Biblische Ausbildung

I am currently working on a short commentary on Zechariah for one of the New Interpreter's projects, and today I am writing up Zechariah 6:9-15. I have some fascinating student comments in my notes, including some class discussion comparing the unclaimed messianic crown of Zechariah 6 and the empty high throne in Gondor, in the Hall of Kings, in J. R. R. Tolkien's Return of the King. I've placed an image from the movie version of the story at the top of this post (click to enlarge; the high throne faces away from us at the near end of the shot). Until the coming of the true king, the high throne remains empty, and Denethor, the Steward (Lord) of Gondor, sits upon a black stone chair at the foot of the steps to the throne. Just so, the prophet Zechariah makes two crowns (see the Hebrew and NRSV n. b), one of which is to remain unclaimed until the royal Messiah, the "Branch" reveals himself in history...

read it all HERE

Biblische Ausbildung: The Unclaimed Crown of Zechariah 6:9-15

Fall Bloggy Giveaway - 3 Free (New) books

Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway

My friend Laura over at My Quotidian Mysteries did a Summer giveaway hosted by Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer this summer and it looked pretty fun, so, I am offering 3 books in this Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway. The way this works is that you comment on this post and this "enters" you in the giveaway, then one of the entries is picked at random and I will send you the books. The winner takes all three! I am unable to send to international addresses due to the cost, but if you're in North America, enter away!

The three books I'm offering are:

A Theology of Liberation, Gustavo Gutierrez
One of the the seminal works on Liberation Theology, outlining the claim that God shows a "preferential option for the poor," and that the Church should also stand with the poorest of the poor against the powers that oppress and enslave them. The book is thought-provoking and a wonderful inroads into this controversial topic, one that makes the hierarchy of nearly every church body very nervous. However, for just that reason, it is a must read!


We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People, Gustavo Gutierrez
Another amazing book from Gutierrez, more spiritual in focus than theological, very accessible to read, and really an amazing work for anyone doing ministry, striving to live a life of holiness, and striving to care for those in need. From the book jacket: "We Drink from Our Own Wells remains a classic expression of Latin American spirituality by a pioneer of liberation theology."


The Apocalyptic Literature, Stephen L. Cook
This is an amazing book, written by my Old Testament professor from seminary. I (for some reason) bought a second copy of this book (my other one is VERY marked up!) Dr. Cook takes on a rather difficult and strange subject matter but has the amazing ability to make it readable and understandable. He is an amazing teacher, and his gifts at breaking down difficult topics into digestible portions also comes through in his books. This book allows the reader to enter into the amazing visions of the apocalyptic literature from the Hebrew Scriptures, and then helps the reader understand those visions. Really a wonderful book.

So, there they are - I own my own copies of each of these books, but am ready to part with these "extra" copies and hope there are some budding scholars, interested students, ministers, priests, and others who might want to put in an entry for three great books. So, offer a comment to enter.

So, comment below to make an entry....

I will make the drawing at 6pm on Sunday, November 4th...good luck!

Looking for Scriptural Blogs? Check out Biblische Ausbildung

My former Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament professor from Seminary has an awesome blog that I read all the time, but this week he has assembled an annotated list of recent blog entries on the "Biblical Carnival 19" on the Scriptures that is just excellent. Check it out!




Biblische Ausbildung: Biblical Studies Carnival XIX