Author: Skip Moen, Ph.D.

  • In Celebration of Heresy

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    I and the Father are [a]one.”  John 10:30  NASB One – The Trinity.  A doctrine that divided Christianity—not only from Judaism but from itself.  In the early centuries of Christian development, the split over the proclaimed divinity of Christ broke the Christian world in two.  Arius and Athanasius.  It wasn’t a happy separation.  Accomplished by murder,…

  • The Consistency Rule

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    For He sates the thirsting throat and the hungry throat He fills with good.  Psalm 107:9  Robert Alter Throat – Robert Alter stresses the need to translate Hebrew terms consistently.  His point is simple.  Hebrew has a rather sparse vocabulary.  Often a single Hebrew word has many different potential English translations.  Since English style tends…

  • Skip the Line

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    That night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham.  Fear not, for I am with you, and I will bless you and increase your offspring for the sake of My servant Abraham.  Genesis 26:24  JPS Your father – It only happens three times.  Genesis 28:13, Genesis 32:9…

  • The Law of Freedom

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.  Galatians 5:1  NASB For freedom – Paul is not a Stoic.  That won’t mean much to you unless you know something about the Greek concept of freedom.  To put it as simply as…

  • It’s an Idiom, Idiot! (2)

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,  Matthew 3:1  NASB Saying – Yesterday we discovered that the Hebrew expression le ʾmōr is not really a word to be translated.  It is the Hebraic substitution for quotation marks.  Now, when we look at the Greek text of Matthew, we find the…

  • A prayer request (or two)

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    Truett Haire, a long-time reader, has asked for prayer for his wife Laurita who has a severe case of COVID.  She is taking Ivermectin. I will have an MRI on Thursday to determine possible damage to my knee from the accident in June.  It didn’t show up until recently when I no longer had a…

  • It’s an Idiom, Idiot! (1)

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,  Genesis 9:8 NASB Saying – Note the same verse translated by Aryeh Kaplan: “God said to Noah and his sons with him.”  [The Living Torah] And by Robert Alter: “And God said to Noah and to his sons with him.”  [The Hebrew Bible]…

  • Divine Pity

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    Grant us grace, LORD, grant us grace. For we are sorely sated with scorn.  Psalm 123:3  Robert Alter Grant – How did you come to believe?  I’m not asking how you came into religion.  That happens mostly by drifting through cultural or family expectations.  No, I’m asking something else.  How did you realize that God…