Hitler Finds Out Blogger FTP Service is Ending

Hitler Finds Out Blogger FTP Service is Ending


This is how that 5% of bloggers who blog through FTP felt when Blogger announced they were ending FTP services.






HT: Erik Aronesty

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Blogger, Google

Top 50 Biblical History Blogs

Accredited Online Bible Colleges has selected Dr. Claude Mariottini – Professor of Old Testament as one the top 50 Biblical History Blogs. My blog is listed under Old Testament Studies. I want to thank the organization for selecting my blog.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary


Tag: Blogging

The Pope’s Command: Go Forth and Blog

According to a report published by the Associated Press, the Pope has told priests that they should blog in order to spread the gospel and engage in dialogue with people of other cultures. The following is an excerpt from the press release:

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has a new commandment for priests struggling to get their message across: Go forth and blog.

The pope, whose own presence on the Web has heavily grown in recent years, urged priests on Saturday to use all multimedia tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel and engage in dialogue with people of other religions and cultures.

And just using e-mail or surfing the Web is often not enough: Priests should use cutting-edge technologies to express themselves and lead their communities, Benedict said in a message released by the Vatican.

"The spread of multimedia communications and its rich 'menu of options' might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web," but priests are "challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources," he said.

Read the story in its entirety here.

I think this is a great idea. If the Pope is telling priests to blog and spread the gospel worldwide, then pastors, ministers, and missionaries should also do the same. I am glad that more and more pastors are blogging regularly and sharing the good news through their blogs.

If every priest begins blogging and if at least half of their blogs will deal with biblical topics, then the list of Biblioblog Top 50 will be so long that soon we will have the Biblioblog Top 500.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging

The Grades Are In

I have finally finished reading this quarter’s research papers and grading the final exams. Guess what: no one failed this quarter. I do not know what this says about me as a teacher. Either I am getting softer in my old age, or I am becoming a better teacher, or else, I have a good group of students this quarter. I believe that the latter is a better reason why everyone did so well in my courses this quarter.

While I was busy reading papers and grading exams, I did not blog much. Grading is one of the hardest things professors do, but if we take time to reflect a little on our work in the classroom, we have to confess that teaching is a great pleasure and a great responsibility.

One thing I enjoy the most is when students come to the end of the quarter and share in class how much they have learned about the Old Testament. To most of my students, this is the first time they have really studied the Old Testament in depth, and in the process they discovered how rich the Hebrew Bible is in what it teaches and in what it reveals about God’s relationship with his people.

Even while I was reading papers and grading exams, I was also faithful in keeping up with my reading schedule. Sir Francis Bacon said, “Reading maketh a full man.” Although many other things may demand my time, I tried to read every day and keep up, as much as possible, with areas of interest. In the past few weeks, I have read the following books:

Mitch Albom, Have a Little Faith. New York: Hyperion, 2009. Late this week I will write a post and review Albom’s latest book.

John N. Oswalt, The Bible among the Myths. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. My review of this book will be published next year in the Review of Biblical Literature.

Eric A. Seibert, Disturbing Divine Behavior. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009. The premise of this book is very interesting. The author deals with several problematic passages in the Old Testament where God is depicted as acting violently and ruthlessly. Because the issues addressed by Seibert are crucial for the proper understanding of God, in the near future, I will dedicate several posts to reviewing Seibert’s proposal for dealing with some of the troubling texts of the Old Testament.

William Hasker, The Triumph of God over Evil: Theodicy for a World of Suffering. Downers Grove, IVP Academic, 2008. Hasker’s book deals with the problem of evil. His conclusion is that the reality of evil in the world does not provide evidence of a moral fault in God. I have almost finished reading this book. After I finish reading it, I will consider whether to write a post on the book.

I have two other books I want to read before the end of the year. Now, that my grades are in, I will return to blogging on a regular basis.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary


Tags: Blogging




BUY THE BOOKS AT AMAZON.COM




Mitch Albom, Have a Little Faith.
















John N. Oswalt, The Bible among the Myths








Eric A. Seibert, Disturbing Divine Behavior

























William Hasker, The Triumph of God over Evil: Theodicy for a World of Suffering

Finals Week

As you have noticed, I have not been able to post to the blog recently. Here at Northern Seminary, we are coming to the end of the Fall Quarter and this means that we are entering the week when research papers are due and finals are given to students.

Every quarter my students have to submit a research paper and in some of my classes, they also have to take a final exam. When the quarter ends, the real work of a professor begins. Now, it is the time to read papers and grade final exams. Grading is not easy work, because most students are sure they have written an A paper, even though the professor may say the paper is worth only a B or a C, or, horror of horrors, only a D (yes, I give Ds to my students when their papers do not meet the guidelines for the research paper).

Because of finals week, I have been extra busy with reading papers and preparing for the end of the quarter. In addition, last week I attended an all day seminar on how to use BibleWorks 8. It was a great seminar. I learned all the new features included in BibleWorks 8.

For the past two or three years, I used BibleWorks 7 and I enjoyed it. The new version of BibleWorks is great and has several new components. After classes are ended, I will review BibleWorks 8 in my blog. Even before I review it, I have to say that I strongly recommend BibleWorks 8 for pastors, seminary students, and anyone who desires to work with the biblical text in Hebrew and Greek, as well as in English.

Since this is finals week, I will probably not be able to post much this week. Once classes are over, I hope to post regularly. Until then, pray for my students.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary


Tags: Blogging, Finals Week

Off to New Orleans

I am leaving today to New Orleans to attend the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). The SBL is an organization that promotes the scholarly study of the Bible. Every year, the SBL meets in a different city (this year is New Orleans; next year it will be in Atlanta) and brings together scholars, teachers, students, religious leaders, and other persons who are interested in the critical investigation of the Bible.

Since I will be away for several days, I will not be blogging while I am in New Orleans and possibly will not be posting until after Thanksgiving.

I wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving. May the blessings and the abundance that only God can provide be yours during these days of reflection and meditation.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary


Tags: Blogging

The Blogger Gender Gap

April DeConick at The Forbidden Gospels has declared that there is a “blogger gender gap” among bibliobloggers.

She wrote that after reading the new list of the Biblioblog Top 50, she “was struck by the fact that in that list of hundreds of names and blogs I am just about the only woman's voice represented.” DeConick then asked: “Why are there so many male bibliobloggers? Why are there so few females on that list?” She answered her own question:

So this is my hypothesis. I think there are as many women bibliobloggers out there as men, but they are not visible. Why? Because many of us women post on subjects that are considered marginal (even heretical, especially if there is any feminist bent) to bible studies by the men who are blogging about the bible. Our blogs are easily justified as unimportant. They remain unknown or unread because they haven’t been linked to by the male bibliobloggers who dominate this blog niche and the field in general, a point that Julia wisely raised in the comments to my last post on this subject. Julia wrote: “But I also wonder about the role of networking and way that many of the blogs in the top tier regularly reference one another. How do we encourage each other’s success, make sure that others find the good work that’s out there?”

J. R. Linville at Dr. Jim’s Thinking Shop has written a response to DeConick’s question. To illustrate his argument, he uses several funny pictures. One that called my attention was “The She-Blogger” picture. If your sense of humor is not up-to-date, you better not read Dr. Jim’s post.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Women bloggers

Brazil, Here I Come

In a few hours I will be traveling to Brazil to visit family and friends. Unfortunately, the rest of my family will not be able to travel with me this time. I am going to Brazil to visit family members who are very sick and relatives who are elderly. It is possible that the trip may turn out to be an occasion to say good bye to a lot of people.

While in Brazil, I may have the use of the Internet, but I will not be blogging. This means that I will not be posting to the blog until I return.

Enjoy your summer!

Claude Mariottini

My 1,000th Post

Today I have posted my 1,000th post. I began blogging on August 16, 2005. Four years ago when I posted my first post, I was a neophyte to the world of blogging. I had many ideas for the blog, and I still do. I had to learn how to post and how to do many things that challenged me because of my limited knowledge of web design.

I began blogging at the insistence of my son JR. He introduced me to blogging and he designed my blog and my web page. JR still helps me when I face any kind of trouble. My son is always there to help his helpless father.

My goal has been to write posts that are primarily related to the Old Testament. I have done serious studies of difficult passages in the Bible. I have written humorous posts, all of them dealing with the Old Testament. Once in a while I write on politics, American values, and religious issues that are of interest to the readers of my blog.

Many readers have asked me to write on specific topics. As much as possible, I try to address issues that reflect the concern of readers as expressed by their request. Sometimes, I am unable to respond to every request made by readers since my time is limited.

I have been blogging for almost four years and only now I have reached my 1,000th post. The reason for this is because I am unable to post every day. Since I teach full time and pastor a church part-time, my time to blog is limited by the constraints imposed on me by my teaching schedule and pastoral work.

My 1000th post was a review of Eli Wiesel’s book Night. I am glad that my 1,000th post was dedicated to an important book written by a man who has a significant role to play in our society. I encourage you to read my post on Night. I also encourage you to read the book.

I want to thank you for reading and following my blog on a regular basis. Your comments and emails motivate me to continue to blog and to develop quality material for readers of my blog.

Many bloggers have linked their blog to mine. I am also willing to link my blog to their blog. Mutual linking of blogs is beneficial to all because it exposes good blogs to a larger audience.

I hope to see you again when I post my 2,000th post.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary


Tags: Blogging

Bloggers Beware: “The FTC to go after blogger freebies”

According to an article written by Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, the Federal Trade Commission is planning to go after bloggers who receive freebies or payments for their posts.

The following is an excerpt from McCarthy’s article:

The Federal Trade Commission is planning to crack down on bloggers who review or promote products while earning freebies or payments, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

This would, for the first time, bring bloggers under FTC guidelines that ban deceptive or unfair business practices.

"New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers--as well as the companies that compensate them--for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest," the article explained.

The rules could be quite strict, even extending to the practice of affiliate links--for example, a music blogger who links to a song on Amazon MP3 or iTunes that earns an affiliate commission in the process.

The practice of free products for bloggers, most of whom are not bound by ethical guidelines that journalists have historically followed, has been making headlines for some time now. Microsoft, for example, created a wave of bad press a few years ago when it gave free Acer laptops preloaded with Windows Vista to several dozen bloggers.

Some companies have sprung up around the whole notion of blogger compensation and giveaways. The AP article mentions some of the marketing companies that have made a business out of offering bloggers incentives--free trips, products, gift certificates, or outright payments--for coverage. One of them, Izea, has been generating controversy in the tech press since it started PayPerPost.

Some bloggers, the AP article mentioned, are concerned that the FTC's efforts could go too far, possibly generating probes into posts that were written without any compensation, and possibly leading bloggers to post with more restraint. And some believe it would be better if bloggers created their own standards based on niche and industry.

Read McCarthy’s article by clicking here.

The decision by the Federal Trade Commission has many implications and may have a chilling effect on some bloggers. For instance, some bloggers ask for donations. Are these donations taxable income? Many blogs carry Google Ads. Will the Federal Trade Commission require bloggers to pay taxes on revenues from Google Ads? Many bloggers review books submitted by publishers for review. Will these freebies come under the review of the Federal Trade Commission?

We must wait and see.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, FTC, Google Ads

Graduation Week

As most of you have noticed, I have not posted to the blog for several days now. The reason for not posting is because this was the last week of the Spring Quarter at Northern Seminary. And, I have to say, it was a very busy week.

This week I had to teach one class, give a final exam in another course, and attend to several issues related to the online course I taught this quarter. The online course was time-consuming and limited the amount of postings I was able to post to the blog this quarter.

Then, on Thursday and Friday I met with the Board of Trustees of the Seminary. I serve as the Faculty Representative on the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees and as such, I was involved with committee meetings for two days, from morning to evening.

Today, Saturday, was Graduation Day. Since I also serve as the Faculty Marshall, I was involved in planning and organizing the Processional and the Recessional for Commencement. We had a glorious day. Today we graduated a group of men and women who spent several years preparing themselves to serve the Lord. These graduates will go to their places of service with the confidence that they have received a good theological education at Northern Seminary, the kind of education that has equipped them well for effective ministry.

This year I was invited to offer the Commissioning Prayer for the graduates during Commencement. Below is the commissioning prayer:

Prayer of Commissioning

Dear Lord,

Today is a glorious day for these your servants who have come to the end of this phase of their theological education. They have worked hard to achieve the goals which they set for themselves, and by you grace, they were able to fulfill their dreams.

Today these graduates are sent into the world to preach the good news of Jesus Christ, to help the needy, to heal the sick, to feed the hungry, to cloth the naked, and to minister to people everywhere. As they go, they will go to a difficult and complex world.

You are sending them out like sheep among wolves. As they go, anoint them with your Holy Spirit and sustain them with your love. Give them the strength to do your will and the willingness to be obedient to your word.

As shepherds of God’s flock, may your servants take care of your flock and feed your people. May each one of them lead your people with knowledge and understanding.

As prophets of God and ministers of the word, let them give their lives for the truth of God. Let their prayers reach the throne of grace on behalf of those in need of your grace. In the midst of loneliness uphold them by your spirit that they may remain faithful to the mission you have entrusted to them.

May your spirit lead them in the right path, keeping them from all forces of evil and destruction. Help them to follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, and patience. Help them fight the good fight of faith. Let them take care of the church of God that the name of Jesus Christ might be glorified through their ministry.

We now send them to their places of ministry with your blessing:

May your servants be blessed in the name of God the Father:
The LORD bless you and keep you;

May your servants be blessed in the name of God the Son:
The LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

May your servants be blessed in the name of God the Holy Spirit:
The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

And now, may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the flock, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may God work in you what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging

Another Blog Has Been Locked by Blogger

I am still fighting with Blogger to unlock my blog. I have made four different requests to Blogger to unlock my blog, however, as of today, May 18, 2009, I have not yet heard from them.

I just found out that George Reisman’s Blog on Economics, Politics, Society, and Culture has been locked by Blogger. In his new blog, Reisman wrote:

Google has closed Reisman’s Blog to new posts and editing of existing posts. A "blog in exile" has been established here.

I wonder who will be next.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogger, Blogging

My Blog Is Not Spam

On April 21, 2009, I received a note from Blogger informing me that my blog was locked because its robot spiders have characterized my blog as a spam blog.

It seems that a disgruntled reader or someone unhappy with my response to his or her comment reported my blog as spam and Blogger automatically locked my blog to prevent me from spamming.

On the same day I received the notice from Blogger, I notified them that my blog was not spam. According to Blogger, they would review my case in one or two days. After two days, I sent Blogger an email and received no response.

On April 28, one week later, I sent another note to Blogger requesting them to unlock my blog. They responded by saying that I would receive a reply in one or two days. Since then, I have sent two more emails and have received no response from Blogger.

Today is Monday, May 4, 2009. According to Blogger, in 7 more days they will delete my blog because this is what they do to blogs they consider to be spam.

A note to Blogger: My Blog Is Not Spam.

Since I have sent three emails to Blogger with no response, I expect that my blog will be deleted in the next few days.

I have been considering moving my blog to WordPress and I think that this action taken by Blogger is the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. In the next few days I will be evaluating my options. I will keep you informed.

In the mean time, I will say again: My Blog Is Not Spam.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging

The End of the Quarter

I have not written a post to the blog since last week. Here at Northern Seminary we are on the quarter system. This means that we are coming to the end of the Winter quarter. The end of the quarter means reading papers and doing all the things that must be done before the last week of classes.

In addition, I have to prepare for the Spring quarter. In the Spring I will be teaching a new course online. Since this is my first experience with online classes, I have to make more preparation that usual. For this reason, I have been reading new material, designing the structure for the online classes at the same time I am finishing my Winter classes.

I will not be able to publish a new post until Thursday. After that, I hope to be able to post regularly. Until then, thank you for your patience.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging

A New Blog

My fellow blogger Doug Chaplin moved him blog from metacatholic to Blogito ergo sim. If you want to know the reason for the move, click here. If you want to know more about the new blog, click here.

According to Doug, his new blog will focus on Luke-Acts and other topics of interest.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging

The Biblioblog Top 50

N. T. Wrong has published the Biblioblog Top 50 ranks for January. His list ranks each biblical studies blog, or ‘biblioblog’, by the total number of unique visitors it receives each month.

According to N. T. Wrong’s classification, “Ranking is based on information supplied by Alexa for the current month. Blogs are ordered by an average of the weekly rankings provided by Alexa, a website which provides the percentage of total internet users for each blog.”

In January, my blog was ranked # 7. This ranking indicates that readers who enjoy reading and studying the Old Testament enjoy reading my blog. In N. T. Wrong’s ranking my blog is ranked on the top among Old Testament blogs.

According to Alexa, my blog ranks # 2 in the “Old Testament” category and its subcategories when ordered by popularity.

I would like to thank you who read and subscribe to my blog for making it a place where people can come to study the Old Testament.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogs, Blogging

The Best of Biblia Hebraica

Biblia Hebraica is celebrating its first anniversary.

Douglas Mangum’s blog deals with the Hebrew Bible, Biblical interpretation, and topics related to the Ancient Near East, Syro-Palestinian archaeology, early Judaism, early Christianity, New Testament interpretation, and English Bible translations.

To celebrate the blog’s first anniversary, Douglas has prepared a list of what he considers his best posts from 2008. The posts are listed in chronological order and cover his best posts through July 2008. A future post will cover the rest of the year.

Look at Douglas’ list and you will discover that his posts are well written and cover a wide selection of topics.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Hebrew Bible,

Top 100 Theology Blogs

Jessica Merritt has prepared a list of the top 100 Theology Blogs for students of Christian colleges. She said that this list is a selection of top notch theology blogs that will help students gain a better and deeper understanding of religious studies.

Merritt divides her list into eight categories: General Theology, Criticism, Politics, History, Academic, Clergy, Society & Culture, and Writings.

My blog was one of those 100 blogs selected for the list. As I have written before, the purpose of my blog is to help pastors, students, and other Christians who love the Lord and want to develop a better understanding of the Old Testament.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

You can find the list of the Top 100 Theology Blogs here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blog,Blogging

The SBL in Boston

My wife and I are leaving Thursday morning to Boston to attend the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. The annual meeting of the SBL is a great occasion for scholars to present papers offering new ideas and new interpretations to the biblical text.

I enjoy attending the meetings of the SBL because it allows me to interact with the latest research and know what other scholars are thinking. At the meetings one hears great papers as well as papers that could be considered not so great.

For me, one of the greatest joys of attending the SBL is to see old friends and make new ones. Every year I meet people who went to school with me. I also meet scholars whose books I have read. This year I will be attending the reception sponsored by Augsburg Press to celebrate the publication of The People’s Bible, a publication to which I contributed Joel and Jonah.

Since I will be gone for almost a week, I will not be able to post to the blog until after Thanksgiving. I hope you and your family have a happy Thanksgiving. My family will be together for Thanksgiving. This year, as we do every year, my wife and I will host our three sons and their families. It will be nice to see my granddaughters again.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Blogging, Personal

The Top 50 Biblioblogs

Image: Top 50 Biblioblogs
Credit: N. T. Wrong


N. T. Wrong has prepared a list of the Top 50 Biblioblogs. The lists” ranks each biblical studies blog, or ‘biblioblog’, by the total number of unique visitors it receives each month.”

According to N. T. Wrong, the ranking is based on information supplied by Alexa.com for the current month.

According to N. T. Wrong, “Blogs are ordered by an average of the weekly rankings provided by Alexa, a website which provides the percentage of total internet users for each blog. In the event of a tie, blogs are then ordered according to the blog’s rank for total traffic each week.”

You should visit N. T. Wrong and look at the list of the Top 50 Biblioblogs.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogs, Blogging

Biblical Studies Carnival XXXV

Duane Smith at Abnormal Interests has prepared a very interesting abnormal selection for the Biblical Studies Carnival XXXV. His selection is abnormally comprehensive and it is a reflection of Duane’s abnormal interest for a variety of topics.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Biblical Studies Carnival, Blogs, Blogging

The Ten Commandments of Blogging

The Evangelical Alliance of Great Britain has published the Ten Commandments of Blogging. These Ten Commandments of Blogging were first published by Ruth Gledhill, The Times Religion Correspondent. Gledhill also has an article discussing these Commandments.

These are the Ten Commandments of Blogging:

1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity.
2. You shall not make an idol of your blog.
3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog.
5. Honour your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes.
6. You shall not murder someone else’s honour, reputation or feelings.
7. You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind.
8. You shall not steal another person’s content.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger.
10.You shall not covet your neighbour’s blog ranking. Be content with your own content.

I am well aware of the 8th Commandment for blogging. For this reason, I want to give credit to Ruth Gledhill by saying again that this list as well as Moses’ picture on this post were taken from her blog.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Evangelical Alliance, Ruth Gledhill, Ten Commandments

The End of My Sabbatical

“A scholar’s wisdom comes of ample leisure; if a man is to be wise he must be relieved of other tasks” (Sirach 38:24).

My sabbatical was spent working on a book on Jeremiah. I spent most of my time reading books and articles on Jeremiah and the task of the ministry. The aim of my book is to provide pastors and seminary students with a study of Jeremiah and how he viewed his ministry. My goal is to demonstrate how Jeremiah can become a paradigm for prophetic ministry today.

During my sabbatical leave I saw the publication of my article “ . . . And Not a Drop to Drink: Water’s Effect on Civilization Development,” in the Biblical Illustrator 34/2 (Winter 2007-08) 10-15. During my sabbatical I also wrote several book reviews, some of which I will make available on my blog after they are published. I wrote an article on the concept of the Servant in the book of Isaiah. The article will be published in 2009. I wrote short biographies on Walter Brueggemann, Norman Gottwald, Julius Wellhausen, and William Foxwell Albright. These four biographies will be published in 2009. I also wrote the introductions for the books of Joel and Micah to be published by Fortress Press in The People’s Bible in October of this year. My book review on Reading the Bible With the Damned by Bob Ekblad was published in The Expository Time. My book review on the Song of Songs by J. Cheryl Exum was published in the Review and Expositor.

As I come to the end of my sabbatical, I remember the words of Jesus ben Sirach, the same words quoted in the opening of this post. Two things drew my attention to Sirach’s words. First, Sirach said that a scholar’s wisdom comes from “ample leisure.” Although a sabbatical is not leisure time, it offers the kind of time a professor needs to develop his or her scholarship. This sabbatical, although uneventful, was very productive.

The other statement of ben Sirach that came to my mind was the declaration that anyone who desires to be wise “must be relieved of other tasks.” These words are true. Anyone who desires to write and publish needs to be relieved of other tasks to concentrate on reading and writing. The sabbatical, so generously given by the seminary, allows professors to be relieved for a time from other tasks so that they might accomplish their scholarly goals.

During my sabbatical leave I discovered some things that will change the way I will spend future sabbaticals. The truth is that, although I was relieved of my tasks at the seminary, some other tasks demanded my time to be completed. Students, friends, family, and church demanded attention and requested things to be done. These distractions, at times, tend to take away time from research and often serve to break concentration. For this reason, I have decided that on my next sabbatical, I will go away from the seminary to a place where there will be no telephone and no one to interrupt my work.

I would like to thank the administration of Northern Baptist Seminary and the Board of Trustees for allowing me to have ample time to do research and write a book designed to help pastors and seminary students. This book will complement my work at the seminary. Since the goal of a seminary is to educate men and women as they prepare to serve Christ in different areas of ministry, my book on Jeremiah serves that purpose because it will hopefully help men and women who are engaged in preaching and teaching the Word of God. Without the seminary’s commitment to provide time for study and research, this book could not have been written.

During my sabbatical I was unable to blog regularly but every time I was able to post, readers responded well. Beginning this week, I am returning to blogging and hope to post at least three times a week. Teaching requires time and hard work. While I am teaching this year, I still need to finish the manuscript of my book, so, I will probably will not be able to post every day.

As I return to the classroom in a few days, I am grateful for this wonderful experience and I am eager to meet the challenges of a new academic year. As for the future, I hope to accomplish several things is the next few months. First, I want to finish writing the book so that I can use the manuscript in my class on Jeremiah next Spring. Second, I have several other book reviews that I want to complete during this coming academic year. Third, I will attend the annual meeting of the SBL in Boston.

I want to express again my gratitude to the seminary and to the Board of Trustees for granting me this sabbatical leave. I also want to express my appreciation to Dean Charles Hambrick-Stowe for his constant support. The commitment of Northern Baptist Seminary in helping the faculty to write and pursue scholarly goals contributes to the faculty’s academic growth and intellectual development. This in turn, helps students know that they are studying with people who are also students of the Word of God.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Sabbatical

The Internet Was Down Today

I was planning to post my second article on pronouncing the divine name this morning. However, the Internet has been down all the today.

This problem demonstrates how dependent we have become on the Internet. I was unable to check my mail, read the news, or post my blog.

A few minutes ago, I was informed that the Internet is up again. I will post the second part of my article in the morning.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

The Two Rs

Until a few years ago elementary school students knew that in order to succeed in school they needed to know the three Rs: reading, ʼriting, and ʼrithmetic. Today, with the age of computers and modern technology, the three Rs have almost become irrelevant in modern curriculums.

Not so in academia. Since January, I have been on sabbatical. My sabbatical will continue through the end of summer. During the next several months I need to dedicate as much time as possible to the two Rs: reading and ʼriting in order to finish my sabbatical project.

Several weeks ago, Chris Brady at Targuman proclaimed the month of January 2008 to be Biblical Studies Academic Writing Month. In his proclamation, Chris asked Bibliobloggers and Theobloggers to write an article, a book review, or any material related to the Bible that could be submitted for publication.

The challenge was accepted by Tim Bulkeley at SansBlogue, by Chris Heard at Higgaion, by AKMA at Random Thoughts, by Charles Halton at Awilum, and by others whose names I have not listed here.

During the Biblical Studies Academic Writing Month, I committed myself to the following projects:

1. To write a book review of Mario Liverani’s book, Israel’s History and the History of Israel. London: Equinox, 2003.

2. To write a book review of Ann E. Killebrew’s book, Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and Early Israel 1300-1100 B.C.E. Leiden: Brill, 2005.

3. To complete an article on Asa, King of Judah.

I am glad to say that I finished my three projects by the end of January. All three projects have already been submitted for publication.

In addition, during the month of February I will finish two more book reviews and four small articles that will be published in an encyclopedia of Christian scholars. My assignments are to write a short biography on Julius Wellhausen, William F. Albright, Walter Brueggemann, and Norman K. Gottwald. I am almost finished with the four biographies and with the book reviews.

All this work means that my time for blogging will be very limited during my sabbatical. My commitment to my academic work must take precedence over extra-curricular activities such as blogging. For this reason, my blogging for the next several weeks will be sporadic. As the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes said: “There’s no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so you’re no good for anything else” (Ecclesiastes 12:12 Msg).

So, for the next several weeks I will not be “good for anything else” except R&R: reading and ʼriting and probably, most of my blogging will be related to what I am reading and writing. In addition, I may not be able to post every day. So, be patient with me. I love blogging and I enjoy the contact with readers.

As I said before, I will say again: “I’ll be back.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Sabbatical

Biblical Studies Academic Writing Month

Happy New Year.

I have not been blogging since before Christmas. One of the reasons for taking some time off from blogging is that I am on sabbatical. So, I decided to take the holidays off and do some catching up on a lot of stuff. But now, I am back and hope to blog on a regular basis.

I will be on sabbatical until September 2008. During my sabbatical I hope to write a book on Jeremiah. I love Jeremiah. My project is a study of Jeremiah’s ministry to the people of Judah and how Jeremiah’s ministry can serve as a paradigm for prophetic ministry in the twenty-first century.

Several days ago, Chris Brady at Targuman proclaimed the month of January 2008 to be Biblical Studies Academic Writing Month. In his proclamation, Chris asked Bibliobloggers and Theobloggers to write an article, a book review, or any material that is related to the Bible and that will be submitted for publication.

The challenge has been accepted by Tim Bulkeley at SansBlogue, by Chris Heard at Higgaion, by AKMA at Random Thoughts, and by Charles Halton at Awilum. Today, a little bit late, I also accept the challenge.

Although most of my sabbatical work will be focused on Jeremiah, I commit myself to three different projects to celebrate Biblical Studies Academic Writing Month. My projects will be as follow:

1. I will write a book review of Mario Liverani’s book, Israel’s History and the History of Israel. London: Equinox, 2003.

2. I will write a book review of Ann E. Killebrew’s book, Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and Early Israel 1300-1100 B.C.E. Leiden: Brill, 2005.

3. I will complete an article on Asa, King of Judah and submit it for publication by the end of January.

This is a very ambitious project for one month’s work. However, I have already finished reading Liverani’s book; I just need to write the review. I have done some research on Asa and was planning to write the article later in the year but I will change my schedule and work on the article at the beginning of my sabbatical.

In February I will write another post and report whether the challenge has been met. I want to thank Chris for this challenge. Some of us may need a challenge like this to get things done.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Writing

Biblical Studies Carnival XXIII

John Hobbins at Ancient Hebrew Poetry has posted his review of the best blogs for the month of October. Biblical Studies Carnival XXIII introduces several new blogs and many interesting entries. John takes a different approach in compiling the Carnival but the result of his work is a confirmation that biblioblogging is alive and prospering.

Visit Ancient Hebrew Poetry and read John’s selection for Biblical Studies Carnival XXIII. Read also the additional entries to Biblical Studies Carnival XXIII.

While you are visiting John’s blog, read the list he has compiled of blogs dealing with biblical studies. John’s list introduces many bibliobloggers whose blogs are not listed in Biblioblogs.com.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Biblical Studies Carnival XXII

Tim Bulkeley of New Zealand has posted the Biblical Studies Carnival XXII at his blog SansBlogue.

Tim has compiled a list of great posts written during the month of September. I will not mention all the interesting posts Tim has selected for Biblical Studies Carnival XXII. However, I want to emphasize that Psalm 68 was the attraction of the month. Several bloggers addressed different issues in Psalm 68. Tim lists 29 different posts on Psalm 68. Also, John F. Hobbins wrote a series of posts on the name of God. These posts are excellent.

You should visit SansBlogue and look at the all the posts Tim selected for the Carnival.

Also, I would like to congratulate Alan Bandy at Café Apocalypsis for being selected as the Biblioblogger of the Month. Read JimWest’s interview with Alan by vising biblioblog.com.

Enjoy your reading.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Biblical Carnival

A Busy Summer

Last week I took a few days off from blogging in order to finish some writing assignments that were pressing on me. For the past several days I have been working on writing an introduction to the books of Joel and Jonah for the People's Bible, a study Bible to be published by Fortress Press. I finished writing the two introductions and submitted the manuscripts to the editors. I also finished writing my last article for the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. In total, I have written more than thirty articles for the NIDB.

I still have several projects to finish before I take a brief vacation and before I begin classes in September. My wife and I are celebrating our fortieth anniversary in October. To celebrate our anniversary, we will take time off to travel to a place we have never been before. This means that soon I will be taking some time off again from blogging.

This has been a very busy summer. My work on the Self-Study here at the seminary was very time-consuming. I had planned to read several new books and write two articles. However, time did not allow me to read and write as much as I had planned to, but I am satisfied with what I have accomplished.

In the next few days I will write two posts on inconsistencies in the NIV and how it may affect the work of pastors.

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blog, Blogging

Stealing Your Blog

Do you know that some people may be stealing what you write and making money with the content of your blog? This is happening every day. As Elinor Mills wrote:

This is automated digital plagiarism in which software bots can copy thousands of blog posts per hour and publish them verbatim onto Web sites on which contextual ads next to them can generate money for the site owner.

Do you want to know more?

Read: Please don't steal this Web content.

Read also: Finding Stolen Content and Copyright Infringements


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blog, Blogging, Plagiarism

BIBLICAL STUDIES CARNIVAL XX

Welcome to Biblical Studies Carnival XX. The Biblical Studies Carnival XX is a selection of the best posts dealing with academic biblical studies published by bibliobloggers during the month of July. Since July is a month when many people are off on vacation, the submissions were few, but all of the posts selected demonstrate the quality of writing produced by bibliobloggers.

A Proclamation

Before I begin my selection of the posts for July, I would like to make a proclamation. Jim West is a prolific writer, a writer whose blog attracts many readers every day. During the month of July, Jim wrote 181 posts for his blog, more than any other blogger. Although Jim does not need any more titles, to recognize his tremendous output in July, I would like to proclaim Jim West King of the Bloggers. “Hail, Jim West, King of the Bloggers.”

The Controversies

In July there were several issues that prompted bibliobloggers to enter into dialogue with each other. The appearance of controversial issues becomes a good occasion for bloggers to post on these issues and raise questions that prompt other bloggers to respond. This month there were several issues that produced good blogs and a huge amount of give and take among the readers.

1. One controversy began on July 1 with my interview with Jim West. In that interview Jim asked me a question about interpretation. In response to Jim’s question, I said that believers were better interpreters of the biblical texts than unbelievers. Duane Smith took issue with my assertion that “atheists cannot be good interpreters of the Bible because they already begin with the assumption that the Bible is a bunch of nothing.” I defended my position here and Duane defended his position again here. The discussion was joined by Christopher O'Brien, by Iyov here and here, and by Jim West here and here. The amount of comments by the readers of these posts reflects their interest in the topic. One of those readers was Angela Roskop Erisman, who in response to my post, left three comments in which she said that there are people who do not belong to a faith tradition but who often study the Bible to deepen their faith in God.

2. Another controversial issue was the declaration by Pope Benedict XVI that Christian communities other than the Catholic church are not real churches and that these communities are defective because they cannot trace their origin to Peter. The Pope’s statement gave rise to a series of blogs on this issue. The Pope’s comments were discussed by me here, by Darrell Pursiful, and by J. P. van de Giessen. Airton da Silva provided a list of Vatican documents that have been discussed by bibliobloggers. His post also lists several blogs where these documents were discussed.

3. My article on the call of Jeremiah and prophetic ministry drew a strong reaction from Doug Chaplin who took me to task over my use of etymology. John Hobbins continued the discussion by saying that, at times, the use of etymology has its place in biblical interpretation. The same argument was presented by Iyov in a long response to Doug’s blog. Even Milton Stanley, who writes mostly for pastors, left a comment on my blog disagreeing with my use of etymology.

4. The issue that attracted the attention of most bibliobloggers in July was the discovery of the Nebo-Sarsekim (Nabu-sharrussu-ukin) Tablet. The discovery, translation, and publication of the tablet produced a vast amount of dialogue among bibliobloggers. The number of blogs addressing this issue is so large that it becomes difficult to say who responded to whom. Modesty aside, it seems that I was the first one to address the issue of the tablet and how some translations dealt with the name of the Babylonian official. I wrote two more posts on the Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet, here and here. In this last post, I cited Jack Lundbom’s commentary on Jeremiah 37-52, published in 2004, in which he anticipated much of the debate created by the discovery of the tablet.

The discovery of the Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet was considered by some to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the past one hundred years. The tablet generated much discussion among bibliobloggers and a vast amount of publications. Since the issues dealt with in these posts varies, I will just list the posts here. The Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet was discussed by Chris Heard here, here, here, and here; by Peter Kirk, by Kevin Edgecomb, by John Hobbins, by Kevin Wilson, by Duane Smith here and here, by Stephen Hebert, by Doug Chaplin, by Henry Neufeld, by J. P. van de Giessen, by BK, and by Todd Bolen. Jim West dismissed the importance of the discovery in a post dated July 11 and updated several times. The last revision was published on July 25.

Even Christianity Today reported on the importance of the discovery. Christianity Today linked its post to the post of three bibliobloggers: Peter Kirk’s, Jim West’s, and mine. The SBL Forum had a brief reference to the Nabu-sharrussu-ukin Tablet and referred readers to Chris Heard’s post for additional information. The importance of the discovery of the tablet is reflected in the fact that soon after the tablet was published, an entry for Nebo-Sarsekim appeared in Wikipedia. The Wikipedia article makes reference to two of Chris Heard’s articles; it also mentions John Hobbins’ article.

Hebrew Bible

Suzanne McCarthy has a good study of Proverbs 31 titled “Song of a Valiant Woman.” The article was written in several parts: one, two, three, and four. She wrote additional posts in this series that I am not mentioning here. Drew Kaplan continued the study on Proverbs 31 by asking how to translate “אשת חיל: How To Translate Eshes Hayyil?” Iyov has a study of the law of the muzzled ox in Deuteronomy 25:4 in which he calls attention to efforts by some writers to relate this law to the law of the levirate marriage. He also has a series of posts on Harry M. Orlinsky and his contribution to the JPS Version of the Bible. You can begin reading on Orlinsky by clicking here, here, here, and here.

New Testament

Chris Price at CADRE Comments has an excellent post in which he rejects the view that Origen's claim that Josephus’ reference to the judgment of God falling on the Jews because of the martyrdom of James may indicate the existence of an interpolated passage in Josephus' writings.

Richard H. Anderson’s post on the “Weeping Jesus” associates the weeping of Jesus in Luke with the act of ritual mourning by Micah and sees them as prophetic symbolic acts representing God's forgiveness of his people's sins.

Michael Pahl has two posts dealing with the origins and development of the Jesus tradition through the first century and into the early second century. The first post introduces his “working hypothesis” and the second traces the development of the tradition.

Michael Barber studies the Rabbinic eschatological reading of Psalm 89, which understood the phrase “the footsteps of the messiah” (Ps 89:51) as a reference to a suffering messianic figure, and relates the concept to how Peter used Psalm 89 and 53 in discussing the suffering of Jesus.

Suzanne McCarthy’s study on 1 Corinthians 7:1-4 shows that the NIV has mistranslated verse 1.

Two Personal Notes

First, a note of appreciation. It was a great experience for me to visit the site of all bibliobloggers this month. I have to confess that this is the first time I visited every blog listed in bibliobloggers but I can assure you it will not be the last. I learned much about the interests and concerns of fellow bibliobloggers. Since the number of blogs is increasing, it becomes almost imperative that bibliobloggers submit their entries to Biblical Studies Carnival every month. I am guilty of not submitting my own entries each month, but I learned my lesson. If you are diligent in submitting your entries in August, Duane will not have much problem in preparing his selection for September.

Second, a note of public apology. The other day I wrote a blog in which I was trying to point to a blog that had put some titles after the name of Jim West. My intension was to be humorous and let Jim know what another blogger had done. But, what can be humorous to one person can be offensive to another person. I never tried to hurt or offend Jim, so, if I did, I offer a public apology.

Biblical Studies Carnival XXI

Biblical Studies Carnival XXI will be hosted by Duane Smith at Abnormal Interests. Duane’s selection will be published around September 1, 2007. I encourage you to submit your entries as soon as your posts are published. Biblical Studies Carnival looks for blog articles that make a contribution to academic biblical studies.

To submit your entries, visit the Blog Carnival submission page or use the Biblical Studies Carnival email address (biblical_studies_carnival@hotmail.com). When you submit your entry, be sure to include the title and permalink URL of the blog post, the author's name, a short summary of the blog post, “Biblical Studies Carnival XXI” in the subject line of the email, your name, and your email address. You can also obtain more information on the Carnival by visiting the Biblical Studies Carnival homepage.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Biblical Studies Carnival, Bibliobloggers, Blogging

Hibernating

As you have realized by now, I have been unable to post to the blog for the last two weeks. No, I have not been hibernating. I have been finishing my work on the Self-Study. Let me explain.

Every ten years, an education institution has to apply for re-accreditation. Northern Baptist Seminary is accredited by The Commission on Accrediting of The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) and The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA).

Our last accreditation visit was in 1997; in November 2007 we will receive a visit from ATS and NCA for the purpose of re-accreditation. In preparation for this visit, the seminary has to do a self-study to ascertain whether it is fulfilling its mission as described in the seminary’s Mission Statement. To prepare for the Self-Study visit, Northern’s President asked me to serve as the Director of the Self-Study.

Our Self-Study process took three full years of hard work. During this period, the faculty and staff of the seminary did a thorough study of the life and ministry of the seminary for the past ten years. At the end of the process, we had dozens of reports and documents detailing the results of the study. When the faculty and staff finished their work, I began writing the final Self-Study Report.

I began gathering the information last summer. For the past several months I have been writing the Self-Study Report. For the past two weeks I have been putting the final touches on the Report. I am glad to say that I finished editing the Self-Study Report yesterday. The result is a book of more than 200 pages, 102 appendixes, and about 100 footnotes.

Now, I can begin writing for pleasure. This is what is waiting for me. I am writing two articles for a new study Bible being published by Fortress Press. I have to write two more articles for The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, a book review for The Expository Times, and two book reviews for the Review and Expositor. If I have time, I hope to finish writing an article on Zedekiah to be submitted for publication by the end of the year.

And then, there is the blog. Beginning next week, I hope to begin posting regularly to the blog. For the past two weeks I have been unable to answer the many emails and comments I received from readers, but I will do so beginning this weekend.

I missed blogging and I can’t wait to begin writing again.

AUGUST CARNIVAL

By the way, I am responsible for the August Carnival. If you have not submitted your entry, consider this an invitation to submit your best post for consideration. So, do it today.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Blogging

Biblical Studies Carnival 18

Biblical Studies Carnival 18, a selection of the best posts written by bibliobloggers during the month of May 2007, is here. Danny Zacharias has posted his best selection of posts dealing with biblical studies in general. Danny’s selection reveals how bibliobloggers are making an important contribution to biblical studies.

Visit deinde and check the list of posts selected for inclusion in Biblical Studies Carnival 18.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Bibliobloggers, Blogging

The Thinking Blogger Award

Chris Heard at Higgaion has awarded me the Thinking Blogger Award. Four other bloggers were also nominated. All of them are good bloggers. Visit Chris’ page and become familiar with his selection of good bloggers.

I appreciate the recognition. Chris’ blog is one of the several blogs I read every day.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Blogging, Blogs

“It is I; do not be afraid.”

Many of you have noticed that I have not been blogging regularly for the past few weeks. The reason, as many of you have read before, is because I am directing the Self-Study at Northern Seminary and right now I am in the midst of editing the final Self-Study Report.

Those of you who are related to an academic institution know that the process of the Self-Study is time consuming and requires a lot of work from all those involved. However, when the administration and the faculty finish their jobs, the director of the Self-Study has to finish the work, write the final report, and prepare for the visiting team.

And this is where I come in. All the work is done, the report is finished but now it has to go through an editorial process. The report is about 200 pages long and it is now in its 5th draft. The date I set for myself for the completion of all the work is June 29, 2007. Until then, I will have to work very hard to prepare the final draft of the report. In addition, I have to prepare for classes, teach, read papers, grade exams, and attend committee meetings. I have said nothing about preparing sermons and doing the work of a pastor. Being a pastor requires hours of work and preparation.

One day, when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they were afraid. Jesus identified himself to the disciples by saying: “It is I; do not be afraid.” At that, the disciples recognized Jesus and their fear was gone.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to be consistent with my blogging until after the Self-Study Report is completed and ready to be submitted. Until then, I will blog as often as I can. Until then, I may be late in answering some of your comments, but I will answer them eventually.

One day, if you subscribe to my blog, you will receive a new post dealing with some issues related to the Old Testament or maybe just a link to something I find interesting and want to share with you. When you receive that post, remember, that is just my way of saying: “It is I; do not be afraid.” And when you see that post, you will know that all is well with me.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Blogging

Still at Work

As most of you know, and as I have mentioned in a previous post, for the past three years I have been directing the Self-Study process at Northern Baptist Seminary. Every ten years, educational institutions must go through a process of re-accreditation. Accreditation is crucial to an educational institution. Without accreditation an educational institution cannot grant valid degrees.

A Self-Study process must include a study of the life and mission of the institution. According to the Mission Statement of Northern Baptist Seminary, our mission “is to educate leaders for the churches who will be personally whole and spiritually mature, biblically grounded and theologically competent, pastoral, evangelistic and prophetic.”

The Self-Study must study of the life and work of the seminary to ascertain whether we are accomplishing our educational mission. This study has taken three long years. As the director of the Self-Study, I had to develop and implement a plan to evaluate the work of the seminary for the past ten years.

Since last summer, I have been reading and evaluating the reports that were prepared for the Self-Study. In December 2006 I began writing the Self-Study report. This work has taken all my available time and more. In addition to my work on the Self-Study, I had to teach and continue my work as pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Chicago.

I am glad to report that the main work of writing the Self-Study report is finished. Last week I wrote the summary and the conclusion of the report. The result of this work was a report of almost 200 pages, typed single space, with dozens of footnotes and dozens of appendixes.

My work on the Self-Study has forced me to stop posting to my blog from time to time. For the past week or so, I have been unable to post because I had to complete the report. I also have not been able to answer several emails and comments I received to my posts. For this, I apologize to my readers.

This coming Wednesday the members of the faculty will discuss the written Self-Study report. Until then, I will be unable to post again. After the process is finished, I will resume posting to my blog.

Maybe the words of the Preacher apply to this situation. He said: “There's no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so you're no good for anything else” (Ecclesiastes 12:12).

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Blogging