I just spent an afternoon figuring out how to get Python 2.7 to sort some Greek (unicode) strings according to the Greek alphabet. Strangely, there wasn’t very much help for this online, so here is what I figured out if anyone else is facing the same task. There are actually three different resources I looked…
Read MoreOn Grades: An Open Letter To My Students
I often find students discouraged by their grades, particularly in their first few courses at Tyndale. This disappointment can become a source of resentment and conflict with professors. It can also sap our motivation and make material that we once found fascinating suddenly taste like sawdust. But we can avoid much of this disappointment and its…
Read MoreHow to Find the Focus of a Narrative Episode
One of the most important tasks in reading a story is deciding where to focus. As a reader, my focus is often scattered. Things catch my attention for all kinds of reasons, some personal and some because of my own place in culture and history. If we’re interested, though, in how the text was intended to affect us, we need…
Read MoreLibrary Workshops at Tyndale Next Week
Those of you who are Tyndale students (and are near campus) might want to take advantage of two workshops next week. Each one is about how to find good resources on Biblical Studies and Theology. The two times are: Monday, Feb. 2nd at 5:30pm (good for evening students) Wednesday, Feb. 5th at 12:30pm (just after…
Read MoreGood Journals for New Testament Studies
Here is a list of good journals that I use and recommend for studying the New Testament. These journals fall roughly into two categories: academic and semi-popular. These categories should be taken as a very rough guideline, though, since the level of technicality vs. broad readability will vary a great deal from article to article.…
Read MoreGood Academic Commentary Series for New Testament Studies
Here is a rough list of commentary series that I recommend for academic interpretation. I am not endorsing the opinions in any particular volume, and I am also not minimizing the value of commentaries that are non-academic. Those are often excellent for personal devotional study and for some small-group studies in your local church. What…
Read MoreSome Good Commentaries on Each New Testament Book
There are many, many academic commentaries on each book of the New Testament. So it’s no surprise that students often feel bewildered looking at the library shelf and wonder where to start. One excellent resource is A Guide to Biblical Commentaries and Reference Works by John F. Evans (10th edition; Grand Rapids: Zonervan, 2016). If you’re…
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Good (and Bad) Reference Works for New Testament Studies
It’s often difficult to tell which encyclopedias and reference works you should rely on for academic biblical studies. There are a lot of “Bible Dictionaries” that are too shallow to be very useful, or that don’t reflect modern scholarship. One helpful tool is A Guide to Biblical Commentaries and Reference Works by John F. Evans (10th…
Read MoreA Reading List on Paul’s Views of Women
Paul’s instructions about how women should (and shouldn’t) behave in some of his churches continue to drive real and often painful debates about women’s roles in the contemporary church. I’ve gathered here a representative collection of books on the topic and on the broader issue of gender roles. Since I don’t think that Paul’s statements…
Read MoreHelp with Improving Your Writing
Let’s face it–most of us were never taught how to write well. Either we somehow absorbed good style from hours of reading for pleasure, or we managed to get by with a “shotgun” approach: If I throw enough words at the idea some of them will be close enough! For many purposes this really is…
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Ian W. Scott 