Abstracts

The Ancient Exegesis of Genesis 6:2, 4: The exegesis of Gen 6:2, 4 in ancient times is surveyed among extant sources, both Jewish and Christian. These interpretations are categorized as either "supernatural" or "nonsupernatural" depending upon the identification of the "sons of God." It is observed that the interpretation of "sons of God" as angels and "Nephilim" as giants dominates. This interpretation also seems to be that of the NT, almost certainly in Jude 6 and 2 Pet 2:4, and probably in 1 Cor 11:10 and Matt 22:30. Some suggestions regarding the source of this interpreation and its validity are made.

Biblical Accuracy and Human Error: Since humans are finite and fallen, their interpretation of both Bible and nature are prone to error. Here we examine a passage commonly seen as biblical error, the "dome sky" remark in Job 37:18, and suggest that this is merely a problem of mistranslation. A more likely translation teaches no such thing.

Biblical Teaching on the Holy Spirit: The personality and deity of the Holy Spirit are shown from various Biblical texts.

The Bible and Science: The Bible is under attack by many who march under the banner of science. Is science really opposed to the Bible? Depends on whether one is speaking of "closed universe" science or "open universe" science. Diverse views on Bible and science by Bible-believers. Vindications of the Bible's science. Evolution and Creation. Other problems. Bibliography.

A Brief Survey of the Book of Jubilees: The intertestamental Jewish book of Jubilees is classed as pseudepigrapha, a retelling of Genesis and the early chapters of Exodus with an emphasis on dating the events by jubilees, weeks, and years. Here we sketch its text, contents, character, dependence on other writings, date, theology and authorship. A more lengthy is provided of the book's calendar, which appears to be the same as that of 1 Enoch and the Qumran community.

The Charismatic Movement: Testing Its Truth-Claims: Prophecy, healing, and tongue-speaking are briefly examined, noting the Scriptural phenomena in each case, contrasting this with the phenomena in the modern Charismatic movement.

The Christmas Story: A response to a Christmas column by Edwin M. Yoder that appeared in the Washington Post in 1984, in which Yoder noted it would be nice if Luke's account of Jesus' birth were true, but moderns can't really believe superstitions about miracles.

Colossians: Antidote to the Cults: A sketch of the religious background and Christological teaching of Colossians, showing how it responds to an Essene-like cult at Paul's time, and how its teachings can help us respond to a wide variety of cults today.

Credo: An attempt to construct an epistemology from a common sense perspective. Encounter with the Bible and its pre-knowledge of science and its fulfilled predictions. Authority, practical empiricism and dogmatic empiricism. Bible as source of ethics, philosophy and life goals.

The Deity of Jesus: Passages on Yahweh in the OT which ascribe similar characteristics to Him as passages on Jesus in the NT do to Jesus.

God in the Universe: A talk given at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Naval Air Engineering Center in Lakehurst, NJ. Is prayer like talking on an unplugged phone? Recent scientific discoveries point to the existence of God. In cosmology, evidence for a universe with a beginning; and design in the fine-tuning of nature's basic forces. In planetology, an Earth with just the right stuff! In biochemistry, certain elements and compounds are just right to allow life.

A History of the Higher Criticism: A sketch of the history of higher critical theories of the Pentateuch up to the development of the still-dominant Graf-Wellhausen or JEDP theory. An examination of how similar methodologies have been tested and found wanting in the study of general literature.

Intimations from Order of a Mind Behind the Universe: A talk given at the Physics Colloquium for the University of Delaware. How does one recognize an artifact? How an intelligent extra-terrestrial message? Is life an artifact or an accident? The organization of living things. Is the universe an artifcat or an accident? The organization in the universe. How do we explain these things? Chance? An intelligent universe? A mind behind the universe?

Jesus and Inerrancy: What was Jesus' attitude toward the Bible? What about his statements in the Sermon on the Mount? How did he teach the people? How did he argue with the religious leaders? How did he speak when he laid his life on the line? How did he instruct his disciples after his resurrection?

Jesus' Self-Understanding According to the So-Called Q Material: Taking the minimal definition of the Q material (shared material in Matthew and Luke but not in Mark), we survey how it pictures Jesus' self-understanding of his person, nature, mission, message and destiny. We suggest that we find here a strong presentation of Jesus' messiahship, deity and humanity, along with a certain mystery about him, the same picture given in John and the Synoptics.

Jewish Polemic Against Christianity in the Second Century: Jewish, Pagan and Christian reports of Jewish polemic are located in the ancient literature. The specific charges against Christianity are categorized as very well-attested, less well-attested, and slightly-attested. No attempt is made here to respond to these charges.

Miracles: True and False: What is a miracle? Do miracles occur? What kind of evidence do we have for this? Some examples are given from fulfilled prophecy. What are true miracles over against false ones? How do we distinguish them?

New Testament Backgrounds: A course syllabus last taught in 1991, after which the course was eliminated in a curriculum revision. The first section, a history of the intertestament period, was moved to the course Synoptic Gospels. The second section, NT geography and chronology, was apportioned partly to Synoptic Gospels, partly to Acts & Pauline Epistles, but some of the material on chronology is nowhere duplicated. The third section, NT culture & archaeology, is also nowhere duplicated.

Pacifism and Biblical Interpretation: In this paper we shall attempt briefly to sketch the history of pacifism in Christendom to date. Then we shall examine three important forms of such pacifism, considering each view and the arguments used to support it. We shall call these views Historic Pacifism, Liberal Pacifism, and Neo-Orthodox Pacifism. Finally we shall attempt a brief critique of each view.

Revelation and Research: A study of H. M. Kuitert, Do You Understand What You Read? and John Warwick Montgomery, Where Is History Going? Each book is outlined, summarized, and propositions drawn from it are analyzed, concluding with a few additional propositions of my own relevant to the Bible's relation to history and science.

Science and the Scriptures: A talk given at Faith Community Church, Roslyn, PA. What is science? Should we expect scientific statements in the bible? To what extent is science a scriptural activity? The occurrence of science in the Scriptures. Problems of interpretation.

Some Influences of Apologetic Motivation on Biblical Exegesis: A survey of the history of Biblical interpretation from the intertestament period to the present, noting some hundred examples where apologetic motivation has had an influence, for good or bad, on exegesis. The influences are summarized at the end into a number of categories of good or bad influence.

Some Material Relevant to the Question, "Who is Jesus?": A listing of PowerPoints and IBRI Research Reports which have a bearing on this question. The bibliography was prepared for a debate/dialogue held at Arcadia University, Glenside, PA, 23 Feb 2006, between Dr. Robert C. Newman and Rabbi Seth Frisch.

Substitutes for Sanctification: An Ironic presentation: "How to do-it-yourself without depending on the Holy Spirit."

The Trustworthiness of Scripture: A talk given in Ithaca, NY. It is hard to witness to people who reject the authority of Scripture. This problem has gotten worse in US culture, but is not new. The combination of scholarship and unbelief has raised a serious barrier for biblical Christianity. It has led to evolution, various psychological theories, and direct attacks on the Bible in religious academia. Yet these theories require the Bible to be a very unusal book indeed. The Bible predicts this sort of opposition to Christianity. Yet the trustworthiness of Scripture is a central Biblical doctrine. The trustworthiness of the Bible is a revealed doctrine, not one reached by empirical investigation. It is a living principle through which people are saved and believers strengthened and guided. It is a powerful weapon, revealing who people are, providing insights to respond to human theorizing, fulfilled prophecy to support its own claims, and pointing to Jesus as God's solution to human futility.

Wilkerson's Vision and Deuteronomy 18: An attempt to test Wilkerson's Vision in March 1976, just a few years after it was published. Several prophecies are surveyed which are to be fulfilled "in the next decade" before zeroing in on one referring to the next few years (from April 1973). With the data then in hand, it looked like this particular prediction had be disfulfilled. In 2008, it is clear that the next decade prophecies bombed.