You guys surprise me. At the beginning of January, on a whim I threw out a survey with some questions about what to do with my 2016 research and writing time. I knew what I wanted the results to be, but y’all had slightly different ideas.

For the record, my current schedule is to spend 90-120 minutes each weekday morning focused on writing and research tasks. This is stuff that happens outside of my role and responsibilities at Logos/Faithlife.

For those who didn’t take the survey (shame on you, and I’m keeping it open, so take it), here are the questions:

Here are the individual question responses.

1. What should Rick try to accomplish with his 2016 research and writing time?

I only allowed one answer for each respondent on this question. I was floored that the Apostles’ Creed item actually was the most popular (and that you’d want me to write it). I guess I’ll have to look into digging up those old notes and see what I can do with them.

That said, my primary focus this year will still be the Pastoral Epistles work; that’s really where my head and heart is at this time. But we’ll see about what else can squeeze out later in the year. I’m already committed to do a class on NT Textual Criticism at my church (4 weeks), so that’ll get some attention soon.

2. Which of the above would you actually buy?

The numbers are weird on this one because I let folks select as many as they wanted to. This one surprised me as well with the NT Textual Criticism stuff being something folks would say they’d spend money on. The pricing on these is complete and total speculation, BTW, I just figured it would be useful to have numbers associated.

3. What format would you like for this sort of material?

No real surprises (to me) here. I figured Logos and print would be the tops. That PDF actually beat Kindle is a little surprising.

So, what next?

As mentioned above, I’m still most interested in completing the Pastoral Epistles work. My present thinking is to pursue publishing it in three volumes (one for each letter) as the work is done. I’m still trying to figure out the details with that, but there is still a decent amount of research and writing to do. While most of 1 Timothy is done, I’d be very surprised if I could squeeze out both 2 Timothy and Titus this calendar year.

The information from the survey is helpful. It tells me that, depending on what I’m able to find of my old notes, creating a group study resource for either the Apostles Creed or NT Textual Criticism is something worth seriously exploring.

Thanks, all, for sharing your insight!

I have a few different options to pursue with my overall 2016 research and writing time. But I want to know what other folks out there think. I have my own personal ideas on what I would like to focus on, overall (detailed in my Changing Focus post), but a year is a long time, and I have a few other options as well. I created a survey so you can give me feedback on these other options.

These other options include:

Titus Group Study and Leader Guide. In 2001 I taught a class at the church I attended on Titus. We only made it through the end of chapter 2, but I still have all my notes with outline and questions (the “Group Study” portion) and a separate set of material with answers/discussion to the questions (the “Leader Guide” portion). I’ll need to rewrite/revise existing material, and write the stuff for chapter 3.

Apostles’ Creed Group Study and Leader Guide. In 2000 (I think) I taught a similarly structured class at the same church on the Apostles’ Creed (I think? Or was that in 2002 or so, in Bellingham? I don’t remember). I used the organization in the Heidelberg Catechism as the outline. It as well has a Group Study and Leader Guide portion. I know we finished, but I don’t know that I still have all the material (I know I have portions of it).

New Testament Textual Criticism Group Study and Leader Guide. I plan on teaching a short (4 week?) course on NT Textual Criticism at my church sometime in the late winter quarter. I’d use the class at church as an opportunity to organize the material, and extend and revise it after the class ran.

Please let me know what you think by taking the survey. Thanks!

One of the new-ish features for Logos Now is something called the Septuagint Manuscript Explorer.

(Watch the video. I’ll wait.)

It is an aggregation of all sorts of information about manuscripts of the Septuagint. And, where we can, we link to images of the manuscripts.

Several Septuagint manuscripts available online are housed by the Vatican. And they update their online holdings every so often. I just checked again, and note five more specifically LXX manuscripts they’ve made available (since the last time I checked):

• Vatican Ott.gr.294, which is Rahlfs 267 (Psalter, 14th century)
• Vatican Ott.gr.9, which is Rahlfs 653 (Catena in Job, 16th century)
• Vatican Ott.gr.60, which is Rahlfs 655 (Psalms of Solomon, 16th century)
• Vatican Ott.gr.87, which is Rahlfs 656 (4 Maccabees, 13th century)
• Vatican Ott.gr.117, which is Rahlfs 657 (Catena in Proverbs, 16th century)

Not only that, there are also several LXX manuscripts available at CSNTM.org:

• Rahlfs 961, 4th century, Gen 9–44
• Rahlfs 962, 3rd century, Gen 8–46
• Rahlfs 963, 2nd century, portions of Numbers and Deuteronomy
• Rahlfs 964, 4th century, portions of Sirach 36–46
• Rahlfs 965, 3rd century, portions of Isaiah
• Rahlfs 966, 2nd century, portions of Jeremiah 4–5
• Rahlfs 967, 3rd century, portions of Ezekiel and Esther
• Rahlfs 968, 3rd century, portions of Daniel and Esther
• Rahlfs 2149, 4th century, portions of Ps 72–88
• Rahlfs 2150, 4th century, portions of Ps 2; 26; 31

Links to all of these manuscripts will be integrated in a future release of the Septuagint Manuscript Explorer, part of Logos Now.

Lexham Press has published my family guide for Advent, Anticipating His Arrival (Logos format), for use with Logos Bible Software. In 2016, Lexham Press published Anticipating His Arrival in print. The Lexham Press blog recently ran an excerpt as a blog post. Here’s the description from the web site:

Advent is both about Jesus’ first coming in Bethlehem and his second coming, which we await. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we remember his first advent and prepare for his second, celebrating both events. Centered around the themes of preparation, anticipation, joy, and incarnation, Anticipating His Arrival helps you guide your family through Advent as your expectation of Jesus’ arrival grows.

Family devotional time can be difficult which is why this resource was designed to fit a variety of needs and your schedule. Scripture readings are provided for the entire Advent season, from the first Sunday of Advent through Christmas Day. Each day, discussion questions and responses are provided to guide individual reflection or family discussion. The daily readings in this devotional come from the Revised Common Lectionary and include readings for all three years in the liturgical cycle—each drawing from the synoptic gospels.

The book contains material that my family has used during Advent over the past four or five years. The Revised Common Lectionary three-year reading cycle is the basis of the Advent readings. I’ve taken the weekly readings for Advent and spread them out over a week. I also provided questions and responses to help spur discussion.

We typically use it after dinner. You know, when it isn’t crazy (skipping a day is not a big deal in our house). My daughter, now eight, likes to do the scripture reading. My son, now three, is more interested in the chocolate in the other “advent” calendar. After we read the scripture, someone will ask the questions. Any answer is a good answer. My perspective is that these are all suggestions; make them work for your own situation. We just want a house where it isn’t weird to talk about Bible stuff, and this little devotional has helped us with that. Our prayer is that it might be useful with your family too.

The few regular readers of these pages are aware that I’m working on revising some old work on the vocabulary of First Timothy and incorporating new work on the balance of the Pastoral Epistles. Here’s an excerpt on the phrase “husband of one wife” found in 1 Tim 3:2.

(image from http://focusmagazine.org/the-husband-of-one-wife.php)

Many debates on the role of women in the fellowship have turned on this one phrase. The phrase in the Greek is simple; it is the words for “one”, “woman” and “man” (in that order). The words for “one” (εἷς) and “woman” (γυνή) agree in case, number, and gender.[1] The word translated “man” is ἀνήρ, which most generically represents an adult male. This has led many to translate this phrase in a substitutionary manner as “a one-woman man”.

As is the case with many simple and seemingly literal interpretations, there is more to this situation than meets the eye. The word γυνή, in some contexts, also indicates ‘wife’.[2] The same is true for ἀνήρ, which may indicate ‘husband’.[3]

The words ἀνήρ and γυνή occur frequently in the New Testament and are translated various ways, according to context. When both of these words occur together, and when both are singular nouns[4] the context is usually that of marriage.

Given that these words have some sort of grammatical relationship, and realizing that when they occur in close proximity elsewhere in the NT with similar form the context of marriage is usually assumed, it is appropriate to apply similar understanding here. The text does not speak of man and woman in some sort of generic relation, the relationship is that of marriage, between a husband (the overseer) and his wife. Therefore the phrase should be rendered “husband of one wife.”

This may also be seen as a prohibition against polygamy. Reading any more (or less) into the phrase is not wise. The plain meaning is that of a monogamous marriage between a man (the overseer) and a woman. Using this phrase as justification that an overseer need only be married (thus can be either male or female) or simply monogamous inside or outside of marriage is a stretch, particularly in light of the opposite of this phrase used in 1Tim. 5:9:

Let a widow be put on the list if she is not less than sixty years old, the wife of one husband, (1Ti 5:9, emphasis added)

Here the opposite relationship, “the wife of one husband”, is stated as the discussion is concerning widows. The phrase, both in 1 Tim. 3:2 and 5:9, is not formulaic or aphoristic, but changes form to emphasize the primary member in the relationship under discussion. In 1 Tim 5:9, the primary subject is the widow, who is also the wife. In 1 Tim 3:2, the primary subject is the overseer, who is also the husband.

[1] The case is genitive, the number is singular and the gender is feminine.

[2] BDAG, p. 208. Occurs 215x in NT.

[3] BDAG, p. 79. Occurs 216x in NT.

[4] 27 verses: Mk 10.2; Lu 16.18; Jn 4.17; Ac 5.1; Ro 7.2; 1Co 7.2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 34, 39; 11.3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12; Eph 5.23, 33; 1Ti 2.12; 3.2; 5.9; Tt 1.6. It is questionable whether 1Ti 2.12 is in the context of marriage, though it is quite possible.