Back in July, I shared here that our family had entered an unanticipated time of transition. I had encountered such a disagreement with the elders at our little church in Grove City that I felt compelled to resign.
A lot has happened in the four months since that last update—many good things, even as we wait to discern what God has for us after this school year…
Continue readingThe follow publication was just published online, open-access:
Giffone, Benjamin D. “Toward a Better ‘Hezekiah’: The Literary Structuring of Isaiah 1–39.” Old Testament Essays 36.2 (2023): 471–489. DOI: 10.17159/2312-3621/2023/v36n2a10.
It doesn’t look like the DOI is working immediately, but you can view the essay here.
This paper has been a long-time in coming. It originated in discussions with Gary Schnittjer, and the students in my course on Isaiah at Cairn University (January 2011). I blogged about it here, many years ago.
I set it aside for a long time, then presented another version to the OT Prophets section at the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (Aberdeen, 2019).
Finally, I worked out some of these ideas further in a Fall 2021 course on Isaiah at LCC International University. I really appreciated the conversations with those students–conversations that continue to resonate in other publications, papers in review, and work that I’m doing now. Teaching and research together–a great combination!
I recently appeared on my friend Dom’s podcast, #OneFear, talking about Ezekiel 20. Check out our episode:
https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/3HOt2ior1qn5IWzBiFDIHW?utm_source=generator
Dom and his wife, Danielle, host #OneFear. They do a variety of sorts of episodes, all focused around understanding and applying scripture. You should subscribe!
Faithful readers of this blog might recognize some of my earlier work on Ezekiel 20, including my 2022 article in Biblische Zeitschrift and a sermon series at Klaipėdos LKB from 2021.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how the Bible portrays the experience of other ‘gods’ besides YHWH. It’s been a subject of fascination for me, especially since I encountered the work of Michael Heiser, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Right now, I am mulling over the phrase “gods which you/your fathers have known” in Deuteronomy—I’m working on a paper for ETS in November and a book chapter due around the same time.
Why does it matter how we think about the portrayal of ‘other gods’ in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament? Well, for starters, it’s important for us to interpret the Bible correctly, on its own terms, so we understand how the Triune God, YHWH, speaks about himself and the other beings that he has created. This includes spiritual beings as well as human beings, and we as humans relate to those spiritual beings differently than we relate to other animals on earth. So it’s relevant for our lives.
Continue readingPersonal updates and substantive writings have been slim on this blog, I acknowledge. Part of this has been the outlet of weekly preaching, plus other writing projects I’ve been working on (more on those in the weeks to come!). I’m also continuing to teach remotely at a seminary in South Asia (name withheld for security reasons). I have five students in my MTh course, Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. Starting in November, I will teach Exegesis of Isaiah 40-55 for them.
Well, if weekly preaching has resulted in much less blogging output…then you might see an increase of output here. Sadly, July 30–today–was my last Sunday as pastor of Center Church in Grove City.
Continue readingI just completed a sermon series at Center Church (EPC) on the book of Ephesians. Here are all the sermons on the church’s YouTube pages (video links are queued to the start of the sermon):
Here is a devotional I gave at the Maundy Thursday communion service at Center Church EPC along with Harmony EPC (Harrisville), last week.
Continue readingI realized that it’s been a while since I’ve posted here, so I wanted to give a few quick updates…
Continue readingAs I’ve mentioned in the last couple of posts, I’ll no longer be sharing all my sermons in mp3 format on this site; the podcast feed will be dedicated to other talks and special presentations. Center Church’s YouTube channel will continue to broadcast services, and I’ll be the preacher at the majority of these services for the foreseeable future.
That said, I wanted to share links to our Advent and Christmas services, queued up to the sermons if you are interested.
I’ve been thinking and writing about technology and how it affects worship for quite a number of years. When I wrote a series about ‘online church’ and the importance of in-person worship during COVID, one of my main concerns was about what this time was doing to the discipleship of young people. (Yes, it always comes back to: “Think of the children!”)
Especially in my post, “Are the Kids Really Fine?”, I tried to express the significance of the ubiquity of social media and online streaming for people born during or after, say, the mid-1990s. This is the most important generational divide, in my opinion. Those who were formed in their Christian faith as children or as adults before the advent of streaming and social media are somewhat able to navigate the newly “technologized” way of connecting with God and with others as just a slightly more convenient and slightly less satisfying version of their old way. For younger people, this is all that they have known.
I used to regularly share posts on this blog that contained four to seven links of other readings/listenings/viewings that I found interesting—kind of a substitute for instant sharing on social media. I still accumulate readings to share with specific people in my Bookmarks, but maybe I’ll start sharing more now that I’m serving as a pastor. Anyway, here are some interesting items inspired by desire to see families navigate the threat that “online” poses to their discipleship.
Liturgy is for Kids: Or, Your Kids Don’t Need Pop Worship
Podcast: Mortification of Spin: Metaverse Church
The Light Phone — An interesting product! (Disclosure: I do not own or endorse this product.)
Podcast: Felicia Wu Song on the Perils of Digital Discipleship
think hard, think well 