Nijay Gupta, of his eponymously-named blog, put out a list of 20 scholars who have influenced him most.

I don't have a list quite like Nijay's, likely because I haven't pursued formal graduate studies. My list is less centered around scholars and influence from the books they've written and more centered around scholars (and others who some may not qualify as 'scholars' because they have no post-grad/terminal degree) and the conversation(s) and relationship I've had with them. While ideas presented in books are important, relationships are much more shaping—at least for me. That said, here we go. This is in no particular order.

Randall Tan — Randall has been nothing short of an encouragement to me; he has always been generous and charitable in any interaction we've had. He is a gentleman, a scholar, and someone I am lucky enough to call a friend. I'd venture to say his functional recall of things having to do with Greek grammar is the highest of almost anyone I know, and he's always willing to help when I have a question. Anyway, Randall has encouraged and taught me to not be afraid when approaching things I don't fully understand; chances are I have a better understanding than I give myself credit for — and I'll usually be able to work it out while pursuing the problem.

Matthew Brook O'Donnell — While working on the Logos Bible Software implementation of OpenText.org's syntactic analysis of the Greek New Testament, I was able to interact with Matt a lot. In working through the OpenText.org data, and with his help (and, for that matter, Randall's help too) my brain made the shift from thinking about Greek at the word level to thinking about Greek at the level of the phrase/clause. Additionally, his Corpus Linguistics and the Greek of the New Testament (amazon.com) is thought provoking and (along with Jeffrey T. Reed's A Discourse Analysis of Philippians (amazon.com)) go a long way to providing documentation and background to the details of the OpenText.org analysis. All great stuff.

Albert Lukaszewski — I've had the privilege of working with Dr. Lukaszewski (whom many of you know from Zondervan's Reader's Greek New Testament (amazon.com) fame) on the conception and production of the Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament for Logos Bible Software. The primary work was done roughly in the same period as work on the OpenText.org SAGNT (mentioned above), though the project is an ongoing one. In working through this information with Al, I was able to first of all come to an understanding of sentence diagramming that I would've never been able to outside of his work, and secondly come to understand the strengths and weaknesses of both the traditional approach to Greek grammar/syntax (which the Lexham SGNT largely represents) and the more linguistically oriented approach of the OpenText.org project.

Steven Runge — I've been working with Steve on the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament for well over a year now. In much the same way that my brain shifted from thinking about words to thinking about phrases/clauses; my brain has shifted further into the realm of discourse; particularly the area of "Discourse Grammar". I never would've been able to realize the importance, at the discourse level, of function words and other sorts of information structures without his work and encouragement. I still have oodles to learn in this particular area, but Steve has given me a foundation I can build on as I examine all sorts of things (like αλλα) to learn more. Conjunctions and other particles are now my friends.

Maurice Robinson — I've been privileged to have a few conversations with Dr. Robinson as we've met in passing at ETS over the past few years. What I've learned from him and his work is that if you have theories you're convinced of, you need to do due diligence and work them out to their logical extent. I'm not a Byzantine priorist; but I do appreciate and respect Dr. Robinson's work.

Charles E. Hill — Dr. Hill was my first-year Greek prof at Northwestern College back in 1992-93. Without the foundation he gave (yay ATHENAZE!  Go, Δικαιοπολις!) I wouldn't be where I am today.

Ray Van Neste — Ray's work on the Pastorals (Cohesion and Structure in the Pastoral Epistles (amazon.com)) is the best non-commentary resource you can get for the Pastorals (and better and more helpful than most commentaries, for that matter). The section on semantic chaining (much of the theory here taken from Guthrie's work on Hebrews (amazon.com)) alone is worth the price of admission (or, it used to be before the book went out of print and you could get it for under $100). Discussions of transitions, cohesion and the like are excellent. This volume has helped and shaped my thinking about the Pastorals more than any other single volume. Find it at a library or get it via interlibrary loan if you're working in the Pastorals. And his focus on pastoral ministry and family is heartening.

Vincent Setterholm — Vincent is a colleague at Logos whom I've known for what, five years now? Vincent taught me that, properly focused and adequately balanced, auto-didacticism is a good thing. He also taught me that building a library is important. Don't be afraid to buy the worthy books at any reasonable price. And read them once you've got them.

Eli Evans — Eli is another colleague at Logos (you can tell I'm heavily influenced by the guys I work with, huh?). I've worked with him for over 10 years. Eli has single-handedly shaped my writing skills with his incisive and functional criticism of the stuff I've passed off as writing in the past, oh, five years. He's also a valued friend and debating partner/adversary.

I hereby declare my "pick the photo caption" contest over. According to the results of the poll, the winner is:

Elect Ella: She'll work for you!

Congratulations to Chuck Grantham, and thanks to all who entered. Chuck, zap me an email (textgeek at gmail dot rhymes-with-mom) with your mailing address and your choice between these three books:

• Rodney Decker's Koine Greek Reader (amazon.com)
• Guthrie & Duvall's Biblical Greek Exegesis (amazon.com)
• Mark Wilson's Mastering New Testament Greek Vocabulary through Semantic Domains (amazon.com)

You may remember this post, that had the below picture, and a pleas for a caption:

Captions have been submitted; so now please vote for your favorite by visiting this poll. Available captions are:

• In the voice of Robert DeNiro: "Are you talkin' to me?"
• Elect Ella: She'll work for you!
• "Here's looking at you, kid"
• It's YOUR copy of the Nestle-Aland 27 Reverse Interlinear I want, mister
• "Who's my daddy!"
• What was it that Isaac the bartender always used to say ... ?

Voting will close sometime on Monday (maybe Tuesday, who knows).

What book will the winner get? I think the winner will be able to choose from:

• Decker's Koine Greek Reader (amazon.com)
• Guthrie & Duvall's Biblical Greek Exegesis (amazon.com)
• Wilson's Mastering New Testament Greek Vocabulary through Semantic Domains (amazon.com)

So vote!

Amy took Ella in for portraits yesterday. We didn't get prints of this one made, but it is hysterical! It is not staged, it is not posed, it is not photoshopped. This is the picture as it was taken.

It is a photo in need of a caption. So please, use the comments to leave your caption suggestions. Any inappropriate comments will be deleted.

After a few days, if there are enough comments, I'll aggregate them and we can vote on 'em (so make sure I can identify you from the comment; if you leave your email it will be submitted to me but not posted on the blog). Then who knows? I may even have a free book for the winner!

Update (2008-04-14): Great responses, keep 'em coming! For those who don't know what Eli is talking about in his comment, you obviously never watched "The Love Boat" in the 70's-80's. He's referring to this picture of Isaac Washington, the chief bartender on the boat, played by Ted Lange:

Update (2008-04-17): OK, I've taken the comments (Chuck Grantham, I'm only allowing one per, so I went with your first one) and created a poll. You can vote once a day (er, one IP address can vote per day). Heck, link to this post and the poll on your own blog and have your own readers vote too. I don't care how you go about such things. I'll let the poll run through sometime this weekend. The caption with the most votes wins. If there is a tie, I'll simply choose the caption I like best (from the ties). The winner gets a book. I'm not sure which one yet. We're in the process of painting the new office, which means most of my books are in boxes. I'll try to have a few options for the winner by the weekend.

So, treat it like a Chicago mayoral election: vote early and vote often!

Here are a few random notes that I think are worth mentioning.

1. The Biblical Studies Carnival for April is now up. Chris Weimer at Thoughts on Antiquity (one of the most excellent group (biblio|biblica)blogs out there) did the duty, and did it well. Yep, I'm a bit late in noting this, but it's been a busy week.

2. Next month's Biblical Studies Carnival will be hosted by Dr. Jim West; so keep yer eyes peeled and submit all worthy posts to his keen review.

3. The SBL needs to ditch MetaPress as its JBL host. I've been trying to get in all morning to check out the latest JBL articles to no avail.

4. A few years back, John Derbyshire said, "Pop culture is filth". I agreed then, and I agree now. Only now I think pop culture serves like a virus, and everything else is getting filthier too. Have you looked at the top stories on any news site with any regularity? It makes me cringe. Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, especially since I think Calvin (and his predecessors, like Augustine) had something going with that whole "Total Depravity" thing.

5. I have too many ideas for books to write (or at least examine writing) and not enough time in which to pursue them. But I have too many other things that are worthy that I don't want to skimp on, like, for instance, spending time with the cutest little girl who happens to be my daughter:

Two years ago today, I asked Amy to marry me. It was the smartest, wisest and without-a-doubt the best thing I've ever done.

The good Lord saw fit to bring us together; surely I've had the most benefit.

I love you, Amy. More today than yesterday.

Hi folks.

I'm playing around with using Windows Live Writer to edit and post weblog entries. So ... this is just a test.

(Thanks, Bob, for the pointer!)

I know it's hard to believe, but I think I found Jim West's favorite web site. Click the link, then wait a second for it to unveil in its full glory!

On the flip side, this is probably Chris Tilling's favorite web site!

(h/t: MarginalRevolution)

Today is my sweet Amy's birthday. It also happens to be our 18-month anniversary! So double reason for celebrating!

I love you, sweetie, and can't imagine life without you. Happy Birthday!

Since Chris Brady (Targuman) proposed the idea of International Biblical Studies Writing Month (IBSWM), all the cool kids have been posting their projects.

I have at least one that qualifies. My paper for BibleTech:2008 is on locating cross-references in the New Testament; that is my IBSWM project. It is now mostly done (but mostly written in January!). I'll be sure to post a copy after BibleTech:2008 (so, after Jan 26)

I have another writing (blogging) project bubbling in my head, but hesitate to mention it here for fear that I might not get started on it during IBSWM (if ever).

Chris Brady, who writes the blog Targuman, has posted BSC:XXV. Do rush and take a look at it, he's done a fine job stitching together the carnival tent this month. Chris is also the Biblioblogger of the Month for January 2008; so head to Biblioblogs.com to learn more about the "fine Jewish boy" behind Targuman.

Also note that Kevin P. Edgecomb of the blog biblicalia will be doing BSC:XXVI; keep your eyes peeled for carnival-worthy posts to nominate for that carnival. Why? Well, Kevin writes:

Okay, so, get busy writing good stuff and start sending me nominations for the next carnival, or, by the showering stars of the Geminids, I swear I’ll make stuff up. I have a vivid imagination, too.

Looks like the 2008 carnivals are off to a roaring start!

Merry Christmas to you if you're in the US; Happy Christmas if you're in the UK.

Either way, it's Christmas time! And it is a pretty happy time here in the Brannan household. It is Ella's first Christmas, and while she doesn't quite get the whole unwrap-the-presents thing; she sure does know how to play with wrapping paper. Celebrating Christmas will never be the same.

Thanks to all who read ricoblog, whether you've just stumbled here or if you faithfully read and aggregate posts. I'm still overwhelmed when I think that y'all are out there, and flattered that you read what I write. Thank you, all.

Blessings to you and yours as we celebrate the birth of our Savior; the one who gives us hope; and the one who will return to take us home.

Two things.

First, I received my copy of Michael Holmes' Apostolic Fathers, Greek Texts and English Translations, Third Edition (amazon.com). What a beautiful volume. The form factor is excellent, the type is crisp, the binding is sturdy and functional, and the scholarship is top-notch. This is a book that is a pleasure to own.

Second, I have made a decision. As many know and can easily see, I have an Amazon Associates account. If you click on links from this blog and buy stuff, I get a tiny portion of the sale (ranges from 4% to 6% per sale). Don't worry, I'm not getting rich off of it, I just save the accumulation and use it to buy a book every few months.

I've decided that I'm going to save up my commissions for the next while and splurge on a two-volume set of books I'd love but can't afford to purchase: The Apostolic Fathers and the New Testament Two-Volume Set (amazon.com). It consists of both of the recent volumes published by Oxford, The Reception of the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers (amazon.com) and Trajectories Through the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers (amazon.com). If you're wondering how much I make off of the commissions, well ... I'm about 1/4 of the way there and don't expect to make enough for probably 4-6 months.

So ... if you want to help a brother out and are buying stuff from Amazon anyway ... click to Amazon from a link on this blog. Or, if you really want to make Rico smile this Christmas, cruise to my wish list and purchase a copy for me (only half-joking!). Of if you work for Oxford and need someone to review the set ... well, I just might be interested!

It's true, I'm finally home.

I haven't been on the internet in over a week as I didn't bring a laptop to the conferences this year. So I have no idea what recaps have been written, who did what where, and what the general response to the sessions has been. (Note that Airton has the roundup of several bibliobloggers' SBL posts; check him out for more links)

For me, it was a great time. I met a whole lot of folks, many of whom I'd only known through blogs or email discussions. I apologize if I don't remember you all in this recap (which is centered around bloggers a-cuz I can link to them); but trust me -- it was a pleasure to meet you.

One of the first people I met at ETS (I arrived Wednesday afternoon) was Cliff Kvidahl. Cliff and I spent much of Thursday together; I even shared my initial fish taco experience with him down at the foodcourt at the mall next door to the convention venue. Cliff is into Hebrews; so check out his blog on that subject. Later on at SBL, I had the pleasure of meeting Cliff's friend Dr. Will Varner; Dr. V even did me the greater pleasure of giving me a signed copy of his latest book, The Way of the Didache (amazon.com). (Fret not, I'll blog about the books I came home with later) I had Cliff sign it too; he did the work on the concordance in the back as well as some other things. Very cool!

I gave a paper at ETS, it went well. I'll post the paper and a link to it sometime over the weekend. At the paper, I ran into my old Greek prof, Charles Hill (who is at RTS in Orlando). He's done some great stuff on the Gospel of John and also Papias and other 1st/2nd century authors; you should really look his stuff up.

I ran into Michael Bird in passing a few times. I also caught up with him at the WJK booth at SBL. He was purchasing a commentary by M. Eugene Boring, who is on my still-nascent "all names" team of Biblical Studies. The Interpretation Commentary series by WJK has three of the names on the developing team -- Long, Boring, and Best. I need to fill out the list, though. Any other suggestions?

And I met John Hobbins at ETS as well. John, it was a pleasure meeting you and I'm sorry I couldn't make the Spaghetatta; the meal and company around it would've been fun to be a part of.

I met a number of people at SBL too. One was Brandon Wason; he was checking out some stuff at Hendrickson when I ran into him first; but we ran into each other a number of times over the conference.

One of the highlights (er, if you can call it that) was wiping off the precious, precious CTRVHM(TM) Holy Phlegm that enveloped me upon entering the presence of Chris Tilling. There I was on Sunday night, innocently minding my own business at the Hendrickson reception (with Brandon Wason and his friend Kevin Scull (did I remember the name right?)) and the cloud overtook me. We navigated our way to the Duke reception; though I think Chris dove into the Boston U (Boston College? I don't remember) reception (which was next door) as a warm-up. I spotted Stephen C. Carlson 'behind the ropes' at the Duke reception, he was kind enough to invite me in. From there we found Mark Goodacre, and we all talked for a bit. But then, as happens at receptions, someone official started making a speech, so I ducked out and went back to my room.

On Monday, at the Disputed Paulines session, I ran into Nijay Gupta whose friend was presenting at the overfull session. I was there to hear Lloyd Pietersen talk. Lloyd blogs at PastoralEpistles.com on occassion, but I'd never had a chance to meet him in person. So that was a pleasure. I saw Ray Van Neste in passing, but didn't get to catch up with him otherwise. That's too bad, maybe next year.

And then in the afternoon, Chris Heard stopped by the Logos booth and snapped a picture of me and John Fallahee. I ran into Chris later in the evening in the hotel gift shop where I was purchasing overpriced apple juice.

Another highlight for me was talking for a few minutes with Michael Holmes. His Greek/English edition of the Apostolic Fathers (amazon.com) is now in its third edition and was published in time for purchase at SBL. Baker Academic sold out their show inventory sometime on Monday. The volume is excellent, both in content and also in the way it is physically put together. If you have the old second edition diglot (which never stays open on a table) then do yourself a favor and get the third edition (amazon.com). Dr. Holmes is both a gentleman and a scholar, in that order -- and his scholarship is impressive, so that says something about the sort of gentleman he is.

Additionally, I was able to introduce myself to John A.L. Lee, whose book on the History of Greek Lexicography (amazon.com) is one of the best academic books I've ever read.

David Ritsema came up to the Logos booth on Tuesday; it was good to see him again.

I saw PJ Williams on a bus in San Diego; we were travelling from the main terminal to the "commuter" terminal (we both apparently had small hops before the larger hop; though his hop back to the UK was certainly larger than mine just up the coast to Seattle). I'm sure he'd agree with me; I think "commuter" in that context means "small and cramped". I also saw Nijay again in the same terminal, on his way back to the UK as well.

And I know there were others who I'm not including here; it's just so hard to remember you all.

Sadly, I had to miss the biblioblogger roundup as I had to do an additional session for Logos on Josephus, Philo and the Pseudepigrapha. So I didn't get to see Chris Brady, unfortunately. And I never ran into Jim West, though I was hoping to -- Jim, hope you were able to dry off after being "in the cloud" of CTRVHM Holy Phlegm for so long!

Apparently there's an SBL session on this question (S19-49, Monday afternoon). I'm a bit suspect because the session is sponsored by "HarperOne" (?) and its participants are all published by HarperCollins.

(side note: when will marketroids stop CamelCasing things? That's soooo 1990's)

Anyway, here's the panel:

• John Dominic Crossan, DePaul University, Panelist
• Jonathan Reed, University of La Verne, Panelist
• Amy-Jill Levine, The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Panelist
• Marvin Meyer, Chapman University, Panelist
• Pamela Eisenbaum, Iliff School of Theology, Panelist

I'll admit — I'm not too interested in what any of them would say. But I am curious about the question, and curious what folks in the biblioblogosphere might think. The question is a difficult one; I have several questions that arise from just the question alone (let alone thinking about answering it). Like:

• How does one define "non-Biblical" text? Any text that isn't in the Protestant Bible? Is the question specifically dealing with, say NT Apocrypha? Or could I say that perhaps Chrysostom's sermons on John would give tremendous insight? Or could I say (apologies, Jim West) N.T. Wright's Jesus and the Son of God? (No, I don't think that -- I'm just trying to figure out how to define "non-Biblical" in the context of this question).
• Does the text have to be about Jesus, or contain excerpts of Jesus' life? If I think NT apocryphal texts and gnostic texts (e.g. Thomas) paint a decidely improper picture of Jesus, then of course I can't suggest them. They would contribute to misunderstanding Jesus, not understanding him. But what else could I suggest?
• Does the text have to exist in full? Let's say based on what I know of Papias that I'd want to answer the question with his work. But the work doesn't exist anymore, at least that we know of. Further, what about things like Gospel of the Egyptians, Gospel of the Hebrews, or Gospel of the Nazoreans? Egerton Papyrus? Fragments of unknown Gospels found at Oxyrhynchus? We only have limited citations or scraps of these; not full extant editions. Would they count?
• Does the text have to exist at all? What about theoretical texts? For instance, if I was one to think that Q actually existed (nb: I don't, though I'm not opposed to such a thing) then obviously I'd have to say that one. It is non-Biblical, I guess, though if the theory is true then large swaths of it, at minimum, made it in. So does that count?

I could go on. But that wouldn't help answer the question.

I'm thinking about it (and have a short list of candidates). I'll update this post with my answer at the end of the week. But what do you think? Leave comments; if you blog an answer on your own blog let me know and I'll link to your post from this one.

Update (2007-11-09): There have been some comments; two of them focus on the Testimonium Flavianum, the other wondering about Rabbinic criticisms of Jesus as shedding light into the claims made by Jesus and his followers. These are good thoughts.

I'm still griping about the question, however. There seem to be three places in the question that provide lots of wiggle-room: "non-Biblical Text", "Understanding" and "Jesus". I discussed "non-Biblical text" above a bit. The word "understanding" also is problematic. What does it mean? What does it imply? Is it about understanding more of Jesus' biography? Understanding more of how people understood him (that leaves the door open for all sorts of crazy stuff)?

The other term to define is "Jesus". Which Jesus is this? Is it only about Jesus' experience as a human, or is material that provides understanding of Jesus Christ (i.e., the aspect of Messiah)?

This all makes the question hard, particularly since I'm guessing the intent is to discuss early non-Biblical stuff; probably gnostic/Nag Hammadi, that provides alternate and likely fabricated accounts of Jesus' earthly sojourn. But I have problems answering the question that way because I don't think it tells us anything about understanding Jesus, but all sorts of stuff about how gnostics/etc. understood Jesus.

So, on the whole, I'll try take all of that into account when I provide some thoughts about the question later today. But I'll probably understand "Jesus" to refer to non-Biblical discussion about the person Jesus, and therefore also include texts that discuss the aspect of Messiah as well. Whether that is intended or not, I don't know — but it's my blog, so I get to do what I want. :)

Update II (2007-11-09): Ok, here's my list, with some brief explanation. I consulted a few references along the way to help me with my memory of these things, notably New Testament Apocrypha Vol 1 (amazon.com) and Moreschini & Norelli's Early Christian Greek and Latin Literature (amazon.com) (also vol. 1). This list is sort of in a preferred order, though if pressed I'd probably change it around.

• Tatian's Diatessaron. That's right; some may say this is Biblical, but I'd say it isn't. Content from the four gospels is stitched into a running narrative. How can this not be helpful in understanding Jesus?
• Eusebius' Letter to Carpianus. Huh? You know, this is the one published in the front of your NA27 explaining the Eusebian Canons, in which Eusebius delimits lists based on Ammonius' sections. This is a cross-referencing system between the gospels; it also highlights material unique to each gospel. Again, very helpful if you want to work through instances that the gospels record concerning Jesus' life. Please examine Kevin P. Edgcome's very helpful page about the Canons; also see his translation of the Letter to Carpianus.
• Testimonium Flavianum. I agree with some of the commenters to this post, this is valuable even if it is a later insertion.
• Odes of Solomon. Again, this might surprise some. But these are early hymns, likely first or second century, likely Christian, and likely used in Christian worship. If early Christian hymns were good enough for Paul to use in some of his writings (e.g. 1Ti 3.16, Php 2.5-11), then I'd think hymns like some of those found in the Odes would be helpful in understanding the early church's conception of Christ (which is part of "understanding Jesus", to my mind). Charlesworth's edition actually inserts headings where the voice shifts from the Odist to that of Christ.
• Symbol of Chalcedon. Yes, this is later (circa 450 AD/CE) but it is definitive. If you want to know what the church thinks about who Jesus was (and is), then this is an important text.
• Second Clement. Ok, not really. But I had to mention it because of the agrapha it contains. I guess I'd make a catch-all category here called something like "early agrapha" and include the sayings from 2Clem and other stuff like gospels of the (Hebrews|Nazoreans|Egyptians|Ebionites) as well as some of the POxy fragments, Egerton 2, and stuff like that.

Stuff I wouldn't include because I contend that overall they would contribute to misunderstanding Jesus: Gnostic gospels and apocalypses, particularly stuff found at Nag Hammadi and also the recently found Gospel of Judas. I'd say these are very important for understanding gnosticism and for understanding the gnostic conception of Jesus; but I just don't see how that helps us understand Jesus.

Thoughts?

John Hobbins has a trifecta of posts representing the 23rd Biblical Studies Carnival (23 already?) that is worthy of examining:

• Biblical Studies Carnival XXIII
• Biblical Studies Carnival XXIII: What I Left out the First Time
• A Map of the World of Bible Bloggers. I'm listed as a "Scholar who is otherwise gainfully employed". Wow, Mom, I'm a scholar!

Also see Mark Goodacre's supplementary post on BSC:XXIII.

And, since I need to mention it somewhere and this is as good a place as any, it looks like SAGE Journals have once again made their somewhat regular offer for complete journal access — this time for the month of November. I believe this is the link you are looking for. If you're like me and not in a setting where you can get this stuff regularly, then sign up and get access. Sean the Baptist has the details.

I, for one, will be downloading some articles on Apostolic Fathers and NT Apocrypha from the Expository Times, among other things. Yee Haw!

From Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution; see item 3 which points to two posts. The first by Felix Salmon (Blogonomics 301 with Tyler Cowen), the second over at The Economist's blog, Free exchange (How to sell books). From Felix Salmon's post, you can download Cowen's talk (the talk is over an hour long, the linked *.m4u file is 250 megs, so watch out).

Lots of interesting stuff in Cowen's talk. I'm wondering, though, how what Cowen says applies to the biblioblogosphere.

In the biblioblogosphere, are blogs loss-leaders that basically promote a good of some sort (either a book or books by the blog author, or the author himself/herself)? Whether intentional or not, do they just serve to promote the author? (If so ... I guess I need to write a book soon)

On an unrelated side note, I'm more and more convinced that "blog reader" really isn't an appropriate term anymore. There may be people who actually read every word written on a particular blog (and therefore are blog readers; if you do that with my humble blog here, wow ... boy, do I appreciate you!) but I think the better label is probably "blog follower". That is, I think people follow blogs, they don't necessarily read blogs. They might read or skim an article that has a provocative title; but they certainly don't read everything. There's no way anyone can really read 200 blogs; but it is possible to follow 200 blogs.

Yes, it has been fairly quiet in the corner of the blogosphere recently. Amy and I have been moving house; we're out of the old house (it sold quickly, thankfully) and into a new house (yay!). This past week was pack-n-move time; with the majority of actual moving happening this past weekend.

So, obviously, we're still settling in, but things are in good shape.

Also ... a little bird just told me that Siegfried Schatzmann's English translation of Hubertus Drobner's Lehrbuch der Patrologie (Fathers of the Church: A Comprehensive Introduction (amazon.com)), to be published by Hendrickson but long-delayed for many and sundry reasons, has actually hit the warehouse. That means ... well ... it is like, you know, done and stuff. And in paper. And ready to read. WOO HOO!!!!

When I get a copy (which should hopefully be soon; I've been waiting over two years!) I'll certainly mention it and blog about it somewhat.

Speaking of which, I'm about to wrap up Skarsaune & Hvalvik's Jewish Believers in Jesus (amazon.com). This is an awesome book; I can't recommend it highly enough. I was lucky enough to receive a gratis copy. I likely wouldn't have bought it, but I would've missed out greatly and kicked myself repeatedly had I found out what a treasure I missed. You should really check it out — when you're at SBL, cruise the Hendrickson booth and pick up a copy to browse (then buy!)

I just realized that my previous post, Everything is Miscellaneous, Even Language, was picked up by David Weinberger himself on his Everything is Miscellaneous blog.

How cool is that? I dunno. But I'm certainly chuffed about it.

Life is busy and therefore I haven't been blogging much. Apologies for that. I have some random things I've been accumulating for your perusal. I know I ran across most of these on other blogs but I forgot to record my source when I made a note of the item. If you know (or are) the source, let me know so I can add further links to this post.

You get 'em shotgun-style:

• earlychurchtexts.com. Check it out. I run FireFox and had some random problems with the navigation over an extended browsing session.
• Rodney Decker (yes, he blogs now!) on Rodney Whitacre's A Patristic Greek Reader (amazon.com). This is an interesting perspective because Decker is publishing his own Koine Greek Reader (amazon.com) shortly.
• Craig Evans on Jewish Scripture and the Literacy of Jesus. It's a PDF file, get it while it's hot. It is an essay in a book titled From Biblical Criticism to Biblical Faith: Essays in Honor of Lee Martin McDonald (amazon.com), of which Dr. Evans is an editor and contributor.

I have one more, but that'll be a post of its own.

1. I can type at a rate of 94 words per minute (with one error), according to this test (and no, I didn't cheat).

2. If you need a diaper pail recommendation, I highly recommend the Diaper Genie II (amazon.com). Be sure to get plenty of refills (amazon.com), too.

3. Pampers vs. Huggies — It's close, but I'd pick Pampers over Huggies for Ella; at least at her current size.

4. I'm really enjoying Skarsaune & Hvalvik's Jewish Believers in the Time of Jesus (amazon.com). Two essays in particular; that of Donald Hagner on "Paul as a Jewish Believer—According to his Letters" and that of Reidar Hvalvik on "Paul as a Jewish Believer—According to the Book of Acts". Here's an earlier post (with full TOC).

That's it for now.

From time to time I make mention of job openings at Logos Bible Software (yes, my employer). Many times they're for programmers and such, but this one isn't—it is for a "Marketing Genius: Press Relations and Customer Evangelism".

Read the whole description. Does it sound like you? Then we want to talk with you. So stop reading this blog post and go apply (though be sure to look at the full description!)

Update (2007-07-27): Note that I'm just pointing people to the job posting; please don't send your resumes/etc. to me.

I'd been hearing about Facebook for awhile and thinking that maybe I needed to take the plunge.

Then I read that James Tauber got facebook-itized, so I figured I'd better go willingly before being compelled to do so.

If I haven't sent you a friend request and you'd like to connect, then look me up. The address I used is the one I use for the blog: textgeek gmail com; you know what to put where.

On July 22, 2006, I married the love of my life. The past year has been nothing but bliss, sweetie. I wouldn't trade any of it.

I love you more today than yesterday. Happy First Anniversary!

I was thinking earlier today — if I was stranded on a desert island, what 10 books would I want to have with me?

This isn't necessarily a list of my favorite books, it is a list of stuff I'd like to have with me if I could have no other books, no access to libraries, internet, or Logos Bible Software (or other software packages, of course), computers, etc.

That's why the list is heavy on primary texts, lexica and grammar. But there are a few curves in there that you may not have anticipated:

1. Bible, probably an NRSV (amazon.com) so I'd also be able to read the apocrypha in a modern translation. I would not want a study bible, but I would want cross-references and translator's notes.
2. NA27 Greek New Testament with Dictionary (amazon.com)
3. LXX (amazon.com) (Rahlf's one-volume)
4. BDAG (amazon.com)
5. Holmes' Apostolic Fathers diglot (amazon.com)
6. BDF (amazon.com)
7. Alexadre Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo (amazon.com)
8. C.S. Lewis' Perelandra (amazon.com) (vol. 2 in the space trilogy)
9. BHS (amazon.com)
10. An introductory Hebrew Grammar (not Lambdin). Might as well take the time to learn me some Hebrew while I'm stranded on that thar' desert island ...

Anybody else have a list?

Huh? What's that Latin doing in the title? Read on, wayward one.

A few years back (can it already be two years?) I posted on the cool typography of the Complutensian Polyglot New Testament. At the end of the post, I commented on the typographic device at the end of the NT, which I reproduce below:

A kind soul named Rob Flamming stumbled across the post and translated the Latin for me. Below is his translation.

Thanks to God. For the perpetual praise and glory of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, the recent printing and careful emendation of this sacrosanct work of the new testament and book of life in Greek and Latin characters has been brought to a happy completion in this most glorious Complutese university due to the command and financial support of our our most reverend father in Christ, his excellency, the lord friar Francis Ximine de Cisneros, cardinal priest of the titulus of Saint Balbina of the holy Roman church, Archbishop of Toledo of Spain, arch-chancellor to primates and to the kingdom of Castille, by the industry and ingenuity of the honorable man Arnold William from Brocarius, master of the art of the press, in the one thousand five hundred fourteenth year of the Lord, on the tenth day of the month of January.

In some comments, Rob opines the following:

It occurs to me that "master of the art of the press" would be a fitting title for you (or any other text geek), and particularly distinguished if you say it in Latin. And you can add a "Dei gratia" (by the grace of God) like the mediaeval kings did to keep themselves from getting too proud as they listed their titles. "Ricardus, Dei gratia artis impressoriae magister".

I think I'll have to add that to my business card.

May 31, 2007 is a day that will be etched in my mind forevermore. It began at 3:30 AM when my sweet wife Amy reported to me that her water had broke! Eleven days overdue, but we'll take it.

From there, it was straight to the hospital. The contractions began pretty much immediately. She was admitted around 4:00 AM.

Requisite calls were made to family members, who began arriving and assembling in the waiting room. Amy's labor progressed quickly, which has its plusses and minuses. She was incredible to watch during the whole process. What an amazing woman the Lord has blessed me with!

At 2:11 PM on May 31, 2007, Ella Kathleen Brannan was born! 9 lbs 10 oz of the cutest little thing I've ever seen in my entire life! Here she is, minutes old, already hamming it up for the camera:

Needless to say, Mom & Dad pretty proud. She's a healthy girl, though she's had some jaundice issues which contributed to a longer-than-normal hospital stay for the family. But we're home now, and life is good. Here are a few more pics:

Amy was nothing short of incredible during the labor and delivery. This was a 9lb/10oz child! Gentlemen, I can only say that your love and appreciation for your wife will grow beyond what you could consider when you see her holding your daughter or son. Mine certainly has. I love you incredibly, sweetie.

[Looking into use of the word αυταρκεια this morning (cf. 1Ti 6.6) I came across Hermas Mandates 6.2 and had to post it. — RWB]

36. “Now hear,” he said, “about faith. There are two angels with man, one of righteousness and one of wickedness.” (2) “So how, sir,” I said, “will I recognize their workings, given that both angels live with me?” (3) “Listen,” he said, “and understand them. The angel of righteousness is sensitive and modest and gentle and tranquil. When this one enters your heart, immediately he talks with you about righteousness, about purity, about holiness, about contentment, about every righteous deed, and about every glorious virtue. Whenever all these things enter your heart, you know that the angel of righteousness is with you. These, then, are the works of the angel of righteousness. So trust him and his works. (4) Now observe the works of the angel of wickedness. First of all, he is ill-tempered and bitter and senseless, and his works are evil, tearing down God’s servants. So whenever this one enters your heart, recognize him by his works.” (5) “But I do not know, sir,” I said, “how to recognize him.” “Listen,” he said. “When some angry temperamental outburst or bitterness comes over you, recognize that he is in you. Then comes the desire for much business, and extravagant kinds of foods and drink, and much drunkenness, and various kinds of unnecessary luxuries, and the desire for women, and greed and arrogance and pretentiousness, and whatever else resembles or is similar to these things. So whenever these things enter your heart, you know that the angel of wickedness is with you. (6) Recognizing, therefore, his works, shun him and do not trust him at all, because his works are evil and harmful to God’s servants. You now have, then, the working of both angels; understand them and trust the angel of righteousness. (7) But shun the angel of wickedness, because his teaching is evil in every respect. For even if one is a man of faith and the thought of that angel enters one’s heart, it is inevitable that that man or woman will commit some sin. (8) On the other hand, if one is an extremely sinful man or woman, and the works of the angel of righteousness enter his heart, of necessity he must do something good. (9) You see, then,” he said, “that it is good to follow the angel of righteousness, but to shun the angel of wickedness. (10) This commandment explains the things about faith, in order that you may trust the works of the angel of righteousness, and that doing them, you may live to God. But believe that the works of the angel of wickedness are dangerous, so that by not doing them you will live to God.”

Holmes, M. W. (1999). The Apostolic Fathers : Greek texts and English translations (amazon.com) (Updated ed.) (391). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

So, the idea of the angel/devil on the shoulder — popularized for me by several Warner Bros. cartoons as I recall — goes back. Way back. Probably further back than Hermas (second century?).

If the sitemeter reports are to be believed, sometime in the next 24 hours ricoblog will top 100,000 visitors.

And that doesn't include folks who actually subscribe to and read from RSS feeds. Yikes.

Thanks to all who read or stumble here. I'm continually amazed that folks actually would sign up to read my meanderings. Thanks for your support and encouragement.

Update (2007-04-27): Visitor 100,000 was just here, arriving at 5:35 AM (my time, UTC-7 w/Daylight Savings), visiting from Ankara, Turkey (UTC+2, so 14:35 or 2:35 PM). The visitor arrived from a Google search via Google.com.tr for "participle clauses in context". The lucky post was "Ephesians 5 and Clauses". Hopefully you found what you were looking for!

Are you familiar with the "Best Blogs about Biblical Studies" community ranking/list thing going on at Amazon's UnSpun?

Somehow, ricoblog is placed barely in the top 10 at #9 (and that has been fairly steady since late last week). There are, at present, over 100 blogs listed. I am amazed, humbled and flattered all at the same time.

I'm unsure how to receive this. Part of me thinks "what are people thinking?!"; the other part thinks "my, there are a bunch of smart, well-informed and intellectually curious folks ranking those blogs".

I think I'll choose the second part.

Side note, though. Have you checked the individual rankings of folks in the "Most recently ranked by" list on the right margin of the page? Many folks have only voted for one or two blogs, and most of those seem to be associated with the voter. (Hey, I'm guilty of this too, see?) So it looks like the people who take the time to rank are more interested in making sure their own stuff is near the top; they're not necessarily interested in ranking blogs. That said, however, the ones rising to the top seem to be those that are ranked well by non-blog-authors.

In the "Why aren't they ranked higher?" department, here are the blogs that have low rankings that I just don't get. You should read these (at least have 'em on your feed) if you don't already:

• Biblicalia
• Thoughts on Antiquity

Here's the list at present:

Update (2007-04-24): Link changed from "Top 50 ... " to "Best Blogs about Biblical Studies". Apologies to Airton for getting it wrong the first time.

Check out these reviews out from RBL:

Charles E. Hill
From the Lost Teaching of Polycarp: Identifying Irenaeus' Apostolic Presbyter and the Author of Ad Diognetum
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5512
Reviewed by Mark Weedman

Matthew Brook O'Donnell
Corpus Linguistics and the Greek of the New Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5362
Reviewed by Paul Elbert

I own and have read both books. The review of Hill's is spot on from my perspective; more folks need to read and interact with the material Hill presents. I'd say the review of O'Donnell's book is overly pedantic but worth reading.

I've been wanting to post this one for awhile. Amy is at a ladies' meeting at church, so I have a little time to do it now. This was taken at the Royal London Wax Museum in Victoria, BC. We went to Victoria for an overnight stay as part of our honeymoon trip.

Montgomery is over my right shoulder; Eisenhower is far too far in the background for my liking. If you like to read about WWII, I can highly recommend Rick Atkinson's Pulitzer-prize-winning book,