23 January 2010

The End of the Semester

It is freezing cold outside. Seriously. Ridiculously cold. It hurts. The end of the semester approacheth. I still have to write 10 pages on a topic of my choice relating to Romans, Galatians, or Hebrews. My first thought was, well, John, pick a verse relevant to your thesis topic, and do a little biblical exegesis on it, with commentary on St. Thomas's interpretation. Alright say I, how about Galatians 3:13 with that bit about Christ being made a curse for us to redeem those under the curse of the law? Interesting, nicht Wahr? So, I get started, write a few pages, and then it slowly dawns on me: there doesn't seem to be that much to say. Strategy number one: do some digging into the Greek and Hebrew texts to turn up whatever minutiae might be found there. Strategy number two: add some interest and flavor by seeing what Martin Luther has to say about the verse. Sure enough, he starts right out with some colorful language about "popish sophisters" who misunderstand everything. It's still not 10 pages. Now what?

4 comments:

grosser Vati said...

1. It's 12 degrees F in Wien right now, so what's the gripe? You grew up in Michigan, for crying out loud!
2. I'm sure Herr Luther was able to wax eloquent for at least a couple of pages about what's so sophistical about the popishers' explication of the verse. So quote it, first in the original German (because you can't be taken seriously as a theologian if you can't demonstrate familiarity with German!), and then in English, showing that the nuances of the German words don't do justice to the nuances of the original Greek. How hard can that be? Nicht wahr?

Unknown said...

I was in Vienna again last night (Sunday), and it was even more painfully cold. Then when I got home, I looked up the temperature and it said it was only 14F.

I must have blocked out of my mind the more painful things of my childhood, because I can't remember ever being anywhere colder than last night!

Perhaps it also has to do with the fact that we walk much more often here than we do in MI.

big daddy said...

How can you build a snowman in the meadow if you don't enjoy walking in a winter wonderland?

Fred and Sharon said...

It got up to 17 degrees in Lansing. Whoo hoo! I'm going out to have my prayer time while walking the perimeter of Hunter Park. If you're in Europe, what are you doing having degrees in Fahrenheit instead of Celsius?