Jerusalem Perspective Weblog http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/ Exploring the Jewish Background to the Life and Words of Jesus en-us 2009-06-24T11:14:49-06:00 Why Learn to Speak a Dead Language? http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000131.html Learning Biblical Languages David Bivin 2009-06-24T11:14:49-06:00 JerusalemPerspective.com Can Help You Find Answers! http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000130.html You are studying your Bible and you read Jesus' words in Matthew 6:22-23, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness" (KJV). You scratch your head wondering what Jesus meant by "single eye" and "evil eye." JerusalemPerspective.com can help you find the answer. David Bivin 2009-05-15T08:01:55-06:00 What's Happening to the Holy Tongue? http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000129.html Day by day, Modern Hebrew is enriched by the vocabulary of many languages, but particularly by English, the world's "international language." Hebrew picks up hundreds of English words each year. Such borrowings from English, written in Hebrew letters, feel Hebrew to most Israelis. Usually, Hebrew speakers are not aware that such loan words did not originate in Hebrew. David Bivin 2009-05-08T12:28:27-06:00 Our Knowledge of Greek: An Embarrassment to the Profession! http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000128.html We New Testament scholars and Greek professors are often embarrassed by our level of Greek fluency, even after, as in my case, 35 years of studying this ancient biblical language. A lack of true fluency in Greek, active knowledge of the language as opposed to passive, is the scourge of our professions. Finding ourselves in this situation, our disappointment is real, but it is kept hidden from the general public.

]]> David Bivin 2009-04-29T05:56:56-06:00 New Basic Book for Jewish Roots Studies http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000127.html "Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus" has just appeared, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Please read this book, and then tell your friends about it. Spangler and Tverberg's book is the best entry-level introduction to the subject of "Jewish Roots" that has been written. By the way, Dr. Tverberg was co-editor (with Bruce Okkema) of my "New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus." David Bivin 2009-03-25T11:27:06-06:00 Hebrew as a Spoken Language in First-century Israel http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000126.html David Bivin 2008-11-18T09:29:12-06:00 Views That Have Vanished: The Photographs of David Bivin http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000125.html I have wonderful news to share with you. Forty-five years ago, when I first came to Israel, I was an avid photographer. Throughout the 1960s, I traveled all over the country with my camera in hand, taking pictures of beautiful landscapes, archaeological excavations, and cultural events. After about a decade and several thousand photographs, I put the camera aside and turned to other pursuits. When publishing Jerusalem Perspective magazine (in the 1980s and 1990s), I had great need of images for the magazine, but time and technology never allowed me to make use of those photos. About four years ago, I approached Todd Bolen (founder of BiblePlaces.com) with the idea of creating a digital collection from the best of my photographs. Today, I am pleased to announce that the collection is finished and available. David Bivin 2008-10-20T03:16:53-06:00 Remembering Lindsey http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000124.html The third "Lindsey Lectures" (see program below) was held this week at the hall of the Narkis Street Congregation in Jerusalem. I was asked to "remember" Dr. Lindsey (who passed away in 1995), so I surveyed what has been done... David Bivin 2008-07-01T08:29:06-06:00 "When you see the south [southeast, east] wind blow" http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000123.html Israel is having a Sirocco this week, typical of April and May, with temperatures in Jerusalem soaring to 37 degrees (98 Fahrenheit) and over 40 degrees (104) in most of the rest of the country. “And when you see the... Life in Israel David Bivin 2008-04-24T05:26:43-06:00 Searching JerusalemPerspective.com http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000122.html The JP site was chosen by ReferenceSearch.org as its first Launch Partner. The result is that searching on JerusalemPerspective.com has been revolutionized!

The search bar has been taking on some major improvements over the past four months. With these new tools, you can find the exact word or phrase, or biblical or other ancient reference, in any article on the JP web site.

]]> Searching JerusalemPerspective.com David Bivin 2007-08-06T03:06:27-06:00 David and Josa Bivin's 27th Annual Speaking Tour http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000121.html For twenty-seven years David and Josa have traveled annually from Israel to Europe, Canada and the United States to teach Hebrew, give lectures and conduct workshops for fellow disciples of Jesus. This year's tour will feature workshops in England and the United States:

]]> David Bivin 2007-06-06T11:36:19-06:00 New Articles Published by Jerusalem Perspective Online http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000120.html Jerusalem Perspective continues to publish new and important articles about Jesus, his words, and his life and times. During the last two weeks we have published three exciting new articles. The new articles are available on line at no charge to Premium Content members (membership costs less than $0.15 per day), but also can be purchased as stand-alone electronic PDF files for a nominal fee. If you are not yet a Premium Content subscriber, you can purchase these articles individually as downloadable PDF files.

]]> David Bivin 2007-04-09T11:30:03-06:00 Update for Jerusalem Perspective Online Subscribers http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000119.html A description of some of the latest and hottest products available at the JP bookstore.

]]> David Bivin 2007-02-16T11:20:50-06:00 James Tabor Responds to Jerusalem Perspective Online Review http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000118.html Professor James D. Tabor, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has responded to Dr. Jack Poirier's critical review of Tabor's recently published The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006). Poirier's review has caused a stir on the Internet, with blog sites such as Mark Goodacre's Weblog, NT Gateway Weblog, commenting on Poirier's review. Read Tabor's response to the Poirier review.]]> David Bivin 2006-12-24T11:14:36-06:00 Jerusalem Perspective Conference DVDs Released! http://blog.jerusalemperspective.com/archives/000117.html Many of you wrote to me in the months preceding our June conference saying,

I so much wanted to attend the "Jerusalem Perspective 2006" Conference in Jerusalem, but unfortunately, I will not be able to come. Will you be filming the conference? Please let me know if recordings of the conference will be available.

I am happy to announce that the conference WAS filmed. The conference talks and special music are now available! This month is the official debut of the DVD set called:"Insights into Jesus of Nazareth: His Words, His Wisdom, His World." The 8-DVD set contains 14 talks given at the "Jerusalem Perspective 2006" Conference, held in Israel on June 19-21, 2006. These addresses, delivered by acclaimed scholars, place Jesus and his sayings in their first-century Jewish context. The speakers are internationally recognized authorities on archaeology, language and the Jewish culture of Jesus' day, and their presentations were uniformly excellent. The set contains over 14 hours of video, and includes other conference highlights such as a recently discovered documentary video of pioneer scholars Dr. Robert Lindsey and Professor David Flusser filmed in 1974.

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