Six of the best from this week’s blogs

I’ve had comparatively little time for reading or writing blog posts this week, but all of the posts I mention here were not only well worth reading or taking note of – I wish I’d had time to interact more fully with them. The first four are on the Bible, the last two more broadly on communication issues.

1. I begin with a take note of and thanks for the link: Matthew Montonini draws everyone’s attention to some classy NT lectures on iTunes U. BTW, if you haven’t yet discovered this resource, which embraces a fascinatingly diverse collection of material, I can’t commend iTunes U highly enough.

2. Joel Hoffman offers a provocative and thoughtful post, from a linguistic viewpoint on God’s name. He also notes a rather different take by Claude Mariottini. Both men are worth reading on this topic (Claude usually writes for a more general audience), and between them you will have to make you own mind up.

3. Joseph Kelly asked whether there was space for a new Bible translation complied by those who blogged the Bible. The comment thread offered very mixed views, and the whole was an interesting example of courteous explanation of an idea. I can’t myself see where such a thing would fall between a controlled project like the NET Bible, and an uncontrolled Wiki with all the attendant problems.

4. Ken Brown, discussing one of those topics normally avoided in polite company, asked “Is Hell empty?“.

5. Changing focus somewhat drastically, David Pogue discussed the question, “What is a photograph?” and showed how complex that question now was. It ties into a number of concerns from accurate journalism to over-sexualised and impossible images of young women in the media.

6. And my last is a bit of fun. Karyn Traphagen finds a great video on how not to do Powerpoint (or indeed Keynote)

Enjoy.