Second Temple Judaism Listmainia

The Second Temple Jewish period provides the key to understanding the New Testament. Before we can apply the teaching of scripture today, we have to know how the original audience understood it. In order to read the New Testament like the original audience, we must read the text with their worldview, presuppositions, and hopes. We can only acquire this ability by immersing ourselves in their culture by reading the primary text from the period.

With this in mind, I have created an amazon.com listmania to guide you through these primary resources. I recommend that you begin by reading "Backgrounds of Early Christianity" then "The New Testament and the People of God." Once you have finished these introductions, read the Apocrypha paying special attention to the books of Maccabees and the first three books of "Jewish War" by Josephus. These sources give you a general historical timeline in which you can place the other writings. Now you can read whatever you like in any order. Please feel free to comment on any suggestions or works I should include in the list.

Hello all. Samantha put together a baby registry for Elijah's first Christmas you can find it here.

When I started graduate school, I decided to brush up on a few basic skills. I thought that if I could read a book quickly, understand what it says, remember the message, and write clearly about it, I would do very well. With this in mind, I assembled a list of books to teach me these skills. I must say that this was a great idea and I have been able to make very good grades at a top notch school while still having a life. Now, I want to share this knowledge with you. I have created an amazon.com listmaina with the books I found helpful. If you read these books and do the exercises, you will do better in school. I only wish I had done this when I started collage! Take some time to look over my listmainia and let me know what you think. What books would you add?

Do well in School and Life

Welcome to my new blog! I plan on writing about whatever I feel like. If you want a consistent blog on the same topic, go somewhere else. I decided to start this thing for a couple of reasons.
1) to become a better writer. The best way to improve your writing is to write. Imagine that.
2) to share information with my family about the baby.
3)to chronicle my ingenious ideas, which normally amount to some strange ramblings.
4) to force my rock-star editing sister to help me.
5) because I felt like it.

Enjoy!