Christianity | Nerdlets

Real Time Twitter Chatter and its Implications

Christian Living, Christianity, Computing, Culture, Webapps and Websites No Responses »

Feb 072009

A variety of applications (like TweetDeck) can monitor twitter chatter based on keywords and other filters. Imagine if you were monitoring this data during a certain important time period. You could put your finger on exactly what people were interested in at a certain place and time, and the difference between interests at different places.

The NYT has done just that with SuperBowl related tweets, organized along a time-line punctuated by various markers such as TD and FG.

The implications are pretty staggering. Take advertising as a simple and obvious example. Advertisers could set up a Twitter filter using words tailored for their ad. The data provided could tell them what areas of the country responded most favorably (or at least most often), when, and possibly even why. Notice, for example, that at a particular point in the game, when the Steelers have the lead, Arizona is all a-twitter about the Cardinals, and presumably couldn’t care less about the Hulu commercial. By contrast, that’s the dominant topic of conversation in the NE.

Any thoughts on how to harness this kind of information for the church? There is a Sunday morning #rollcall hash-tag that could make this an interesting topic of conversation.

How to Run Bibleworks 8 (or 7) in Linux

Biblical Greek, How to, Software No Responses »

Feb 062009

Bibleworks 8 now runs in Linux through WINE.

I posted a guide awhile back walking Linux users through the steps required to get Bibleworks 7 up-and-running in Linux (using Wine). It has recently been confirmed that the steps used in that guide also work for Bibleworks 8. If you are interested in running Bibleworks in Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE) you can find the guide here.

Surprisingly, it appears that some problems that plagued Bibleworks 7 in Linux are no longer issues in Bibleworks 8. This is good news!

New Features at Bible.Logos.com

Bible and Hermeneutics, Webapps and Websites 4 Responses »

Jan 282009

New features at an already great site

I’ve mention Bible.Logos.com before. It’s a pretty handy and fluid online Bible. Today it gets an upgrade:

As you navigate through the Bible, we dynamically pull relevant content—both sermons and illustrations—from our Sermons site and display the top three hits with a link to all of the other contributions that deal with the passage of Scripture you’re in.

The coolest part is that no matter where you are in the Bible, the list is automatically updated so there are always related sermons and illustrations just a click away.

This is definitely worth checking out. Logos has put together one of the better web-based Bibles out there. In addition to a variety of English translations they have recently added a number of additional Greek texts, including novum testamentum graece (in Unicode). The site is intuitive and the searching features are robust enough to find what you need. Give it a try.

If you need better Greek searching and features, try Zhubert.

Preach your Greek

Biblical Greek No Responses »

Jan 262009

Mounce fields a question I get a lot: how do you use your Greek in the pulpit? His answer is well worth a read. My favorite part:

It starts with your homework. The most important place to use biblical languages is behind the scenes in doing your research, whether it be sermon preparation or getting ready for a Bible study. The languages give you access to tools that are far beyond the reach of English.

In class I have sometimes used a cooking analogy to get this across. Imagine someone in cooking school. One day one they are taught how to make pancakes. The good chef does not respond, “Why should I have to learn how to make pancakes? Why not just use Aunt Jemima?” The master chef does not pull out Aunt Jemima. Aunt Jemima may be easy—the ingredients are already mixed up together, just add water!—but the master chef always starts from scratch. Why? Because he knows his ingredients and wants to use them effectively. In the same way the pastor should be a master exegete. He should not rely on the pre-packaged just-add-water translations available to him. Those translations have already made all the tough decisions! Rather, the pastor should struggle with the original, even if only in a limited way.

And here is another good rule, this time more on presentation:

But I imagine that you have noticed I have not yet used the word “Greek” or “Hebrew” publicly. This is my general rule. When I want to talk about the meaning of the Greek word, I say something like, “The word translated such-and-such has a range of meanings that includes.…”

Read the whole thing.

Even More Greek Advice

Biblical Greek, Software 3 Responses »

Jan 192009

How many times have you learned Greek? There is something enormously discouraging about spending all that time taking a year’s worth of Greek only to forget it in the course of a summer. Con Campbell has been instructing us how to avoid the forgetfullness that sets in as soon as Greek is over (start here). His latest post contains some wise advice regarding the use of Greek Bible software:

Be slow to move that cursor. The risk of using software is that you can short-cut the learning process, just as you will with an interlinear (see my second post). You need to struggle to remember words and grammar, rather than just get a quick answer (By the way, this need only apply to your ‘Greek reading time’, not every time you use the software). So, if you’re disciplined, go ahead and use the software for your Greek reading. But if you can’t be trusted not to cheat, then close your laptop, and get out a paper Greek New Testament. If you can find one.

More Greek Advice

Biblical Greek No Responses »

Jan 162009

Here is some more sound advice from Con Campbell regarding how to keep up your Greek:

Burn your interlinear

‘nough said in my opinion, but he explains his reasons, with a promise to unpack the relationship between this advice and software tools.

How to Keep your Greek

Biblical Greek, Books, How to 4 Responses »

Jan 132009

There is nothing worse than learning Greek again. Learn it once! Constantine Campbell has some sage advice on how to keep up with your Greek so you can spend time improving your Greek, rather than learning it over again each time you need it. Here is an excerpt:

From my background in music, I’m absolutely convinced that a little time practicing every day is much more beneficial than large chunks of practice interspersed by large chunks of inactivity. A little bit every day keeps it all ticking along. And it really only has to be a little. Half an hour a day reading Greek would be terrific, but even 10 minutes would be good. I know some guys who just aim to read one sentence of Greek a day. It doesn’t have to involve a big time commitment, just do a little every day.

So how can you do just a little per day? I have found the UBS Reader’s Greek NT to be very helpful in this regard. It defines uncommon words for you, and even parses difficult verbs, which keeps you reading Greek and not flipping through a lexicon.

For those counting, yes, this is my 10th (or so) plug for this book.

Which Greek Text?

Biblical Greek, Books 6 Responses »

Jan 122009

The UBS Reader's Greek NT

For those trying to decide which Greek Bible they should purchase, Mounce has posted a helpful rundown of your options.

If you’re serious about learning and using Greek, I recommend you get two Bibles. (1) First, you need a Greek NT with a critical apparatus, either the UBS 4 or the NA 27 (both editions optionally include a Greek glossary). (2) Second, I heartily recommend the UBS Reader’s Greek NT. It will make actually reading the NT in Greek all that much more enjoyable.

Mounce also mentions a black-leather “stealth” NA that he uses. I was not able to find this. Anyone know where to get one? I always do feel a little self-conscious using my GNT in church…

Update: Phil Gons additionally recommends (see the comments) this post, which in turn links to this article describing the differences between the NA27 and the UBS4. The article will be of particular interest to those using Logos’s Bible Software.

The Church and Technology

Christian Living, Tech/Gadgets No Responses »

Jan 122009

While I am (quite obviously) a big advocate of the church putting technology to good use, it is also important to be careful and purposeful about such adoption. To that end, Justin Taylor lists Five Things the Church Needs to Know About Technological Change.

Subscribe to ESV Bible Reading Plans

Bible and Hermeneutics, Webapps and Websites No Responses »

Jan 032009

My Google Reader is full of wonderful subscriptions to wonderful web sites. Little did I know that I can subscribe to daily Bible Readings courtesy of ESV. There are a number of different options available on this page. There are a wealth of different options, including a Study Bible option, Daily Reading option, and a Chronological option.You can have your reading program sent to you by RSS (Google Reader or other RSS reader), Emai, or even through your Mobile phone.

The best part: you don’t have to read it at all. There is a “Listen” link on each item. This is a real nice feature, one which I have already praised in my Guide to Using Ubiquity to listen to the Bible online.

HT: Justin Taylor