Logocentric (adj).Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).
Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:
I have always enjoyed the longer distance running and skiing. The Marathon in Summer Olympics and the 50km Mass Start in the Winter. My wife can't understand how I can watch the same race for several hours. But they are fascinating to me. I like the Downhill Slalom, Bobsled and Luge sports. Attending a Winter Olympics remains on my bucket list.
My favorite sporting events in the Winter Olympics are the Luge, Bobsled, Figure Skating and curling. Initially, I thought I would be bored with curling but I'm not. It's fascinating how they determine each glide's angle and potential score.
When my children were younger we built them a luge course, they loved it. We were lucky that winter to have lots of snow to build up the walls and with some help with pallets that we covered with snow, it kept them and the neighborhood kids busy until it warmed up and melted. I was a lot more at ease with the luge course than I was when they decided to try arial jumps off our house roof. Never a dull moment when you live in Maine.
I am reading ESV through the Bible this time. Like you, I've explored a bunch of translations. My church uses NIV but my women's Bible study group (part of the same church) varies based on what Bible study we're doing.
Hope you enjoy the Olympics! I agree that the every four year thing makes them feel more special.
I read the New American Bible, which is a Catholic Bible. (NABRE) They include Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, which generally aren't included in other versions of the Bible. I would be curious to read an orthodox bible or the Ethiopian Bible as I hear they have differences as well.
As for the Olympics, I love the Winter Olympics. I'm just crossing my fingers I have time to watch!
In terms of the original texts the NASB has the best reputation among conservative scholars. It looks at more translations, has a sensible hierarchy of text selection and the best principles for approaching the translation task. It favors original texts when possible. The ESV and NKJV are on a similar level. The Net Bible gives the best overview of the discussions in its commentary. The NIV renders the original text to make it more readable. It is a more functional text which is why many churches use it but it is also less precise. Greek or Russian orthodox are more Septuagint orientated and there is a considerable amount of ethical or emotional rendering to the text.The disadvantage of the NASB is that it loses much of the Hebrew poetical style in its effort to be precise as this does not translate into the English
I'm very fortunate to have met some practicing and humble Christians. Truly humble people seek to serve, not attain power and influence. The actions of many Christians make me run the opposite way... as fast as I can.
In his book, Sit, Walk, Stand, Watchman Nee states: "Nothing has done greater damage to our Christian testimony than our trying to be right and demanding right of others. We become preoccupied with what is and what is not right. We ask ourselves,' Have we been justly or unjustly treated?' and we think thus to vindicate our actions. But that is not our standard. The whole question for us is one of crossbearing".
Jeff, this is an excellent book. Perhaps one for your reading list?
Podcasts. Generally speaking, I think the phenomenon of podcasts is fantastic for someone like me, who has a lot of varied interests, but maybe not the attention span time to read an entire book or watch an entire documentary about each individual topic. And the great thing is that there are podcasts for just about any topic at this point, which means it shouldn't be too hard for anyone to find something that interests them.
Some of my favorite podcasts this year are:
Freakonomics. Stephen Dubner (co-author of the bestselling Freakonomics books) hosts a weekly look at applying economics theories and investigation to everyday topics like why we still use cash, why Uber is an economist's dream, what causes gender barriers, why there are so many mattress stores around when people purchase them so infrequently, etc. For someone like me who adores random knowledge and useless bits of trivia, it's fascinating to look at a lot of these topics.
My Dad Wrote A Porno. Easily the funniest new podcast I've discovered this year. A guy realized that his dad has been writing incredibly bad erotica under a pen name... so naturally, he and two of his best friends figured it would be a good idea to read a chapter a week to an audience and discuss it book-club style.
NPR Planet Money. Like, Freakonomics, Planet Money looks at the financial and economic underpinnings of an assortment of topics. They really find some cool stories to present... recent topics have included how Venezuela's economy imploded despite having everything seemingly going for it, why self checkout machines at the store always have problems, and how Subaru became very successful by marketing specifically to lesbians.
Slate Political Gabfest. A former editor-in-chief of Slate, an legal expert on the Supreme Court, and a longtime White House correspondent turned TV news host cover three topics in politics from the previous week. While it's obviously election-heavy coverage this year, most weeks involve them talking in depth and very insightfully about things like Supreme Court decisions, Congressional actions, or foreign affairs. By the time I've finished listening each week, I feel like I've got a better grasp on the state of affairs in the world, even if I haven't been paying attention to the daily news.
TED Radio Hour. This podcast explores a general topic (the big data revolution, failure, the case for optimism, how things spread, the seven deadly sins, etc.) and pulls together three or more TED talks about the subject. I've always found TED talks fascinating, and I love the fact that I don't have to listen to separate entire talks on their own, but rather can have someone pull the highlights centered around a common topic together and presenting everything in a digest format.
There are a lot more that I listen to regularly, but those are some of my favorites from so far this year. If you don't already listen to podcasts, I highly recommend checking a few out. Ranging from about 10 minutes to a couple hours per episode (and again, on a variety of topics), I have no doubt there's something for everyone.
Comment • View 1 comment 
