Douglas Fyfe

Positively buzzing about my trip to the library next week.

I get to play with some 14th and 15th century Psalms manuscripts!

I knew USyd had some fun items but to look at some this old should be extra enjoyable.

I have been trying to compose a question for him for a couple of days already! My supervisor and he are well acquainted and I have read much of his work. Thanks for the thought - feel free to let him know he has a fan!

There's this weird thing, where in Qumran, the order of psalms varied between each manuscript. But thereafter, we don't find any variation of sequence in any manuscripts at all.

Then in the Medieval period, the segmentation of psalms differs greatly, but not at all before or after. Weird, huh? 📜

It is harder and harder to get excited about something which resets each and every single year

I agree. But I also think 15:7 is a hinge verse. LJC is also not always the absolutely last phrase but at the end of the section which makes this work. 15:1//7 quite well I think (bastazw//proslambanw).

The very nice link from Psalm 69 in the middle of my structure of Romans 15:1-7 is the wider context provided in the full verse. It talks about eating (I am "eaten up" with zeal). Which is the link to the presenting issue of eating in chapter 14.

So it all fits together: 15a as a response to 14!

I think Romans 15:1-7 is its own little structure as a response to the issue of chapter 14. The structure, based around repeated lexemes, looks like this.

And in the middle, as with my chapter 14 structure (embedded somewhere in this thread) is another verse from Scripture.

Of course, if you include "the strong" in Romans 15 it messes that up a bit. There's some interesting stuff there about the doctrine of Scripture which is worth considering.

Romans 14 begins and ends with πιστις (A), and then in from that has lots of words for food and eating (B), then in from that has some judgement/stumbling lexemes (C).
In from that there's discussion of the Lord (D) and then the OT quote (E). Or something like that. I think it works.

My structure for Romans 14 looks a little something like this:

It's based on repeated lexemes and themes.
At the centre is the panegyric of 14:11 quoting Isaiah 45:23.

It all gets a bit mixed up if you extend the section to chapter 15, so I'm wrestling with how that works at the moment.

Detail of the "Glasses Apostle" painting in the altarpiece of the church of Bad Wildungen, Germany. Painted by Conrad von Soest in 1403, the painting is considered to be among the oldest depictions of eyeglasses north of the Alps

Nothing to see here? Well, this is a slow moving 🧵 for #skystorians and others about #eyeglasses of the past, about how to read in the past, where to buy eyeglasses, and how to do with them in general. The hashtag is #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast

Let's roll.

The author of that post obviously grew up amid the Satanic panic.

In my neck of the woods it's probably more that people are not wanting their kids to mainline so much American pop-culture.

I don't really care, but I also don't care (ie think in advance) about birthday/Christmas presents either.

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween? Whether or not Christians can or should celebrate calls for intentionality...

"One person considers one day more sacred (or scary) than another; another considers every day alike." (Romans 14:5)

As in, what you think about Halloween can be a touchstone on how your take on evil spirits etc?

See the first google result for instance: www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/sh...

Is it too long a bow to string to link Romans 14 and one’s views on Halloween?

Free to download for two weeks only!

Starting today, you can download my new book:
Between Yahwism and Judaism: Judean Cult and Culture during the Early Hellenistic Period (332–175 BCE)

Download it now, and read it later.

Please share and spread the word!

www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Lamech has a big cheer squad

To a wolf, every sheep wants to be eaten.

To a Christian nationalist, every verse in the scriptures is an encouragement to their position.

That they’re targeting churches to locate and abduct immigrants sort of gives the game away.

Just signed up for a 27km run through the Snowy Mountains in February. A little scared but mostly excited.

It’s 10km further than I’ve run before, and it’s a trail run, and I’m currently not allowed to run, but I’m trusting I’ll be okay by then and it should be a lovely day in the sun in any case.

"When Christians are more loyal to our ethnicity or nation than to Christ's body, we have gone beyond giving Caesar what is Caesar's to giving Caesar what is God's."

Craig Keener on Romans 13 (NCCS) way back in 2009

Turned my thoughts on Obadiah into a blogpost.

Love to know if you think this works. 📜

duck5.blogspot.com/2025/10/ogli...

I like הכל הבל - keen for that on my own!
I wonder how common that is

I honestly don’t know what more proof @goodacre.bsky.social needs for the existence of Q

Typo: Can’t hear you I,m [sic] gaming

A rare combination of Tiberian and Palestinian cantillation on my son’s pyjamas

Perhaps the best way to be Protestant is to be part of little c catholicism?

Ha!

In terms of the dichotomy you're drawing, I guess it depends on your personal Anglican experience. I've always thought I was first Protestant and second Anglican; Anglicanism was simply the most fitting way for me to express my Protestantism.

I like how you break up 12:9-21 - feels more balanced. And the justice point is well made.
I don't like how you separate 13:11-14 as the don/doff language runs thru the whole.
As I'm just looking at 13 it won't make such a difference but that's still helpful - thanks

ABCBA pattern for Romans 12-13 A 12:1-8 our bodies are for spiritual worship A' 12:3-8 the body of Christ is for practical worship B 12:9-21 the love command as a community C 13:1-7 we willingly submit to God's authorities B 13:8-10 the love command among a community A" 13:11-14 how to use our bodies in the last days

Just starting to work on Romans 13 for next week; this structure for 12-13 looks plausible and useful. What to actually say about 13 at this moment in history is another question altogether! 🪔

share a cartoon from the past that kids today probably never heard of 📺

I think "Obadiah and the Seven Deadly Sins" would preach well, and doesn't do too much violence to the structure. But I do like the beauty of the envelope structure, even if it's mostly thematic - although there is some lexical stuff too (but not enough to call it a chiasm!).