Kerux Christou, aka Herb's Blurbs

Kerux Christou is a phrase from New Testament Greek meaning “herald of Christ,” i.e., a preacher.

Questions of Canon – Who Gets to Decide What’s in the Bible? The New Testament

September 24, 2015 By Rich Herbster

It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention. The Space Race and the urgency to outstrip the Soviets on the way to the moon led to an enormous proliferation of scientific advance. And I don’t just mean Tang. Really significant stuff. But it took the crisis to make those advances necessary. Think of […]

Filed Under: Bulletin Board, Rich's Blog Tagged With: Canon, Gnostic, Marcion, New Testament

Questions of Canon – Who Gets to Decide What’s in the Bible? The Old Testament

September 3, 2015 By Rich Herbster

No one likes to be bored. We like exciting stories, which involves some level of conflict. Imagine a movie with no conflict. Everyone gets along. Everyone agrees. All sing Kumbaya together. Good for them, but boring cinema. Someone like Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code can make the formation of the canon seem like […]

Filed Under: Bulletin Board, Rich's Blog Tagged With: Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, Jamnia, Old Testament canon, Paul House

Questions of Canon – Who Gets to Decide What’s in the Bible? Criteria for Recognition

August 6, 2015 By Rich Herbster

I once won a wrestling match 0-0. How can you win a match when no one scores any points? In this case, because we were tied at the end of an overtime period, the referee was forced to consult the criteria for a tie break. The first five criteria didn’t apply, so he was forced […]

Filed Under: Bulletin Board, Rich's Blog Tagged With: Canon, Canon formation, Canonicity

Questions of Canon – Who Gets to Decide What’s in the Bible?

July 30, 2015 By Rich Herbster

In the last few posts we’ve been dealing with text criticism (in general, for the OT, for the NT), the art and science of studying the biblical manuscript tradition to arrive at the most accurate possible text of scripture (from which all of our English translations are derived). This leads to great confidence in the […]

Filed Under: Bulletin Board, Rich's Blog Tagged With: Canon, Canon formation, Canonicity

Translation of What? The Text of the New Testament

July 9, 2015 By Rich Herbster

A survey of the Hebrew manuscript tradition behind our Old Testament does much to bolster our confidence in the accuracy and authority of the first two thirds of our Bible. But what about the twenty-seven books of the New Testament? What exactly stands behind our New Testament translations? The New Testament was written in Greek […]

Filed Under: Bulletin Board, Rich's Blog Tagged With: Greek, Koine, New Testament, Text Criticism

I felt the need to name my blog. “Pastor’s Blog” is just weak (and, quite unimaginatively, common). Kerux Christou is a phrase from New Testament Greek meaning “herald of Christ,” i.e., a preacher. That’s me – pastor of Mt. Pleasant and Professor of Preaching at Trinity School for Ministry . And it’s a Greek phrase. I’ve spent over a decade as a Greek Language instructor (so Greek is appropriate). I thought it was a cool blog name too. I asked my wife what to call my blog and she suggested (with a good-natured and cute smirk) “Herb’s Blurbs.” Obviously a very different vein, but I like that too. Not only because it rhymes (which it does!), but because it reflects a corrective to my pretense and reflects the more earthy and mundane nature of most of what I have to say. Let’s face it, most of the time I’m more a Herb’s Blurber than a Kerux Christouer anyway. And I spend most of my time with real people who are dealing with real life stuff. The juxtaposition of the two terms hopefully illustrates the kind of content you’ll find here - which will ideally be thought-provoking, spiritually enriching, and practically applicable for everyday, ordinary life.
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