Author Archives: Tyler F. Williams

Congratulations to James K. Aitken!

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JAitken.jpgFinally! I have a winner! My 41,000th visitor is none other than Dr. Jim K. Aitken, Teaching Fellow in Hebrew and Aramaic at University of Cambridge. He is a specialist in Second Temple Judaism, Septuagint, and Greek and Hebrew Lexicography. His doctorate was on Ben Sira and he has been involved in the “Greek Bible in the Graeco-Roman World� project and the Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database Project. Talk about an über-lexicographer! His personal web page is filled a lot of interesting stuff on lexicography, Septuagint, and more. I strongly encourage you to peruse his site!

I believe I met Jim at the Toronoto SBL meeting when I was with a common friend and fellow Septuaginalist Tim McLay.

In terms of a prize, Jim has requested a copy of the revised edition of Moisés Silva‘s Biblical Words and their Meanings (Revised & Expanded edition; Zondervan, 1995), and I am more than happy to fulfill that request! (I’m just glad that other Jim didn’t win — West would have wanted some esoteric — and expensive — book on some dead Swiss guy called Zwingli!)

Congratulations Jim! (So, when are you going to start your blog?)


Easter, Grace, and U2

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I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I’d be in deep ship. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity. I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says, “Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there’s mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let’s face it, you’re not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions.” The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That’s the point. It should keep us humbled. It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.

– Bono (Michka Assayas, Bono in Conversation with Michka Assayas [New York: Riverhead, 2005] 204).

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It’s a name for a girl
It’s also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

Grace, she’s got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She’s got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma
She travels outside of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

All That You Can`t Leave Behind (2000)


41,000 Please Step Forward…

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Now perhaps we will have a winner… the 41,000 visitor to my blog is from Cambridge, England. The individual visited Codex at 9:51:25 am (my time), 4:51:25 pm (Cambridge time). If you think you are that person, please email me at codex [at] biblical-studies [dot] ca and provide me some information about your ISP, computer, and browser.

If I don’t hear anything in 24 hours, then the winner will be 41,001, etc., until I have a winner.

Then I can get back to some regular biblical studies blogging! (Actually the reason I haven’t blogged much in the last few days is that my wife is on the other side of the world and I am single parenting — as well as the typical end-of-semester grading push)


Visitor 40,444, Who Are You?

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Congratulations!

Today (Sunday 9 April 2006) at 6:17 pm Edmonton time, my 40,444th visitor visited Codex Blogspot. The reader was from Glendale, Arizona. If you think it was you, then email me at codex [at] biblical-studies [dot] com and let me know your IPS and your computer and monitor and we’ll discuss your book prize!