Saturday, October 21, 2023

The Week in Review (October 21, 2023)

1. My work continues to go well. Very excited about current and emerging products and partnerships. For example, you will be able to take a cybersecurity class through Campus Edu in the Spring.

2. Today I had my first stint on a DBMD (District Board of Ministerial Development). I consider it a sacred task. Our job is both to mentor and assess candidates for ordination. I was very pleased with all the candidates we saw today.

The process reflected the organizational genius of Carla Working and Kalina Carlson. It was SO well run. It was by light years a more efficient and helpful process than when I went through over 30 years ago. One could also see continued signs of the "Alan Hirschification" of the denomination, particularly on the subject of baptism.

3. As last weekend came to an end, I finished evaluating a paraphrase (not The Passion translation). In a little shy of a month, I had plowed through the 260 chapters and 7,959 verses in the NT one by one noting significant paraphrases, paraphrase and interpretive additions, omissions, and general errors. Quite a task.

One thing led to another, and at the end of the week, I ended up experimenting a little with using AI to "translate" some chapters of the Bible with a relatively young reader in view. I liked the result. I know someone will publish an AI "translation" of the Bible. Why not me? We'll see.

4. The House still hasn't elected a speaker. The Republican Party seems like a complete mess. After January 6, it is befuddling to me that Donald Trump could be a candidate for President again.  

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict continues. As it turns out, the bombing of a hospital was probably an errant jihadist missile. It is a reminder of our knowledge predicament. Much of the time, you and I are not in a position to know what's really going on. We're just sitting somewhere on our phones or laptops being fed stuff. We should have a "hermeneutics of suspicion" toward the voices out there, especially the ones we like the most. 

2 comments:

Martin LaBar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Martin LaBar said...

"We should have a "hermeneutics of suspicion" toward the voices out there, especially the ones we like the most."