CCF Episode Eleven: The Dimensions of Reading (Part One)

April 17, 2014April 17, 2014 / William F. Leonhart III / 6 Comments

In this episode, Billy and JD are joined by Pastor Jason Delgado, Junior “Big Dippa” Duran, and Jack DiMarco for Part One of a discussion of “The Dimensions of Reading” from How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren. Featuring music by The Cootees and Anne Akiko Meyers as well as excerpt audio from Brian Regan and Alfred Hitchcock.

MP3 Download | stream:

–

Subscribe to future podcasts and leave us a review on iTunes: RSS | iTunes

–

The book we’re reading:

How to Read a Book
by Mortimer Adler & Charles Van Doren

We’d love your participation. Contact us with your comments and questions about the book’s contents:

at CredoCov@gmail.com
on Twitter at @CredoCovFellows
and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/credocovenant

NASB vs. ESV vs. HCSB

April 11, 2014October 28, 2014 / William F. Leonhart III / 9 Comments

A while back, a friend asked me why I like the NASB more than the ESV. Subsequently, I posted a list of my comparisons. It has since become the most visited post ever on our website. As a result, I have decided to offer this follow-up, throwing the HCSB into the mix. The following is a list of comparisons I have made between the three translations. Some are fact based, and some are preference based:

NASB (New American Standard Bible)

Lockman Foundation
Formal Equivalent
12^th Grade + Reading Level
Original 1977 version kept Thees and Thous in passages where God is directly addressed.
Pew Bibles run $5 each.

Cons

Factory binding is notoriously cheap.
Packaging is not as marketable as ESV or HCSB.
Word choice and grammar may be difficult for some to adapt to.

Pros

Font is unmatched.
Personal pronouns for God capitalized.
Words added to complete the meaning that do not appear in original text are italicized.
OT citations in the NT are rendered in small caps for easier reference.
Cross references in their reference Bible are amazing (even better than the ESV Study Bible).
Multiple options for font sizes.
Preferred Bible for personal study of most educated pastors and seminary professors.

ESV (English Standard Version)

Crossway
Formal Equivalent
9^th Grade Reading Level
Pew Bibles run $5 each.

Cons

Font is typically too small.
Personal pronouns for God not capitalized.
Fewer helps for determining what is translation and what is interpretation.
OT grammar is choppy, with lots of run-on sentences (NASB adds breaks so-as not to overextend the reader).
OT does not lend itself well to group reading.

Pros

Factory binding unmatched.
Packaging lends itself very well to marketing.
Preferred preaching text of many popular pastors.
Accessible for Christians of various generations.
Study Bible notes are unmatched.

HCSB (Holman Christian Standar Bible)

B&H Publishing
“Optimal” Equivalent
6^th Grade Reading Level
Pew Bibles run $5 each.

Cons

Factory binding is here and there (you get what you pay for).
Contract words used liberally for modern readers.
Prone to gimmicky packaging.
Fewer translation helps than the NASB.

Pros

Font is near NASB standard.
Personal pronouns for God capitalized.
Translation committee hails from 17 different denominations lending a certain level of objectivity to its translation choices (Originally, I had posted that the translation committee hailed from only one denomination. I was wrong in this assertion and was relying on faulty information.).
More translation helps than the ESV.
OT citations in the NT are rendered in bold for easier reference.
Multiple options for font sizes.
Word choices such as slave and Yahweh are a notable difference.
Preferable for family worship for those looking for a simpler translation to replace the increasingly liberal NIV.

“Due to the nature of languages, all translation requires a certain amount of interpretation.” – Matt Sanders; Assistant Professor of Greek, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

CCF Episode Ten: Introduction to How to Read a Book

April 10, 2014 / William F. Leonhart III / 2 Comments

In this episode, Billy and JD sit down with Pastor Jason Delgado, Junior (The Big Dippa) Duran, Rene Del Rio, and Jack DiMarco to introduce How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. Featuring music from Mary J. Blige, Bernard Herrmann, Alan Menken, and Eisley.

MP3 Download | stream:

–

Subscribe to future podcasts and leave us a review on iTunes: RSS | iTunes

–

The book we’re reading:

How to Read a Book
by Mortimer Adler & Charles Van Doren

We’d love your participation. Contact us with your comments and questions about the book’s contents:

at CredoCov@gmail.com
on Twitter at @CredoCovFellows
and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/credocovenant

Upcoming Fellowship, 04/15/14

April 9, 2014 / William F. Leonhart III / Leave a comment

Next Tuesday evening, we will once again be gathering for fellowship and to record the next month’s worth of podcasts. Please contact us if you’d like to join the conversation (figuratively speaking). We will discuss chapters six through eight of How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and start working through Covenant Theology: From Adam to Christ by Nehemiah Coxe and John Owen, so hit us upwith your questions, comments, or observations. Also, we would like to hear feedback from you on our previous episodes. Thanks for listening!

at CredoCov@gmail.com
on Twitter at @CredoCovFellows
and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/credocovenant

The Confessing Baptist Birthday Bash!

April 8, 2014 / William F. Leonhart III / 1 Comment

If you’re going to be in the Fort Worth area this weekend, come hang with us at the Ginger Man to celebrate The Confessing Baptist’s one year anniversary. Guys and gals are welcome. I even have it on good faith, ladies, that some of the “Confessing Baptist wives” will be there. It would also be a good opportunity to meet some of our CredoCovenant fellows (especially considering that about a third of us are Confessing Baptists). We look forward to seeing you there!

Van Til: Beams Under the Floor

April 4, 2014 / William F. Leonhart III / 2 Comments

“Our argument as over against this would be that the existence of the God of Christians theism and the conception of his counsel as controlling all things in the universe is the only presupposition which can account for the uniformity of nature the scientist needs. But the best and only possible proof for the existence of such a God is that his existence is required for the uniformity of nature and for the coherence of all things in the world. We cannot prove the existence of beams underneath a floor if by proof we mean that they must be ascertainable in the way that we can see the chairs and tables of the room. But the very idea of a floor as the support of tables and chairs requires the idea of beams that are underneath. But there would be no floor if beams were not underneath. Thus there is absolutely certain proof for the existence of God and the truth of Christian theism. Even non-Christians presuppose its truth while they verbally reject it. They need to presuppose the truth of Christian theism in order to account for their own accomplishments” (Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith, 125-126).

CCF Episode Nine: How We’ve Chosen and Read Books

April 3, 2014 / William F. Leonhart III / 3 Comments

In this episode, JD and Billy sit down with Pastor Jason Delgado to discuss how they choose and read books. Featuring music from Anne Akiko Meyers. Resources mentioned: LibriVox and DealOz.

MP3 Download | stream:

–

Subscribe to future podcasts and leave us a review on iTunes: RSS | iTunes

–

The book we’re reading:

How to Read a Book
by Mortimer Adler & Charles Van Doren

We’d love your participation. Contact us with your comments and questions about the book’s contents:

at CredoCov@gmail.com
on Twitter at @CredoCovFellows
and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/credocovenant

Resources for “How to Read a Book”

April 2, 2014 / William F. Leonhart III / Leave a comment

The following is a comment left on our site in lieu of our forthcoming discussion of Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren’s How to Read a Book:

___________________________

Hello,

We are a not-for-profit educational organization founded by Mortimer Adler and we have recently made an exciting discovery—three years after writing the wonderfully expanded third edition of How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren made a series of thirteen 14-minute videos—lively discussing the art of reading. The videos were produced by Encyclopaedia Britannica. For reasons unknown, sometime after their original publication, these videos were lost.

Three hours with Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, lively discussing the art of reading, on one DVD. A must for all readers, libraries and classroom teaching the art of reading.

I cannot exaggerate how instructive these programs are—we are so sure that you will agree, if you are not completely satisfied, we will refund your donation.

Please go here to see a clip and learn more:

http://www.thegreatideas.org/HowToReadABook.htm

ISBN: 978-1-61535-311-8

Thank you,

Max Weismann, Co-founder with Dr. Adler