Tyndale House. Newsletter February Specialist Seminars. The Ethiopian Connection

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1 February 2011 Specialist Seminars There are probably not many places in the world where 16 people sit around and read ancient inscriptions from before the Babylonian exile in the Old Hebrew script. Nor are there many places where a casual group reading a Greek (all capitals) manuscript of Galatians from the fourth century will quickly attract 20 attendees. However, these are a couple of the activities that have gone on here in December and January. Few universities run such courses and those which do usually find that just a handful attend. Yet as does not offer qualifications we re able to concentrate on really learning and cultivating an atmosphere where scholars training to serve the church in a variety of capacities are able to gain special expertise in the primary sources which underlie all other study. Before Christmas we were delighted that Prof. Alan Millard (Liverpool) and Dr Martin Heide (Marburg) were able to lead a short course especially for Old Testament students on contemporary records from the Old Testament period. Many will have gained skills they will use in writing and teaching for the rest of their lives. Prof. Alan Millard at The Ethiopian Connection Steve Bryan, left Dawn with Jack, Cooper & Cy We have had quite a connection with Ethiopia develop over the years through people who have studied at. After 18 years in Ethiopia Dr Steve Bryan (left, with wife Dawn and family) who spent 3 years here, is now country Director of SIM, and NT Lecturer at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) in Addis Ababa. Joining him at EGST are Stuart and Kathleen Rochester who completed PhDs at Tyndale in Current Tyndale reader Kim Phillips has also spent periods of ministry there.

2 Page 2 Ethics Institute Moving Ahead The Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE) has made significant steps forward. Dr Josh Hordern, fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, has been appointed as part-time Associate Director. Meanwhile the Director, Jonathan Chaplin, has been writing and speaking in a variety of contexts. He is now a fairly regular contributor to The Guardian, especially on matters of religious freedom. KLICE now has a Public Leadership Programme aimed at helping Christians in law, medicine, media and academic research to develop a Christian way of thinking about their profession. See Impact Online Dr Josh Hordern End of year statistics show that the online lexicons are amongst the most popular links on the website. These enable people round the world to access dictionaries in numerous languages related to the Bible. Other resources which have proved popular are the font kit for those needing to write Greek and Hebrew, online back issues of the Tyndale Bulletin, and the Tyndale Toolbar, which enables you to have numerous biblical resources on your web browser without needing any complicated software. W r i t i n g a P h D dissertation is like being a painter in a football stadium trying to capture a beautiful picture of the entire crowd without missing the features of each individual. You get the picture: it is a difficult task. However, having access to is like having access to aerial satellite images that allow you to take a closer look at multiple parts of the stadium through a single zoom lens., with its thousands of images covering any area in Biblical studies, provides the necessary tools for the researcher to paint a wellresearched, beautiful work. Beniamin Pascut, from Romania, PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge To use the many online resources that Tyndale House provides please see our website at then follow the Online Resources tab.

3 Page 3 Asian Christmas Party Jean Takeuchi (Japan/USA) writes: It was a pleasure to have Asian students and friends from Tyndale House for dinner on Christmas Day. Altogether we had about 20 people including three babies and three children. We represented Mongolia, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, and the USA. We also read a short Christmas passage from the Bible; my Mongolian friend and I gave a short testimony about why we celebrate Christmas; and we also played games together. Jean and friends Exciting Acquisition Support for UK Scholars At the end of the year four PhD students were granted a bursary from the Erasmus Fund which exists to support and encourage UK biblical scholars. Ros Clarke, James Patrick, Will Timmins and Sarah Whittle are working on the Song of Songs, the books of Samuel, Romans 7 and Romans 12 respectively. We were delighted to win a New York auction to acquire one of only 400 facsimile copies of the Munich Talmud for the library (we can find only one other copy in the UK). This is the only full manuscript of the Talmud with all the sections of text about Jesus which were censored from subsequent Talmuds by Papal authority in the 1400's. Even in this copy you can see where someone has tried to erase the words Jesus of Nazareth and the names of disciples. After a few weeks at with its focused resources I am ahead of my research schedule for the first time. Lissa Wray Beal, Providence Theological Seminary, Winnipeg.

4 Page 4 Bible & Church in Edinburgh On Saturday 29 January, Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh, was host to a Bible & Church conference at which Drs Peter Williams, Dirk Jongkind and Simon Gathercole spoke. The conference was attended by over 300 people. Next stop, Wales in May. Details at Dirk Jongkind Simon Gathercole Peter Williams A Well-Earned Retirement for Tyndale Veteran The Rt Rev. John Taylor has stepped down from the Council after decades of service, including time as chairman. Former Bishop of St. Albans, Lord High Almoner, President of the Bible Society and of the Garden Tomb Association, John studied here in the 1950s. As former Warden Dr Bruce Winter put it, his is a unique link with the foundation of in its early precarious years. As a scholar John wrote a commentary on Ezekiel in the Tyndale series. At his last Council meeting John was presented with an album of photographs charting the development of and a card with many tributes to his godly wisdom and pastoral oversight (Dr Eddie Adams), his gracious and supportive attitude towards the succeeding chairman (Dr Andrew Clarke), and his tremendous commitment to Tyndale as both a scholar and a shepherd (Bruce Winter). Peter Williams said, John has been a huge encouragement to me personally and a source of great wisdom on many occasions. He will be missed on John with HRH Prince Philip at in 2001 Council, but we look forward to seeing him regularly at. Warden s U.S. Trips The Warden has a few short trips to the US in the coming months: - Saturday 5 March, The Lanier Theological Library, Houston, TX - Wednesday 6 April, First Family Church, Overland Park, KS - Saturday 9 Sunday 10 April, The Compass Church, Naperville, IL - Sunday 29 Monday 30 May, NEXT 2011, Orlando, FL For more details, use Google.

5 Page 5 Bible & Church on Screen The UK version of our latest Bible & Church DVD has now been released. Our DVD from the 2009 conference focused on establishing the basic case for taking the New Testament as serious history. This DVD sets the Four Gospels and other gospels in direct comparison with each other in terms of their historical accuracy, manuscript basis, and value as records of what Jesus actually did and taught. The DVD contains not only lectures, but short films designed for home study groups and a short study guide. To obtain a copy please go to the website at If you do not use the internet please write to us at the address on the back page of this newsletter. Disturbingly stylish Jeremy McQuoid, Pastor of Deeside Christian Fellowship Screenshots from The Authentic Gospels: New Evidence DVD, showing the three speakers in short films made at Tyndale House, and scenes at St Helen s Bisphopsgate where the lectures were filmed.

6 First Ever Intern In a five-month spell at Nick Vagg has been acting as research and personal assistant to the Warden and helping with practical tasks while undertaking supervised study, reading the Greek NT. By the time he left Nick had finished the Four Gospels in Greek. A UK theology graduate, Nick writes: Being at has really expanded my horizons. A Place for Pastors As well as being ideal for scholars, Tyndale House is a suitable place for ministers and church workers to come for a regular study day. Those in pastoral ministry regularly retreat to this scholarly haven. If you are in church leadership and would be interested in spending time at please call us or go to our website and follow For Visitors. Excellence in Biblical Scholarship in Service of the Church 36 Selwyn Gardens CAMBRIDGE, CB3 9BA Tel: +44 (0) Fax: +44 (0) Secretary@Tyndale.cam.ac.uk Donations to may be posted, or made online at: is part of UCCF:Research. UCCF is a Ltd Company , Registered Charity De Montfort St. LE1 7GP Tax-deductible donations in US dollars may be sent to: American Friends of Cambridge, Inc PO Box 4920, Orlando, FL Challenges and Opportunities The economic climate naturally makes charitable work challenging, but our opportunities to touch more lives only seem to increase. There are opportunities to bring people who have few resources in their own country to study at Tyndale; opportunities to produce further computer tools for biblical study which will be available to pastors without libraries; opportunities to help increase biblical literacy and understanding in Britain and elsewhere through the Bible & Church conferences. Our opportunities have been increased by volunteers ranging from librarians to IT specialists and we are also looking forward to a working team from First Baptist Church, Houston, TX, in July. If you are able to volunteer and have gifts in PR or marketing, or are able to be an ambassador for in your church, we would love to hear from you. If you would like to set up a prayer group in your area, we would be happy to supply you with regular information. Finally, we are so grateful to those who support us regularly. We still feel that the breadth of our support base is narrower than comparable charities and would very much like to have greater numbers of supporters. If you are able to swell the numbers of our existing supporters, even by giving just a small amount regularly, that would be most welcome. More details of how to give are on the sidebar.