God, Not a Destination
God is anything but boring. Our fear of a life-stifling, stern old man in the sky is misplaced. Our apathy about a dull encounter with bland, emotionless divinity turns out not to be true. God is full...
View ArticleFeeling a Personal Breakthrough in My Reading of Isaiah
In case you don’t follow what I am doing and are unaware — I am slowly writing a commentary on Isaiah. I have an email list called “Messianic Isaiah,” in which I send out six days a week snippets of...
View ArticleNew Things (For Me) in Isaiah
What follows is an email I sent to those who support me in writing a commentary on the book of Isaiah and after that a short article explaining my overall theory about the book. I have been studying...
View ArticleA Personal Note
I experienced a loss this week. My father, Phillip Charles Leman (1948-2014) passed away Monday. I was at the Hashivenu Forum at the time. The blessing from heaven is that at Hashivenu we have minyan...
View ArticleIsaiah 1:1
This is a rewritten draft, perhaps close to final, of my commentary on 1:1 for my upcoming volume on Isaiah. I am working on a commentary on Isaiah, perhaps just Isaiah 1-12 for the first volume...
View ArticleDivine Messiah and the Early Believers, Part 6
It is useful to reflect on what the early believers did and did not do in describing Messiah’s exalted status if you want to understand how the Divine Messiah innovation came about. I say innovation...
View ArticleIsaiah 1:4-9
Sometimes we have to hit bottom to see ourselves as we really are. Always, we have to believe that God will show mercy in order to be healed. ISAIAH 1. 4 Woe, sinful nation, a people laden with guilt,...
View ArticleJust the Essence of Isaiah 1:4-9
In my upcoming commentary (probably covering only Isaiah 1-12) on Isaiah (thinking early 2016), I give for each sub-unit of text an “essence” of the passage. Most commentary readers are looking for...
View ArticleTheories About Messiah’s Divinity
A man endued with divine power. Like Elijah or Isaiah. In this view, Messiah is not divine at all. His miracles and authority all stem from God without him in any way being God. A divine-like Messiah....
View ArticleReligulousness
I believe Bill Maher coined the word “religulous” for a documentary of the same name. As far as I know, his documentary was pushing atheism or at least human self-reliance as the answer to our...
View ArticleInternet Silence (Mostly), February 26-27
Today and tomorrow, I will be on “internet silence” (except for student meetings). I have 10,000 words to finish up a 40,000 word freelance assignment. Gotta cloister myself so I can Next Day Air it...
View ArticleChanging Crimson Deeds to Snow
2014 is a year of working on Isaiah, in two ways at once. I am writing a commentary on Isaiah 1-12 which I plan to publish in early 2016. At the same time, I am zeroing in on a topic...
View ArticleOur Deeds Are Not Filthy Rags
Sometimes close reading of the Bible is anything but academic; sometimes it is vital, life-giving, guiding us in the confusing paths of life’s greatest issues. By way of contrast to close reading of...
View ArticleA Personal Update, Partial Hibernation, Divine Messiah
Dear Readers, I am entering the phase in which I need to work heavily on Divine Messiah, the eBook due for release in early May. It is my hope also to have a limited-run paperback edition. My work...
View ArticleDivine Messiah: Just the Questions
Emerging briefly from self-imposed hermitage, I excerpt for you a little piece of chapter 1. Divine Messiah, the eBook and (I hope) a limited run paperback edition, is due out in May. Early May. Okay,...
View ArticleDo the Jewish Scriptures Point in the Direction of Father and Son?
I continue my partial hibernation, working as much as I can between the cracks of other responsibilities on my upcoming eBook and limited-run paperback, Divine Messiah. Here I am laying the conceptual...
View ArticleGod-stuff Philosophers (and Jews for Judaism) Miss
Yeah, still working on Divine Messiah (see last few days’ postings if you have no idea what Divine Messiah is). The philosophers’ God is impersonal (see Heschel, God in Search of Man, for a critique)....
View ArticleForms of God Appearing in the Hebrew Bible
I am still in concentrated writing mode, reading and writing mostly about one thing in the cracks of my time between now and Passover. I hope to have Divine Messiah completely written by Passover and...
View ArticleDivine Messiah: Jewish Precursors, Parallels, and Provenance
I am halfway done with the writing of Divine Messiah, the eBook and limited-release paperback I have been promising to release in early May. Whew! Getting there. Now I am beginning a chapter on Jewish...
View ArticleGod Cannot Not
The Divine Messiah eBook and a limited release paperback is getting close to being done. I have a student in the Czech Republic (Krista, whom you will hear more about someday) who is editing it. I...
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