Got my ESV access key from Stephen Smith, webmaster at Good News Publishers. The doPassageQuery code works exactly as advertised and pulls back XHTML.

Next step: code up an XSLT transform to the Open Scripture Information Standard (OSIS).

Christianity Today review of  Coined By God: Words and Phrases That First Appear in English Translations of the Bible , a book detailing the vocabulary of English that is first attested in the Bible (like stargazer). 

They made some interesting use of language processing technology for their research (concordancing, for example). From an academic point of view, i might question whether "first appeared in a Bible translation" really means the same as "was coined by a Bible translation". It certainly seems possible that some terms may have been in contemporary use, but other sources using them simply didn't survive to document the fact. But i shouldn't judge that without reading the book.

From Ralph Wilson, who pastored a church i attended in a previous life, but is now an internet marketing guru ...

Church Website Examples

Factoid from Barna Research:

Since 2000, DVD players have been the most rapidly selling technology in the country, more than tripling in penetration (from 18% to 56%). DVD players are now as common in American households as desktop computers and Internet access.

I wonder if anybody is producing Bible studies for small groups on DVD?

Working on Luke's Gospel in the "Imperatives of Jesus" project, i was reminded of two imperatives that i rarely think of when i consider what Jesus asks me to do:

[Luke 8:8] He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

He who has ears to hear?!? Obviously you can't hear at all without ears. But there's a crucial semantic difference between the two kinds of hearing Jesus refers to here. One is the kind that anyone with ears has: the sound lands on your eardrums. The other refers to a spiritual perception that goes beyond passively receiving sound waves, beyond hearing new ideas, and beyond mere reflection on those ideas. To really hear the words of Jesus means to put them into practice. As He explains in the context of the Parable of the Sower, it is a response to truth by those who "hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience."

[8:18] Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.

This makes it clear that the kind of hearing Jesus is most concerned about involves our hearts and wills, not just our ears. How we respond to what we hear crucially affects its impact on us. We talk about "covering our ears" to avoid hearing something unpleasant. But failing to act on Jesus' words is just as effective a way to lose them. It's actually worse: because we've "heard", we think we know, and we're less able to recognize our own ignorance. Only obedience prepares us to learn more.