If you remember, about a month ago I wrote an entry detailing the new look and focus of this blog along with a teaser saying that I would comment more later on what other changes the shift to being a more “personal” blog would bring. Well, the time is quickly approaching for said change to take place.

As of January 1, 2010, I will no longer be writing at http://www.katagraphais.com. This url will run its course and end sometime in June/July. Instead, my blog will appear at its new url:

http://www.bryanlilly.com (not clickable as it isn’t set up yet)

Within the next few days, this page will be replaced with a temporary index page reminding visitors of the change, and I’m hoping to go live at bryanlilly.com on January 1, as I said.

What does this mean for those of you who read my blog?

Well, for some of you it might not mean anything as you’re subscribed via feedburner. I’ll do all the changing from my end, and it will roll over automatically for you.

For others, you may have to resubscribe. I apologize for any inconvenience, but RSS readers are common place and easy to adjust now-a-days, so I don’t think it will be too painful.

If you link to katagraphais, I would appreciate it if you can link to the new site as well.

Some of you aren’t a fan of the changes going on here. Especially those of you who are looking for more academic posts. I understand that. And if this causes you to stop reading my blog, let me say this: Thank you for following as long as you did. This blog started out between myself and a friend of mine about 3 to 4 years ago on blogspot.com, and I really never expected to gain a readership as big as I have. I sincerely want to thank you for reading, and I do hope that you follow the move, but if you don’t choose to follow me to my new spot on the web I understand.

For the rest of you, I sincerely appreciate your interest in my blog, and I hope to see you in the new year at my new space on the web!

P.S. Until July, this blog will be available online under the url katagraphais.com. After that url is finished, this blog will still be available as a link from the new blog. All material will be moved, barring some sort of incident that would wipe it out.

Hey all,

Usually I try and have the Advent Sunday posts finished on Saturday, but this weekend I was celebrating one of my best friend’s wedding as a friend and groomsman. Needless to say, I haven’t even tried to do a post yet so be expecting one later in the afternoon Sunday.

As I said in my last post, some new things are coming down the drain for my blog. You’ve probably noticed in the last year or so that I have moved from my more academic posts to a more general approach to blogging (including academic posts as well). This is on purpose, as I’m hoping to move this blog away from a purely academic blog to a more personal blog (essentially done already). I’ve updated the look of this blog to reflect this more personal shift. The next step is more in the future, but I’ll be discussing that when the time comes.

Those of you who receive updates through email for a feed reader can check out the new look by clicking here: http://www.katagraphais.com.

While looking at my blog’s stats for today, I noticed a hit on my currently reading page. I realized that I hadn’t updated the page in forever (so, to whoever went there, I apologize for lying to you about what I was currently reading), so I decided to update it. Currently, I’m reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck, along with a few commentaries on Mark for the Bible study I’m leading. After East of Eden, I’ll be reading John Walton’s The Lost World of Genesis One. I also added some of the books I’ll be reading for next semester, but that list isn’t quite complete yet.

I accidentally deleted a bunch of comments from the last 30 days or so… so if you had a comment here sometime after June 20th, I apologize for the mistake. I thought I was in the ’spam’ section and deleted a page or two of actual comments instead.

So, the server that is hosting my site crashed and I lost all the posts and changes I’ve made since June 1st. I’ll be adding the posts back, as they are saved in my google reader, but I’m not really going to try and remember what cosmetic changes I’ve had since then. If you subscribe to my blog, you’ll probably be getting some repeats in your email or reader—just FYI!

Announcement 1: Biblioblogs Top 50

Hey readers, I have two big announcements for you. First, after many many months of not being on the list, I am back on the Top 50 Biblioblogs for the month of May! Apparently, I moved from number 127 to number 19 on the list! You can check out the list here: Top 50 Biblioblogs. The blog states:

A blog is included in the rankings if it contains substantial content related to biblical studies or closely related fields, evidences a scholarly approach to biblical studies (not requiring academic qualifications, but excluding blogs with mainly homiletic or devotional content, unscholarly approaches, or a primarily theological focus), and is currently active and posting.

You can read more about the technical process of how blogs are ranked on the technical bits (aka about) page.

Announcement 2: New Translation Project

The second announcement has to do with a new project I’m working on: The Katagraphais Translation Project. Basically, this isn’t much different than clicking on the translation tab above. So why am I doing it? As I translate more and more of the Bible, several things are growing persistently annoying. One issue is how to manage the main translation page with all the chapters that I add and link too. For every book of the bible I need a main page, and then a page for every chapter, which only adds to the amount of pages I have to keep up with in my wordpress dashboard, plus keeping track of making sure they all have the correct “parent” pages (if you don’t use wordpress, don’t worry about what I just said). By dedicating a whole section of my site apart from wordpress to it, it makes it much easier and simple to deal with navigation and files. Another issue is design. As I put translations up on wordpress, it’s hard to get the text to do what I want. Sure, I could edit the css¹ files and everything, but I have several themes installed for this site. That would mean finding all the css files for each theme and editing them all, and frankly I don’t want to put forth the effort. So by moving the translations, I’m able to work out the design I want in one single css file. Basically, to put all that into english, this new project will allow me to continue putting up my translations in a way that is easier to control and keep track of.

Also, note that it is in “beta.” This means that it is an initial and incomplete version. Unfortunately, Google’s use of the perpetual beta in its products has transformed our thinking of what beta means. This site, though it doesn’t have much function apart from the translations itself, is not fully function. This isn’t “Gmail beta.” I have a lot of kinks to work out, particularly on issues of navigation. The address linked above will not be its permanent address. It is temporary until I have the site functioning well enough to fully release. So, enjoy the sneak preview (Genesis 1, Jonah 1 and 2, and Philemon are all up at the moment), and please leave some feedback with what you might suggest!

So there’s been a couple changes to the blog that I want to highlight-

First, I’ve added a katagraphais store, thanks to the amazon associates program. The store will link to books that I enjoy as well as books that I’ve reviewed here on my blog. Purchasing books is just like purchasing from amazon… because it is. I’m merely linking to the books from amazon. For every book purchased through the store, or clicking a link to amazon from this site, I will get a small percentage of the money (so help a poor seminary student out!).

Second, I’ve updated my translation section to include Genesis chapter 1, and 2 Corinthians chapters 1 through 4:15. As followers of this blog will know, my project for this summer is to translate Genesis 1-3 and finish 2 Corinthians.

Third, I’ve upgraded to the newest version of the theme that I’m using, Atahualpa 3. You can check out the theme via the link at the bottom of the site. I’m really loving the new version, and allows for easier control over changing pretty much every element of the theme. Definitely give it a try if you’re using wordpress.org (the self-hosted version of wordpress.com.

Fourth, I should have a review of James White’s The King James Only Controversy. No ETA as of yet, but it will be the next review on the site.

I just want to say thanks to everyone who visits this blog, or subscribes to it through RSS!

Just a bit of a site update today. This summer I have two translating goals that I’m working toward: Genesis 1-3 and finishing 2 Corinthians. Ultimately, if I don’t finish these goals, but have been translating all throughout the summer, I’m quite ok with that as my highest goal is to just be in the languages. I have updated the translation to include the first 8 verses of Genesis, as well as 2 Corinthians 1:1-7:

Check them out here: Translations.

Secondary works will be in getting the rest of Jonah and John’s epistles up.

So Louisville, like a lot of other places, has been hit with a pretty significant snow and ice storm. Classes have been canceled all week, which has given me a lot of time to read. I’ve taken the time to read through Bauckham’s “Jesus and the Eyewitnesses,” which I highly recommend.

My apartment does not have power, so I’m at a friend’s house using their internet. And heat. And bed. So it seems that the absence of substantial posts here will continue for a little bit longer. Quite honestly, I don’t have any ideas for further posts at the moment either. Hopefully soon!