Douglas Fyfe
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duck5.bsky.social
Douglas Fyfe
@duck5.bsky.social
Once wrote a book on the structure of Ecclesiastes.
Studying PhD in Psalms at University of Sydney.
Always happy to talk about home brewing and backyard chickens.
Occasionally blogging at duck5.blogspot.com
I just read (an abridged version of) the book this week - so many details different from the film!

Shock horror - the shoes were silver. And the wicked witch sent various waves of creatures who were defeated before the flying monkeys.
November 11, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Shout out to other time zones #medievalsky #booksky
Trying to uncover the provenance of a couple of medieval HB manuscripts I was looking at last week.

Matamodon
and
Tatalia

are the two I have had no luck googling.
Anyone heard of these or know where I could look them up? 📜
November 10, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Trying to uncover the provenance of a couple of medieval HB manuscripts I was looking at last week.

Matamodon
and
Tatalia

are the two I have had no luck googling.
Anyone heard of these or know where I could look them up? 📜
November 10, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Apparently my book is heaps cheap if you’re in the US. Everything you wanted to know about the structure of Ecclesiastes but were afraid to ask.
November 7, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Not sure why this sign irritated me so.
November 7, 2025 at 5:08 AM
Day two in the Sydney University dungeon. Had a look at this one yesterday, a 1491 HB. This is the botanical artwork around and initial letter of Psalm 1 in Nicholson 35.
November 6, 2025 at 10:04 PM
This is my newest hate (after Wankpanzers). They’re essentially screaming along footpaths on electric motorbikes.

The only legal e-bikes in NSW are e-assist; all other e-things (bikes and scooters) are illegal except on private property.
There is a lack of regulation across Australia when it comes to e-bike use, with young riders often paying the price.

Read more: theconversation.com/young-p...
November 6, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Horse racing is not sport.

How do I know this?
Take away the gambling and it ceases to exist.

The obsession with this one day and putting it as the top story will never make sense to me.
November 4, 2025 at 7:16 AM
I promise I'm not looking for these

but the last two verses of Romans also look like a really nice chiastic structure.

It centres (E) around the revelation, begins and ends (A) with the only wise God who is able to establish you

(B) "my gospel"//the Gentiles coming to faith

I think it works!
November 4, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Although we really can't know why variation stopped (or started in the case of the latter) in sequence or segmentation of the Psalms, there are two events which would seem to be massive in shutting down variation:
There's this weird thing, where in Qumran, the order of psalms varied between each manuscript. But thereafter, we don't find any variation of sequence in any manuscripts at all.

Then in the Medieval period, the segmentation of psalms differs greatly, but not at all before or after. Weird, huh? 📜
November 3, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Romans 16 is next. Here's my structure 📜

A 1-2 Receive Phoebe whom we commend in the Lord
B 3-16 Greet all these people
C 17-20 A warning against the dividers who will soon be crushed
B’ 21-23 Greetings from all these people
A’ 25-26 Receive Jesus whom is commended in my gospel
November 2, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Positively buzzing about my trip to the library next week.

I get to play with some 14th and 15th century Psalms manuscripts!

I knew USyd had some fun items but to look at some this old should be extra enjoyable.
October 31, 2025 at 5:51 AM
There's this weird thing, where in Qumran, the order of psalms varied between each manuscript. But thereafter, we don't find any variation of sequence in any manuscripts at all.

Then in the Medieval period, the segmentation of psalms differs greatly, but not at all before or after. Weird, huh? 📜
October 29, 2025 at 2:54 AM
I think Romans 15:1-7 is its own little structure as a response to the issue of chapter 14. The structure, based around repeated lexemes, looks like this.

And in the middle, as with my chapter 14 structure (embedded somewhere in this thread) is another verse from Scripture.
October 28, 2025 at 1:26 AM
My structure for Romans 14 looks a little something like this:

It's based on repeated lexemes and themes.
At the centre is the panegyric of 14:11 quoting Isaiah 45:23.

It all gets a bit mixed up if you extend the section to chapter 15, so I'm wrestling with how that works at the moment.
October 27, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Douglas Fyfe
Nothing to see here? Well, this is a slow moving 🧵 for #skystorians and others about #eyeglasses of the past, about how to read in the past, where to buy eyeglasses, and how to do with them in general. The hashtag is #HowToDoWithGlassesInThePast

Let's roll.
October 27, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Is it too long a bow to string to link Romans 14 and one’s views on Halloween?
October 27, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Douglas Fyfe
Free to download for two weeks only!

Starting today, you can download my new book:
Between Yahwism and Judaism: Judean Cult and Culture during the Early Hellenistic Period (332–175 BCE)

Download it now, and read it later.

Please share and spread the word!

www.cambridge.org/core/element...
October 22, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Just signed up for a 27km run through the Snowy Mountains in February. A little scared but mostly excited.

It’s 10km further than I’ve run before, and it’s a trail run, and I’m currently not allowed to run, but I’m trusting I’ll be okay by then and it should be a lovely day in the sun in any case.
October 21, 2025 at 3:07 AM
"When Christians are more loyal to our ethnicity or nation than to Christ's body, we have gone beyond giving Caesar what is Caesar's to giving Caesar what is God's."

Craig Keener on Romans 13 (NCCS) way back in 2009
October 21, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Turned my thoughts on Obadiah into a blogpost.

Love to know if you think this works. 📜

duck5.blogspot.com/2025/10/ogli...
Ogling Obadiah
I've been really getting into Obadiah this last week. I noticed a few points about the structure which have really helped me understand how ...
duck5.blogspot.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:53 PM
I honestly don’t know what more proof @goodacre.bsky.social needs for the existence of Q
18th October is the feast of St Luke the Evangelist depicted with his symbol the ox, in the initial 'Q'(uoniam) at the beginning of the gospel.

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 004; The Dover Bible, Volume II.; 12th century; f.66v
@parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social
October 18, 2025 at 9:58 PM
A rare combination of Tiberian and Palestinian cantillation on my son’s pyjamas
October 17, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Just starting to work on Romans 13 for next week; this structure for 12-13 looks plausible and useful. What to actually say about 13 at this moment in history is another question altogether! 🪔
October 15, 2025 at 12:51 AM
share a cartoon from the past that kids today probably never heard of 📺
October 14, 2025 at 6:58 AM