Approach
Byzantique is an exegetical workbench.
Hi! I'm Dan. I'm a convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity (from a Protestant background) and a perpetual student of Scripture. While I have some background in biblical studies and languages, I’m definitely not an expert. Think of this site as my personal notebook: one person's thoughts and study notes open for you to read.
This site is a workbench, not a pulpit. The goal here isn't to deliver polished doctrines or final answers, but to tinker with ideas, dig into the languages and manuscripts, and wrestle with critical theories. But there is a trap in treating Scripture purely as an academic playground or a puzzle to be solved, a trap that Christ explicitly warned against. He pointed out that it's entirely possible to master the text while completely missing its point:
39You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that testify about me, 40yet you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
John 5:39–40
That reframes everything. The Bible, on its own terms, isn't the destination, it's the signpost. It testifies to a Person. So the question I keep coming back to is less what does this text mean? and more Whom does it reveal? It's important to be transformed by the Word (Jesus Himself) in order to perceive Him more clearly (cf., e.g., Matthew 5:8, Luke 24:44–48, Romans 12:1–2, 1 Corinthians 13:12).
Spiritually ill theologians produce sick theology…. The fathers affirmed a deep connection between the spiritual health of biblical interpreters and their ability to read the Bible well…. The fathers argue that any divorce between personal character, Christian community and the study of Scripture will be fatal for any attempt to understand the Bible.1
So why is this bench littered with source criticism, ancient Near Eastern parallels, and a fair amount of scholarship I don't even buy? Because tools are tools, and I'd rather read with the academy's instruments in one hand and the hermeneutic of love in the other.2 Critical theories are objects of study here, not articles of faith: grist, not gospel. (And most of these notes are academic insight more than practical counsel; the praying tends to happen off-page.)
None of this is a method I'm prescribing; it's just where I happen to be standing. I'm a reader with notes. If something here helps you dig, wonderful.