...Bible Dictionary Project Instructions For these 2 distinct projects, imagine you are writing a series of short articles for a Bible Dictionary. As we have seen in our study, Bible dictionaries are useful tools to learn more about the books, people, and places we encounter in Scripture. Your task will be to write: 1. Three concise 200–250-word essays about a book, person, and setting/place from the Old Testament (Due at the end of Module/Week 5). 2. Three concise 200–250-word essays about a book, person, and setting/place from the New Testament (Due at the end of Module/Week 8). Content Guidelines: Choose 1 book, person, and place from the list of the provided topics for each of the 2 projects. Your essay must include the following per item: Book: Your biblical book essay must include: The basic literary genre, authorship, date written, key themes, purposes, major events, and main personalities. Person: This essay must include: The dates of the character’s life, place of birth, summary of their role or positions held, defining events in their life and work, contemporaries (other biblical characters they are associated with, etc.), and their legacy. If they are a biblical author, list the related works. Setting/Place (i.e., municipality, kingdom, empire): This essay must include: The keys dates (i.e., founding, demise, etc.), clarification of the location (regional description, the relevance of the place from a biblical/Ancient Near East (ANE) perspective...
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...Bible Dictionary Project Instructions For these 2 distinct projects, imagine you are writing a series of short articles for a Bible Dictionary. As we have seen in our study, Bible dictionaries are useful tools to learn more about the books, people, and places we encounter in Scripture. Your task will be to write: 1. Three concise 200–250-word essays about a book, person, and setting/place from the Old Testament (Due at the end of Module/Week 5). 2. Three concise 200–250-word essays about a book, person, and setting/place from the New Testament (Due at the end of Module/Week 8). Content Guidelines: Choose 1 book, person, and place from the list of the provided topics for each of the 2 projects. Your essay must include the following per item: Book: Your biblical book essay must include: The basic literary genre, authorship, date written, key themes, purposes, major events, and main personalities. Person: This essay must include: The dates of the character’s life, place of birth, summary of their role or positions held, defining events in their life and work, contemporaries (other biblical characters they are associated with, etc.), and their legacy. If they are a biblical author, list the related works. Setting/Place (i.e., municipality, kingdom, empire): This essay must include: The keys dates (i.e., founding, demise, etc.), clarification of the location (regional description, the relevance of the place from a biblical/Ancient Near East (ANE) perspective...
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...Library Tools for Biblical Exegesis Table of Contents I. Overview Exegetical Steps Exegetical Handbooks II. Groundwork Bibles English Language Versions Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha Greek and Hebrew Texts Parallels Interlinear Testaments Digital Bibles Dictionaries Atlases III. Textual Analysis Concordances Lexicons and Wordbooks Lexicons Wordbooks IV. Analysis by Others Online Catalog Commentaries Journal Articles V. Steps for Word Study Old Testament New Testament Page 2 2 2 3-6 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7-8 7 7 8 8 9-10 9 9 10 11-12 11 12 I. Overview Exegetical Steps Exegesis - the process by which one comes to understand a text These are the typical steps involved in an exegesis; your professor’s instructions for your exegetical paper may include a variation of them. A. Establish or orient the context of the pericope in the Biblical book as a whole - a translation from the original Greek or Hebrew may be required - read the text in several different English versions B. Examine the historical context or setting C. Analyze the text - Literary analysis (what type of literature is it?) - Textual analysis (to reconstruct the precise words of the original writer) - Grammatical analysis (classify words by their part of speech) - Lexical analysis (determine meaning(s) of the words) D. Critical analysis: employing various critical methods to ask questions of the texts, ex.: - Canonical - Reader-Response - Form - Redaction - Historical - Rhetorical - Liberation/Black/Feminist - Social-Scientific...
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...Reflection Paper Thomas Stevens Liberty University Theology 104 Prof. Scott Manor June 08, 2014 Reflection Paper 1. Introduction: This reflection paper that I am writing has given me pause as I had thought about the two topics that I would like to discuss. I have gained a better understanding about many of the topics, but I have chosen to write about Prayer and Sin Nature. Man is naturally a sinner and as we sin, we can use prayer to ask God for forgiveness. I believe these two topics relate to each other in so many ways that they would flow together easily as I write about them. The first topic I would like to discuss is Prayer. 2. Part One: Prayer The theological definition of prayer can be summarized as a conversation with God. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, and informal or formal (Easton’s Bible Dictionary, Bible Gateway.com). The Bible gives a lot of leeway when it comes to how we pray or what we say to God in our prayers. The Biblical Foundation can be defined by how many times it is mentioned throughout the Bible and there are some very powerful examples of prayer represented. Samson prayed to God and God showed him a well to quench his burning thirst, and lived on to judge Israel (NKJV, Judges 15:18-20). Matthew: 6 gave us the Lord’s Prayer as a prayer to model ours after and give us a good foundation as to how to pray correctly. Practical application just means that prayer is a communication tool Christians use to communicate...
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...Scholarly Journal Summary The “Journal for the Study of the Old Testament” had a very interesting topic that is discussed almost an unlimited amount of times in today’s society. The topic is sex, and how it is defined in Leviticus, with particular attention to Leviticus 18:6-23. This is due to the fact that in chapter 18 of Leviticus, it is formatted in such a way where it is laid out as law, or apodictic law. The author tries to deviate from just explaining what the scriptures mean in its context, but instead tries to use the contextual format from the chapters before and after chapter 18 to see what its true interpretation should lay on. Leviticus Chapter 18:6-23 is Lord God talking to Moses about the things that the Israelites shall not do. God speaks to Moses telling him to tell the people of Israel what he is telling him and no to do as others do. “You shall not do as they do in the Land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes” Leviticus 18:3. (Collins, Harper pg 177) Shortly after God states this to Moses, he describes multiple different ordinances of law dealing with Sexual Relations. A great deal of these ordinances deal with Incest Relationships, such as “None of you shall approach anyone near of kin to uncover nakedness” Leviticus 18:6. (Collins, Harper pg 177) Along with that verse there are multiple others deal with uncovering nakedness of your father, your...
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...Name: Nichole Acosta Writing Style Used: MLA Course and Section Number: THEO 201 B01 Essay on Pneumatology: Spiritual Gifts With a passion for theology and the word of God, it brings me great joy when asked to explain my beliefs. While some aspects of our faith are a little simpler to explain than others, one that is continuously debated is that of spiritual gifts. Because of a presented opportunity from a curious friend, I found it fitting to dive into the topic that is currently being debated at his home church. In Acts 2:1-4, Paul recounts Pentecost as the ultimate outpouring of the Holy Spirit to all believers, indwelling and granting them with spiritual gifts. Ephesians 4:11-12 explains that these Spirit-given abilities are not primarily bestowed for personal enjoyment or personal growth, but for Christian service and the edification of the body of Christ. Because every believer has the Holy Spirit in them from salvation (Romans 8:9), it is implied that spiritual gifts are also deposited at conversion, but may be developed at a later time. Though believers may have multiple spiritual gifts, it is guaranteed that every Christian has at least one (1 Corinthians 12:4, 31). One should not confuse spiritual gifts with the fruit of the Spirit. While both are sourced from the Holy Spirit and are results of spiritual baptism, their purposes differ. Elmer Towns describes the relationship perfectly, “A spiritual gift is an ability to be used in service, whereas...
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...for His children. There are many subjects, videos, and extracted material that has been read or discussed over the span of four weeks which has given me a better understanding of the Bible and Christianity. My reflection for this paper I have chosen two topics that I have chosen to address for this paper. First, topic I have chosen will be Grace and secondly I will be focusing on Love. Grace Theological definition of “grace” as many scholar s of the bible will define this word as the unmerited favor of God toward man. Grace can also be defined as like forgiveness, repentance, regeneration and salvation to mean something as broad as describing the whole of God’s activity towards man or as narrow as describing one segment of activity (Baker’s Evangelical Bible Dictionary). Often times many would attribute grace toward s how women carry themselves and even in the bible grace can be defined through many scripture as action of one who are in high position. Biblical Foundation The first time Grace has been in mentioned was in Genesis chapter 8 because of Noah obedience to God and God was tired or as the bible scholar would state grieved by man’s wickedness and caused God to erase mankind. In all this, Noah found favor with God. Here the word favor and grace are interchangeable throughout the bible. Nevertheless, the subject of Grace can vary in many biblical views, Proverbs 1:9 states there would be a garland to grace your head…meaning the head is the focal point of knowledge and...
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...studying God’s word. I will be addressing two topics that I feel are essential to Christian living, and they are love and worship. Christianity is built on love and we are called to give God all that we are. Love Theological Definition: The bible indicates that love is from God. It actually stated that “God is Love” (1John 4:8); therefore his nature is love, and everything he does flows from his love. God’s love is considered to be agape love and its origin is Greek; Agape is said to be selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, and “the highest of the four types of love in the bible” (Zavada). Agape perfectly describes the kind of love Jesus Christ has for his Father and for humankinds; Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this but he that lay his life down for his friend,” (John 15:13). Love is caring in action Biblical Foundation: Love is caring in action, and what we do; it is not base on our feelings. The book of first John says “beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (4:7, 8). From the bible, we know that God’s nature is love; therefore, we have to love one another because he loved us first. He demonstrated His love for us, by sending forth Jesus Christ to dead on the cross for our sins. We need to let His love shine through us for others to see. We need to be like the Good Samaritan man in the bible that helped the stranger on the road. ...
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...I. Introduction For Christians and creationists, the clear and only answer is that the Lord created the Earth in six literal days and on the seventh day the Lord rested. But to evolutionists the answer to how the Earth came about is the Big Bang theory. This topic has been debated for centuries now, and yet some people will never believe the truth. II. Old-Earth View The old-earth view to the original creation of this earth is the Big Bang theory. Most scientists that do not believe in a divine creator, being our Heavenly Father, believe in this theory. The dictionary definition for the Big Bang theory’s of creation of the Earth is, “the theory that the universe originated sometime between ten billion and twenty billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature” (TheFreeDictionary, 2011). Like the definition has said, evolutionists believe that this theory happened billions of years ago. What most scientists believe concerning the theory is that some form of matter was struck by what they think is lightning, which created the infamous amoeba. From the amoeba, evolutionists believe everything has been created and continued to evolve and progress. III. Young-Earth View The young-earth theory proves to have a divine creator, God. Christians and creationists profess to believe in this view because of their relationship with the Lord and I am in full agreement. I believe this theory to be the most precise and...
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...Wisdom What exactly is wisdom? Wisdom is not so easy to define in abstract. Wisdom is good judgment, pure confidence, and knowledge. Wisdom can be defined in several ways and each definition is based on the person or source. Searching into these sources I have come to the dictionaries version, Biblical Version, Philosophical Version, and then Socrates Version. The dictionary defines wisdom as the quality or state of being wise; the knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight. Wisdom is not “knowing everything”, but it is opening your mind to increase knowledge. A wise person should be known for thinking before they speak on any subject they know about, also they allow themselves to ask questions about the ones he/she are unfamiliar with. People who are wise tend to be humble and not show-offs. Wisdom by the dictionaries version starts by saying that it is just a state of being wise that makes wisdom an option or a choice with no real obstacles. It simplifies wisdom into having knowledge of right or wrong and if a person is unsure should seek the information instead of moving forward blindly. The characteristics of a wise person by dictionary terms or standards are facts, experience, and knowing people. A wise person should be known to be knowledgeable which allows them to obtain facts that are needed. The facts may have been recorded from a previous source and made available to make a person knowledgeable. Looking...
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...Name: Writing Style Used: MLA Course and Section Number: THEO 201 Essay on Topic Short Essay on Inerrancy and Inspiration As a Christian I read the bible to grow closer to God, to understand who he is and what he is about. But understanding what the bible says is not the only thing that is important for a Christian, we must understand why we believe it. Understanding why we believe it comes from understanding its authority, its inerrancy, and its inspiration. First we must understand what gives the bible its authority. According to Merriam-Webster authority is the power to give orders or make decisions: the power or right to direct or control someone or something. The bible receives its authority because it is the revelation of God to us. “The authority of the Bible is established by its own claims. It is the word of God.” (Elwell, 2001). The Bible receives its authority because it is the word of God. Second we must understand the inspiration of the Bible. The Bible was written by many different men so we must see how this fits together. I believe that while the Bible was written by multiple men the ideas were all from God. I believe this because of the scriptures and what they say. For example 2 Peter 3:15-16 And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him. The Bible tells us that the scriptures inspiration is God, and while it was written by multiple men...
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...they center their lives upon- to be able to explain why they study the word and how they can believe it to be authoritative. In 1 Peter 3:15, Christians learn the necessity of being able to defend ones faith. The ability to do so lies in having a solid understanding of foundational topics such as biblical authority, inspiration, and inerrancy. This essay will deal with such topics and give implications for how a Christian is to live their life based on these concepts. To begin, biblical authority must be defined. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, “Authority is the right and power to command, enforce laws, exact obedience, determine,...
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...D.Min. Project Prospectus Sharon L. Smith I. Title: Bridging the Gap: A Pilot Project Aimed at Mutually Equipping Church and Business Leaders for Kingdom Impact II. The Context: Followers of Jesus Christ who possess a divine calling, talents, and gifts to work and serve God through specific voluntary or paid vocations in the workplace face daily opportunities to impact the Kingdom of God. When believers walk by faith and obedience in the revelation that God’s divine presence and purpose is with them daily in their work lives, God empowers them to lead change that can transform lives, businesses, and even nations. Believers clearly see this truth in the lives of Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, and Nehemiah. The Great Commission (Matt. 28) commands believers to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person. This directive includes Holy Spirit-empowered witness in the marketplace with signs, wonders, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation. As His priests (1 Pet. 2:5; Rom. 12:1-2), God calls believers ordained for the twenty-first century workplace to worship and serve Him through their actions, words, and works. God’s Word calls for excellence in whatever a person does (Col. 3:17). Fruitfulness follows when believers root biblical ethics in excellence, and practice it in relationships and business decisions. Anthropologists and missiologists are observing major global shifts causing leaders to revise their understanding of the notion of culture...
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...WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SYNAGOGUE PAPER PRESENTED TO PROFESSOR LANE OLSON IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR RLGN 1301 SCHOOL OF RELIGION BY MICHAEL S. FIA ANCHORAGE, ALASKA MAY 2012 CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. THE NAME: “SYNAGOGUE” 1 III. ORIGIN 2 IV. ORGANIZATION 2 Judicial 3 Liturgical 3 V. LITURGY 4 VI. BUILDING 5 VII. CONCLUSION 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY 7 HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SYNAGOGUE Introduction The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines a synagogue as the local meeting place and assembly of the Jewish people during the late intertestamental and New Testament times. While Jewish tradition claims the synagogue was begun by Moses, there is little in the Old Testament to support this claim. One reason it is hard to pinpoint the exact origin of the first synagogue is because God had commanded that the Jewish people to worship only where God would put His name. You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go. The original center for the Jewish ritual and worship was first the Tabernacle and later the Temple built in Jerusalem by Solomon. If the Jewish people were to build a place of worship other than the Temple they would have been breaching the Law...
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...Scripture Analysis Project Step 10 The passage studied was Isaiah 42:1-4 in the New Standard Revised Version of the Bible. This passage is small but caries lots of meaning and is composed with strong characteristics. While reading this passage, a lot of unanswered questions and concerns come to mind that may clear up the passage and make it easier to understand. This project allowed me to translate words using the bible dictionary and study the footnotes which gave me a whole new perspective on this passage. At a glance, one could easily overlook this small passage when interpreting what Isaiah has to say in his scripture. Initially, it appears that Isaiah is talking about an individual when he refers to a servant selected by God to carry out his orders and “bring forth justice to the nations” (NRSV p. 1023). However, after listening to the commentaries and reading the entire book of Isaiah it is obvious that he is referring to the entire nation of Israel. If one is to read just the little excerpt it is easy to see how people can misinterpret passages of the bible. It is definitely recommended to view what you are looking at in the context it was intended to be viewed before making judgments. The overall meaning of this passage is one that can be debated to some degree. It seems as if Isaiah has been told by God to make it Israel’s goal to spread the word of the Lord no matter what it takes. Israel is to use all means necessary, which includes force. This seems...
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