...Cultural and Historical Backgrounds of the New Testament It is my belief that it is necessary to know both the cultural and historical background of the New Testament. This would help in giving invaluable insight into the core understanding of what the scriptures are saying to us with the cultures and history as the backdrop. Culture was a large influence on the mindset of beliefs and practices during those times. This caused tradition to set in that was not easily changed. Jesus shook up this mindset by going against what was the normal culture and historical practices by showing and proving that He is the way, the truth and the life. The story of the woman at the well gives us a clear example of this. When Jesus encountered the woman at the well, Jesus broke three cultural customs. First He spoke to a woman; second, she was a Samaritan who the Jews traditionally did not like; and third, He asked her to get Him a drink of water, which would have made Him ceremonially unclean because He used her cup. He Jesus showed that his mission was to the entire earth, not just the Jews. In studying the historical background of the New Testament, we can tap into the occasions and events of the divinely inspired writers’ views. For we know that history itself is a lesson that can provide real-time life changing answers. For there to be a culture, there first had to be a history to build upon. The history that the New Testament builds upon is the laws of the old testaments. For we...
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...Rhonda Parker 10/22/2014 Bible 110 D11 Cultural and Historical Background of New Testament Although Christ would want us to have full understanding of both New and Old Testaments, there is still a separation between them. The Old Testament people had different laws, and were under an old covenant. Law was central to them. Whereas, we as New Testament believers under the new covenant approached God through the sacrifice of Christ. (Duvall and Hays 2008, p. 12) yet still Christians today have some differences through cultures, languages, situations, and time. Which is why cultural and historical background is important. When we study scripture we have to be able to interpret the message of the original text. Problems that arise from misinterpreting the text are: 1) we will not have the true meaning of the scripture, and 2) we will go on to begin to teach others our interpretation. Henceforth, causing a domino effect of confused believers. When I began to study the bible I became so confused, trying to sift through just those scriptures that seemed familiar to me. Why? Because, so many different interpretations of various scriptures had been thrown at me that my head was swimming. Hence the desire for a deeper understanding of the word. The cultural and historical background of the New Testament are the directions on a map, but just as a navigator needs to learn how to interpret every symbol of a map. We have to be able to understand how the Bible communicates...
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...Gen 1:1-2:4a World Behind the text Historical and Cultural Context Genesis illustrates the way Biblical writers J (Yahwist), E (Elohist) and P (Priestly) drew upon the cultural and religious legacy of the Ancient Near East (ANE) along with its stories and imagery and transformed it to conform to a new vision of a non-mythological God and a monotheistic, superior religion. “The Pentateuch developed against the background of the Ancient Near Eastern culture first cultivated in and spread by Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires”. This exemplifies how Israelite religion, was “shaped by responses to and reactions against this culture due both to contacts with neighboring Canaanites and to conflicts with Assyrian and Babylonian empires”. Genesis 1:1-2:4a can therefore be said to reflect the “Babylonian account of creation, which we call Enuma Elish…known from at least 1700 BCE,” “predating the earliest text of Genesis by at least a millennium.” In both Genesis and the ancient Babylonian myth, water is divided into upper and lower waters. The Enuma Elish is recorded on seven tablets and the Genesis account is completed in seven days. The Babylonians created humans to serve as slaves yet in Genesis God creates humans in the likeness of the divine. The Priestly source penned the creation story with the intent of being a “monumental historiographic composition…with the purpose of portraying both the beginnings of mankind and Israel in the spirit of a monotheistic concept...
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...“inspired” the writing of the Scriptures. The Bible is a religious book, not just for one community of faith, but for several: Jews and Christians of different denominations, including both Catholic and Protestant traditions. These groups disagree as to which books actually belong in the Bible. In addition, over time, several different approaches to interpreting the Bible have been developed by these groups. In this volume, the Bible is examined mainly from a literary point of view. A literary approach to this unique book, however, will only be successful if we are conscious of the fact that it is not to be judged according to the rules of modern literature but rather as a document of the ancient Near Eastern and Jewish-Hellenistic cultures. One Book, Many Books: Which Texts Belong to the Bible The Bible is not a single, unified work but a compilation of individual texts commonly called books. Which books belong to the Bible? This question is answered differently by different religious communities. The Hebrew Bible is the Holy Scripture of the Jews. It contains books originally written in the ancient Hebrew and partly in the ancient Aramaic languages. The five books of Moses, also called the Pentateuch, or Torah, belong to it, as well as some books dealing with the history of ancient Israel. These are followed by the books of the prophets, some books of wisdom, and the Psalms (a complete list of the books of the Bible is given in Part IV of this volume). The first...
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...1. “Historical-cultural context relates to just about anything outside the text that will help you understand the text itself.” (Duval & Hayes, pg. 51). Historical-cultural context is extremely important when reading God’s word. When people approach the Bible without care for the context it can lead to misunderstanding of the text. The Bible is so important that we as Christians should not want this to happen. Some ways that we can understand the historical- cultural context is by paying attention to the biblical writer and also the audience which it is written to. By learning about the writer and audience it will give you a better understanding of the history behind the passages. A few more examples of things to look out for in each passage are religion, politics, where it takes place, family life, and social acceptable/ no acceptable customs. If we take the time to understand the context, we will more fully grasp the resemblance to our everyday lives. However, not understanding all these different factors will lead to misunderstanding and misinterpreting information that God wants us to understand. The culture which the bible was written in was different than the culture we live in now. This can make it easy to mix up the meaning of specific verses or passages. Easy ways to look up the specifics of Historical- cultural context is by using Bible atlases, Bible dictionaries/ encyclopedias, commentaries, background commentaries, Old and New Testament histories, and special...
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...The Nature and Significance of the New Testament Marshall Suddarth Indiana Wesleyan University New Testament by Definition. As defined the New Testament is “the second part of the Christian Bible comprising the canonical Gospels and Epistles and also the book of Acts and book of Revelation” (Merrium-Webster.com, 2015); however, the meaning goes much deeper than that. It is the testimonial recollection of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ; a guide to salvation and eternal life. The New Testament is the canonization of several manuscripts written over a fairly large period of time after the death of Christ. A process of study, group debate, and political influences brought the New Testament to the twenty-seven books we see today. While some debate still exist as to the authorship of the individual books, most believe that God directed the early founders of Christianity to form the text as a basis for others to find the truth of God and Christ. Canonization. Early founders of the church consisted of multicultural backgrounds, each with its own set of political influences, cultures, and belief structures. The word of Christ was very important as a common theme; however, the authority and authorship of the individual works was just as important (Schenck, 2010). Early founders of the book we currently see as the Bible wanted the scripture to be a true recollection of the original testimony of Christ’s life, and the purpose for which he died and was resurrected. To do...
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...Nebuchadnezzar endured the Jewish populaces to inaugurate a cohesive group within Babylon around 597 B.C. Nevertheless, the subject of this essay will focus on the Christian assessment of the “Intertestamental Period.” For centuries, Christian intellectuals describe the era from the final quarter of the fifth century B.C. to the first century A.D. as the “Intertestamental Period.” This era arises with the reconstructing of the Jewish temple in the late sixth century, and terminating with its annihilation in A.D. 70. The “Intertestamental Period” represents a significant account of the supernatural hand of God throughout antiquity. The “Intertestamental Period” characterizes the period from the concluding of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi to the beginning of the New Testament, the book of Matthew. This era embraces about 400 “silent years”. The meaning of “silent years” embodies the various years where the voice of God is non-existent, and God ceased employing...
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... Forum 1 (Modules 2 and 3): Historical-Cultural Context 1. Historical-Cultural Context - According to Duvall & Hays, in Journey Into God’s Word; the first step in understanding the bible, or any historical text for that matter, is understanding the text as it relates to the original author and his or her specific audiences. If a reader doesn’t have a good grasp of the circumstances surrounding the introduction of the text at the time of authorship, how can he or she begin to understand the author’s original intent? Was the author relating a story to elicit particular feelings or emotions, laying down edicts to be followed without waiver, or just providing a narrative description of actual events? Furthermore, historical and cultural context give us a framework for looking at a passage or literary piece, and applying the information based upon the changes in the current conditions as they exist today. Duvall & Hays use the New Testament passage referencing the difficulty of a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven as a perfect example of the miss-application of historical context. For years children have been taught of a gate in the walls of Jerusalem called the ‘Eye of the Needle’ that was so narrow camels had to thread their way through very carefully. Unfortunately, there is no record of any such gate actually existing; therefore, even though the imagery is poignant, interpreting the meaning of the passage using this false historical context leads readers down a path...
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...Being one of the main world’s religions, Judaism takes a highly significant place along with Christianity and Islam. In fact, all three monotheistic religions demonstrate similar principles of faith and the origins, which lead to Abraham. However, despite similar origin, written experience, and spiritual background, there are sharp differences between Judaism and Islam. The differences between Judaism and Christianity are less distinct, since Christianity is based purely on the Judaic tradition. Despite these similarities, Judaism appears to be a unique religion with numerous interesting and puzzling features, which are necessary to investigate thoroughly. Such valuable aspects of Judaism as the variety of directions, the essence of Judaic...
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...Statues, monuments, and memorials serve as tangible symbols of history, representing the values, ideals, and individuals deemed worthy of commemoration by society. However, the presence of certain statues, particularly those honoring figures with racist or controversial backgrounds, has sparked outrage and calls for their removal. Critics...
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...The Epistles to the Corinthians were written by the apostle Paul in the mid 50’s A.D. These were letters written to a church community that, according to the book of Acts, Paul had a hand in founding on an earlier journey (Acts 18:9). The epistles themselves speak much about the cultural, economic, and spiritual significance of this very heavily Roman influenced Greek city located on the Isthmus of Corinth. By examining the epistles and further historical source, the context and importance of first century Corinth will be explored. The city of Corinth as it is in the first century A.D. was founded as a Roman colony in 44 B.C. by the Emperor Julius Caesar. In just one century since it’s re-founding, Corinth had become a very cosmopolitan city through its strategic location that was conducive for trade, its large and very multicultural population, and the favor it had in the region as a colony of the mighty Roman Empire. When Corinth was resettled, the Roman Empire populated it with a diverse cross section of the cultures contained within the empire at the time. Italians and Greeks would be the primary colonists along with Hellenized Jews, but also among the settlers were freed Judean slaves and other middle-easterners. (Morris 18) This made for a melting pot of traditions, customs, and beliefs. And in conjunction with the economic promise of the city, this relative freedom and safety produced some interesting problems for the spiritual life of the Corinthian church that Paul...
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... Peace Way of life Surrender Who are the Muslims? A Muslim, literally is someone who submits to God. A Muslim is someone who practices Islam. No such thing as Islamics, Muslamics, Mozlems, Muhammadins, etc. All believers and followers of Islam are Muslim. All Prophets (peace be upon them all) embodied this concept of submitting to One God Muslims believe that the universe (sun, planets, earth, trees, stars, protons, electrons, everything) has submitted itself to God. Who are the Muslims? Islam is not a new religion established by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) It is a continuation of the same message sent to Adam, Moses, Jesus, Abraham and all the other biblical and judaic prophets (peace be upon them all) Islam is to recognize and worship the one and only God, do good actions, and one will be held accountable in the hereafter Who are the Muslims? Muslims come from a wide variety backgrounds, races, ethnicities, colors, and peoples. Population Distribution Largest population: • Indonesia Arabs: • ~300 million • ~20% of Muslim population Total World: • ~1.5 billion • ~20% (1 in 5 people) American Population • 3 million + at least! Some estimates upto 10 Beliefs and Practices “Six Pillars of Belief” Allah :: God Mala'ikah :: Angels Rusul :: Prophets Kutub :: Books / Revelations Al-akhirah :: Hereafter Qada' and Qadir :: Divine knowledge Beliefs and Practices Allah means ...
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...How Can We Know the Bible Is the Word of God? A Religion Profile from International Students, Inc. The Question Posed Christians claim the Bible is God’s Word. That means that they believe the Bible is a verbal revelation from God that makes it unique from every other book. But how can such a claim be verified? First, we would expect certain things to be true about a book from God. Such characteristics might also be true about humanly-authored books, but we would expect that, at the very least, they would be true about God’s book. Such characteristics would include the following: • It would claim to be God’s Word. • It would be historically accurate when it speaks on historical matters. • Its authors would be trustworthy. • It would be thematically unified and without contradictions. • We would have received accurate copies of the original manuscripts. Second, because God is unique, His book would bear characteristics that could be true of it alone. Such characteristics would distinguish God’s book from all other books in such a way that it could not be counterfeited. These characteristics would include the following: • It would make statements that would reveal knowledge about the way things work beyond the knowledge of its day. • It would make predictions about the future that could not be known through natural means. • The message would be unique. • The messengers would be confirmed by miracles. • The words would have a transforming power. Now let’s look at the characteristics...
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...THE THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF RUDOLF BULTMANN one briefly explain the theological of a man whose diversified writings first book How the present decade? Is it extend fromahissignificance review ina 1908 to possible for short essay to disclose fundamental unity in topics which range from source criticism, the history of religion, literary criticism, classical philology, technical exegesis, Gnostic studies, existential philosophy, and hermeneutics to the Gifford Lectures, the theological essay, popular and literate dialogue about the Church, demythologizing, and the relation of the New Testament to daily life?3 If the theological significance is judged in terms of intellectual climate, moral force, and scholarly style or by the more tangible but subtle influence on several generations of scholars, then the theological significance seems almost as elusive as it is palpable. Fortunately, diversity of form and subject is more apparent than real. The theological atmosphere and problematic shaped by Bultmann may be traced to concepts and procedures available to any critical reader. While it is quite correct to note, as did Hans Jonas on the Feiertag celebrated in honor of Bultmann in Marburg, November 16,1976, that it is impossible to separate the man from his writings, for he lived as he wrote,4 we are not here primarily concerned with Bultmann's personal psychological integrity, striking as it is. It may, however, be accurate to say that this escalating unity of life and work...
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...economic depression in the late 40’s. Since there was little separation from Idealism and the standard higher critical views of Old Testament that had prevailed for the past fifty years, there was cause for some rethinking about the Old Testament and the associated religion. This rethinking was led by William F. Albright, G. Ernest Wright, and others of the Harvard Divinity School. Sixty years later, it is widely accepted that Israelite religion is just one more West Semitic religion and that its characteristic features can be fully explained on through evolutionary change. Oswalt writes that no new discoveries led to this dramatic change in thinking. Because of the work of Karl Barth in 1950, the scholarly world was ready the idea of revelation in ways not found in the last couple of generations. Revelation assumes that this world is not self-explanatory and that some communication from beyond the world is necessary to explain it. Oswalt states that this idea is distasteful to humans in that humans are not in control of their own destiny. Although the biblical and Near Eastern data had not changed at all, the possible ways of explaining that data did change. Here, another feature of the Old Testament enters the discussion: the obvious similarities that exist between the literature and culture of Israel and the literatures and cultures of Israel’s neighbors....
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