An Introduction to the Bible
COURSE OUTLINE, VIDEOS & READINGS
5 June, 2024
Wrestling with the Text
An overview of the Bible, its contents and divisions, narrative and poetic aspects, the period covered and its arc.
Reader presup-positions - you can't live with them and ...
Ways of reading.
Is there is a single theme or message?
The operating rhythm of the course.
PREPARATION
NONE THIS WEEK
QUESTIONS
1 How would you describe the Bible to someone unfamiliar with it?
2 Given the long time period covered by the Bible, what challenges might arise in trying to interpret it?
3 What assumptions, biases and presuppositions do readers bring to the text and how can these shape interpretation?
4 Is there a single, golden thread that ties the whole Bible together (kind of like that rug in "The Big Lebowski")? If so, what is it?
12 June, 2024
In the Beginning
Genesis 1-11
From the creation of the cosmos to the tower of Babel by way of the garden and the flood.
QUESTIONS
1 How are the different accounts of creation similar and in what respects are they different?
2 In what ways does the story of the flood mirror that of the creation?
3 What is the anthropology of the narrative, i.e. What does it suggest concerning the nature of humanity?
4 The genealogies in chapters 4, 5, and 11 span long periods of time. What role might they play in the overall narrative?
19 June, 2024
Wrestling with God
Genesis 12-50
The covenant that God made with a wandering Aramean and his descendants during the Middle Bronze Age.
QUESTIONS
1 COMING SOON
26 June, 2024
26 June, 2024
I am what I am
Exodus
Moses, Pharaoh, and the Exodus
PREPARATION
Exodus
QUESTIONS
1 COMING SOON