1) clearly describe/summarize the content of the reading and (2) offer a brief critique of the content of the essay/reading. The student should especially attempt to answer the following basic questions:
1. What is the core topic/issue addressed in the reading?
2. What main claim or thesis (or claims/theses) is made by the author of the reading?
3. What subtopics are addressed and what key points are made regarding each subtopic?
4. What are some positive insights offered in the reading?
5. What are some difficulties or unwanted implications of the ideas presented in the reading?
6. How do the issues, ideas, and themes presented in the reading affect how one might integrate the themes or concepts of the Old Testament into contemporary life
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In the paper “Old Testament and Christianity” written by Michael Robinson, he explains both the differences and agreements with relationship to Theology and Divine Law. Even with this controversy, the Christian belief is that there is only one God, He is the creator of everything, and that the Bible is the word of God.
Theology Throughout Christianity there are essential theological agreements, these core beliefs can be traced back to early Jewish beliefs and are reiterated in both the Old and New Testament. These core beliefs about God are:
a. There is only one God
b. This one God is the one revealed in the history of Israel
c. God is Creator
d. God is almighty, sovereign, Lord of all
e. God is righteous and demands righteousness from humans
f. God is merciful, long-suffering, loving, and acts in history to save God’s people
g. God is faithful to the divine promise and covenants
The core beliefs about humans are:
a. Humans are creatures of God
b. Humans are in God’s image and valued by God
c. Humans are obligated to honor and obey
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Much of the New Testament not only refers to Jesus as Lord but Jesus also is described as having the same attributes as the Hebrew God. This was obviously a great paradigm shift for Hebrews living during and after the time of Jesus. Many of the writers in the New Testament seemed to purposely reinforce this idea of Jesus is Lord. Jesus never directly called himself God but in John 14:9 he said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”.
Divine Law Many Christians do not understand the laws, rituals, and practices in the Old Testament and had many ethical disagreements with them, such as sacrificing animals and circumcision.
Essential Ethical Agreement Many of the principles from the Old Testament carry over and are easily agreed by Christians. The examples given are:
a. God is holy/righteous and calls humans to holiness/righteousness
b. One should love God and love one’s neighbor
c. One should obey the essence of the Ten Commandments
d. Importance of both personal righteousness and social justice (care for the poor)
e. Prohibition against sexual
Ethics can be defined as ‘Human moral conduct according to principles of what is good or right to do’. In Christianity there are certain ethical teachings, mainly The Ten Commandments, Beatitudes, and Jesus’ commandments of love. The Ten Commandments are derived from the Old Testament which defines what people must do in order to serve God faithfully and gives direction on how to live a life according to the covenant and in essence to be a good Christian person. In the New Testament the Beatitudes and Jesus’ commandments of love are found. With love being the main concept of these teachings, they and the Ten Commandments can be seen as alike as they
The Old Testament is the largest part of the bible nestled behind the leather binding in the front of the book. Unlike most books, told from one-person or even two this is comprised of multiple, some stories even having two different versions in another point of view; over time it has become a large collection of ancient texts written and re-written by different authors and editors over the many years. The stories show the ancient Israelites, they show the laws, and rituals, which make up their religion and the small embers, which will one day, turn to a flame that is Christianity. The Jewish people view these stories as collected in what they call the Torah, is the collection for what makes up their history and the promise that God gave to them, as well as their laws and what they worship today. For the Christians the Old Testament is still seen as sacred, but most place a stronger importance to the New Testament.
The Heart of the Old Testament written by Ronald Youngblood is an informative and insightful book. Youngblood identifies the nine themes that form the foundation of the Old Testament. These themes show that the Old Testament is not any different from the New Testament and should not be consider irrelevant when compared to the New Testament. The nine themes include monotheism, sovereignty, election, covenant, theocracy, law, sacrifice, faith and redemption.
1). List and explain one concept from each chapter reviewed and how they connect to the facts of this case.
One of the major differences that A.J. Jacobs illuminates as major differences between the world of the Old Testament and our recent society is that the hundreds of laws listed on the 5 first books of the Old Testament might no longer apply to our contemporary society. Some of the reasons these laws are irrational is because they were harsh and basically impossible to achieve. However, I disagree with him in picking and choosing the right parts of the Bible. This is a dangerous statement because it opens the door to pick and choose what fits our model; therefore justification to sin might occur as a consequence. Nevertheless, these laws were given to one group of people, the Jews.
B. Claim about Reading 1 (state what is the claim that you will be making about your first reading.)
1. READING OUTCOME: COMPREHENSION PROCESS WORK: Demonstrate your understanding of the novel by answering the following questions in your journal. Where possible support your ideas with references from the text. Include page numbers for future use.
Summary: Summarize the important aspects of the reading section in a minimum of five sentences. Use main points only, avoid including your personal opinions, and use attributive tags:
Perform a critical analysis of each reading using critical thinking techniques from this week’s readings.
What are the main ideas or key concepts that the reader must understand in order to understand the author’s argument? (100-150
2. Identify the author’s main idea(s). In other words, what is the main point the author is attempting to make about the book?
The history of how the Bible came into existence has been explored for centuries and is an active area of study today. There are many facets to the Bible and each has its own set of unique characteristics and teachings. The Old Testament is considered a contemporary guide for daily living, even though it was composed hundreds of years ago. Where did the Old Testament come from? What are some of the influences that shaped the Old Testament? What are the significant events of the Old Testament? In order to gain a better understanding of the Old Testament and its message to Christians, special consideration is given to its historical and cultural context, and to the major milestones in its development. Personal application of the teachings offered in this section of the Bible should be the aspiration of all Christians today.
The names “Old Testament” and “New Testament” are inherently theological in nature. Because there is a difference distinctly built into giving them different notations, it implies that there are differences between each the Old Testament and the New Testament, whether it is subtle in nature or obvious in nature. To Christians, the difference means that the Old Testament contains dealings between God and the world and even some of the rules made are made irrelevant by the interactions of Christ Jesus with the world. One of the differences between the New Testament and the Old Testament is the way each of the Testaments describe God and God’s nature. The Old Testament describes an angry God, one who only created the world and was obsessed with laws and rules. The New Testament describes a loving God who redeemed the world. The different ways the Old Testament and New Testament describe God and his nature are very much influenced by their perspective of God. By the rules, actions, and laws God made, the early writers of the Old Testament made their judgements about God and wrote those perspectives into the books of the Old Testament. The writers of the Old Testament did the best they could with the information they had and got some things about God right, but also got things wrong. The writers of the New Testament and therefore, Christian believers understand God better.
The Old Testament consisted of a set of documentations of religious scriptures, which were written by different people at various times for a different audience. Most of the Old Testament contains short stories of traditional stories and those stories of distinguished ways God established mankind. These stories are often told to the people in narrative form, which are guidelines often referred to as laws, songs, genealogies, and a list from these authors that composed the Old Testaments. The pressing of set documentation is essential because it is the framework for the lives of God 's followers. The term “Old Testament” originated as a means to express spoken traditions and God 's creation of that particular era. It is an method of philosophical investigation was designed to answer the why questions within these spiritual text documentations. These religious documentations consisted of four parts. These four sections retrieved from the Old Testaments are the laws, history, wisdom and prophecy. The laws are a rule of behavior enforced within the community. The rules are sometimes called “Torah.” When analyzing this Torah, these rules viewed within the first five spiritual books of the Bible. For example, in the first Torah in Genesis, it explains the creation, Noah’s Flood, Abraham and Isaac, and Joseph’s coats of many colors. However, the laws in Exodus were in regards to the going out. The going out took about 40 plus years, until the people led to
In addition, the words in the bible are far too contradictory to be the basis of morality. Theological ethics purports that there is an objective criterion for ethics based on divine intentionality. However, the words