Literary Elements Of The Odyssey

The process by which Scripture has been preserved and compiled is one whose history is worth noting. The early church had many opportunities to share the Good News of Christ via word of mouth, but from the time of Christ’s resurrection until the mid-second century, there had not been a single culmination of writings considered to be essential for the purposes of

The first letter to the Christian community was sent from Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, though Paul was the main author. Paul was writing to them to clear up their misunderstandings about the return of Christ, also considers it as instructions in holy living. Paul wrote about his longing to visit the church in Thessalonica but

“The Church has always and everywhere maintained, and continues to maintain, the apostolic origin of the four Gospels. The apostles preached, as Christ had charged them to do, and then, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they and others of the apostolic age handed on to us in writing the same message they had preached, the

This section of the site contains a letter known as the Heiligenstdt Testament. It was

Paul wanted to keep pressing west and therefore only occasionally had the opportunity to revisit his churches. He tried to keep up his converts’ spirits, answer their questions, and resolve their problems by letter. Fortunately, after his death one of his followers collected some of the letters, edited them and published them. His letters are some of the earliest Christian documents that we have. His letters became part of the New Testament of the Bible.

Paul’s letters pre-date the gospels. What do they reveal about the message that the apostle was preaching about Jesus at this early stage in Christian history? To what extent does it concur with Luke’s gospel?

Whether they are found in the Bible or a fairy tale story book, many of the stories we all love today have one thing in common, they all contain a prophecy. But what is prophecy? A prophecy is a prediction of what the future holds for a character, whether it be to slay a dragon, become king, or even to kill one’s own father and marry their mother. Prophecies may change from one story to the next, but one thing remains constant; a character will change their attitude and outlook on life once they have heard the prophecy of what they are destined to become.

The most known books of the New Testament are the Gospels. These four books are written by four different people, yet they all align with the same content. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John present the good news as eyewitnesses. Although the canon was not yet formed, the agreement by the four men on the actual occurrence of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus aligned to the others. The Gospel had been known in the churches. Alexander Souter states, The Gospel was something well known in the churches, a document or body of documents, to which it was sufficient to appeal without further specification.” The letters written by Paul in the New

Letters are the second literary form, the New Testament has twenty one letters that offer views of Christians in there difficulties in following Jesus, these letters were written between 30-60 CE.

The abundance of letter writing practices that came from the ancient civilizations made way for letters to become a powerful way of communication for the early Christian Church (Herrick). To begin with, the books of the New Testament-outside of the gospels-are in the forms of letters. The letters explore everything from narratives of miracles to prayers to warnings. The different subjects are told through letters and are further explored through the

In E. Randolph Richards’ book, Paul and First-Century Letter Writing, Richards begins with explanations as to why letters in antiquity would give us insight to the people writing and receiving them, as well as how Paul’s and other letters from antiquity gives us a broader perspective of those times. The purpose of this book is to illustrate the basic mechanics of letter writing, explain how it was part of the culture of antiquity (p. 15) and also showcases Richards’ perspective on how we should examine and interpret Paul’s letters.

In the different views of interpretation of the book of Revelation, the futurist (eschatological) position describes the prophecies of the book as happening in the end times. God has revealed that He will pour out His wrath on sinners and unbelievers at the end of the age. In the book, the Apostle Paul has laid out what these coming judgments will look like. In Matthew 24, Jesus Himself, when asked when and what will be the signs, gave a distinct description of what the world will look like preceding the final judgments. Looking at current events in the world today gives a picture of the beginnings or the birth pangs of the Great Tribulation.

The letters 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus have been classified as the “Pastoral Epistles”. Each letter helps to outline the qualification, development, and promotion of leaders; organizational structures for the care, compensation, and discipline of members; and the setting and implementation of individual and organizational goals. However, they are manly concerned with the good governance, effectiveness, and growth of the church.

The previous section of the letter is the introduction and Paul’s note of thanks for the Corinthian believers. There is a distinct note of commendation and love in the first section before Paul begins to condemn and exhort the Corinthians for their poor behavior. Much of this behavior is linked to their boasting about their wisdom, or the wisdom of those whom they choose to follow. Therefore, much of Paul’s teaching is in relation to true wisdom, as opposed to worldly wisdom. Paul continues to address the issue of factions in the church by further concentrating on the issue of wisdom, before he begins approaching other issues from the report in chapters 5 and 6. Following this, Paul begins to address the questions posed by the

Anderson and Freedman says that Chapter 4 and 5 are called the "unit of Book of Visions." "The first item in the Book of Visions is an apocalypse, a vision of the end and consummation of history." Based on the understanding of the latter days in verse 4:1 that denote the final period of history and is not a technical expression for the end of history, I do not agree that this passage can be treated as an apocalypse. Ben Zvi says that "some have claimed that 4:1-4 reflects (post monarchic) temple liturgies, and particularly those associated with the dedication of the (second) temple." Allen maintains that 4:1-5 is a poem "closely connected with the cultic traditions attested in the hymnbook" but associates with times earlier than the historical