The author’s issues and concerns of the Old Testament
The book assigned for my evaluation is John Goldingay’s Old Testament Theology: Israel’s Gospel. There are several kinds of concerns that John Golidngay addresses, in relation to the Old Testament, in the introduction of this book. The first statement that stood out to me was, “The expression ‘Old Testament theology’ suffers from a number of disadvantages and ambiguities, but I have retained it in the title for this book because of its value connotations with regard to my subject (though for some people these are negative value connotations).” (15) In this statement the author speaks about the term Old Testament, which often bringing forth various preconceived notions that individuals bring as they read it. Similar to the issue we discovered in Old Testament Theology class, we all came in to the class with our ideas of what represented the Old Testament. Bringing preconceived notions of reading often limits the reader, if the reader is not open to learning additional information about the text. The author states, “I do not care for the phrase ‘Old Testament,’ which we inherit from some time in the patristic period, because it rather suggests something antiquated and inferior left behind by a dead person.” (15) What the author states shows that he wants the readers to be open minded and expand their thinking of the Old Testament to more than a time period or something that is no longer relevant. The author also
The Old Testament clearly displays that the Israelites were the “Chosen” people of God and while there are many events that show destruction of other civilizations, conversion was certainly acceptable to Old Testament thinking. Judaism is not a conversion religion, but it is not opposed to taking in those who will obey the laws of the tradition, and worship Yahweh. The attitude of the Bible is that the Israelites had committed many sins, but would always be forgiven by God. This is evident in Isaiah 4:1 which states, “ Israel needs to be comforted and she will receive more from God” (NIV Isaiah 40:1) While Judaism and the doctrines and texts had many violent moments, there were also peaceful resolutions for many of the stories, and within
In the Beginning: At the beginning of the universe. God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh. During those six days God spoke to the darkness and created the world, brought forth light, created the sky, land and animals and plants to inhabit them. However, even during this creation he was contemplating the creation of a being made in his own image.
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 whole book of Deuteronomy is telling the story of a people that made a deal with God. They made promises to serve him according to the way that he wanted to be served. Deuteronomy laid out all the wonderful things that would happen to them if they were obedient and kept their promises. It also laid out what would happen if they did not keep their promise. It was pretty harsh too.
scholarship. I feel that chapter four is more important than chapter three because the topic is
Joseph M. Bolton RELS 103-02 Online Old Testament Studies Spring Semester 2011 Session E May 8, 2011 to July 2, 2011 The Old Testament TimeLine Creation & Primeval History The Creation: * God creates the Heavens and the Earth * God creates man in his image. *
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of thy womb a reward.
An examination of Israelite theology goes beyond finding similarities and differences, it should articulate the relationships which existed and clarify the cultural context. Otherwise, the mere interpretation of text may lead to interpretation with a theological significance based on our understanding.
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 word ‘covenant’ is, in the Old Testament, it is the Hebrew word ‘berith’ and is used
There were at least 3 views of how the Old Testament was composed which include the critical view, the compositional view, and the common view. Each view was somewhat similar and different in the aspects that gave it it's own characteristics. The main point of this discussion is to focus on the similarities and differences of each view which are but not limited to how the bible was created, the process, and design.
Genesis 1-3 offered the very first outline of societal norms and therein introduced interpretations of norms related to family, gender, and sex. In our now-progressive society, the constraints of indubitable religion are removed and the differing interpretations of gender, sex, and family within religion are freely debated. Since the text of creation is divine and human logic cannot fully interpret or understand God’s word, there are copious, varying interpretations of the text. An essential starting point for interpreting the Bible is the understanding that misinterpretations are bound to happen. The difference in time and context alone is causation, let alone the factors of translation and transcription. Susan T. Foh and Carol Meyers, both graduates of Wellesley College, have very differing strategies regarding how to interpret divine texts. Meyers, a professor at Duke, directed attention towards the context in which the text was written. Since our societies are constantly in flux, the context from when the text was written is often different from the context in which predominant and accepted interpretations were fabricated. Foh’s strategy of interpreting and understanding the text is to utilize latter parts of the text, which were written with more recent contexts, in order to understand the text. Both of these methodologies set up the text to be re-interpreted, however, Foh’s methodology is more complete because it allows the text to speak for itself rather than bring in
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
The Christian Bible, the Hebrew Scripture, The Muslim Koran: Words are Not Important, Our Actions Are
Moses was a beautiful child born of the tribe of Levi to Amram, a man of the house of Levi and Jochebed. Being a Hebrew, he was born in a foreign nation, Egypt, at a time when his race was subjected to slavery. The Pharaoh noticed that the number of Hebrew children and slaves was steadily increasing. He gave a decree to have all male children killed out of fear that one day, the slave laborers would riot and rebel against him.