Zondervan Study Bible

Michael Joseph Brown, unveils new ways to read and examine the Bible in his book, titled “What They Don’t Tell You: A Survivor’s Guide to Biblical Studies”. Although quite technical, the guide, not book, really goes into depth on the process of studying the Bible and its documents. Brown has a new and refreshing way of giving the reader this information that is necessary in a small group, or for a Biblical scholar. This guide is not meant solely for the biblical scholar and talks in detail about the difference between these two, because some may link the two together. Published by the Westminster John Knox Press, WJK for short, this book gives straight forward answers on the best way to thoroughly understand Biblical text. As you read on

students beginning their journey of academic biblical studies and is supposed to be used as a guide

The Bible in an Hour by Wade Butler splits the Bible up with four different charts. They all cover different parts of the bible. The first chart depicts the whole Bible from beginning to end. Charts two and three covers the themes of the Old Testament. Chart four covers the New Testament.

Tip number one was to watch for things that are repeated. If you run across something that is repeated, it means that it was very important. You will find these types of things all throughout the bible, but the challenge is to see what other do not see. We learned in class that a good bible study is the art of seeing the obvious. Repeated phrases or words are an indication that we should stop and take a second look, maybe even pull that section apart and research it more in depth.

In the book, How We Got the Bible by Neil Lightfoot, the author outline a very concise yet easy to understand outline of how the Bible was first presented to us and how it is able to be delivered to so many people around the world. The book is a classic among reads to do with Bible study and transformations of how we have come to understand the Bible. It contains 224 pages of facts and formation of how the bible is transcribed to us threw the scriptures. Included in the book are chapters that talk about the history of ancient books as well as manuscripts of both the Greek New Testament and the Hebrew Old Testament. Lightfoot also talks about the dead sea scrolls and the roll that they have on the history of the bible. It is important to realize that this

Furthermore, the book How to Read the Bible for all its Worth helps to inform people on

The Bible is a powerful book when it is used correctly. Before taking this class,

Barry, John D. James: Simply the Gospel. Not Your Average Bible Study. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014.

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.

One of the major things that I took from the readings is the process of approaching the scripture. I have always been what I thought was a stickler for the scriptures, and learning what they are trying to communicate, however as I have spent time reading “Bible Study That Works”, and “Inductive Bible Study” I am beginning to discover that I am merely a novice when it comes to studying the scriptures. I have always thought it was important to approach the scriptures from an objective set of lenses, so that one is not miss-interpreting the scriptures, but I did not realize how important the inductive process was to studying.

“Bible in an Hour” is an interesting encapsulation of the thematic that is laid out throughout the entire Bible and how they are linked together in the Old Testament into the New Testament. Reverend Wade Butler does a good, but not a great job at bringing out the whole Biblical explanations. The charts are very helpful to visually see his concept of this theme.

When you read the Bible there are a lot of concepts to keep in mind to fully understand the message a certain passage is saying. Fully understanding and interpreting the true meaning is the most crucial aspect, and Duvall & Hays says that context determines meaning. Ignoring or not fully understanding the context will most likely lead to misinterpretation of a passage; this also relates to the historical-cultural context as well, because without these elements you could make a passage mean what you want it to. In doing so, could result in an improper meaning of a passage, and you may apply your interpretation in a situation that it’s not intended for.

The first 39 books of the larger work called the Bible, is called the Old Testament. The Bible itself is arguably the best selling and most read book of all time, yet it’s well known to be quite challenging to read through and understand. The Old Testament portion of the Bible, notably the most difficult portion of the Bible for most to study and follow, yields 39 books from multiple authors, and spans over 4000 years of crucial world and church history. If that were not enough to take on, the Old Testament comes our way through multiple styles of authorship and formats, including but not limited to, books of history, law, proverbs, ethics,

To truly comprehend a biblical passage, it is important to have knowledge of the ‘hermeneutics which enables an understanding of the locus of meaning and the principles of bible interpretation’ . The audience needs to have a clear interpretation of the biblical passage which includes ‘content and unity of the whole of Scripture if the meaning of the sacred texts is to be correctly worked out’ , this supports the argument that all worlds of the text are equally important. ‘Biblical passages are often taken out of context and interpreted to support a particular viewpoint of justify a particular action’ . It is imperative to note that ‘in order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their