ET SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

ENGLISH BIBLE STUDY METHODS

Fall 2010

William P. “Bill” Griffin, Ph.D.

Course Description: English Bible Study Methods will teach students a variety of ways to study God’s Word. We will begin with a look at how the Bible came together, how and why we have different translations of the Bible, various ways to study passages of the Bible, how to do careful topical studies in the Bible, and how to use some of the essential tools for studying the Scriptures.

The course is intended to give you tools which will help you study the Bible for your own benefit or for presentation in some public setting (such as a Sunday school class, a devotional, a sermon, etc.).

Course Calendar/Plan of Action (see below for more detailed info, including terms, links, and whiteboards)

Textbooks:

1. The main textbook is the Bible. I recommend that you have at least one version from each of the top two groupings, and consider the “less literal” version optional:

a. High literal: New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New King James Version, King James Version.

b. Medium literal: New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, Revised Standard Version.

c. Less literal: Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation.

2. A good one-volume Bible dictionary (not a Bible handbook). Please avoid really old ones (e.g., Smith’s). Ones I suggest you consider purchasing include:

a. The New Bible Dictionary, 3^rd edition.

b. The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary.

3. Access to either an electronic Bible search program (if you have internet access you have this) or a paper concordance.

Please feel free to email me with your questions and comments at ebsm@drbill.net

INFORMATION FOR EACH WEEK

1. (9/19) Introduction/Bible background—How we got the Bible.

Axioms (Griffinisms):

· The best Bible study you will ever do is the Bible study you do.

· The most important principle of Biblical interpretation is this: To interpret the Bible you must read it.

· The translation of the Bible you read is better than the translation of the Bible you don't read.

Terms:

· Canon: the authoritative, divinely inspired list of books for the Old and New Testaments.

· Targum: a translation of part of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Aramaic. The character of the translation is a mixture of translation and sermon.

· Codex: the form of a book which, unlike a scroll, has individual pages which are sewn together in a form which we are accustomed to.

· Josephus: a first century Jewish historian.

· Septuagint (LXX): translations of Old Testament books into Greek from the 3^rd to 1^st centuries BC.

· Masoretic Text (MT): a Hebrew copy of the Old Testament which is about a thousand years old.

· Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS): Old Testament and other documents from 250BC to AD 60, found near the Dead Sea from 1947 to the present. Click this link for my brief introduction to the DSS.

Whiteboards:

Bible history

How Bible translation works

Various Bible translations

Homework:

Read a chapter of the Bible in 3 different versions and compare them.

You can find different translations at these websites: www.blueletterbible.org and www.biblegateway.com

2. (10/3) Looking for theology, types of context

John 1--Who is Jesus? What does He do?

Homework: Acts 2-5, same questions, create a list, categorize it.

3. (10/10) Main ideas, underlying ideas, context

Author’s intention/inspiration