The title of my course is N.T. Survey: The Gospels. The instructor is Dr. Kevin Hester. I will be watching four DVDs this week. The title of my book is JESUS AND THE GOSPELS. The author is Craig L. Blomberg. I will be reading three chapters this week.
The first DVD talks about the N.T. canon. There were several people who were responsible for this. Most of the names are hard to pronounce. It did talk about four criteria that a book had to meet in order to be in the N.T. They are apostolicity, orthodoxy, universality, and use in the Church.
The book is talking about different types of criticisms. This does not mean to "talk down" about the Bible. It does mean ways of discovering accuracy in the texts. Some of it is helpful, but some of it seems like just another way to try and disprove the Word of God.
My course started with about the same thing. It lists the 4 things as 1. use of writing in the community 2. quotations in ancient lit. (OT) 3. Apostolic origin (relate to Apostles) 4. rule of faith & practice (orthodoxy) This definetely was needed, but even afterwards people interpret it different and we have different denominations because of it. I'm finding the more I study it, the less I know. But I also am realizing that I need to just allow it be applied to my life,(not sure if that describes what I'm thinking, applied meaning a "part" of) and thats really why God gave it to us. I feel that unless we allow it be that, we're really just trying to justify our actions or thoughts.
As you said, "criticism", in ths context, does not mean to "talk down about." However, there were some Bible schlars, who talked about "Higher criticism." They were mostly not orthodox (what we would loosely call, "liberal.") They did seem to do a lot of harm because they did not accept things such as miracles, etc. It looks sort of like a bunch of "unbelievers" talking about the Bible.
Their is another type of criticism that is engaged in by Bible believing Christians. It is called textual criticism. It basically is involved in trying to discover the accurate words that were probably in the original manuscripts of Scripture. The oldest things we have are based on handwritten copies of the originals. So, that type of criticism does not destroy faith, nor does it attempt to tear down Scripture. Rather, it ia an attempt to delve into the Word of God. Textual criticism is also an attempt not to twist the words of Scripture, but to portray those words and their meanings accurately.
Summary: (In my mind, and a little oversimplified) "Higher Criticism" = "Bad." "Textual Criticism" (Sometimes called "Lower Criticism) = "Good!"
The nest DVD talks about the paper that the original manuscripts were on. This was called papyrus. It was not a very good form of paper. It broke down rather quickly. This may be why the original manuscripts are gone.
One thing that the "critical" scholars are not taking into account is the role of the Holy Spirit. They don't believe in Him, so they can't "see past there own nose". I think that God made it that way so we would have to step out in faith. These scholars are very knowledgeable. But there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.
Hey Tyler, hope your having a good week. But I was thinking about criticisms, and how negative that sounds, and knowing me the way I do I know I don't handle criticism in a way I could benefit from it. How did Jesus's ministry benefit from criticism? Or maybe his disciples benefitted from criticism?
Tyler, the critical scholars that don't take into account the Holy Spirit and so forth were the "Higher Critics" I talked about earlier.
Roger, you are using criticism in its usual sense as we know it. That is different what is being described by some uses of the word in scholarly religious circles. However, your question is a very good one about how Jesus and the disciples could have benefitted in criticism.
I can think of one right off the bat. The criticism could have caused gossip and gossip spreads. That could have caused curiosity and perhaps cause many of the common people to be interested in what jesus had to say.
Maybe it was like one guy told a reporter, "I don't care what you print. Just make sure my name is spelled right."
When Jesus was criticised, He would simply show what He could do. As far as the disciples go, I think about the time when Jesus and the "three" came down from the mountain of transfiguration. The remaining disciples where probably getting criticised for their inability to help. Even Jesus was frustrated with them. Not them as people, just their lack of faith. I wonder how many times Jesus feels that way about us?
Bro Randy, textual criticism is a huge thing with my Sunday School Teacher. When we read and see a "therefore", "and" , "wherefore" we must go back and read preceding verses and that is a good type of criticism.
Tyler, some some things in God's creation that still just amazes me. One thing is how our paper is made, and that amazes me that whatever they (the paper makers) made it out of it would hold up as well as it did. Papyrus amazing. Have a blessed day.
It is interesting to think about how God works. If they would have been able to make paper like what we have today, we may very well still have the original manuscripts today. It takes faith to believe the Bible and the things that it teaches. We have to have faith in order to please God.
One area of textual criticism I've heard of is that words have been mistranslated in the Bible. I've read that the Red Sea is actually the sea of reeds. This again is something trivial but still makes me think about how before there was paper, all was passed down orally, so if something is mistranslated from paper, it could have been influenced humanly. Now in saying that, I believe the "ultimate truth" or idea behind any of it still is the same. So again, I think its a way of seperating instead of uniting if you dwell on it too much. Have any of you ever thought about this or have any thoughts on it?
Well Guys, I'm not sure I understand yet about "Higher Criticism", Textual Criticism is understandable, almost self-explanatory. Could someone help me out before I have to do that study. May God richly bless you.
You will notice some posts below that relate to various topics of discussion by our online community of preachers.
One of the purposes of Preachers' Meeting is to provide a place for young ministers or those recently called to preach to interact around the principles in a course of study recommended by our local group of preachers in the Southern Illinois area.
We invite you to look in on our conversations. If you would like to add comments as a guest, you are welcome to do so. If this looks interesting to you, you may join us as we start a new session. You can look in the side bar (or sometimes it is moved to right below this post) to see the weekly requirements. We start new courses every 8 or 9 weeks. As already mentioned, you are welcome to comment as a guest before that time.
Below these posts, you will see the word, "comments." Just click on it, and you will see a box on the right side of the screen where you may add your comments.
Look around. Enjoy yourself, and come back often!
Weekly Requirements
Here is a review of the general requirements for each week.
You have three assignments each week
(1) Make at least two initial posts in your posting area. The first one will be the name of the course, and the names (or numbers of the DVD's) of the chapters or lectures you will be covering during the week. The second one will be a comment on one of those chapters. You will receive one point for getting the first post in on Tuesday or Wednesday. You will also get a point for getting at least one more initial post in.
(2) Go to your fellow student's posting areas, and ask them a question or make comments about their intial posts. You will recieve one point for completing this assignment before 12:00 a.m. on Friday morning (that would be before midnight on Thursday).
(3) Answer the questions asked.
(4) On Fridays, I will also give directions for making remaining posts during the week. Be sure and read those, and take them into account when making at least one of your remaining posts.
In all, we want to make at least nine posts during the week. You will receive points for that as follows:
9 or more posts - 12 points
6-8 posts - 10 points
3-5 posts - 6 points
1-2 posts - 3 points
You will have the extra points you had accumulated by getting things in on time. Those are bonus points that will be used only to move your grade closer to 100 if you need them. They will be awarded each week if needed to move your grade up to 12 for the week. If you do not need them for that week, they will be carried over to the next week(s). Remember the posts that count for points will be at least three sentences long.
Thoughts on Application
Roger gave some good thoughts on application:
"Chapter 75, titled: 'Apply Within' is a lesson in application. The writer explains why it is sometimes difficult applying a sermon to real life situations. I will list some of the reasons application is not applied to our lives.
"First it is "hard work", it is hard to find application to every situation in the congregation,
"second, is wrong assumptions, assuming the audience is able to apply any and all biblical truths is totally a wrong assumption,
"third, is fear, fear of being to deep or to simplistic in the text and failing at application, and then there is training or lack thereof,
"many preachers know the text, and the history and the order of things but are totally untrained in application. One gentleman said it this way," how can you be a good football player when you can pass the ball, or when you can kick the ball, or when you can run with the ball but you don't know the rules of the game."
If you live in the souther Illinois area, we would like to invite you to a Couples' Marriage Enrichment Seminar on Saturday, February 27. It starts at 6:00 p.m and will run to 9:00 p.m.
After the welcome, there will be a dinner. Then there will be an opening session, followed by two breakout sessions, then a short closing.
The Keynote Speaker is Dr. Randy Carney (That's me :)!) and Roger and Janet Dutton will be speaking during the breakout sessions (That's Roger, who is commenting on this blog during this term!). Randy and Rhonda (my wife!) Carney will also have a breakout session discussing "Keys to Marital Bliss."
The Keynote Address will be on the topic of "The Way to a Successful Marriage: The Shocking and Surprising Truth."
Roger and Janet will be talking about "Hope for Restoring your marriage."
The cost is $15.00 per couple and that includes a dinner and all seminar materials. A nursery and childcare will be available. (Please indicate that you need these services when you register.) A book table with resources from Handfuls on Purpose Christian Bookstore will be available.
The seminar is for couples of all ages, ranging from newlyweds to marriage veterans!
To register, call 618-627-2228 to let the church know how may will be attending. Payment can be made at the event. (Make checks to TFBC.) For more information, call the church at 618-627-2228.
The Greatest Love
Since Valentine's Day falls on Sunday this year, I imagine there will be a ton of sermons going out on the topic of love.
Paul talked about love and respect in marriage (Ephesians 5), but he was really saying that that was an illustration of the relationship between Christ and the church.
Christ
Left Heaven to come to this earth.
He
Overcame adversity while here. He even conquered death!
He
Valued mankind so much that He gave Himself on the cross.
He desires fellowship with us. He reconciled the world to Himself, so that people could have an
Intimate realtionship with Him.
He meets all of our
Needs.
He is the supreme example of
Giving.
Do you see the word, LOVING, there? That is what He is--our LOVING Savior! Because of that, we should love one another.
Course 11 Week 4
Scroll down to the week 4 area to begin commenting.
Dealing with the Closed American Mind
One of the chapters Roger is reading is entitled, (something like) "Dealing with the Closed American Mind." I don't know if it is mentioned in the chapter, but I suspect that if you tak about something where a person has a felt need, you can gain their hearing somewhat.
What are your thoughts?
You may scroll down and comment in the week 3 comments area. Visitors are welcome to comment also.
Connecting with Postmoderns
This is something most preachers do every Sunday. If you have young unchurched visitors in your church, you will be trying to reach postmoderns. Even some of your church youth are more influenced by postmodernism than by their previous Sunday school teaching.
Here is my reply to one of Roger's posts:
"Roger, what tips stand out to you for commecting with postmoderns? I think the term modern referred to an age in history that related to new thoughts in science, etc. (If I am off base, refresh my memory.) Post modern refers to the time following that era. Connecting with postmoderns is something you have to do, whether you realize it or not, almost every time you preach."
I will post some of his answers here if he sees the question in time.
Preaching--Proclamation of God's Word
Preaching, by one definition, is the proclamation of God's Word. As such, a person, can take the Scriptural passage and find some of its main points and emphasize those points.
While I believe we should learn all we can about the grammatical construction of the words of Scripture, and that we should learn all we can about the historical setting for when those words were originally spoken; the nice thing about proclaiming the Word is that you can just take what the text says and emphasize it. Then the Word will not return void.
People with all different types of backgrounds have been called to preach throughout the centuries. Some very "unlearned" (as the world would put it) men have had great results by simply taking the main ideas of Scripture and simply emphasizing them. As long as we do not twist the meaning, this simply shows the amazing power of the Word of God.
New Format
I am going to try putting my comments for each day in this left sidebar. The comments areas for the remaining weeks are displayed to the right. That is where you will place your comments for each week.
16 comments:
The title of my course is N.T. Survey: The Gospels. The instructor is Dr. Kevin Hester. I will be watching four DVDs this week. The title of my book is JESUS AND THE GOSPELS. The author is Craig L. Blomberg. I will be reading three chapters this week.
4. Historical Criticism of the Gospels
5.Literary Criticism of the Gospels
6. The Gospel of Mark
The first DVD talks about the N.T. canon. There were several people who were responsible for this. Most of the names are hard to pronounce. It did talk about four criteria that a book had to meet in order to be in the N.T. They are apostolicity, orthodoxy, universality, and use in the Church.
The book is talking about different types of criticisms. This does not mean to "talk down" about the Bible. It does mean ways of discovering accuracy in the texts. Some of it is helpful, but some of it seems like just another way to try and disprove the Word of God.
My course started with about the same thing. It lists the 4 things as
1. use of writing in the community
2. quotations in ancient lit. (OT)
3. Apostolic origin (relate to Apostles)
4. rule of faith & practice (orthodoxy)
This definetely was needed, but even afterwards people interpret it different and we have different denominations because of it. I'm finding the more I study it, the less I know. But I also am realizing that I need to just allow it be applied to my life,(not sure if that describes what I'm thinking, applied meaning a "part" of) and thats really why God gave it to us. I feel that unless we allow it be that, we're really just trying to justify our actions or thoughts.
As you said, "criticism", in ths context, does not mean to "talk down about." However, there were some Bible schlars, who talked about "Higher criticism." They were mostly not orthodox (what we would loosely call, "liberal.") They did seem to do a lot of harm because they did not accept things such as miracles, etc. It looks sort of like a bunch of "unbelievers" talking about the Bible.
Their is another type of criticism that is engaged in by Bible believing Christians. It is called textual criticism. It basically is involved in trying to discover the accurate words that were probably in the original manuscripts of Scripture. The oldest things we have are based on handwritten copies of the originals. So, that type of criticism does not destroy faith, nor does it attempt to tear down Scripture. Rather, it ia an attempt to delve into the Word of God. Textual criticism is also an attempt not to twist the words of Scripture, but to portray those words and their meanings accurately.
Summary: (In my mind, and a little oversimplified) "Higher Criticism" = "Bad."
"Textual Criticism" (Sometimes called "Lower Criticism) = "Good!"
The nest DVD talks about the paper that the original manuscripts were on. This was called papyrus. It was not a very good form of paper. It broke down rather quickly. This may be why the original manuscripts are gone.
One thing that the "critical" scholars are not taking into account is the role of the Holy Spirit. They don't believe in Him, so they can't "see past there own nose". I think that God made it that way so we would have to step out in faith. These scholars are very knowledgeable. But there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.
Hey Tyler, hope your having a good week. But I was thinking about criticisms, and how negative that sounds, and knowing me the way I do I know I don't handle criticism in a way I could benefit from it. How did Jesus's ministry benefit from criticism? Or maybe his disciples benefitted from criticism?
Tyler, the critical scholars that don't take into account the Holy Spirit and so forth were the "Higher Critics" I talked about earlier.
Roger, you are using criticism in its usual sense as we know it. That is different what is being described by some uses of the word in scholarly religious circles. However, your question is a very good one about how Jesus and the disciples could have benefitted in criticism.
I can think of one right off the bat. The criticism could have caused gossip and gossip spreads. That could have caused curiosity and perhaps cause many of the common people to be interested in what jesus had to say.
Maybe it was like one guy told a reporter, "I don't care what you print. Just make sure my name is spelled right."
Sean and Tyler what do you think?
When Jesus was criticised, He would simply show what He could do. As far as the disciples go, I think about the time when Jesus and the "three" came down from the mountain of transfiguration. The remaining disciples where probably getting criticised for their inability to help. Even Jesus was frustrated with them. Not them as people, just their lack of faith. I wonder how many times Jesus feels that way about us?
Bro Randy, textual criticism is a huge thing with my Sunday School Teacher. When we read and see a "therefore", "and" , "wherefore" we must go back and read preceding verses and that is a good type of criticism.
Tyler, some some things in God's creation that still just amazes me. One thing is how our paper is made, and that amazes me that whatever they (the paper makers) made it out of it would hold up as well as it did. Papyrus amazing. Have a blessed day.
It is interesting to think about how God works. If they would have been able to make paper like what we have today, we may very well still have the original manuscripts today. It takes faith to believe the Bible and the things that it teaches. We have to have faith in order to please God.
One area of textual criticism I've heard of is that words have been mistranslated in the Bible. I've read that the Red Sea is actually the sea of reeds. This again is something trivial but still makes me think about how before there was paper, all was passed down orally, so if something is mistranslated from paper, it could have been influenced humanly. Now in saying that, I believe the "ultimate truth" or idea behind any of it still is the same. So again, I think its a way of seperating instead of uniting if you dwell on it too much. Have any of you ever thought about this or have any thoughts on it?
Well Guys, I'm not sure I understand yet about "Higher Criticism", Textual Criticism is understandable, almost self-explanatory. Could someone help me out before I have to do that study. May God richly bless you.
You'll recognize it when you get there. I know the definition of higher criticism is vague to you now. They will explain it more later.
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