Epistles of Peter
This file includes outlines, introductory material, and the theology of First Peter and Second Peter.
James Handouts
- Structures or Outlines of James 2-7
- Genre of James 8-9
- Theological Foundation of James’ Ethic 10-12
- Jewish Audience 13
- Provenance 14-16
- Dating 17-18
- Authorship 19-26
- James 1:2-15 27-41
- James 1:16-27 42-48
- James 2:1-13 49-57
- James 2:14-26 58-64
- James 3:1-12 65-75
- James 3:13-4:10 (12) 76-85
- James 4:13-5:6 86-94
- James 5:7-20 95-100
- James as a Theologian 101-105
- James as a Moral Theologian 106-119
- James as an Apologist 110-112
- James as a Literary Writer 113-115
The Tongue as a Principality and Power in James 3:1-12
The concept of principalities and powers has usually been associated with Pauline writings. This eschatological language has been interpreted as applying to both heavenly spiritual forces as well as concrete cultural manifestations. In this essay I demonstrate how James’ portrayal of the tongue in chapter 3 is very similar to the descriptions of principalities and powers in Paul. Then secondly I explore a background in Jewish wisdom literature. As a result I conclude that James employs the language of wisdom literature and the dual nature of principality and power language to describe the cosmic nature of the tongue. The tongue, therefore, as exhibited in contemporary media and technological speech propaganda must be seen through the lens of the New Testament descriptions of the powers.
Revelation Lectures
- The Context of the Book of Revelation 2-10
- Purpose of the Book of Revelation 11
- The Structures of the Book of Revelation 12-28
- Approaches to the Book of Revelation 29-36
- The Book of Revelation and the Old Testament 37-39
- A Course on the Book of Revelation 40-119
- Worship in the Apocalypse 120-127
- Theology of the Apocalypse 128-133
- Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 4499 (P115) 134-135
- Style of the Book of Revelation 136
- Vocabulary 137-140
- Bibliography 141
Revelation Seven Churches
This file begins with an outline of the structural relationship between Revelation 2-3 with the end of the book found in Rev. 20-22 as well as the beginning of the book found in Rev. 1.
Then interpretative views of the seven churches are given so that they can be seen as letters to seven churches in Asia Minor around the year 95 CE, a letter to the church of all times and places, a review of church history to the end of the world, and a review of Old Testament history from the Garden of Eden to the apostles.
The largest portion of the file deals with the exegesis of the seven letters through looking at their geography and history.
Then the civil religion of the worship of the emperor is explored.
Next the heresies within the Book of Revelation are enumerated.
Finally a history of each of the seven cities is outlined.
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Psalms
The file begins by offering contemporary titles to each of the psalms. Then various ways to categorize the psalms are enumerated. The best way is to distinguish the genre of the psalms into the categories of Royal Psalms, Hymns including Zion Songs, Enthronement Hymns, Hymns of Nature, and Hymns of the character of God, Entrance Liturgies, Prophetic Words, Wisdom Psalms, Didactic (Teaching) Poems. Penitential Psalms (laments about sin), Community Laments, Individual Laments, Community Songs of Confidence, Individual Songs of Confidence, Community Thanksgivings, and Individual Thanksgivings. Other methods of categorizing the psalms are also enumerated including categorization by content, by use, by form, by musical introduction, and by author.
Next suggestions about the history of development of the Psalter are suggested followed by thoughts on authorship and dating. Then the specific liturgical forms are enumerated, the cultural background of some of the psalms is investigated, and suggestions about preaching on the psalms and daily devotionals are given. The file ends with a few of the difficult questions about the psalms like how do we interpret the Imprecatory Psalms?
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Overview of the Bible
In this file I am beginning to give an overview of the Bible in general and the books of the Bible specifically.
In this file you will find:
A. General Overviews of the Biblical Literature
1) An Overview of New Testament Literature
2) The Story and Person of Jesus
3) Overview of Old Testament Literature #1: The Historical Books
4) Overview of Old Testament Literature #2: Poetry and Prophets
5) Overview of Old Testament History #1: Adam through David
6) Overview of Old Testament History #2: Solomon to Jesus
B. An Overview of the New Testament Gospels and Acts
1) The Gospel of Matthew: Seven Titles for the Gospel of Matthew
2) The Gospel of Mark: Deepening our Discipleship
3) The Gospel of Luke: A Historian Looks at Jesus
4) The Book of Acts: the Holy Spirit Sends out the Church in Power
5) The Amazing Gospel of John: Jesus is God Himself
Outlines Biblical Books
It is very helpful to visualize the outlines of the content of a Biblical book. In this way we see the big picture of what the author is attempting to accomplish. In this file you will find an outline of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, the book of Psalms, the epistles of the New Testament, and the Book of Revelation.
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Evolutionary Theology summary
We as Christians and human beings are struggling to understand anew the Book of Genesis. We know that Creation Revelation and Biblical Revelation must agree. Throughout the history of interpretation of the Bible we have had assumptions that later on we discovered could not fit God’s revelation. We thought that the earth was flat and even defended it from Scripture. Biblical interpreters assumed that the earth was the center of the universe and that all things rotated around it which likewise proved not to be true. Likewise for many years we discounted any view that propounded human evolution. But now we must accept the fact that human beings have evolved from the animal kingdom with regard to our bodies. Therefore we need to accept an evolutionary theology. I suggest that you use the web site Biologos to teach you about these truths.
This file first of all outlines presuppositions upon which both evangelical and liberal theologians would agree. Then I propose what an unacceptable liberal view of evolution would look like. Next I contrast this with what I propose could be an evangelical view of evolution based upon a belief in the resurrection. This must assume a non-concordist view of the Bible which I attempt to show is arguable from the Book of Genesis itself. Various models have been proposed but all accept that Darwinism is based upon a series of evils which are outlined to end the file.
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