Hymns in the New Testament

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  1. Adoration Hymns: especially the flow of hymnic pieces in Revelation 4-5

(a call to worship is followed by person to person worship and doxologies)

 

2. Teaching Hymns in the New Testament

a. Col. 1:15-20 Christological Hymn: Creation and New Creation

b. John 1:1-18 Salvation History Hymn

c. Phil. 2:6-11 Christological Hymn: Humiliation and Exaltation

d. Eph. 1:3-14 Hymn to the Trinity

e. 1 Timothy 3:16 Confession of Faith / Ascension Hymn: The Mystery Revealed

f. Luke 1:46-55 God’s Attributes and Actions

g. 1 Cor. 13:4-7 Hymn of Love

Political Interpretations of the New Testament and Empire

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An evaluation of the emphasis on empire is given.

The various NT books are examined for a political emphasis.

 

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Political Interpretations of the New Testament and Empire

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Jewish Parties at the Time of Jesus

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General Description of the Jewish Parties at the Time of Jesus                  1-2

 

The Pharisees                                                                                    3-19

 

The Sadducees                                                                                  20-24

 

The Essenes                                                                                                25-28

 

The Zealots                                                                                       29-31

 

Jesus Attitude toward the various Parties                                         32-33

 

The Scribes                                                                                       34

 

The Highpriests                                                                                35

 

The Herodians                                                                                  36

 

The Elders                                                                                         37

 

The God-fearers                                                                                38

 

Heresies                                                                                            39

 

Hillel and Shammai                                                                           40

Exegetical Methods

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Pre-Critical Exegesis is reappearing in Theological and Figural Exegesis                  2-16

 

A Standard Exegetical Method                                                                                  17-23

 

Approaches to Hermeneutics                                                                                      24-30

 

Ancient Exegesis                                                                                                        31-37

 

Grammatical Exegesis and Discourse Analysis                                                          38-55

 

Historical Exegesis                                                                                                      56-62

 

Modern Methods of Exegesis concentrating on the Author:                                     63-86

Source Criticism to Sociological Exegesis

 

Modern Methods of Exegesis concentrating on the Text                                           87-104

Literary Criticism to Rhetorical Criticism

 

Modern Methods of Exegesis concentrating on the Reader                                      105-115

 

A Comprehensive Model of Exegesis                                                                        116-121

 

A Theology of Application                                                                                         122-128

 

A Sample Class on Exegesis                                                                                       129-173

 

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Exegetical Methods

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Historicity and Memory

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This file analyzes the role of memory in the writing of the gospels.

Thus errors in the memory process are examined to see if this helps us understand some of the Biblical data.

The next section describes how the Biblical writers wrote history.

Then divergent Theological interpretations of the Gospel Traditions are analyzed.

Next the various criteria for determining the authenticity of Jesus’ Sayings are described and critiqued.

Then the transmission of the Jesus tradition is described.

Next examples of divergent accounts of the same tradition are analyzed.

Finally, views on the historicity of the Acts of the Apostles are outlined.

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Eschatological Expectations

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How should we picture the future heaven and earth? A correct picture will follow the revelation of Scripture. But Scripture uses various imagery to portray the new age. This file outlines the particular texts that fit these images.

The Bible pictures the eschatological future through the imagery of restoration. Sometimes this is a restored Davidic kingdom with an ideal anointed king. At other times the description is a united twelve tribes, a restored Jerusalem, a newly rebuild temple, or even the restoration of a Garden of Eden where God lives with his people.

The Bible also pictures the new age by describing the very best descriptions of life upon earth including an eschatological banquet, joy like a wedding, a permanent era of peace and fellowship, unbelievable prosperity, healing and perfect health, and the conversion of all the nations of the world.

Finally sometimes Utopian imagery is employed where none of the negative experiences of earth exist in the age to come and positive ideals not experienced upon earth become a reality.

The file concludes with a description of the elements of Jewish and Early Christian Eschatology.

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Apocryphal Gospels

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Gospels outside of the four canonical gospels have become very popular in recent years. Therefore I give the beginning reader information about 17 of these gospels in outline form.

The gospels include the Egerton Gospel, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Gospel of the Ebionites, the Gospel of the Nazaraeans, the Gospel of the Egyptians, the Protoevangelium Jacobus, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel according to Matthias, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Secret Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of the Savior, the Preaching of Peter, the Dialogue of the Savior, the Apocryphon of James, and the Epistula Apostolorum. The Gospel of Thomas is dealt with in a separate file.

The file concludes with evidence for forgeries.

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Apocryphal Gospel of Thomas

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The Gospel of Thomas is a fascinating book of 113 supposed sayings of Jesus. Some scholars contend that it is one of the earliest gospels written. This file begins with background data about the Gospel of Thomas to show that it was written in the second century after the canonical gospels were finished.

Some scholars contend that the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas are an equal distance in thought from the Synoptic gospels. So the next section compares the similarities and differences between these two gospels to show that the Gospel of John is on the same theological plain as the Synoptic gospels.

Next the various sayings in the Gospel of Thomas are categorized.

Then sayings of Jesus that could be more primitive in the Gospel of Thomas are analyzed.

Next non-canonical sayings found in the Gospel of Thomas that probably derive from Jesus are outlined.

Then close parallels from the Gospel of Thomas to the Synoptic tradition are investigated.

Next the new and Gnostic sayings are recited showing how the Gnostic community saw itself as superior.

Then the particular themes of the Gospel of Thomas are outlined.

Next possible organizations of the sayings are analyzed.

Then the debate whether Thomas is Gnostic or not is investigated.

Finally, the form, vocabulary, and doctrines of the book are outlined.

In conclusion there is a section on the parables in the Gospel of Thomas.

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Apocalyptic

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After a definition of an apocalypse, the particular sub-genres are investigated which is extremely important for interpretation.

Next the development of apocalyptic literature is outlined.

Then the ten characteristics of apocalyptic are analyzed in detail with Vaticinia Ex Eventu (written from the point of view of a previous age) and Pseudonymity being very important and at the heart of this genre. This should shine light on the biblical apocalypses including the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation.

After this lengthy section the four kingdoms in many apocalypses are described.

Next the concept of the Messiah in apocalyptic literature is dealt with.

Antiochus Epiphanes is important to much apocalyptic literature so descriptions of his death are examined. This applies as well to the myth of the resurrected Nero.

Next the use of numbers in apocalyptic literature is described.

Then the question is dealt with whether real ecstatic experiences are described or whether these are just a characteristic of the literature.

Finally, Christian additions to Jewish apocalyptic works are talked about.

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Apocalypse of Daniel

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The Apocalypse of Daniel written just before 800 AD demonstrates that this literature was correctly understood in this time period. Sadly today few people understand and interpret apocalyptic literature correctly. The reading of this book will give the interpreter a clearer understanding of the unique characteristics of apocalypses.

This file makes the Greek and English of this book easily accessible to the reader.

Then this file shows how this book captures the ten characteristics of apocalypses.

It was the reading of this book that totally changed how I interpreted the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation.

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