historical, narrative, and theological value of the bible, writing homework help

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You are going to use historical, narrative, and theological study methods to determine the value of study in a few Bible verses. You are going to work through the following outline, which contains things for you to study as well as things for you to answer. It also helps you to explore each of the 3 study methods. You will submit answers to the questions found in brown for credit.

  1. 2 Corinthians 10:5: "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.", NIV
    1. Narrative Study: "Take captive" is an active verb.   Explain what an active verb is and explain how this verb ("take captive") is being active in this sentence.  
    2. Answer: What does the active nature of this verb teach us about the effort involved in study?
  2. Colossians 3:2: "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.", NIV
    1. Before moving on to the next part of the outline, answer: what does this appear to mean to you without having yet studied it?
    2. Theological Study: Now read all of Colossians 3:1-17 and consider what Paul is teaching. Perhaps when you first looked at this passage you thought the lesson was: heaven is what counts, so just focus on that. While this is true to a certain extent, the rest of Colossians shows us that in fact we set our minds on things above, so that we can live the life that God desires for us here on earth. 
    3. Answer: Go through verse by verse and explain in this box how each of these verses challenges us to live differently now by having a heavenly/supernatural worldview and perspective. There are 17 verses so expect to write 17 sentences at least.
  3. Read Acts 17:2 and Acts 17:16-34
    1. In Acts 17, Paul visits 3 major locations and interacts with them each slightly differently. We are going to focus on his message to the Athenians in 17:16-34, but first we look to 17:2 to see what Paul's "custom" was—that is, what he typically did when interacting with communities that had some interest or previous knowledge with Jewish ideology and/or with the Old Testament.  
    2. In the book of Acts we learn that Paul traveled extensively and spoke to many people along the way about Christ in order to try to present to them an accurate picture of Jesus so that they might accept his message and become his disciple. In many cases he conversed with people who knew the Old Testament scriptures (like the kind of people you would find in a synagogue) and so he reasoned using the Scriptures. We often picture Paul speaking about the scriptures and proclaiming Christ but in order for his teaching to be received in a synagogue he had to spend a great deal of time studying the scriptures as well. This is important to note before we see what Paul does differently when he enters into Athens.  
    3. What we see here—perhaps for the first time—is a case where Paul's study of the scriptures places him in a position where he can use his biblical studies to present a theology that philosophers can consider. Studying the Bible, for Paul, produced not only an ability to analyze scripture but to expound on the nature of God in a way that was logical and reasonable and accessible to a particular community.  
    4. Let's look to history to find out what we can learn about Athens so that we can get an idea about why Paul might deviate from his normal pattern of explaining the scriptures.
    5. Historical Study: Look at the following link and take notice of the kind of place Athens was and let that shape your ideas about what Paul is doing:http://www.enterthebible.org/resourcelink.aspx?rid=240 (Links to an external site.)
    6. Answer: How does this historical background help you understand the people's response in 17:18-20 and 17:32? How does Luke, the writer of Acts, offer his own historical background to help his readers understand how the Athenians are acting (17:21)?
    7. Answer: How do Luke and Paul each model the importance of study in this passage?
    8. Theological Study: Determine the difference between "special revelation" and "general revelation" using an online source of your choice (or if you took the earlier Bible courses you may know it already).
    9. Answer: How does knowing about general revelation help you to understand Paul's message in 17:24-28?  Moreover, how does general revelation help you to understand God's ability to work in the hearts of people who do not hold a Judeo-Christian worldview?

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