Mobile Ed: History of Biblical Interpretation Bundle (2 courses)

by Gerald L. Bray

Publisher:

Lexham Press

, 2016

Overview

In this two-course History of Biblical Interpretation Bundle, Dr. Gerald Bray explores the history of how the Bible has been interpreted and communicated to the Christian church over the centuries. He explores the development of Christian theology as well as the composition and interpretation of the Bible. After taking these courses you will have a better understanding of the history of scriptural interpretation, Old and New Testament criticism, and the influence that significant thinkers (Origen, Calvin, and others) have had on biblical interpretation.

Product Details

• Title: History of Biblical Interpretation Bundle
• Instructors: Gerald L. Bray
• Publisher: Lexham Press
• Publication Date: 2015
• Product Type: Logos Mobile Education
• Resource Type: Courseware, including transcripts, audio, and video resources
• Courses: 2
• Video Hours: 19

BI351 History of Biblical Interpretation I: Second Temple Judaism through the Reformation

• Instructor: Gerald L. Bray
• Video hours: 8

In BI351 Dr. Bray explores the history of the text of the Bible and biblical interpretation. He examines the concept of the Bible as self-revelation—a record of the encounters people had with God, which presents a message to be received by faith. He also covers the importance of the Word being communicated and understood, and the value of the discipline of interpretation as a means of bringing people to truths beyond what they are able to discover on their own.

Contents:

Introduction

• Introducing the Speaker and the Course

Unit 1: The Concept of Scripture: Revelation and Its Forms

• Revelation Defined
• Personal Relationship and Communication
• Finding Verses Where God Speaks about Himself
• Speech: The Preferred Mode of Communication
• Human Hearing and the Bible
• Spoken and Written Words: Part 1
• Spoken and Written Words: Part 2
• Searching for Casuistic Laws in Logos
• The Character of Revelation

Unit 2: Jewish Interpretation in New Testament Times

• General Themes of Jewish Interpretation
• Exploring the Connection Between Jesus and Israel with the Passage Guide
• Literal and Midrashic Interpretation
• Midrashic Interpretation: Part 2
• Pesher Interpretation
• Allegorical Interpretation: Philo

Unit 3: Early Christian Use of the Old Testament

• General Principles
• Jesus Christ’s Teaching
• Paul’s Preaching
• Acts and Hebrews

Unit 4: Formation of the Christian Canon of Scripture

• What Is the Canon?
• Establishment of the Old Testament Canon
• Discovering Different Canons Using the Canon Comparison Interactive
• Establishment of the New Testament Canon
• The Canon and the Early Church
• Heretics and the Canon
• Scripture and Creedal Formation

Unit 5: The Four Senses of Interpretation

• The Greek Background
• Origen’s Basic Principles
• The Literal and Higher Senses of Scripture
• The Moral, Spiritual, and Anagogical Senses of Scripture

Unit 6: Medieval Exegesis

• Jerome and the Latin Bible
• God’s Ways of Speaking
• Filtering the Timeline to Study Christian Interpreters
• The Literal Sense of Interpretation
• The Commentary Style (ca. 1080–1150)
• The Medieval Legacy: What We Still Do Today
• The New Synthesis
• Lectio,Disputatio,Praedicatio, and the Decline of Spiritual Interpretation
• Thomism

Unit 7: Renaissance Humanism and the Reformation

• John Wycliffe and Jan Hus
• The Renaissance: Lorenzo Valla and Onward
• Martin Luther (1483–1546)
• John Calvin (1509–1564): Part 1
• John Calvin (1509–1564): Part 2
• The Authority of Scripture

Unit 8: Orthodox Protestant Hermeneutics

• The Supremacy of Scripture
• The Covenant Principle
• Interpretation of the Covenant
• Application of Orthodox Protestant Hermeneutics
• Strengths and Weaknesses of Orthodox Protestant Hermeneutics

Conclusion

• Concluding the Course

BI352 History of Biblical Interpretation II: Seventeenth Century through the Present

• Instructor: Gerald L. Bray
• Video hours: 11

In BI352 Dr. Bray examines the foundations of the Old and New Testaments as well as the development of new theological perspectives since the 17th century. He outlines significant trends and major players in biblical criticism and how these relate to the modern scholarly climate. Dr. Bray provides guidance on how to approach Bible study and emphasizes the importance of applying God’s word.

Contents:

Introduction

• Introducing the Speaker and the Course

Unit 1: The Beginnings of Critical Method

• Textus Receptus and Christian Infighting
• Exploring New Testament Manuscripts
• Skepticism, Modern Science, and the Historical-Critical Method
• Beginnings of Biblical Criticism
• Challenges to Authority, Miracles, Authorship, and Prophecy
• Neologism and Shifting Philosophies
• Comparing “Myth” in Philo and the New Testament

Unit 2: Old Testament Criticism: Nineteenth–Twentieth Centuries

• De Wette and the Reinterpretation of History
• Reinventing the History and Development of the Old Testament
• Revival of Confessionalism
• New Liberalism
• Identifying Sources of the Documentary Hypothesis
• Defending Old Testament Narrative and Theology
• History of Religions School
• Organizing the Psalms by Genre with the Psalms Explorer
• Beyond Literary Criticism

Unit 3: Anglo-Saxon Old Testament Scholarship Since 1800

• Characteristics of British and American Culture and Theology
• Tracking Major Events and Key Characters with the Timeline
• Critical Method Makes Inroads
• Development of Archaeology
• Divide between Liberal and Conservative

Unit 4: Modern Old Testament Criticism

• Do We Need the Old Testament?
• Systematic Theology, Salvation History, and Old Testament Unity
• Marxist Interpretation and Liberation Theology
• Current Issues in Old Testament Interpretation
• Exploring Themes in Apocalyptic Texts

Unit 5: New Testament Criticism: Eighteenth–Twentieth Centuries

• Skepticism of Reimarus
• Early Rationalism: Part 1
• Early Rationalism: Part 2
• Reactions to David Strauss
• Ferdinand C. Baur and the Tübingen School
• Bruno Bauer
• Later “Lives of Jesus”
• The Final Phase

Unit 6: Anglo-Saxon New Testament Scholarship Since 1800

• New Testament Textual Studies and the Cambridge School
• English Liberalism
• The Impact of Archaeology
• English Neoconservatism

Unit 7: Modern New Testament Criticism: Jesus and the Church

• Form Criticism
• Redaction Criticism and the New Quest for the Historical Jesus
• Third Quest for the Historical Jesus
• New Testament Criticism: Jesus Quests and the Church
• Paul, Gnosticism, and Personal Redemption
• Paul, Judaism, and the Law
• Distinguishing Paul’s Use of “Law” with the Word Sense Tool
• E. P. Sanders’ Interpretation of Paul and Judaism

Unit 8: Recent Trends in Interpretation

• Inadequacies of the Historical-Critical Method
• The New Hermeneutic
• Making Peace with the Ancient World
• Literary Criticism
• Biblical Narrative: Mimesis or History?
• Sociological Approaches
• Examples of Sociological Biblical Interpretation
• Sociological Interpretation to Change Society Today

Unit 9: An Evangelical Approach to Critical Issues

• Background to Modern Evangelicalism
• Evangelical Achievements
• Evangelical Issues: Inspiration
• Evangelical Issues: Infallibility and Inerrancy
• Evangelical Issues: Evolving Attitudes toward Inerrancy
• Evangelical Issues: Validity of Old Testament as Christian Truth
• Evangelical Strengths and Weaknesses

Unit 10: An Evangelical Approach to Practical Application

• Ways of Reading the Bible
• How to Read the Bible to Preach It
• Reading Is an Art, Preaching a Gift
• Preaching and Application: Part 1
• Preaching and Application: Part 2
• Preaching and Free Interpretation
• Preaching and the Preacher: Part 1
• Preaching and the Preacher: Part 2

Conclusion

• Biblical Interpretation: The Struggle to Understand God

About Gerald L. Bray

Dr. Gerald L. Bray is research professor of divinity, history, and doctrine at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama, and distinguished professor of historical theology at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Dr. Bray is the editor of the Anglican journal Churchman and has published a number of books, including the award-winning Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present, Yours Is the Kingdom: A Systematic Theology of the Lord’s Prayer, God Is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology, and God Has Spoken: A History of Christian Theology.