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Instructor Eric Lewis
Category
• Bible

Biblical Hermeneutics

Overview

[Begin Transcript] Hi. I'm Eric Lewis and I'll be traveling with you through this course on Biblical Hermeneutics.

What is Biblical Hermeneutics? Is the art and science of studying God's word together. What are the tools that you need in order to objectively interpret God's Word? And look at it as the craft of being a student of God's word, and being able to communicate that to other people. Ultimately, that's the goal. Our call is to go and make disciples and to "teach them to observe all that I have commanded you." And so this fits perfectly with imperitive that Christ gave us to go. And so I'm looking forward to working with you on becoming a better student of God's word. [End Transcript]

Course Description: This course is an introduction to the principles and practice of interpreting the Bible using the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method of interpretation. The course introduces students to key principles related to this method and then provides guidelines for applying these principles to determine the author's originally intended meaning. Students learn how to integrate electronic tools into the process. The course concludes with suggestions on how to determine the relevance of these original thoughts to our own lives.

Learning Outcomes: The learner will:

  1. Describe the key elements in the interpretive process and their relationship to the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method.
  2. Recall the basic principles and practices of the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method of interpretation.
  3. Demonstrate competence in doing Bible study following the principles and guidelines of the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method of interpretation.
  4. Utilize online resources to assist in the study of Scripture.
  5. Demonstrate the ability to apply the teachings of Scripture to their lives.

Course Outline:

Unit 1: Introduction — Start with the Basics

ViewIntroduction and Overview of Course
View:How Did We Get the Bible?
View:Intro to the Interpretive Journey
Read:Reading 1 — Stewart, "What is the History of the Old Testament Apocrypha?"
Read:Reading 2 — Edwards, "Tyndale's Betrayal and Death"
Complete:Assignment 1 — Biographical Sketches
Complete:Assignment 2 — Bible Translations
Submit:Quiz 1
Submit:Quiz 2

Unit 2: How to Read

View:How To Read Sentences
View:How to Read Paragraphs
Read:Reading — McCoy, "Chiasmus: An Important Structual Device Commonly Found in Biblical Literature" (PDF)
Complete:Assignment — How To Read Sentences
Submit:Quiz 1
Submit:Quiz 2

Unit 3: Context — Now and Then

View:Context: Now and Then
View:Historical and Cultural Context
View:Word Studies
Complete:Assignment 1 — Literary Context Jonah 1 (PDF)
Complete:Assignment 2 — Word Studies Acts 1:8 (PDF)
Complete:Assignment 3 — Word Studies Joshua 1:8 (PDF)
Complete:Assignment 4 — Word Studies Matthew 28 (PDF)
Submit:Quiz 1
Submit:Quiz 2

Unit 4: Meaning and Application

View:Meaning and Application
Read:Reading 1 — Walton, "Inspired Subjectivity and Hermeneutical Objectivity"(PDF)
Read:Reading 2 — Taylor, "Why I Would Like to See a Moratorium on the Word 'Literal' When It Comes to Biblical Interpretation" (PDF)
Read:Reading 3 — Keller, "Gnostics and Jesus" (PDF)
Complete:Assignment 1 — Meaning and Application — Good Samaritan
Complete:Assignment 2 — Meaning and Application — Armor of God
Submit:Quiz

Unit 5: New Testament

View:Gospels and Acts
View:Epistles and Revelation
Read:Reading 1 — Patrick Zukeran, "Four Views of Revelation" (PDF)
Read:Reading 2 — Thomas Ice, "Literal vs. Allegorical" (PDF)
Complete:Assignment 1 — New Testament Interpreting a Story (PDF)
Complete:Assignment 2 — New Testament Acts (PDF)
Submit:Quiz

Unit 6: Old Testament

View:Narrative and Law
View:Poetry, Prophets and Wisdom
Read:Reading — Rick Wade, "God and the Canaanites" (PDF)
Complete:Assignment 1 — Old Testament Narrative (PDF)
Complete:Assignment 2 — Old Testament Law (PDF)
Complete:Assignment 3 — Old Testament Poetry: Psalm 1 (PDF)
Submit:Quiz

Submit:Course Final Examination

The courses available through the Blue Letter Bible Institute are taught from a range of evangelical traditions. Therefore every idea and principal conveyed in each course may not necessarily be held in total by the ministry of Blue Letter Bible or the Blue Letter Bible Institute. For more information please visit our site at www.BlueLetterBible.org.

Note: All Scripture references are taken from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise indicated.

Lesson List
Unit 1: Start with the Basics
Lesson 1
Introduction and Overview
Lesson 2
How Did We Get the Bible?
Lesson 3
Introduction to the Interpretive Journey
Lesson 4
Reading 1
Lesson 5
Reading 2
Lesson 6
Assignment 1
Lesson 7
Assignment 2
Unit 2: How to Read
Lesson 1
Introduction
Lesson 2
Observation: Sentences
Lesson 3
Observation: Paragraphs
Lesson 4
Reading
Lesson 5
Assignment
Unit 3: Context - Now and Then
Lesson 1
Introduction
Lesson 2
Contexts: Now and Then
Lesson 3
Literary Context
Lesson 4
Word Studies
Lesson 5
Assignment 1
Lesson 6
Assignment 2
Lesson 7
Assignment 3
Lesson 8
Assignment 4
Unit 4: Meaning and Application
Lesson 1
Introduction
Lesson 2
Meaning and Application
Lesson 3
Reading 1
Lesson 4
Reading 2
Lesson 5
Reading 3
Lesson 6
Assignment 1
Lesson 7
Assignment 2
Unit 5: New Testament
Lesson 1
Introduction
Lesson 2
New Testament: Gospels and Acts
Lesson 3
New Testament: Letters and Revelation
Lesson 4
Reading 1
Lesson 5
Reading 2
Lesson 6
Assignment 1
Lesson 7
Assignment 2
Unit 6: Old Testament
Lesson 1
Introduction
Lesson 2
Old Testament: Narrative and Law
Lesson 3
Old Testament: Poetry, Prophecy, and Wisdom
Lesson 4
Reading
Lesson 5
Assignment 1
Lesson 6
Assignment 2
Lesson 7
Assignment 3