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:
- Describe the key elements in the interpretive process and their relationship to the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method.
- Recall the basic principles and practices of the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method of interpretation.
- Demonstrate competence in doing Bible study following the principles and guidelines of the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method of interpretation.
- Utilize online resources to assist in the study of Scripture.
- Demonstrate the ability to apply the teachings of Scripture to their lives.
Course Outline:
Unit 1: Introduction — Start with the Basics
| View | Introduction 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.