Discussion Board

In your educational journey, you have been asked to do literature reviews and annotated  bibliographies. In this course, you have been taught to use literature to solve a problem. This is  different than filling a gap in the literature or adding to the body of knowledge. In your own  words, describe what each of these phrases mean to you from a biblical worldview. 

1. Gap in the literature  2. Adding to the body of knowledge  3. Using literature to solve a problem

Literature reviews are valuable in light of the knowledge explosion and the resulting

impossibility of reading everything. Therefore, it is good that someone does literature reviews.

When it comes to “Gap in the literature” it can be interpreted in different ways for everyone. I

believe that when it comes to it, conducting an exhaustive literature review is the first step. As

we search for journal articles, we will need to read critically across the breadth of the literature to

identify such gaps. Our goal should be to find an opening for contributing new research.

Referring to the Bible, God's grace (and at times this can almost seem miraculous) bridges the

gap showing us that our true being is already and eternally God's ideal offspring. God's love,

freely confers on us all and felt in the quietness of prayer, highlights our present spiritual

perfection. It is important that through our work we honor God. Without a doubt, mankind’s fall

not only distorted the conditions we work under, but also our understanding of work itself. After

the fall, a different kind of work became necessary and it would have to do with the conversion

of the world and the redemption of what had been created.

Moving on to adding to the body of knowledge, in the Bible, Proverbs 18:15 states, “The heart of

the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out” (​New International Bible​,

1978/2011). Just as when you are completing your work, you have to be willing to accept new

knowledge to include in your work. Not just accepting, but also knowing what it means. Almost

all researchers want to add to the research about the topic of their research. This means

increasing the empirical evidence reported in the literature about the phenomenon studied. You

need to be selective.

For any educational research that is being conducted to be valid, we must be using literature to

help us. By using literature, it demonstrates that your research question is meaningful. Literature

breaks information down and helps to see more in-depth into the research. It opened up more

answers as well as new knowledge to conduct your research. This refers to Matthew 7:7, “Ask,

and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (​English

Standard Bible, ​2001). There is so much literature available for us and we must take the

necessary steps to gather and put together all the information to complete our research.

References

English Standard Bible. (2001). Crossway Bibles.

New International Bible​. (2011). Zondervan. (Original work published 1978)