Life and Faith

As you have learned, the Bible is a rather unusual book. It is a lot longer and older than most books you will pick up, and it actually has a number of different books in it all collected into an organized library. It is also a book with a lot of power and influence, throughout history and today. People look to it as a way to form their lives and shape their communities. People have found inspiration to do wonderful things from the Bible, but others have used it to justify terrible evils. The Bible can be distorted to serve people’s selfish ends, but when it is used that way it is being distorted The best way to guard against this and to receive the gracious gifts of God wants to give us through the Bible is to learn to read it well. That often means reading a short passage slowly and carefully. It also means reading the Bible in context. Finally, reading the Bible in community helps too. So, in this activity, you will learn about some of the key contexts for reading the Bible and practice that a bit in a group discussion. You will use these tools throughout much of the rest of the course as we move through various blocks of the New Testament.

Upon successful completion of the course material, you will be able to:

· Read a passage of the Bible in its immediate, literary, cultural, and canonical contexts.

Resources

· Video from IWU: "How to Read the Bible Well" 

Background Information

Most of the following workshops in this course will have an “Interpreting” assignment that will ask you to use the skills presented in this activity. This discussion is a trial run for you to start learning how to read the Bible well. This is not something that is mastered overnight, and that is why we are going to give you plenty of practice.

You might think that interpretations of the Bible are merely a matter of personal opinion. There is a bit of truth here, because our personal experiences, presuppositions, and perspectives do play a role in our reading of Scripture. Remember, God wants to speak to us through the Bible in our particular circumstances. However, reading the Bible well means taking the words and contexts of Scripture seriously. While there can be healthy variety of interpretations, we need to be able to justify and explain our interpretations in light of the words of Scripture itself as they functioned in their original contexts.

Here is a sample that models what your initial post should look like and provides some examples for what the various contexts can include:

1. I selected 1 Peter 4:1 in the NRSV: “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin)”

2. Comments on the verse: This verse opens with an odd combination of “since therefore.” The “therefore” seems to build from the previous passage, while the “since” looks forward to the next point. The final portion of this verse is in parentheses, but it seems to flow rather naturally to give another reason why people should “arm themselves with the same intention.”

3. Literary context: The previous section is about the death and resurrection of Christ. This verse builds on that and applies it to the audience. 4:2 and following extends the final parenthesis of the verse to affirm that the audience no longer should live in their old sinful ways.

4. Historical-cultural context: The larger passage that starts in 4:1 assumes that the audience previously lived lives of rather wanton sinfulness. This may imply that they were Gentiles and had a rather dramatic conversion to faith in Christ.

5. Canonical context: This passage assumes some knowledge about the death and resurrection of Christ as told in the Gospels. It also echoes the principle that we should live new lives in a way that is analogous to the new life Jesus has (see Romans 6:4).

6. The point of this verse is that suffering, while not enjoyable, actually makes us more like Christ. In particular, physical suffering has spiritual benefits because it can enable us to break from our old sinful lives.

In this discussion and future written assignments, you will be employing various contexts to help you understand and interpret Scripture. You will hear about these in the video, and here is a summary of the nature of each context for your reference:

1. The immediate context is the material that comes immediately before and after your selected passage. This usually involves a paragraph or two on either side of the passage, which may be up to 15 verses or so either way. This can often help to clarify the flow of a story or the steps of a poem or argument.  

2. The literary context includes the whole book that contains the passage that you are studying. If you are studying a passage in John 8:1-4, then the Gospel of John is the literary context. This includes the type of writing that comprises that book (e.g., narrative or poetry) and any smaller forms of writing that might affect your passage (e.g., parable, vision, miracle story).

3. The historical-culture context involves aspects of both ancient history and culture, which often overlap. This could include historical details like rulers, dates, geography, and other daily realities (e.g., coins, plants, houses, etc.). This could also include cultural norms outlined in the video on "Cultures in and of the Bible" which you will cover in Activity 2.1 (like honor and shame).

4. The canonical context is the rest of the Bible outside of the particular book in which your passage is located. If you cite something from Isaiah in the Old Testament to help make sense of something in Luke's Gospel, then that is canonical context. You can use the search tools in any Bible apps or software to help you find relevant connections to other biblical passages.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. Watch the series of videos “How to Read the Bible Well” . Remember that you may find it helpful to take notes while you are watching.

3. Select one verse from the book of 1 Peter in the New Testament. You will be using this verse to practice the reading skills described in the video

4. By day four of the workshop, make an initial post of 200-300 words that does the following

a. Identifies your specific verse

b. Offers two observations about the structure, grammar, or words of the verse itself.

c. Offers one comment regarding each of the contexts covered in the videos: immediate, literary, historical-cultural, and canonical. You may cite something from a context that helps you read the verse better or ask a question if you are uncertain about how that context might be functioning.

d. Briefly state what you think the main point of the verse is.