Bible and Jive

How to Use this Site

2009-07-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is a guide not an end. The easiest way to get going is to read

Then go to the sidebar for the "month by month" guide and take the quizzes for each month.

This was an exercise I did with my congregation in 2008. It took us a year. You can go at your own pace, of course.

Browse through the blog and follow the links to other resources. Let me know if you find broken links or know of other resources that are helpful.

Enjoy!

December Quiz

2008-11-25T18:10:00.000-08:00

DECEMBER QUIZ: GOSPEL OF MARY, 1 & 2 TIMOTHY, TITUS, LUKE, AND ACTS

1) What issue does Peter's vision address prior to his visit to Cornelius in aesarea?
a. Gentiles receiving the word of God
b. The stoning of Stephen
c. The appointment of a new disciple
d. The preaching of the Gospel

2) Which of the following phrases continues the story beginning with the words: "And a woman in the city, who was a sinner..." (Luke 7:37)?
a. "began to bathe his feet with her tears."
b. "begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter."
c. "came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak."
d. "put in two small copper coins."

3) Which of the following concerns does 1 Timothy address at length?
a. Children
b. Drunkards
c. The rich
d. Widows

4) What is the conclusion of this retrospective view of Paul's career: "I have fought the good fight..."?
a. "and Christ has given me the victory."
b. "and my strength is made perfect in weakness."
c. "I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
d. "and my head is bloody but unbowed."

5) What is the issue that prompts the gathering in Jerusalem in Acts 15?
a. the debate over circumcision and salvation
b. the rejection of Jewish law by Paul
c. the replacement of Judas
d. the way to preach the gospel in synagogues

6) According to the book of Acts, what sparks a riot in Ephesus?
a. The local Jews were offended by Paul's disregard for the law.
b. The local silversmiths thought their business was in jeopardy.
c. The local citizens claimed that Christians were advocating customs unlawful for Romans.
d. The local priests of Zeus wanted to offer sacrifices to Barnabas and Paul.

7) In Luke, who says, "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles..."?
a. Anna
b. Elizabeth
c. Simeon
d. Zechariah

8) In the Gospel of Mary, why did Peter reject what Mary told them about Jesus?
a. Because her words were strange.
b. Because she was a woman.
c. Because she heard these things in private.
d. All of the above.

Short Answer:

Why do scholars think the author of Luke is the same as the author of Acts?

Is the book of Acts more like history or fiction or some combination? Why?

What do the pastorals (Titus, 1 & 2 Timothy) have to say about women and slaves?

Do you think Paul wrote Titus and 1 & 2 Timothy? Why or why not?

Longer Answers:

Why do you suppose the Gospel of Mary was not included in the Bible?

Do you think it could be a resource for the church as are those texts that are in the Bible? Why or why not?

December Quick Guide

2008-11-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

DECEMBER QUICK GUIDE TO THE BIBLE: GOSPEL OF MARY, 1 & 2 TIMOTHY, TITUS, LUKE, AND ACTS

1 & 2 Timothy and Titus are called the pastoral epistles. They are supposedly letters by Paul to his followers, Timothy and Titus. For various reasons, many scholars doubt these letters are in fact by Paul, but come from a much later time in the church. The concerns reflect matters of established communities.

I Timothy: This letter written to Timothy is advice from an old pro to a rookie in ministry. “Fight the good fight of the faith.” (6:12)

II Timothy: This is more personal than the first letter, and quite fatherly: “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands...” (1:6)

Titus: This is the third of the pastoral letters (I & II Tim. and Titus). “Paul” writes to Titus, who is “my loyal child in the faith” and reminds him to do the job in Crete, which includes putting things in order there.

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is not found in the Bible. This text was discovered in the 19th century in Egypt. It is not a complete text. In this text, Mary is closer to Jesus than the other disciples. Jesus tells her things he does not tell the other disciples. When she reveals to them what she has seen and heard they do not believe her. It is intriguing to compare the Gospel of Mary with the pastoral epistles and other letters of the New Testament, especially in terms of attitudes toward women. In the Gospel of Mary, Jesus says: “Do not lay down any rules beyond what I appointed you, and do not give a law like the lawgiver lest you be constrained by it.”

The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles were written by the same author. It is helpful to read the two as one complete narrative. The Gospel of Luke takes Mark's Gospel (and possibly Matthew's Gospel or a source common to Luke and Matthew) and embellishes it with memorable events and parables. Luke contains two of the most famous parables of Jesus that are not found in the other gospels: the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It is Luke's gospel that forms the narrative basis for the church year from Advent to Ascension.

Acts is possibly quite late, possibly 2nd century,and attempts to tell the history of Peter and Paul. While we often think of Acts as history, it is not history as we would describe it. It is more along the lines of historical romance or historical fiction. It paints a picture of how the author wants readers to see the development of the church. The main character in Acts is the Holy Spirit. In the tradition of travel narratives, Acts takes the reader on the adventure of the church in its earliest days. Much of the squabbles surrounded the role of the Gentiles in the church. Should Gentiles be required to become Jews before they could become Christians or could they simply bypass circumcision and the Law altogether? Arguably the author of Luke-Acts has done more to shape the church!s understanding of itself than any other New Testament author. Historians are now deconstructing Luke-Acts and showing fairly convincingly that it is more fiction than history.

November Quick Guide

2008-11-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

NOVEMBER QUICK GUIDE TO THE BIBLE: THE GOSPEL OF JOHN,REVELATION, 1, 2, & 3 JOHN, COLOSSIANS, EPHESIANS, 1 & 2 PETER, HEBREWS, JAMES, JUDE

The Gospel of John is unique among the four gospels in the way the story of Jesus is presented. The sequence of events is different (the temple is cleansed early in his ministry as opposed to later, he goes to Jerusalem three different times as opposed to one, he carries his own cross, etc.) Jesus delivers long monologues and this language is mysterious. He says one thing and means another. Things appear to be working at two levels in John. The reader wonders about details and whether symbolic significance should be read into them. For example, should one make anything of the fact that they caught 153 fish?

Revelation: This letter is of a genre called apocalyptic literature. Through symbolic language it is designed to inspire hope. Many symbols and references come from the Old Testament. It should not be taken as a prediction of the future but as a song of hope in God’s kingdom. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes” (21:4).

I John: This is an important letter about love for one another to show that we are God’s children: “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (4:16).

II John: This a postcard warning about deceivers. Don’t welcome anyone who teaches the wrong stuff.

III John: This letter is a bit more paranoid than the others; the author defends himself against some guy named Diotrephes. “Beloved do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good.” (vs. 11)

Ephesians: This letter describes the great unity we have in Christ who is the head of the Church who can bring Jew and Gentile together: “For he (Christ) is our peace; he has...broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (2:14)

Colossians: Paul has a concern that some goofy teachings have taken over “empty deceit” (2:8). He speaks of Christ as the head of the cosmos “the firstborn of all creation...in him all things hold together.” (1:15-17)

I Peter: This letter from Peter is encouragement in the face of persecution. “Live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God.” (4:2)

II Peter: This letter is an attack on false teachers and a warning that Christ will come again for judgment. In the meantime: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (3:18)

Hebrews: This is a long sermon about how Christ is the perfect sacrifice done once and for all. Therefore, animal sacrifice in the temple is no longer needed. It contains a list of the heroes of faith. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (11:1)

James: This letter is about putting your works where your faith is. Not one for idle talk is James: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?” (2:14)

Jude: Bad apples have entered into the barrel. Don’t listen to them and reject the true faith. “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (vs. 21).

November Quiz

2008-11-06T21:41:00.000-08:00

NOVEMBER QUIZ - THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, REVELATION, 1, 2, & 3 JOHN, COLOSSIANS, EPHESIANS, 1 & 2 PETER, HEBREWS, JAMES, JUDE

1. Which book contains the following quotation: "You do well if you really fulfill the royal law
according to the scripture...For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become
accountable for all of it"?
a. Hebrews
b. James
c. 1 Peter
d. 2 John

2. In the book of Revelation, what causes John to weep bitterly?
a. Multitudes of people are left behind on the earth.
b. No one can be found to break the seals on a scroll.
c. The whole world follows the antichrist.
d. None of the above.

3. What does James say stains the whole body and is set on fire by hell?
a. pride
b. sexual passion
c. the love of money
d. the tongue

4. Which book contains the following: "Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house..."?
a. James
b. 1 Peter
c. 2 Peter
d. Jude

5. Who asked, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?"
a. Nathanael
b. Nicodemus
c. Philip
d. Thomas

6. The example of Melchizedek is used by the author of Hebrews in discussing what?
a. Christian tithing
b. Jesus' death as a sacrifice
c. the messiahship of Jesus
d. the priesthood of Jesus

7. The letters of John contain all except which of the following?
a. "For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments."
b. "Do not love the world or the things in the world."
c. "God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them."
d. "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up."

8. Which of these themes may be said to be characteristic of Ephesians?
a. defense of Paul's authority
b. dissension in the church
c. explanation of the Second Coming
d. unity in Christ

9. What book contains the following quotation: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you"?
a. Titus
b. Hebrews
c. 1 Peter
d. Jude

Short Answer:
1) What are some of the differences between the way John tells his story and the way the story is told in the other three Gospels?

2) What metaphors does Jesus use to describe himself in John's Gospel? Which ones are most meaningful to you?

Long Answer:
1) The Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye has sold millions of copies. It is uses the Book of Revelation as a code to understanding current events and predicting the future—the end of the world. Is LaHaye interpreting Revelation correctly? Why or why not?

2) There is apocalyptic imagery in the Bible. The Bible does on occasion seem to speak of an “end” of things, eternal life, heaven and hell, Jesus returning, a heavenly city, and so on. Is this imagery for you literal or poetic and what value might modern day folks take from it, if any?

October Quiz: Seven Authentic Letters of Paul

2008-09-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

October Quiz on the Seven Authentic Letters of Paul

1. "Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever" occurs in which book?

a. 2 Corinthians
b. Galatians
c. Ephesians
d. 1 Thessalonians

2. In which letter does Paul say, "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ"?

a. Romans
b. 1 Corinthians
c. 2 Corinthians
d. Galatians

3. In Romans 9-11, as Paul discusses the fate of the Jewish people and their place in God's plan, which of the following statements does he make?

a. "Your house is left to you, desolate"
b. "All Israel will be saved"
c. "Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles"
d. None of the above

4. How does this quotation from Philippians end: "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling..."?

a. "for faith without works is dead."
b. "for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
c. "for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs."
d. "for the one who is righteous will live by faith."

5. How does Paul answer the question, "Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?"

a. "By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?"
b. "You will fulfill the law of Christ."
c. "Sin boldly! Grace will abound."
d. "Love covers a multitude of sins."

6. Freedom in Christ is a major theme of which book?

a. 1 Corinthians
b. Galatians
c. Philippians
d. Colossians

7. Where was Paul when he wrote to Philemon?

a. in jail
b. in Nicopolis
c. on board a ship
d. In Crete

8. In which chapter does Paul emphasize the “election” of God’s people?

a. Romans 9
b. 1 Corinthians 15
c. Philippians 2
d. 1 Thessalonians 4

9. Which letter contains the following quotation: “…and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me’”?

a. 1 Corinthians
b. 2 Corinthians
c. Galatians
d. 1 Thessalonians

10. Which of these claims is found in 1 Corinthians?

a. “. . .work out your own salvation in fear and trembling. . . .”
b. “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. . . .”
c. “Three times I was shipwrecked. . . . “
d. “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.”

11. In which letter does Paul commend “Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae” to his readers and describe a female co-worker named Junia as “prominent among the apostles”?

a. Philippians
b. 1 Corinthians
c. Galatians
d. Romans

12. ‘Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited’ is found in which book?

a. Romans
b. 2 Corinthians
c. Ephesians
d. Philippians

13. To which church did Paul write ". . . I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue?"

a. Corinth
b. Ephesus
c. Galatia
d. Jerusalem
e. Rome

14. Onesimus was a

a. disciple
b. magician
c. soldier
d. politician
e. slave

15. "If there is a physical body," Paul says, "there is also ___________."

a. a terrestrial body
b. a spiritual body
c. a perishable soul
d. an immortal soul

Short Answer:

Fill in the blank from Paul’s letters:

“If I speak in the tongues of mortal and of angels, but do not have love, I am ______________________________________________.

“Bless those who ____________________.

“If your enemies are hungry, __________________.

“If your enemies are thirsty, _____________________.

Do not be overcome by evil, but _____________________.

Longer Answer:

Some have said that Romans is about faith and I Corinthians is about love. Which do you think is most important?

Why are these seven letters considered the seven authentic letters of Paul?

What does Paul mean when he uses the phrase “In Christ?”

Find examples in Paul’s seven letters of women in leadership.

October Synopsis: Seven Authentic Letters of Paul

2008-09-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Bible Cover to Cover for October: The Seven Authentic Letters of Paul

1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philemon, Philippians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and Romans

These are the seven letters that scholars all agree were written by Paul. Disputed letters (Ephesians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus) will be read later. We begin with Paul’s seven authentic letters (the earliest writings in the New Testament) rather than Acts which is written a half century after Paul. The Paul of Acts is a legendary character that serves the purpose of the author of Acts.

In these seven letters written on the road to particular congregations, we get insight into the struggles and the convictions of the early Jesus movement as understood by Paul and his communities. Paul mythologizes Jesus for a Greek and Roman audience. There is little about the historical person of Jesus in Paul’s letters. Paul is mostly concerned about the death and resurrection of Christ (the Messiah) and what it means for his readers to live “in Christ.”

It is in these seven letters that we find the “real” Paul. One of the challenges is to seek to uncover what is coherent in Paul’s message and what is contingent upon circumstances. We find in the authentic Paul a radical message of personal and social liberation and egalitarianism between women and men, between slave and free, and between Jew and Greek.

I Thessalonians: This is Paul’s first letter and the oldest writing in the New Testament. There was concern that Christ had not returned. Paul reassures them that Christ will come again and the dead will be raised. “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” (5:2)

I Corinthians is written for the church that has lost its center in Christ. Fighting, division, competition, and self-aggrandizement rule the day for the Corinthians and Paul teaches them the meaning of community, of love, and of authentic spiritual maturity. Chapter 13 contains some of the most beautiful poetry in scripture. That is why you hear it during weddings.

II Corinthians: Relations between Paul and the people at Corinth had deteriorated. This letter reveals the hurt and frustration when people of faith have conflicts that cannot seem to be resolved. Paul tries to walk that difficult line of seeking reconciliation but needing to defend his ministry. “Make room in your hearts for us...” (7:2)

Philemon: Paul writes to Philemon who is the owner of a slave, Onesimus. Paul admonishes Philemon to grant Onesimus his freedom and to take him back not as a slave but as a brother.

Galatians: The Galatians have reverted back to their old ways by putting the demands of the law onto Christians. Galatians is an important letter which tells of the universal implications of the Christian faith. “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you!” (3:1)

Philippians: Paul writes this letter from prison and it is a powerful letter of faith and joy amidst struggle. It is a letter of confidence in Christ’s presence. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!” (4:4)

Romans is Paul's theological summa. Romans was the work that changed Martin Luther and inspired him to reform the church. "We are justified by grace through faith." Paul wrestles with the same questions we do today. How good do I have to be? What is the difference between the letter and the spirit of the law? Why do I keep doing the bad things I detest?

September Quick Guide: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Thomas

2008-09-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

For the period September 1 through September 30, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Thomas.

The word "gospel" means good news. It comes from the Greek word euangelion where we get the words evangel, evangelist, and evangelism. Traditionally, "gospel" was a secular word. Governors would begin public announcements about military victories or state celebrations (such as Caesar's birthday) with the phrase "Good News!" Using this format, Mark's Gospel begins with a different kind of good news. The "good news of Jesus Christ the Son of God." (Mark 1:1)

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic gospels. Syn (similar) Optic (eye). These three proclamations about Jesus are similar in both form or narrative flow and in content. In contrast, the Gospel of John is quite different from Matthew, Mark and Luke both in the kinds of stories told about Jesus and the way in which they are framed. Each work brings its own interpretation about the significance of Jesus. That is why it is good as we read them to respect each author's integrity rather than to try to mix all the gospels into one life of Jesus. These gospels are proclamations about Jesus' significance rather than biographies of his life. John 20:30-31 explains: "Now Jesus did may other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name."

Most scholars agree that Mark is the first gospel written around 70 A.D. at the time of the Jewish War with the Romans and the destruction of the temple about 40 years after Jesus. The stories about Jesus reflect that contemporary situation. Luke and Matthew followed Mark, used his narrative flow, and added material of their own, completing their works ten to fifteen years later. The author of Luke also wrote Acts so these works should be read and interpreted as one book.

The Gospel of Thomas is a sayings gospel. It was found in 1945 in the collection at Nag Hammadi. Some of the Gospel of Thomas is similar to what is found in the synoptic gospels. Some is quite different. Thomas may have preserved some of the earliest layers of the Jesus sayings tradition.

Who was Jesus? Was he a real person? Did he even exist? We know next to nothing about Jesus outside what the Bible says about him. The Gospels are not reliable as historical biographies. They are theological proclamations. One can find antecedents to nearly all of the stories about Jesus in earlier literature. Miracles such as virgin birth, resurrection, walking on water, turning water into wine, healing people of illness, and ascending to heaven are common themes attributed to divine figures. Even many of the sayings and parables of Jesus are likely to have originated with philosophers, prophets, and sages before him. It is difficult if not impossible to determine what the historical person was like, even if there was one.

There are different ways to read these Gospels. One way is to read them as sources for information about the historical Jesus. In this way of reading we try to distinguish the mythological “gloss” from the historical person. Historical Jesus scholars such as the Jesus Seminar have developed methodology to do this.

Another way is to read each gospel as a story of Jesus in its own right. In this way of reading, we don't worry about contradictions of fact (who was actually at the tomb, etc.); rather, we try to determine who Mark's Jesus is, and how he compares to Luke's Jesus and Matthew's Jesus. In this way of reading, one brackets the questions regarding the historical person and steps into the story with all of its myth, metaphor, and magic. Then, the most important question will be from Jesus to you: "Who do you say that I am?"

September Quiz: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Thomas

2008-09-02T16:03:00.000-07:00

1. The Gospel writers attempted to
a. write objective biographies of Jesus designed to enable readers to reconstruct the life of Jesus
b. to interpret Jesus theologically for the communities they served

2. In studies about Jesus, scholars often distinguish between the Christ of faith and the Jesus of history. Which of the following is the best definition of the ‘Christ of faith’?
a. The Christ of faith is Jesus as proclaimed by the Christian community.
b. The Christ of faith is the very limited picture of Jesus that emerges when we use only data which can be ‘proven’ by using the historical method.
c. The Christ of faith is the real Jesus as we would see him if we could go back in time and listen to him teaching in Galilee.

3. Large amounts of information about Jesus may be found in non-Christian sources such as Josephus and Tacitus. In fact, we know almost as much about Jesus from these sources as from the Christian Gospels.
a. True
b. False

4. The criterion of dissimilarity asserts that
a. if an historical statement can be read as challenging the goals of the document in which it occurs or the goals of the community which preserved that document, then it is likely to be true.
b. if an historical statement can be read as challenging the goals of the document in which it occurs or the goals of the community which preserved that document, then it is likely to be false.
c. if an historical statement is not similar to other statements made in the same document, then it is probably false.

5. The criterion of multiple attestation asserts that
a. if an historical statement is supported by more than one source, it is probably true
regardless of what the literary relationship of those sources might be.
b. if an historical statement is supported by more than one source, and if the relevant sources could not be dependent upon one another, then the statement is probably true.
c. if an historical statement is supported by more than one source, the sources must be related to one another if the statement is true

6. The Jesus Seminar asserts that Jesus
a. preached a highly apocalyptic message, expecting the arrival of the Kingdom of God and the end of natural history shortly after his death.
b. preached a message that had little to do with popular eschatology.

7. Jesus grew up in __________.
a. Jerusalem
b. Bethlehem
c. Capernaum
d. Nazareth

8. Jesus was born sometime between
a. 40 and 27 BCE
b. 6 and 4 BCE
c. 1 and 12 CE
d. 27 and 30 CE

9. According to the canonical Gospels Jesus was born in __________.
a. Jerusalem
b. Bethlehem
c. Capernaum
d. Nazareth

10. Jesus was crucified in __________.
a. Jerusalem
b. Bethlehem
c. Capernaum
d. Nazareth

11. Which of the following is true about the New Testament claim that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist?
a. While the New Testament reports this event, we have no way to prove whether it actually happened or not. It must be accepted as a matter of faith.
b. Most historians would say that we have good evidence for this event. We can demonstrate that it is extremely likely that Jesus was actually baptized by John.

12. During Jesus’ public ministry
a. he attracted large crowds of both supporters and opponents.
b. he probably did not attract much attention. The Christian movement took on great force only after Jesus’ death.
c. he attracted large crowds, but the crowds virtually always opposed Jesus. He had few supporters.
d. he attracted large crowds of supporters. Strong popular opposition to his message arose only after his death.

13. Jesus’ public ministry lasted
a. between one and three years
b. about six months
c. between five and ten years

14. Who actually carried out the crucifixion of Jesus?
a. a group of Roman soldiers
b. an angry mob, without the help of the Romans
c. the Jewish temple leadership

Question Source:

Dr. Michael Palmer
www.greek-language.com/bible

Shorter Answer:

Of all Jesus' teachings, parables, or sayings, name one (or two or three if you can't decide on one) that is the most important for us as human beings to internalize? Why?

What title does Jesus use for himself more than any other? What do you think it means?

Matthew and Luke both include birth narratives. What are the differences between the two narratives? What does each author want us to know about the kind of person Jesus will be and the work Jesus will do through the device of the birth narrative?

Why was Jesus executed? What did it mean for his followers to claim he was “Resurrected”?

Longer Answer:

Imagine Jesus as a real person. Without using "theological jargon" describe in two or three paragraphs what kind of person Jesus is. Think in terms of personality, values, dreams, attitudes, and convictions. Don't worry about being "right or wrong" or orthodox or whatever; use your imagination and heart!

August Quick Guide: Apocrypha/Deuterocanon

2008-08-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

1, 2, 3, 4 Maccabees, 1 & 2 Esdras, The Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151

These are important works that tell of the period in which Hellenization (Greek culture and language) dominated the known world. These works describe the various responses to this influence. Greek thought and culture was both welcomed and feared. It also tells of persecution by Greek rulers and Jewish response. These works cover the period from the death of Alexander the Great in the 3rd century BCE to the first century CE.

1 Maccabees is history that recounts the origins of the Hasmonean Dynasty. It begins with the death of Alexander the Great and the rise to power of the Seleucid King, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Here you will discover the origins of Hanakkuh.

2 Maccabees tells the same history of the first eight chapters of 1 Maccabees with a unique literary style. It is like a blog versus a news story! The martyrdom of the seven brothers is important for later Christian developments regarding resurrection.

1 Esdras reproduces 2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23, Ezra, and Nehemiah 7:38-8:12. If you have already read the canonical works, you might skim 1 Esdras and notice differences. Read 3:1-5:6 as this passage is unique to 1 Esdras.

The Prayer of Manasseh is a touching prayer of confession by the “wicked” king Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1-18). It is a prayer of hope that even the most evil among us are capable of redemption.

Psalm 151. And you thought there were only 150 Psalms! This one isn’t too long. It is a psalm of David.

3 Maccabees is not about the Maccabees at all. It is about another bad guy, King Ptolemy IV Philopator (221-203 BCE) and the struggle that Jews living in Egypt had with him.

2 Esdras is the only apocalypse in the Apocrypha. It reads like the book of Revelation and chapter 7-13 of Daniel. A heavy dose of this will give you bad dreams. Apocalyptic literature told of troubles and of future hope of God’s victory through complex symbols revealed in dreams. The word apocalypse means revelation.

4 Maccabees is a philosophical treatise written around the time of Jesus. It is an interpretation of Judaism using Greek philosophy.

August Quiz: Apocrypha/Deuterocanon

2008-08-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

1) The Septuagint was
a) a Hebrew translation of the Latin Bible
b) a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible
c) a Latin translation of the Greek Bible

2) The Hellenistic ruler who tried to destroy Judaism in the second century BCE by persecuting Jews was
a) Ptolemy I
b) Seleucus II
c) Alexander of Macedonia
d) Antiochus IV

3) When did the Seleucid persecutions of the Jews begin?
a) 70 CE
b) 167 BCE
c) 538 BCE
d) 333 BCE
e) 587 BCE

4) Who was Mattathias?
a) The Hasmonean ruler who forced the Syrians to sign a treaty of non-aggression.
b) The priest of Modein who started the Maccabean Revolt.
c) A prominent resident of Jerusalem, in the Persian province of Yehud at the time Alexander imposed Greek rule there.

5) The Hasmonean Period was
a) a time when Israel was dominated by Rome.
b) a time of peace, when Israel was free from external pressures and able to pursue its own interests.
c) a time of independence for Israel, but not a time of peace.

6) The Maccabean Revolt began when
a) The Seleucid kingdom took Israel away from the Ptolemaic kingdom.
b) Mattathias, the priest in the small Judean village of Modein, refused to perform a sacrifice to the Greek god Zeus.
c) Judas Maccabeus marched into Jerusalem and rededicated the temple there to the worship of Yahweh.

7) Who led the Jewish forces in the recapture of Jerusalem in 164 BCE?
a) Judas Maccabeus
b) Antiochus IV
c) Simon
d) Alexander

8) Which of the following is not one of the typical characteristics of apocalyptic writing?
a) violence
b) tolerance
c) predestination
d) exclusivism
e) dualism

9) The people of Israel lost their independence at the end of the Hasmonean Period. What foreign power controlled Israel after that point?
a) The Greeks
b) The Romans
c) The Persians

10) Who was installed as ruler of the Jews when the last Hasmonean ruler died?
a) Pontius Pilate
b) Herod the Great
c) Herod Antipas

11) When were the oldest of the Dead Sea Scrolls produced?
a) Between 100 and 223 CE.
b) Between 250 BCE and 68 CE.
c) Between 500 and 415 BCE

12) A document that is pseudonymous is one that
a) now has a title other than the one originally assigned to the document
b) was written by a community of editors rather than a single author
c) was composed by an unknown writer in the name of a famous person

13) A canon is
a) the official list of books that a religious community accepts as authentic and binding
b) a list of books that are rejected by a religious community as unfit for divine instruction
c) an authoritative group of clergy who must decide on such issues as which books are to be read by a religious community

14) The term Tanak refers to the same collection of documents as which of the following?
a) The Septuagint
b) A Catholic Old Testament
c) The Hebrew Bible

15) Which of the following is NOT one of the major sections of the Tanak?
a) Kethuvim (Writings)
b) Neviim (Prophets)
c) Torah (Teaching, Law, Instruction)
d) Apocrypha (Hidden)

16) The Tanak ends with
a) the book of Malachi
b) the books of Chronicles
c) the book of Psalms

17) The Old Testament ends with
a) the book of Malachi
b) the books of Chronicles
c) the book of Psalms

July Quiz: Apocrypha or Deuterocanon

2008-06-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

1. What does the term "Apocrypha" mean?

a) False Inscription
b) Inspired
c) Extraneous
d) Hidden

2. The term deuterocanonical means

a) having to do with the second coming of Jesus
b) hidden; not to be read
c) belonging to a second canon

3. What did Tobiah use to keep the demon from the bridal chamber when he married Sarah?

a) A sheep's gall bladder
b) Warm bird droppings
c) A magical incantation
d) A fish's heart and liver

4. Who was pulled by the hair of his head by God and taken from Judea to Babylon to give Daniel lunch when Daniel was in the lion's den?

a) Zerubabbel
b) Jeremiah
c) Habakkuk
d) Elijah

5. Why did Tobit send his son Tobia to Media?

a) To claim a fortune deposited there
b) To seek out and marry Sarah
c) To find a cure for his blindness
d) To avoid death at the hands of Sennacherib

6. How did Judith assassinate Holofernes?

a) She stabbed him during intercourse
b) She beheaded him while he was drunk
c) She prayed to God and he was miraculously killed
d) She drove a tent peg through his chest

7. Two Jewish elders, out of lust for this woman, tell her to have sex with them or risk being accused of committing adultery with a young man.

a) Susanna
b) Esther
c) Judith
d) Baruch

8. Verses from this passage are used in the liturgy of the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A., as part of the "Rite One Morning Prayer."

a) Song of the Three Young Men
b) Susanna
c) Bel and the Dragon
d) Wisdom

9. In the additional parts of Esther, what character has a dream vision?

a) Esther
b) Mordecai
c) Vashiti
d) Haman

10. The Wisdom of Solomon is the only book of the Roman Catholic Old Testament that professes a belief that would have enormous importance in the history of the Christian West, namely,

a) Explicit monotheism.
b) A spiritual interpretation of the messianic hope.
c) The possibility of vicarious suffering.
d) The immortality of the soul.

11. What Deuterocanonical book is ascribed to the secretary of the prophet Jeremiah?

a) Baruch
b) Tobit
c) Sirach
d) Judith

12. Hellenistic culture

a) was the culture of classical Greece before the conquests that brought Greek language and customs to Israel.
b) was the culture of Mesopotamia and Canaan in the centuries immediately before Greek culture was introduced there.
c) resulted from the mixture of classical Greek civilization with the older cultures of the Near East.

13. Who was the conqueror who took Greek language, art, literature, philosophy, and social customs from Greece to the millions of people living in Egypt, Judea, Afghanistan, and all the way to western India?

a) Ashurbanipal III
b) Cyrus of Persia
c) Alexander the Great

14. General consensus regarding which books belong in the Hebrew Bible was reached at approximately

a) The time of Ezra, 400 B.C.E.
b) The time of the Maccabees, the second century B.C.E.
c) The end of the first century C.E.
d) The early Middle Ages.

15. The term diaspora refers to

a) a form of dress in ancient Israel
b) the war for independence from Seleucid rule
c) the distribution of Jews outside their Palestinian homeland

Short Answer:

1. According to Ben Sira, the chief function of a scribe is to ___________________.

2. If the Wisdom of Solomon exhibits respect for philosophy, it has scathing contempt for the Egyptians because of their ____________.

Longer Answer:

1. What is implied when we call the Bible “Sacred Scripture”?

2. What does it mean to speak of the “canon” of the Bible?

3. What enduring values can we hope to find in the Bible?

July Quick Guide: Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Literature (Part 1)

2008-06-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Tobit, Judith, Esther (Greek), The Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch,
The Letter of Jeremiah, Azariah and the Three Jews, Susanna

These books did not make the canon of the Protestant Bible, but they are found in the sacred canons of other Christian traditions. These are the writings of Jewish people between the third century BCE and the first century CE. Many of these texts were written in Greek, some in Aramaic or Hebrew. Many respond to the Hellenization of the region since the conquest of Alexander the Great. While some of the writings incorporate Greek thought, much of it resists Hellenization and prizes faithful Jewish resistance.

The apocrypha includes some fun stories in the genre of historical romances:

Tobit is a found in the Roman Catholic canon. It is a fictional story that praises faithfulness and courage. Tobit gives us the concept of the guardian angel and provides a reason why young men may be frightened to death on their wedding night.

Judith is fiction in the form of history. Lest anyone doubt that women should be in combat, here is a how a brave, faithful, woman gets ahead.

In the Greek version of the Book of Daniel are three more stories not found in the Hebrew text. They are Azariah and the The Three Jews, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon.

1) The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews is what the three men pray to the Lord when they were tossed into the fiery furnace.

2) Susanna is the story of a woman who is wrongly accused. Thankfully Daniel comes to her rescue--just like Matlock.

3) Bel and the Dragon tells the story of how Daniel outwits the religious phonies, kills a dragon, and survives six days in a lion’s den.

The Greek version of Esther is the same story as the canonical Esther with some additions. These additions are pious, in that they contain explicit references to God not found in the Hebrew text.

In addition to fun stories, the Apocrypha contains wisdom literature:

The Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus or The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach is skillful literature. It is a blending of Greek and Hebrew thought. These two works as well as 2 Maccabbees 6-7 had a great influence on the theology of the early Christian church, including the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.

Baruch, named for the scribe of Jeremiah is really a praise for Wisdom and for Israel: “The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded Israel at God’s command.”

The Letter of Jeremiah was supposedly written by Jeremiah to the captives in Babylon. It is really a scathing attack on non-Jews: “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber bed, which guards nothing, so are their gods of wood, overlaid with gold and silver.”

The Hebrew Prophets: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

2008-05-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

The Hebrew Prophets: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
John Shuck

First Presbyterian Church
Elizabethton, Tennessee
April 27^th, 2008

Selected Readings from the Minor Prophets

The Good: The time is surely coming, says the Lord, when the one who plows shall overtake the one who reaps, and treader of grapes the one who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. --Amos 9:13-14

The Bad: I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord. I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. I will make the wicked stumble. I will cut off humanity from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
--Zephaniah 1:2-3

The Ugly: I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will let nations look on your nakedness and kingdoms on your shame. I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt, and make you a spectacle.
--Nahum 3:5-6

Today marks the end of our tour through the Hebrew prophets. In our journey through the Bible we have finished the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy), the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings), and the Latter Prophets, which is divided into the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel), and the Minor Prophets (Hosea through Malachi).

Next month we begin the Writings. We will read the poetic literature first, Job, Psalms, and Proverbs. Then for June, we will read The Five Scrolls: (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther). We will also read the Post-Exilic Writings: (Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles). And by the end of June we will have completed the Hebrew Scriptures which Christians call the Old Testament. We are reading them, however, in the order of the Hebrew tradition rather than the Christian tradition.

The poet Robert Frost, in one of his poems wrote that he had a lover’s quarrel with the world. In his 1942 poem “The Lesson for Today,” a long philosophical poem, we find this stanza:

And were an epitaph to be my story
I'd have a short one ready for my own.
I would have written of me on my stone:
I had a lover's quarrel with the world.

You will find on Robert Frost’s tombstone in his resting place in Vermont, that sentence: “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.” I took a photograph of it when I visited there a few years ago.

On my tombstone should be written, “I had a lover’s quarrel with the Bible.” It truly is a lover’s quarrel. I have been marinated in it since I was a child. I learned critical methods, even a dabbling in its original languages. I have argued with it, dismissed it, embraced it again, cursed those who misuse it, embarrassed myself in my misuse of it, and here I am again encouraging you to read it. Perhaps I want you to share my pain. The Bible won’t go away. I cannot seem to write it off. Its narrative continues to mess with my head and heart.

I still want to trust that what it says is true—we matter, something bigger than us cares, and in the end we experience Resurrection and a shining city.

Religious scholar Bart Ehrman, who teaches at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, just published a book in 2008: God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer.

I think Professor Ehrman has a lover’s quarrel with the Bible, too. I resonate with what he wrote on page 17:

It is important, then, to see what the Bible actually says, and not to pretend it doesn’t say something that happens to contradict one’s own particular point of view. But whatever the Bible says needs to be evaluated. This is not a matter of setting oneself up as God, dictating what is and what is not divine truth. It is a matter of using our intelligence to assess the merit of what the biblical authors say…(p. 17)

That is true enough. Yet the Bible has power over us at that exact point. If we do “assess the merit of what the biblical authors say” we are breaking a taboo. It is that very assessment that is considered to be the slandering of the sacred. This taboo is not just for fundamentalists. Biblical scholars across the spectrum all have the desire to bring the Bible to their side. We really have a hard time finally saying, for example, “Yes, the Apostle Paul was probably homophobic, but we don’t have to be.”

Folks who have no lover’s quarrel with the Bible have no difficulty saying that. The Bible is as foreign to them as tales of the Norse god, Odin. But for those of us who do trust the Bible as a sacred text, we have a problem. Can it be true if we have the freedom to assess its truth claims? Is it true if we conclude that some of it is not true?

I am not speaking about whether or not an event in the Bible happened or not, I am talking about the big ticket questions, such as, “If God loves us, why do we suffer?” This is the question Bart Ehrman addresses in his recent book.

Ehrman believes that that question is the foundational question of the Bible. Ehrman writes that it is not only a foundational question for the Bible but for most if not all religions. It is an existential question with which we live.

Why do we suffer? The reason we ask it is in order to then ask: How can we end suffering, or at least reduce it, or at even be at peace with it? I bring up Ehrman’s book because he begins with the prophets and how they answered that question.

There are a number of different ways the biblical writers answered that question. The dominant answer, the classic answer, is that suffering is God’s punishment for disobedience. The prophets also assert that some suffering is caused by human beings who inflict pain on others. The prophet Amos accused the rich of selling the poor for a pair of shoes. Their suffering was the result of the greed of the rich.

One explanation for human suffering is true enough: we bring it on others and ourselves by making selfish and cruel choices. Why do people suffer from grinding poverty, war, and sickness. Some of it can be explained by neglect, cruelty and ignorance. Those who see human suffering in that way, seek to eliminate it or alleviate it. There is suffering that we can do something about.

This is why Amos, of all the prophets, resonates so much with those who work for social justice. The hope is we can do something about it, if we care enough to act. Amos, in that sense, is quite modern.

That explanation doesn’t account for all suffering, though. It doesn’t account for natural disasters, birth defects, disease, pain in childbirth, and death itself. As much as we might enjoy blaming politicians and leaders for our suffering, we cannot concede to them that much power.

The classic explanation for suffering from the Hebrew prophets was that suffering was inflicted upon them as punishment for disobedience to YHWH. The crisis was this: YHWH chose us and made a covenant with us. Why then are we in such misery? Why are we being overthrown by our adversaries? Why do we die from famine and drought? Why do mothers weep for their children and refuse to be comforted? Why doesn’t YHWH answer our cries for help?

The answer from the prophets is that this suffering is not the result of indifferent weather patterns, nor is it the result of the Babylonian or Assyrian Empires’ quests for power. This suffering is YHWH’s way of communicating. You are suffering because you have disobeyed and you need to repent. When you do repent, YHWH will restore you.

Job didn’t buy it. Job rejects the classic answer. Here is a righteous person who suffers. There are two answers in Job. The first is that suffering is none of his business. YHWH speaks to him finally from the whirlwind and gives no answer. The second answer from the prologue and epilogue that the reader knows, but the character Job does not, is that YHWH was playing games with him. YHWH made a bet with the Adversary regarding how much suffering could be inflicted upon poor old Job, before he would break his covenant with YHWH. Suffering in this case is a test. Although, one might legitimately ask, for what purpose?

The answer from Ecclesiastes is “All is vanity and chasing after the wind.” The good suffer and wicked prosper, just the make the best of it. Ecclesiastes also resonates with our modern view on things.

In the saga of Joseph, which Ehrman points out, is the same theme of the story of Jesus, God uses suffering for redemption. In this case suffering is not caused by God but used by God to achieve a greater good. The New Testament does not really provide any new answers. Although some have suggested that the incarnation shows that God suffers with us.

So far we have suffering is unexplainable, suffering is caused by the cruelty of others, suffering is a test, suffering is a means to a greater good. The classic, dominant answer is that suffering is punishment. That is what we find, for the most part in the Torah and the Prophets.

Here is the question: Is that true? Were the prophets correct? I am going to argue that they were not correct. As one biblical scholar, John Dominic Crossan put it: if the Hebrew people had been on their knees in prayer, day and night, and been perfect followers of YHWH, the Assyrians and then the Babylonians would have slaughtered them anyway.

This is why I find the prophets very difficult to read. I resonate with Amos and the call for social justice. I do like the visions of hope and justice we find there. I call that prophetic message good. The message of punishment, that everything from drought to the defeat by enemies is God’s way of punishing, I cannot accept. I don’t think that theology is good or good for us. That prophetic message to me is bad.

I have to have some special category for the almost pornographic language of the prophets as they graphically depict the violence of God on those whom God punishes. Not good, worse than bad, it is ugly.

That is my quarrel with much of the Bible and the god who is portrayed there. I simply cannot accept a notion of God who punishes people either then or now because of their sin. Am I setting myself as smarter than God for saying that? Perhaps. Some would say that is exactly what I am doing. I do not think so. I think I am evaluating or assessing the merits of what the biblical authors wrote.

Actually, in an odd way, I think it makes me a lover of the Bible and the people who wrote it. I want to understand it and them. Why did they say things the way they did? What was at stake for them? Understanding includes assessing. Because they saw god in a certain way then, does that mean we must see god in that way now?

I may be wrong in my assessment. But I think that our personal growth is allowing ourselves the freedom to risk being wrong. We have the freedom, perhaps the responsibility to forge a way of thinking about God and our human plight in ways that move beyond ancient formulations.

There is a great deal of suffering in the world. Much of it we can do little about except to be compassionate to others and to ourselves. Yet there is much suffering that we may be able to alleviate and in some cases prevent. I do think that how we think about God does matter in how we respond to the challenges of life. I will give up God’s power and righteousness for God’s compassion any day.

Daring to assess the merits of the Bible may seem a road less traveled by in our culture. So, I will close with another poem by Robert Frost that reminds me of this congregation and why I am glad I am here:

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The Torah (Overview)

2008-02-07T21:53:00.001-08:00

The Torah which can be translated as Instruction or Law is made up of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It was formed by various authors over centuries. See The Documentary Hypothesis Quick Guide. It tells the story from Creation to the death of Moses before the Hebrews arrive in the Promised Land.

The following guide is taken from an outstanding resource, Reading the Old Testament. Take some time with this website. You can look up general themes, get more specific, find charts, maps, timelines, study guides, glossaries, and artwork.

Here is a diagram of the timeline of formation of the Torah:

Prologue to the Torah
Introduction and Key Terms
Take the Quiz

Genesis 1-11 The Primeval Story
Introduction and Key Terms
Story Line
Chapters 1-7 Creation to the Flood
Chapters 8-11 Re-Creation to Abram
Genesis 1-11 as a Whole
Take the Quiz

Genesis 12-50 The Ancestral Story
Introduction and Key Terms
Chapters 11:27-25:11 Abraham Cycle
Story Line
Chapters 25:19-35:29 Jacob Cycle
Story Line
Chapters 37:1-50:26 Joseph Cycle
Story Line
Genesis as a Whole
Toledot of Genesis
Themes of Genesis
Outline of Genesis
Take the Quiz

Exodus Deliverance and Covenant
Introduction and Key Terms
Story Line
Chapters 1-18 Deliverance Traditions
Chapters 19-40 Sinai Covenant Traditions
Exodus as a Whole
Outline of Exodus
Take the Quiz

Leviticus and Numbers In the Wilderness
Introduction and Key Terms

Leviticus
Story Line
Holy Places
Holy People
Sacrifices
Holy Times
Priestly Worldview
Leviticus as a Whole
Outline of Leviticus

Numbers
Story Line
From Mount Sinai to Moab
1:1-10:10 Priestly Code Continued
10:11-22:1 The Journey Continues
22:2-36:13 Events in the Transjordan
Numbers as a Whole
Outline of Numbers

Take the Quiz (Leviticus and Numbers)

Deuteronomy The Torah of Moses
Introduction and Key Terms
Story Line
Words of Moses
6:4-9 Great Commandment
12;2-7 The Place YHWH Chooses
18:15-22 A Prophet Like Me
26:5-9 The Earliest Creed
30:15-20 Choose Life!
Torah and Covenant
Deuteronomy as a Whole
Themes
Authorship
Style and Structure
Deuteronomistic History
Take the Quiz

Here is the January quick guide for the Torah. Here is the quiz to turn in to win a prize! E-mail your quiz answers to johnashuck@embarqmail.com!

The Former Prophets (Overview)

2008-02-07T19:28:00.000-08:00

The Former Prophets are the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. They are also known as the Deuteronomistic History because they follow the theological theme of the author of Deuteronomy.

They follow the history from the entrance into the Promised Land, late 13th century BCE, to the deportation to Babylon in 587 BCE. These works (along with the Book of Deuteronomy and some editorializing of Genesis through Numbers) were likely created in the 7th century BCE during the reign of Josiah (640-609 BCE) after the conquest of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) in 722 BCE.

History is not the best word to describe these works. They are commentary and theological interpretation of history. Former Prophets is more accurate as the authors make prophetic analysis regarding the history of Israel and Judah. That is they claim to speak for God.

The theological theme throughout the Former Prophets is that the people will be successful in the land if they worship only YHWH. If they worship and serve other gods, YHWH will either remove his presence from them or will actively support the other nations in order to punish YHWH's people.

The Former Prophets speak to the situation in Josiah's time and for Josiah. With the threat of Babylon on the horizon, the former prophets have one message, you will retain the land by fidelity to YHWH. Some scholars suggest that the Former Prophets were not completed until the Exile (587 - 539 BCE). In this setting, they speak to the people in exile that the promise that getting back the land will require fidelity to YHWH.

Michael Palmer provides an excellent overview in his article, The Former Prophets. Here is a brief outline of the writings with the aid of an excellent resource, Reading the Old Testament:

Joshua
Introduction and Key Terms
Story Line
Chapters 1-12 Campaigns of Conquest
Chapters 13-21 Tribal Territories
Chapters 22-24 Covenant Considerations
Outline of Joshua
Joshua as a Whole
Take the Quiz

Judges
Introduction and Key Terms
Story Line
What is a Judge?
Chapters 1-3 Narrative Introduction
Chapters 3-16 The Judges at Work
Outline of Judges
Judges as a Whole
Take the Quiz

Samuel
Introduction and Key Terms
Story Line
1 Sam. 1-12 Samuel Cycle
1 Sam. 13-31 Saul Cycle
2 Sam. 1-24 David Cycle
Outline of Samuel
Samuel as a Whole
Take the Quiz

Kings
Introduction and Key Terms
Story Line
1 Kings 1-11 Solomon and the Unified Monarchy
1 Kings 12-2 Kings 17 Parallel Histories of Israel and Judah
2 Kings 18-25 Judah to the Babylonian Exile
Outline of Kings
Kings as a Whole
Take the Quiz

Here is my quick guide to the Former Prophets and the quiz to complete and turn in for your prize! Send your quiz answers to johnashuck@embarqmail.com!

Conquest: A Sermon

2008-02-03T11:27:00.000-08:00

Conquest
John Shuck

February 3^rd, 2008
Fist Presbyterian Church
Elizabethton, Tennessee

As the year 2000 was approaching, our village in upstate New York did a millennium celebration. It was held at the high school. Local musicians performed. It was a full house. The organizer of the event asked me if I could summarize the 20^th century in about three to five minutes. I am glad she didn’t ask me to summarize the millennium.

She asked me if I could, to do so without a lot of references to the wars. She was looking for a nice, humorous history of the 20^th century.

So I put a little thing together. It wasn’t exactly poetry. But it wasn’t prose either. I used images, slogans from popular culture, song titles, and personalities that I strung together in a quasi-narrative. My Tuesday morning Bible study was helpful. They were folks about my parents’ age and gave me personal memories regarding events long before I was born. The final product was well-received. I might share it with you sometime.

The point is that when I finished, I realized that I didn’t heed the organizer’s request too well. It was fairly humorous, as she hoped. Yet it is nearly impossible to talk about the 20^th century without reference to war. The wars were turning points in our history. For example, an entire generation, folks my parents’ age, is defined by the experience of World War Two.

History almost by definition is a history of war, of conquering and of being conquered. Times of peace, in the overall scope of things, have been brief. Even in times of peace, we find under the surface, a struggle. Some may argue that history is a history of war because we have not found a way to tell stories of peace that are compelling. A story without conflict is not a story. Life is a struggle for survival. The history of our lives collectively and individually, is the story of our struggle.

The Bible is a story of war. As we read Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, we are reading Israel’s war history. The stories are about the struggle. When the struggle ends, we find a sentence that says, “And the land had rest for forty years.” There are no stories about these restful times. They are not interesting, apparently. The struggle, the conflict, is the story.

In the book of Genesis, Jacob, the son of Isaac, wrestles with YHWH. After his all night wrestling match, in which Jacob does not give up, YHWH gives him a new name, Israel. El means God. Ytzr means struggle. Israel could mean “God struggles.” It could also mean “he (or she) who struggles with God.” Life is a struggle.

The earliest stories of YHWH are war songs. The scholarly consensus is that one of the oldest pieces of literature in the Bible is found Judges 5. The story is told in narrative form in Judges 4. But in Judges 5 the story is told in the form of a song. You might think of this song being sung in the tent at night. This song would have been part of a repertoire of songs and tales that would be passed on through the generations. This song was finally captured in written form and placed alongside the narrative in the Book of Judges.

It is the son of Deborah and Barak. It is the victory over Sisera. After Sisera’s army is defeated, Sisera flees. He goes to the tent of Heber the Kenite. They had been allies. But the wife of Heber the Kenite, Jael, is on the side of the Hebrews. She gives Sisera hospitality, with a surprise at the end. Here is the song:

Joshua 5:

24‘Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
25He asked water and she gave him milk,
she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.
26She put her hand to the tent-peg
and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sisera a blow,
she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27He sank, he fell,
he lay still at her feet;
at her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell dead.

I remember falling in love with Jael when my Introduction to Literature professor read that poem for us when I was a Freshman in college. Jael is a dangerous love, to be sure. You want to be on your guard when she is nicest to you.

That is poetry. That is the poetry of war. It is the praise of cunning. It is the praise of courage and nerve. The earliest songs human being sang about theirs gods were songs of war. YHWH before he was even a creator-god was a god of war. He rides across the sky on his chariot to do battle with Marduk and Baal.

Before the escape from Egypt was a story it was a song. It is captured in Exodus 15:

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to YHWH:
‘I will sing to YHWH, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
2YHWH is my strength and my might,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3YHWH is a warrior;
YHWH is his name.

YHWH is no philosophical first cause. There is no monotheism at this point in Israel’s history. These first songs to YHWH were songs to the god of strength. Earth and heaven are filled with gods, but YHWH is the strongest.

The Song of Moses continues:

¹¹‘Who is like you, YHWH, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in splendor, doing wonders?

Lest we think YHWH is simply an “Old Testament” god, we should hear the song of Mary, the mother of Jesus, again:

‘My soul magnifies YHWH,
⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
⁵⁰His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
⁵²He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.

YHWH does change over time. He matures. He becomes wiser in his ways. YHWH broadens his vision. Brute strength is not enough to control his people although he isn’t bashful about using it when he thinks the need arises. YHWH ultimately has to figure out how to deal with the shortcomings of violence. YHWH finds other aspects of his personality.

YHWH discovers that he is deeply compassionate. YHWH has a soft spot for the underdog. If you are interested in looking at YHWH in this way, I recommend Jack Miles, God: A Biography, and the sequel, Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God.

The songs we sing and the stories we tell about the gods are stories and songs about ourselves. The evolution of God is our evolution. But before we leave YHWH the warrior, the one who commands obedience, and in the book of Joshua, slaughter, we need to be honest. Have we really left him? My answer is, no we have not. It may be a long time before we do. We may never.

Reading the book of Joshua is about enough to turn most sensitive people into atheists. YHWH is difficult to stomach. But he will not go away. In our attempt to reject YHWH, the warrior, he comes back even more ferociously. In an effort to substitute a deity who is more gentle and mild in his place, we simply bury YHWH the warrior deeper into our unconscious awareness.

YHWH the warrior is very much alive whether we admit it or not. YHWH the warrior is not good to leave unattended in our unconscious. He does destructive things there. In saying 70 of the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is reported to have said:

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

YHWH the warrior is within us. As westerners, whether we are believers in God or YHWH or Jesus or not, we have inherited them all. Denying their existence is only repressing them. They do not exist out there, but in here. As depth psychologists remind us, the gods are symbolic representations of our drives. They are as real as our secret delight in the misfortune of our enemies. They are as real as the desires and fantasies we admit to no one. YHWH the warrior is our shadow. What do we do with a shadow? We are to embrace it.

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

I have to be careful here. I could be misinterpreted as suggesting that we need to embrace or glorify war and violence. No. I am talking about psychically embracing the warrior within.

Ghandi is reported to have said that he wanted no one in his non-violent army who wasn’t able and willing to kill. He didn’t want people who hadn’t embraced and known the warrior within themselves. He could do something with those people. One can only be truly non-violent when they are capable of violence, but then come to realize that non-violence is the better way.

We need the warrior. We need the warrior’s strength and courage. We need the warrior’s cunning. We need the warrior’s ability and willingness for self-sacrifice. We can call on that warrior to defend our children, the environment, and human dignity.

If we think of the various archetypes as tools in a toolbox that we can draw on when the occasion warrants, YHWH the warrior is a tool.

However, and this is a big however. We need other tools. As YHWH matured and evolved throughout Israel’s history and discovered other aspects of his personality, we too, need to evolve and mature. There is compassion. Over it all is wisdo

I think that our history of war, particularly in the West, is not because we have embraced YHWH the warrior. Just the opposite. YHWH the warrior has controlled us unconsciously.

YHWH the warrior, the one who commands destruction, is within us. Unless we consciously embrace the warrior, name it, and tame it, the warrior will act out in truly destructive and harmful ways. Each of us has the desire to obliterate our enemies. Unless we admit it, we are doomed to act on it. In psychology we call it passive-aggressiveness.

As we read the stories of Joshua through Kings, we are invited to enter them. They are the stories of our violence. We are invited to bring YHWH the warrior to consciousness and to bring the warrior in us to consciousness. Then, and only then, can we name this violence and tame it.

In Psalm 144:1 we read:

Blessed be YHWH, my rock,
who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;

Yes. But we must also embrace YHWH the compassionate. What does YHWH require? From Micah, chapter 6:

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does YHWH require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Amen.

Is the Bible History or Fiction? Quick Guide

2008-01-31T06:19:00.000-08:00

As we read the stories of the Hebrew scriptures we may wonder if are reading historical reportage of events or if we are reading stories of creative imagination. We may decide that somewhere between these poles the truth is found. Most of us would see the story of Adam and Eve in the garden as a myth rather than an event of history. What about the stories of Abraham, Moses, and David?

There is much debate on this theory among biblical scholars today for both the Hebrew scriptures and the Christian New Testament. The debate is called, somewhat inaccurately, the maximalist-minimalist debate. Maximalists generally affirm that the Bible is accurate historically and minimalists affirm that it is not and that it never intended to be read as such. Most scholars fall somewhere between these poles.

Archaeology and literary and rhetorical criticism have come of age in the past couple of decades to show that the Bible is a work of theology more than history. Archaeology has shown that there is very little evidence for the "events" recounted in the Bible. Literary and rhetorical criticism has helped us see these stories as works of art.

This may lead to the next question of realism. Is there something real and true about the theological claims in the Bible if we view them as imaginative creations? That is an important question. Do these stories in some way, tell us the truth about the human condition and about the nature of reality itself?

For example, is the character YHWH, more than a literary character, a projection of artistic imagination on one hand, and more than an actual being who acted this way in history on the other? Is their a reality to YHWH even if the stories about him are not real in the historical sense? This question will require of us who find the Bible as the normative text for the church to enter into these stories and let the Bible confront us even as we confront it.

Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann, has spent a great deal of time thinking about these kinds of questions.

A helpful book is his Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination. He goes through the Hebrew Scriptures, book by book, with a fresh look at these texts.

For more discussion on the maximalist/minimalist debate, you might find these Essays on Minimalism helpful from the on-line magazine, The Bible and Interpretation.

The Documentary Hypothesis: Quick Guide

2008-01-28T21:15:00.000-08:00

Julius Wellhausen is famous for the Documentary Hypothesis.

He changed the way we looked at the formation of the Torah. In his theory, there was an original epic, modified by a storyteller we call J. Four hundred years later, this epic is modified by another storyteller we call P. Of course, long before anything is written, these stories are told and retold in oral form.

J gets her name by calling God, Yahweh. J's narrative was formed in the 10th century BCE

E calls God, Elohim. E represents the Northern Kingdom's view of history after the Israelite monarchy split in 922. (J represents the Southern Kingdom's view and eventually J and E are combined).

D stands for Deuteronomic history which accounts for the Book of Deuteronomy and the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings (7th century BCE).

P gets his name because he is a priest. P's narrative is dated in the 6th century BCE.

Here is a handy summary and here is an illustration of J and P in the flood story.

Here is a clever diagram:

There are two separate creation accounts in Genesis.

Genesis 1:1-2:4a is a later account written by P in the 6th century during the Babylonian captivity.

Genesis 2:4b-4:16 is the earlier account written by J in the 10th century BCE. This tells the story of Adam, Eve, the garden, the serpent and so forth.

Since Wellhausen's time scholars have learned more about oral tradition. We don't think so much as individual authors sitting down and writing things. It is more accurate to these as strands of different traditions. Here is that same diagram with a bit more detail that includes the Deuteronomic history or former prophets:

Creation: Genesis and Eneuma Elish

2008-01-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

The Enuma Elish is a Babylonian epic. Enuma Elish is translated as “When on high” and refers to its opening words. The clay tablets found in the 19^th century CE date to no later than the 12^th century BCE. The poem itself goes back much earlier, perhaps to 1700 BCE or even 2000 BCE.

For a helpful translation with a summary of each tablet go here. A more literal translation is here.

This poem celebrates Marduk as the king of creation. It was read at yearly festivals. This poem is important for understanding the biblical myths for a couple of reasons.

First, the writers of Genesis 1 would have been familiar with it during their period of captivity in Babylon that began in 587 BCE. The influence of Enuma Elish would have likely been part of the collective mythology even before the captivity of the people of Jerusalem.

Second, Enuma Elish holds many features in common, not only with Genesis 1, but other creation accounts in the Bible (ie. Job and the Psalter). It is clear that the writers of the Bible borrowed heavily from this myth as they wrote their own myths.

Tablets four and five describe Marduk’s slaying of Tiamat, the formation of Earth and Sky from her carcass and the establishment of the stars, sun, and moon (represented as gods) who under Marduk’s control keep things going.

This is from Tablet Four:

He constructed stations for the great gods,
Fixing their astral likenesses as the stars of the Zodiac.
He determined the year and into sections he divided it;
He set up three constellations for each of the twelve months.
After defining the days of the year by means of heavenly figures,
He founded the station of the pole star [Nebiru] to determine their bounds,
That none might err or go astray.

Alongside it he set up the stations of Enlil and Ea.
Having opened up the gates on both sides,
He strengthened the locks to the left and the right. (10)

In her belly he established the zenith.
The Moon he caused to shine, entrusting the night to him.
He appointed him a creature of the night to signify the days,
And marked off every month, without cease, by means of his crown.
At the month's very start, rising over the land,
You shall have luminous horns to signify six days,
On the seventh day reaching a half-crown.
So shall the fifteen-day period be like one another-two halves for each month.
When the sun overtakes you at the base of heaven,
Diminish your crown and retrogress in light. (20)

At the time of disappearance approach the course of the sun,
And on the thirtieth you shall again stand in opposition to the sun.
I have appointed a sign, follow its path,
. . . approach and give judgement."

[Lines 25-44 are badly damaged and untranslatable. Apparently after Marduk created the moon he then created the sun (Shamash).]

After he had appointed the days to Shamash, (45)
And had established the precincts of night and day,
Taking the spittle of Tiamat
Marduk created . . .
He formed the clouds and filled them with water.
The raising of winds, the bringing of rain and cold, (50)

Making the mist smoke, piling up . . .
These he planned himself, took into his own hand.
Putting her head into position he formed thereon the mountains,
Opening the deep which was in flood,
He caused to flow from her eyes the Euphrates and Tigris,
Stopping her nostrils he left . . . ,
He formed from her breasts the lofty mountains,
Therein he drilled springs for the wells to carry off the water.
Twisting her tail he bound it to Durmah,

. . . Apsu at his foot, (60)

. . . her crotch, she was fastened to the heavens,
Thus he covered the heavens and established the earth.
. . . in the midst of Tiamat he made flow,
. . . his net he completely let out,
So he created heaven and earth . . . ,
. . . their bounds . . . established.
When he had designed his rules and fashioned his ordinances,
He founded the shrines and handed them over to Ea.
The Tablet of Destinies which he had taken from Kingu he carried,
He brought it as the first gift of greeting, he gave it to Anu. (70)

Now compare to Genesis 1:14-19:

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

A much condensed version! Note the “demythologizing”. Shamash (the sun god) becomes shemesh (the sun). The moon god becomes the moon. Elohim seems to screw in the light bulbs so to speak.

In Tablet six, Marduk creates humans out of the blood and bone of the slain Kingu, who had helped Tiamat in her uprising:

When Marduk heard the words of the gods,
His heart prompted him to fashion artful works.
Opening his mouth, he addressed Ea
To impart the plan he had conceived in his heart:
"I will take blood and fashion bone.
I will establish a savage, ‘man’ shall be his name.
truly, savage-man I will create.
He shall be charged with the service of the gods
That they might be at ease!
The ways of the gods I will artfully alter. (10)

Though alike revered, into two groups they shall be divided."
Ea answered him, speaking a word to him,
Giving him another plan for the relief of the gods:
"Let but one of their brothers be handed over;
He alone shall perish that mankind may be fashioned.
Let the great gods be here in Assembly,
Let the guilty be handed over that they may endure."
Marduk summoned the great gods to Assembly;
Presiding graciously, he issued instructions.
To his utterance the gods pay heed.
The king addressed a word to the Anunnaki: (20)

"If your former statement was true,
Now declare the truth on oath by me!
Who was it that contrived the uprising,
And made Tiamat rebel, and joined battle?
Let him be handed over who contrived the uprising.
His guilt I will make him bear. You shall dwell in peace!"
The Igigi, the great gods, replied to him,
To Lugaldimmerankia, counselor of the gods, their lord:
"It was Kingu who contrived the uprising,
And made Tiamat rebel, and joined battle." (30)

They bound him, holding him before Ea.
They imposed on him his punishment and severed his blood vessels.
Out of his blood they fashioned mankind.
He imposed on him the service and let free the gods.
After Ea, the wise, had created mankind,
Had imposed upon them the service of the gods--
That work was beyond comprehension;
As artfully planned by Marduk, did Nudimmud create it--
Marduk, the king of the gods divided
All the great gods [Anunnaki] above and below. (40)

And from Genesis 1:26-28

26Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

Again, we have a much condensed version. Also, humans are not created from the blood of an enemy to be slave to gods, but are created by Elohim who blesses them.

Genesis 1 reflects a mature development in Hebrew theology. Genesis 1 is no earlier than the 6^th century BCE. It is much more sophisticated than Enuma Elish or some of the earlier myths in the Bible itself (Job and Psalms). Genesis 1 is less “mythological” and it has a more positive vision of the creator and humankind.

But, Genesis 1 is still a myth. One of its basic functions was to tell the story of why humans are to work six days and keep the seventh day holy. It tells us nothing about how human beings, Earth, or the universe evolved. It is a myth based on the ancient understanding of the cosmos.

Ancient Cosmology: Quick Guide

2008-01-28T20:33:00.000-08:00

Imagine if you had never been told that Earth is a globe that rotates and revolves around the sun. You would likely never figure that out. In fact, Copernicus, just over 500 years ago, through observations, showed the Sun as the center of the solar system, not Earth. Copernicus shattered what seemed to be common sense.

Just going by your common sense observations, what would you see? You would see Earth that is flat. You look up and see a big blue dome that stretches to the horizon. By day, a ball of fire moves across the dome. How does that happen? At night another lesser light moves through the dome. And what are all of those white dots at night? You can see them through the dome. They move in patterns. Who moves them? What are they?

The above image is taken from Michael Palmer's web page in the
syllabus for his Religion 103 class,
"The History and Literature of the Bible."

What holds up this dome? Probably the mountains at the edge. What holds up Earth? Perhaps pillars underneath. From where does the rain come? It appears like outside the dome is water and below Earth is water. On occasion, the spouts are opened and water flows down from the dome and up from Earth. What if it never stopped raining? The space between Earth and Dome would fill up with water. That would be scary. Everything would drown. What if you could build a tower tall enough to reach the dome? That would be awesome! You could reach the dome and talk to the gods. The ancients with variations saw their world--earth and heaven (sky-firmament-dome) in that way. Genesis 1 now makes sense:

⁶And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. ⁸God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

The "waters" are the whole of existence itself. Elohim makes a living space holding back the waters above the dome from below Earth. In the earlier Babylonian myth, Enuma Elish, Marduk does the same thing Elohim does. Except in the Babylonian myth, it is even more "mythological" in that virtually everything is personified. Marduk defeats Tiamat (a personification of the watery chaos) and splits her carcass in two. Half of Tiamat's carcass becomes the dome and the other half Earth. The Babylonians and the Hebrews saw the same physical universe (the dome above and the earth below holding back waters) but they had a different mythology to explain its origins.

Obviously, Genesis 1 has nothing to say to us about the physical creation of the universe as we see it today. However, it can inform us theologically. For example, what is the difference between a god who violently creates Earth and Sky by defeating a chaotic monster versus a god who speaks and it is done and "it is good?"

Later in the Enuma Elish, Marduk creates humans. He creates them from the blood and bone of his enemy, Kingu. These humans are created to be slaves to the gods. What is the difference theologically between and understanding of humanity this a creation of violence enslaved to the forces of the universe and between an understanding of humanity that is the creation of a god who creates humanity in the image of god, and declares humanity good?

For more detail about this, here are some websites: Hebrew Astronomy, Biblical Cosmology, and Council for Secular Humanism. From the Biblical Cosmology website here are some wonderful quotes from Martin Luther who struggled with the Bible and the new cosmology of Copernicus who he calls "an upstart astrologer". I will close with these:

Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483–1546) began the protestant reformations with his sincere attempts to interpret the exact meanings of Biblical scripture. Likewise, he made sincere attempts to grasp a Biblical understanding of astronomy.

"Scripture simply says that the moon, the sun, and the stars were placed in the firmament of the heaven, below and above which heaven are the waters... It is likely that the stars are fastened to the firmament like globes of fire, to shed light at night... We Christians must be different from the philosophers in the way we think about the causes of things. And if some are beyond our comprehension like those before us concerning the waters above the heavens, we must believe them rather than wickedly deny them or presumptuously interpret them in conformity with our understanding." --Martin Luther.
"...the whole firmament moves swiftly around, every moment thousands of leagues, which, doubtless, is done by some angel. `Tis wonderful so great a vault should go about in so short a time." --Martin Luther.
"People gave ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon. Whoever wishes to appear clever must devise some new system, which of all systems is of course the very best. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth." --Martin Luther.

June Quiz (Five Scrolls and Post-Exilic Writings)

2008-01-27T15:08:00.000-08:00

June Quiz on the Five Scrolls (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther) and the Post-Exilic Writings (Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles):

1. Who said the following: “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you”?
a. Ezra to the Levites, during the reading of the law
b. Haggai to Zerubbabel during the building of the second temple
c. Solomon to Hiram during the building of the first temple
d. Nehemiah to Sanballat during the building of the wall of Jerusalem

2. To what event does the book of Lamentations respond?
a. the death of Jonathan
b. the death of Josiah
c. the division of the kingdom
d. the destruction of Jerusalem

3. “By the rivers of Babylon – there we sat down and there we wept” is followed immediately by what words?
a. in the presence of our enemies.
b. Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
c. when we remembered Zion.
d. Why do the nations conspire and the people plot in vain?

4. Which of the following is NOT a quotation from the Song of Solomon?
a. “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!”
b. “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.”
c. “I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem.”
d. “My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards.”

5. To what town do Naomi and Ruth return from Moab?
a. Timnah
b. Oboth
c. Bethlehem
d. Nazareth

6. Which saying does NOT appear in the book of Ecclesiastes?
a. "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."
b. "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."
c. "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?"
d. "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting."

7. How does this statement conclude: "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful..."?
a. But the Lord rules over all
b. But the just shall live by faith
c. But time and chance happen to all
d. But the last shall be first

8. In Esther, Haman becomes furious with Mordecai because he
a. wore rich clothing
b. would not bow for Haman
c. had a higher social position than Haman
d. was Esther's cousin

9. What was Nehemiah’s great achievement?
a. rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem
b. defeating the Samaritans in battle
c. restoring the monarchy
d. teaching the law to the returning exiles

10. Which of the following statements is found in Ecclesiastes?
a. "All this I have tested by wisdom; I said, 'I will be wise' but is was far from me."
b. "Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who reverts to his folly."
c. "Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary."
d. "Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her."

11. Ruth deliberately presents herself at the
a. garden gate
b. city gate
c. road to Moab
d. threshing floor
e. home of Naomi

12. The writer of Chronicles condemns Saul for seeking guidance from a
a. prophet
b. king
c. medium
d. priest

13. The Persian decree permitting the reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple may be found in the Book of:
a. Daniel
b. Ezra
c. 2 Kings
d. 2 Chronicles

14. What was Nehemiah's role in Susa?
a. eunuch
b. scribe of Yahweh
c. cupbearer to the king
d. ambassador from Judah

15. How were the words, which Daniel interpreted ("MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN"), conveyed?
a. spoken by a messenger of God
b. spoken by Daniel
c. read by a eunuch
d. written on a wall

Short Answer:

1. The Song of Songs has been interpreted as God's love for Israel or Christ's love for the Church. What is your evaluation of that interpretation?

2. The story of Esther is the reason for the Festival of Purim. Describe this festival.

3. Nehemiah condemned the powerful for charging interest and thereby keeping other Jews indebted and in poverty. Can you think of similar situations today? What does it mean when we say "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors?"

4. How are the stories in Chronicles different from the stories in Samuel and Kings?

5. What quality does Ruth possess that makes her respected?

Longer Answer:

Who caused "bitter tears" to "flood her cheeks?" (Lamentations 1:2) Do you think it is psychologically healthy to believe in a punitive God? Why or why not?

May Quiz (Poetic Literature)

2008-01-27T15:03:00.000-08:00

May Quiz on the Poetic Literature (Psalms, Proverbs, Job)

1. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar all appear in which book?
a. Job
b. Psalms
c. Ecclesiastes
d. Song of Solomon

2. How is the following verse from Psalm 46 completed: "God is our ________, a very present help in trouble?
a. hope and confidence
b. redeemer and friend
c. refuge and strength
d. rock and fortress

3. Which words conclude the following verse from the book of Psalms: "As a deer longs from flowing streams,..."
a. "so my heart thirsts for righteousness."
b. "so my soul longs for you, O God."
c. "so longs a man for the wife of his youth."
d. "so a lion longs for his prey."

4. With what are the last six psalms of the Psalter concerned?
a. deliverance from evil people
b. the love of the law
c. the praise of God
d. the smiting of Israel's enemies

5. In Psalm 14 and 53, how is the following saying completed: “Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no…’”?
a. God.
b. justice.
c. mercy.
d. salvation

6. Which statement does Proverbs 31 NOT include in its description of a “capable wife”?
a. “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”
b. “For her love is better than wine, her anointing oils are fragrant.”
c. “Her children rise up and call her happy.”
d. “She opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”

7. Which words follow this verse from the book of Psalms: “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity”?
a. “…but a contentious woman breeds strife.”
b. “…working vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.”
c. “…but all day long my enemies taunt me.”
d. “…it is like the precious oil on the head.”

8. “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at last he will stand upon the earth” is found in which book?
a. Job
b. Psalms
c. Proverbs
d. Ecclesiastes

9. Which of the following completes the quotation from Proverbs: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of . . . “?
a. blessing
b. humility
c. wisdom
d. worship

10. Which of the following completes the challenge of Satan to God regarding Job: “stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will…”?
a. be made whole
b. curse you to your face
c. proclaim your presence
d. question your mercy

11. Which of the following completes the quotation from Proverbs: “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will…”?
a. learn the ways of God
b. not depart from it
c. not lack for friends
d. praise you

12. Which of the following completes the quotation from Psalms: "For as the heavens are high above the earth..."?
a. He has not dealt with us according to our sins
b. So great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him
c. So the Lord remembers that we are dust
d. The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed

13. In the book of Job, who says, "Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God ad die"?
a. Elihu
b. Job's wife
c. One of Job's daughters
d. Zophar

14. "They are like trees planted by streams of water" refers to which of the following?
a. Those who persevere against injustice
b. God and the heavenly hosts
c. Righteous kings
d. Those who do not follow the advice of the wicked

15. "O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth" begins and ends the psalm that also contains which of the following statements?
a. "May the Lord cut off all flattering lips."
b. "The enemy has vanished in everlasting ruin."
c. "The Lord is in his Holy Temple."
d. "What are human beings that you are mindful of them?"

16. About whom is the following said: "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace"?
a. Ecclesiastes' wife
b. Job's wife
c. The Queen of Sheba
d. Wisdom

Short Answer:

1. Proverbs are truisms or sayings to live by. What proverb or proverbs (not necessarily from the book of Proverbs) do you remember from a parent or other important adult?

2. What are the names of Job's three friends and what are their explanations for Job's misery?

3. Give your best answer to the question: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" or to put it another way, “What is your answer to Job?”

4. Many times in the Psalms, the psalmist prays for the destruction of enemies. Do you think Psalm 137:9 has a place in Holy Scripture? Explain.

Longer Answer:

Write a Psalm of your own:

April Quiz (Minor Prophets)

2008-01-27T14:56:00.000-08:00

April Quiz on the Minor Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)

1. Which of the following groups of prophets prophesied in Judah before the exile?
a. Ezekiel, Micah, and Hosea
b. Isaiah, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah
c. Zechariah, Malachi, and Amos
d. Joel, Obadiah, and Haggai

2. How does the prophet Micah answer the question: “What does the Lord require of you?”
a. “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
b. “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
c. “Rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful.”
d. “To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

3. Which prophet was directed by God to name his children “Jezreel,” “Not pitied,” and “Not my people”?
a. Amos
b. Ezekiel
c. Hosea
d. Joel

4. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” This is found in which book?
a. Joel
b. Haggai
c. Zechariah
d. Malachi

5. Which prophet was commanded by God: “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom”?
a. Amos
b. Hosea
c. Joel
d. Micah

6. Which prophetic book envisions a future in which “your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions”?
a. Joel
b. Haggai
c. Zechariah
d. Malachi

7. In which book does the following appear: “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies… But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”?
a. Isaiah
b. Jeremiah
c. Joel
d. Amos

8. What was Jonah’s message to Nineveh?
a. a threat of destruction if they did not repent
b. a warning to flee from the wrath to come
c. an offer of forgiveness if they would repent
d. an announcement that the city will be overthrown

9. Which books contain the following: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks”?
a. Daniel and Joel
b. Hosea and Jeremiah
c. Jonah and Amos
d. Micah and Isaiah

10. The immanent approach of ‘the great day of the Lord’ is a major theme in which prophetic book?
a. Nahum
b. Habakkuk
c. Zephaniah
d. Haggai

11. Which prophet does the Lord command to bake a barley cake over human dung and to eat it in the sight of the people if Israel?
a. Obadiah
b. Ezekiel
c. Jeremiah
d. Hezekiah

12. Amos prophesied during the reign of which king of Israel?
a. David
b. Jeroboam II
c. Mannasseh
d. Solomon

13. "See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. . ." is found in which book?
a. Daniel
b. Obadiah
c. Nahum
d. Malachi

14. "But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah...from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel" is found in which of the following books?
a. Habakkuk
b. Haggai
c. Joel
d. Micah

15. During whose reign did Haggai appear as a prophet?
a. Darius's
b. Hezekiah's
c. Josiah's
d. Nebuchadnezzar's

Two Longer Answers:

1. For each of the 12 prophets, determine from the book's introduction and the content of the book (and any other resources if you have them):

a) the time period the book is written and/or set...

b) the people (ie. Northern kingdom, southern kingdom, common folk, kings, people of Israel in general) to whom the prophet is speaking...

c) the issue or issues the prophet is addressing...

d) a one or two sentence summary (in your words) of the prophet's central message...

e) choose a symbol or metaphor from the prophet to help you remember the message…

2. Imagine that God has called you to prophesy. What word has God given you to speak to the Church, to the nation, to a particular group of people, to a specific issue, to yourself, etc. Pick a context then speak the Word! Write your oracle below. Be brave. Everyone has at least one sermon inside them!

March Quiz (Major Prophets)

2008-01-27T14:52:00.000-08:00

March Quiz on the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel)

1. Isaiah is associated with which location?
a. Damascus
b. Jerusalem
c. Samaria
d. Sinai

2. In Isaiah 7, what is Ahaz's response to the Lord's demand to ask for a sign "deep as Sheol or high as heaven"?
a. To challenge Isaiah
b. To refuse to ask for a sign
c. To request a sign
d. To walk away in anger

3. When did Ezekiel's visions occur?
a. Before the Babylonian invasion
b. During the Babylonian exile
c. Immediately following the fall of Samaria and the northern kingdom
d. Shortly after Solomon's death, when the kingdom was divided

4. What interpretation is given to Ezekiel's vision of the valley filled with dry bones?
a. A new covenant will be written on the heart.
b. The exiles will be brought back to the land.
c. The armies led by Gog will be totally destroyed.
d. This is the valley of decision.

5. “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations” is found in which chapter?
a. Isaiah 9
b. Isaiah 24
c. Isaiah 42
d. Isaiah 56

6. Who was Maher-shalal-hash-baz?
a. A priest of Assyria against whom Isaiah contended
b. A son of Isaiah
c. One who cried for the destruction of Samaria
d. The son of Baladan, king of Babylon

7. According to Isaiah, what event ends the Babylonian exile?
a. The victory of King Josiah of Judah
b. The victory of Alexander the Great
c. The victory of Pharaoh Neco of Egypt
d. The victory of Cyrus of Persia

8. What was the point of these symbolic actions of Ezekiel: lying on his left side 40 days, then on his right side 40 days; shaving off his hair and beard; digging through a wall and crawling through it with his baggage?
a. to attract attention to his words; the actions themselves had no meaning
b. to demonstrate the irrationality of Israel's behavior
c. to participate symbolically in the fall of Jerusalem and exile
d. to purify himself from Israel's uncleanness

9. What statement describes what Isaiah says about the wolf and lamb, the leopard and kid, the calf and lion?
a. "Be fruitful and multiply."
b. "They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain."
c. "Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls."
d. "You have given them dominion over the works of your hands."

10. What was the name of Jeremiah's scribe?
a. Balaam
b. Barnabas
c. Baruch
d. Benjamin

11. By which river did Ezekiel sit among the exiles?
a. Tigris
b. Euphrates
c. Chebar
d. Jordan

12. Where is Israel referred to repeatedly as the servant of the Lord?
a. Isaiah 1-12
b. Isaiah 13-23
c. Isaiah 40-55
d. Isaiah 56-66

13. Who brought Jeremiah from imprisonment to ask him, "Is there any word from the Lord?"
a. Baruch
b. Gedaliah
c. the princes of Judah
d. Zedekiah

14. According to Isaiah, how would Sennacherib, king of Assyria, die?
a. of a fall from a horse
b. of the same illness that threatened Hezekiah
c. by the sword in his own land
d. in the siege of Jerusalem

Two Longer Answers:

1. For each prophet, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, answer the following:

a) What is the time period?

b) To whom is each speaking?

c) What issue and/or even is each addressing?

2. Do you think there is a relationship between a nation's prosperity/peace and its righteousness/justice?

February Quiz (Former Prophets)

2008-01-27T11:08:00.000-08:00

February Quiz on Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, and I & II Kings

Multiple Choice. Select the one correct answer:

1. What book contains the following quotation: “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes?”
a. Joshua
b. Judges
c. Ruth
d. 1 Samuel

2. “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” Who prayed this at the outset of his reign?
a. David
b. Hezekiah
c. Josiah
d. Solomon

3. In which book does David become king over Judah?
a. 1 Kings
b. 2 Kings
c. 1 Samuel
d. 2 Samuel

4. Which tribe of Israel received cities located within the territories of other tribes?
a. Benjamin
b. Ephraim
c. Judah
d. Levi

5. Who said, “Speak for your servant is listening?”
a. Abraham
b. Isaiah
c. Moses
d. Samuel

6. “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy” is found in a story about which of the following?
a. Ahab
b. Hezekiah
c. Naaman
d. Nathan

7. What was Nehemiah’s great achievement?
a. rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem
b. defeating the Samaritans in battle
c. restoring the monarchy
d. teaching the law to the returning exiles

8. For what was Jehu remembered in Israel?
a. He assassinated Jezebel and her offspring.
b. He called down fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel.
c. He fought against the Babylonians.
d. He helped Solomon build the temple.

9. What role did Abner, Joab, and Benaiah have in common?
a. judge
b. king
c. military commander
d. priest

10. Which of the following did David do?
a. He took Michal again to be his wife.
b. He used his own army to seize Jerusalem.
c. He was anointed king of the northern tribes.
d. all of the above

11. Who was the first king of the Northern Kingdom (Israel), the one whose sins were said to have been repeated by every king of Israel who followed him?
a. Ahab
b. Hezekiah
c. Solomon
d. Jeroboam

Short Answer. Give a description of each of the following

1. Name 12 judges (leaders). Which one is your favorite and why?

2. Answer this riddle: "Once so strong and mighty--now so sweet and tasty."

3. Like King Lear and Macbeth, Saul is a tragic figure. What was his tragic flaw?

4. The Lord chose David to be king. What is the difference between how people judge others and how God judges others?

5. The horrible rape of Tamar by Amnon was made worse by what happened in II Sam. 13:20-22. What would have been a more just and healing response by Absalom and David?

6. How did a wise woman save the town of Abel?

7. After Solomon's death, his kingdom divided. How did this happen and who ruled which part?

Longer Answer

In the 6th Century BCE, Judah is defeated by King Nebuchadnezzar. Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed and the people are taken into captivity in Babylon. The author of Kings suggests that these things happened because God willed it (see II Kings 24:2-4 and 24:19). What are the advantages and disadvantages of this theological viewpoint? In your view, does God intervene in human affairs? If yes, how do you know? If not, then what is God for?

Family Story Bible Quiz (December)

2008-01-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

December pp. 269-287

1. Why were the people baptized in water?

2. What did the early Christians do to walk in God's way?

3. Why did the people kill Stephen?

4. What happened to Saul?

5. What happened to Dorcas?

6. What did Peter's dream about the animals in the sheet mean?

7. What did Lydia do to walk in God's way?

8. What did Paul mean when he wrote to his friends in Corinth about the different parts of the body?

9. What did James remind his friends to do?

10. What does John's wonderful dream mean?

Family Story Bible Quiz (November)

2008-01-26T17:58:00.000-08:00

November pp. 248-268

1) Have you ever been worried and afraid like Jesus and needed to pray to God?

2) What did Judas do to betray Jesus?

3) Why did Peter lie and tell the people he didn't know Jesus?

4) Why did they want to kill Jesus?

5) How did you feel when you heard the story about Jesus dying?

6) Who did Mary see on Sunday morning?

7) When did the disciples on the road recognize that the stranger was Jesus?

8) According to Jesus, what is "God's story?"

9) Do you ever ask questions like Thomas? Did Jesus like Thomas?

10) How will Peter (and the rest of us) show that we love Jesus?

Family Story Bible Quiz (October)

2008-01-26T17:57:00.000-08:00

October pp. 226-247

1) How did Jesus heal the bent over woman?

2) Why was the older brother angry?

3) Why wasn't everyone happy that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead?

4) Do you feel you are as important as a grown up? How did the story of Jesus welcoming children make you feel?

5) What did Zacchaeus learn?

6) On one Sunday a year, we have palm branches in church. Why?

7) What made Jesus angry?

8) Who is most important in God's shalom? What does shalom mean?

9) Do you think you could ever wash somebody else's feet? What else can we do to show we are servants like Jesus?

10) What is the one thing that is more important than anything else?

11) What does the bread and wine mean? When do we do something like this in church?

Family Story Bible Quiz (September)

2008-01-26T17:56:00.000-08:00

September pp. 206-225

1) Why was Jesus happy that the woman touched Jesus' clothes?

2) Can you remember a time when you were sick? What helped you get better?

3) Jesus gave Simon a new name. What was this name and what does it mean?

4) What did Peter, James, and John see and hear on the mountain?

5) How can we be kind to Jesus?

6) Read the story of the Lost Sheep. Does Jesus care about everyone or just important people?

7) How did Jesus save the woman from the men who wanted to throw stones at her?

8) Can you think of a time that you were helpful like the Good Samaritan?

9) What kind of food did Jesus want Martha to eat?

10) What makes a person rich?

Family Story Bible Quiz (August)

2008-01-26T17:55:00.000-08:00

August pp. 185-205

1. What is the name for Jesus' special helpers? Do you think you could be one?

2. Like Mary, have you ever felt good and strong inside?

3. Matthew and his friends knew they needed help from God. Do you think you need help from God? What kind of help?

4. How did Mary and Joanna and all of Jesus' friends help him?

5. What do you think is the most important thing that Jesus said?

6. No matter how we feel, who can make us "be happy?"

7. In church we say the prayer Jesus taught. Can you say it by memory?

8. What does the parable about the men who owed money to the banker mean?

9. What is your favorite story about God's shalom?

10. How did the child help Jesus?

Family Story Bible Quiz (July)

2008-01-26T17:53:00.000-08:00

July pp. 166-184

1. What are the names of the two people in the temple who are happy to see Jesus?

2. What did Herod do that was mean? Why do you think people are mean sometimes?

3. Do you think it would have been fun to have Jesus as a friend?

4. Jesus stayed behind in the temple (which is kind of like the church) even after his parents left! Why did he like the temple so much?

5. John baptized Jesus. Sometimes we baptize children and adults in church. Why?

6. What did the evil voice want Jesus to do?

7. Having fun with friends is one way to live in God's way. What are some fun things that you do with friends?

8. What does it mean to be "born again?"

9. What is "living water?" Is Jesus hard to understand sometimes?

10. Jesus helped a sick child. How can we help people who are sick?

Family Story Bible Quiz (June)

2008-01-26T17:52:00.000-08:00

June pp. 141-165

1) The people did not listen to Jeremiah. Can you remember a time when no one seemed to listen to you?

2) What are the names of the three men the king threw into the furnace?

3) Why did the king put Daniel in the den of lions?

4) How does God feel when His children run away?

5) According to Amos, what does God want most?

6) What did God want Jonah to learn?

7) Who chose the name for Mary's baby? What does his name mean?

8) Who chose the name for Elizabeth's baby? Why is he special?

9) Do you know the story about when you were born? Ask your mom or dad to tell you.

10) What did the shepherds see and hear?

Family Story Bible Quiz (May)

2008-01-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

May pp. 120-140

1) How did God speak to Elijah? Have you ever heard God speak?

2) What wonderful thing did Miriam do?

3) Sometimes when we are brave like Queen Vashti, people get angry with us and are mean. Should we be brave anyway? Why or why not?

4) What brave thing did Esther do?

5) What did Job learn?

6) Write a psalm to God about how you are feeling right now.

7) The Song of Songs is about men and women being romantic and playful. How do you feel when mom and dad are romantic and playful?

8) Why did the angel touch Isaiah's lips with the hot coal?

9) Who is the special leader who Isaiah calls "Wonderful Teacher, Strong God, A Leader for Peace?" (Hint: Think Christmas!)

10) How did you feel when you heard the story of the "Servant Leader?"

Family Story Bible Quiz (April)

2008-01-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

April pp. 96-119

1) What is the part of the promise that Joshua told the people to keep?

2) Deborah is called a "strong mother in Israel." Can you think of other women and girls who are strong and wise like Deborah?

3) Samson was strong. Do you think he was very smart?

4) Why is Ruth a good, kind person?

5) Why did Hannah name her baby Samuel?

6) The Lord told Samuel to tell Eli some bad news. Have you ever had to tell someone something that you knew would make them sad or angry? How did you feel?

7) How was David able to defeat Goliath?

8) How did you feel when you heard the story of David and Jonathan? Have you ever had to leave a friend?

9) What did David do that was bad?

10) If God could give you anything you wanted, for what would you ask?

11) Do you think it was hard for the woman to trust Elijah?

Family Story Bible Quiz (March)

2008-01-26T17:48:00.000-08:00

March pp. 73-95

1) What was Miriam's good idea?

2) Why did Moses feel mixed up?

3) Did Moses want to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt? Why or why not?

4) What is the name of the special meal the Hebrews eat to celebrate their freedom?

5) Why did Miriam sing?

6) When is it hard to remember that God cares about us?

7) Why did God give the people the Ten Commandments?

8) Why is Moses the greatest leader in the Hebrew scriptures?

9) Why is Canaan called the "Promised Land?"

10) How did the walls of Jericho come down?

Family Story Bible Quiz (February)

2008-01-26T13:49:00.000-08:00

February pp. 38-72

1) What did Abraham learn in the story "Abraham Doesn't Understand?"

2) How did Eliezer know that Rebecca was the "right woman" for Isaac?

3) Do you think Esau made a good deal with Jacob?

4) How did Jacob trick his father?

5) What did Jacob see in his dream?

6) What are the names of Jacob's wives?

7) What is Jacob's other name?

8) What are the names of Rachel's two babies?

9) Why didn't Joseph's brothers like him?

10) What did Pharoah's dreams mean?

11) Did Joseph stay angry with his brothers forever?

Family Story Bible Quiz (January)

2008-01-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

January pp. 10-37
1) Who made the world?

2) What are the names of the first people?

3) What did Cain do that was bad?

4) What did Noah and his family do when they first got off the ark?

5) What is a covenant?

6) What is the name of the tower the people of Babylon tried to build?

7) What are the names of Abraham's wife and nephew?

8) How did Lot and Abram solve their problem?

9) What is the name of Hagar's son?

10) What did Sarah do when she heard that she would have a baby?

June Quick Guide (Five Scrolls and Post-Exilic Writings)

2008-01-26T11:56:00.000-08:00

The Writings Ketuvim (Part 2)
The Five Scrolls (Megillot):
(Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther)

And Post-Exilic Writings:
(Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles)

Song of Songs or Song of Solomon is poetry about sexual love. It is in the form of a drama with a man, a woman, and a chorus speaking the lines. Some of the poetry may have been used at weddings. The attribution to Solomon is due to his reputation as a lover. Because it contains mature content, in some Jewish traditions this book is not to be read until age 17! "Young women of Jerusalem, promise me...never to awaken love before it is ready." (8:4)

Within the entire biblical story likes the tension between Israel being a holy people set apart from the other nations and being a blessing and means of grace to all nations. They story of Ruth, the Moabite, reminds Israel (and all those who profess faith) that God is not simply “our” God but the God of all.

The book of Lamentations is a psalter of laments. The songs are about the destruction of Jerusalem. Lamentations has been attributed to Jeremiah, which is why it follows the book of Jeremiah in the Christian Old Testament. However, it is probably the work of several authors. While the book of Lamentations speaks to a specific historical situation, it also speaks to the hearts of any who have been victims of violence or who have experienced loss and grief.

Like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes is considered "wisdom literature" but the wisdom is of a different sort. Instead of pithy short sayings like in Proverbs, Qoheleth "the preacher" speaks at length about many topics and questions the truism that the righteous will live and the foolish perish. The book of Ecclesiastes contains the much-needed words of the skeptic. See if you can find the song by the Byrds.

Esther is a legend set in the time of the exile (although probably written much later) that provides the rationale for the Festival of Purim. Esther is the only book in the Bible that does not mention God. Yet the assurance of God's presence with God's people is assumed. Esther is a wonderful story about courage.

This is from Wikipedia:

All five of these megillot ("scrolls") are traditionally read publicly in the synagogue over the course of the year in many Jewish communities. In common printed editions of the Tanakh they appear in the order that they are read in the synagogue on holidays (beginning with Passover), thus:

The Song of Songs (Hebrew: Shir ha-Shirim; שיר השירים) is read publicly in some communities, especially by Ashkenazim, on the Sabbath of Passover. In most Eastern Jewish communities it is read publicly each week at the onset of the Sabbath. There is also a widespread custom to read it at the end of the Passover seder.
Book of Ruth (רות) is read in some communities, especially by Ashkenazim, before the reading of the Torah on the morning of Shavuot. Others read it in the Tikkun at night, or not at all.
Lamentations (Hebrew: Eikhah or Kinnot; איכה) is read on the Ninth of Av in all Jewish communities.
Ecclesiastes (Hebrew: Kohelet; קהלת) is read publicly in some communities, especially by Ashkenazim, on the Sabbath of Sukkot. In other communities it is not read at all.
Book of Esther (Hebrew אסתר) is read in all Jewish communities on Purim. The public reading is done twice, on the evening of Purim and once again the next morning.

Daniel is set in the period of exile although it was probably written during the 3rd or 2nd century BCE. The first six chapters are filled with great stories including Daniel and lion's den and the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel is the story of courage in the face of opposition. It is also the story of the Hebrews keeping their identity in the midst of a hostile, powerful, and influential culture. Chapters seven through twelve are filled with apocalyptic visions.

Ezra and Nehemiah tell of the return to Judah from Babylon in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. The temple and the walls are rebuilt, traditions are rediscovered, and the people seek to reestablish their identity. Ezra and Nehemiah provide food for thought about the tension between building walls for survival and identity and breaking down walls in order to seek peace and understanding with those who are different.

1 and 2 Chronicles is a retelling of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings. Some stories are identical. But not all. The Chronicles are told from a different viewpoint than that of the Samuel and Kings stories.

1 Chronicles is about David who can hardly do wrong. The Chronicler skips over the embarrassing story involving Bathsheba. Interesting to compare the accounts. The first nine chapters are real sleepers. Skim through the list of names but do read the narrative portions.

2 Chronicles picks up with the reign of Solomon and the division of the kingdom down to the exile and the return. Chronicles is an example of revisionist history. The story is told from the viewpoint of the southern kingdom. The north (Israel) gets bad press if it gets any at all! It seems to read a bit "smoother" than the Kings account.

Thus ends the TaNaKh with the edict of King Cyrus of Persia:

‘Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him! Let him go up.’

Next year in Jerusalem!

May Quick Guide (Poetic Literature)

2008-01-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

The Writings (Ketuvim)
Part 1: Poetic Literature
(Psalms, Proverbs, Job)

The Psalms is a collection of songs, Israel's hymnbook. This psalm collection was compiled from older collections used in worship during the time of the second temple (the one built by Zerubbabel). The Psalms are classified as follows:

Hymns--acts of praise suitable for any occasion. They include:

Enthronement Hymns--celebrating the Lord's kingship, and
Songs of Zion--expressing devotion to Jerusalem, the Holy City,
Laments--an individual seeks deliverance from illness or false accusation, or the nation asks for help in times of distress,
Songs of Trust--individuals express their confidence in God's readiness to help,
Thanksgivings--individuals express gratitude for deliverance,
Sacred History--the nation recounts the story of God's activity,
Royal Psalms--these are used for a coronation or royal wedding,
Wisdom Psalms--meditations on the life and ways of God, and
Liturgies--these are of a mixed type and were composed for special occa-sions.

Some psalms have elements of two or more types. The Psalms are divided into five "books" in imitation of the Torah. The tradition that all of the psalms were written by David demonstrates the high regard for him as a poet. However, this tradition is quite late and evidence within the texts shows that they are a product of many people over many centuries. Spend
time each day with a few of the psalms and try to classify of which type each belongs.

The book of Proverbs is a collection of sayings and riddles designed to teach young people how to live wisely. Virtues such as fairness, honesty, diligence, and controlling one's desires are emphasized. Like the books from Deuteronomy through Kings, the basic assumption of is that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." (9:10) Wisdom brings success and folly brings destruction. While ProverbsProverbs is attributed for the most part to Solomon (the wise king) and other figures, the poetry of Proverbs is the product of many centuries and sources, much like a collection of nursery rhymes or fairy tales. Proverbs was placed in its final form after the Exile.

Job is also a legend that challenges the theology of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. The theological thread that runs through those books is that the good are rewarded and the wicked are punished. Job is a righteous man who suffers and therefore Job challenges the view of God promoted by his three friends who represent this theological tradition. Job warns us against speaking for God too quickly and self-assuredly in light of human suffering.

April Quick Guide (Minor Prophets)

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Twelve Minor Prophets (Nevi’im)
(Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)

These are called Minor Prophets, not because they are not as important as the Major Prophets, but because they are short and all twelve fit on one scroll. Hosea through Malachi are for the most part collections of oracles in which the prophet spoke the "Word of the Lord" in order to encourage certain people to respond to God in a specific way. Prophecy is not about predicting the future, but influencing behavior. The prophets are more like the Ghost of Christmas Future in Charles Dick-ens' A Christmas Carol than Nostradamus. The book of Jonah is unique in that it is a short story rather than a collection of oracles. The message of Jonah is not found in the words of the character Jonah, but in what happens to him.

Here is a helpful guide to the minor prophets.

March Quick Guide (Major Prophets)

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Major Prophets (Nevi’im)
(Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel)

Isaiah is the first of the prophetic books. Prophetic is not predicting the future or soothsaying; it is speaking the "word of the Lord." The prophets, especially Isaiah, reminded the people about the importance of what we would call social ethics: "No matter how much you pray, I won't listen....See that justice is done. Defend widows and orphans and help those in need." (1:15-17) The prophet Isaiah speaks to Judah during the period 742 to 701 BCE during the defeat of Israel by Assyria. The book of Isaiah, covers a much larger time period. Chapters 40-66 speak to the people during and after the exile (587 BCE).

The book of Jeremiah contains stories of the life of the prophet Jeremiah as well as his oracles. Jeremiah speaks to Judah during the period 609 BCE to 587 BCE. His words are harsh warnings of the impending doom upon Judah and Jerusalem. It is Jeremiah's tone of doom that gave birth to the word "jeremiad." Yet Jeremiah contains wonderful words of hope as well including the famous promise: "I will write my laws on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people." (31:33) The book of Jeremiah is unique in that it contains laments describing the deep spiritual struggle between the prophet and God inviting a comparison between Jeremiah and Jesus.

The prophet Ezekiel is one strange guy. He lied down on his left side for 390 days as a sign of Israel's punishment; he ate a scroll; he had wild visions of bones coming back to life and a chariot flying through the air. The book of Ezekiel speaks to the people in exile from the period 593 to 563 BCE. His words are ultimately of comfort and hope. The Lord has not abandoned them but (through the image of the chariot) has traveled with them to Babylon.

Quiz Overview

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Each month I have provided quizzes for each reading. There are multiple choice questions, short answer, and a long answer. These quizzes are not intended to test your intelligence or to grade you. You can find the answers to them on-line. The point of the quizzes is to get you familiar with the characters and the text.

A helpful resource to do so is the Oremus Bible Browser. Check it out! You can look up specific sections of the Bible in various translations (we are using the NRSV). You can also do word searches (which will help in answering the quiz questions!)

On the first Sunday of each month, I will award prizes for those who complete and turn in a quiz. You can complete your quiz at any time throughout the year. You can send the quiz answers to me on-line by e-mailing me or by printing them out and sending them to me by mail,

John Shuck
First Presbyterian Church
119 West F Street
Elizabethton, Tennessee 37643
johnashuck@embarqmail.com

or by bringing them to worship! If you live away, are not a member of my congregation, or do not worship with us, send your quiz answers anyway and I will award you a virtual prize (whoo hoo!)

The multiple choice questions are taken from the Presbyterian Bible Content Exam. This is one of the five ordination exams Presbyterian ministers are required to take to become ordained. Thanks to my colleague, Steve Whitney, for providing this resource!

January Quiz (Torah)

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Multiple Choice. Select the one correct answer:

1. God made a covenant with Noah symbolized by
a. the dividing of an animal in sacrifice
b. gentle rain
c. circumcision
d. the rainbow
e. a dove descending from above

2. In Genesis God promises Abraham
a. land and progeny
b. guidance and protection
c. wealth and land
d. lineage in government
e. long life

3. Who was the child of Hagar and Abraham?
a. Dinah
b. Esau
c. Isaac
d. Ishmael

4. Whose story involved the following: the city of Nahor, a water jar, and Isaac?
a. Hagar's
b. Leah's
c. Rebekah's
d. Sarah's

5. Joseph rose to power in Egypt by
a. birth
b. early life in the house of Pharoah
c. interpretation of Pharoah's dreams
d. administrative genius
e. knowledge of Egyptian government

6. Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, advised him
a. concerning the route to take through the desert of Midian
b. to choose able men as judges
c. how to survive in the desert
d. on religious observances
e. to find an oasis and re-group

7. "Your name shall no more be called _______ but Israel" was said of
a. Abraham
b. Isaac
c. Joseph
d. Jacob

8. The Ten Commandments are recorded in which two books?
a. Genesis and Numbers
b. Exodus and Numbers
c. Exodus and Deuteronomy
d. Numbers and Deuteronomy

9. "Hear, O Israel: the lord our God is one Lord" is found in
a. Genesis
b. Exodus
c. Leviticus
d. Numbers
e. Deuteronomy

10. Who was Ishmael's mother?
a. Hagar
b. Hannah
c. Rebekkah
d. Zipporah

11. Which of the following was not a brother of Joseph?
a. Ephraim
b. Levi
c. Judah
d. Simeon

12. "Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea" is a quotation from which of the following?
a. Aaron
b. Balaam
c. Joshua
d. Miriam

13. According to Leviticus, what happens to all who curse father or mother?
a. They should be driven out from the people
b. They should be put to death
c. They should go to the priests to be purified
d. They should offer a sacrifice

14. In Deuteronomy, God's choice of Israel to be a people for God's own possession is said to be on account of what?
a. God's forgiveness and understanding.
b. God's love and promise.
c. Israel's love and patience.
d. Israel's righteousness and mercy.

Short Answer. Give a description of each of the following:

Shiphrah and Puah:

Passover:

The Year of Jubilee:

Ten Commandments (Are these universal laws for all people for all time or particular laws for a particular people at a particular time? Or some combination?):

Longer Answer Robert Frost wrote that he had a “lover’s quarrel with the world.” May people find that they have a lover’s quarrel with the Bible. What is your relationship with the Bible? Do you take it or leave it? Does it compel you or repel you? Are you familiar with it or unfamiliar? Does the Bible reveal divine truth or human superstition? What do people mean when they say the Bible is the Word of God? What about the character “God” in the Bible? What do you make of him? Is he real? Is he a literary character? What word would you use to describe the literature of the Bible? History? Fiction? Saga? Use these questions to ignite others you have about the Bible and to guide you as you answer this question: What would you like to get out of this exercise of reading the Bible cover to cover?

February Quick Guide (Former Prophets)

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The Deuteronomistic History or the Former Prophets (Nevi’im)

(Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings)

Joshua, son of Nun, took over the leadership of the Hebrew people after Moses’ death and led them into the Promised Land. The book of Joshua tells of their conquests and defeats with the inhabitants of the land. It is fun reading. You’ll read about Rahab and the spies, the Battle of Jericho, and the time when the sun stood still. It does get a little dry when Joshua divvies up the land to the twelve tribes. Don’t miss Joshua’s fare-well speech at Shechem and the people’s promise to serve the Lord.

The book of Judges tells of the time “when Israel was not ruled by a king, and everyone did what they thought was right.” When Israel would disobey, God would allow the other nations to defeat and subdue them until Israel repented. Then God would raise up a Judge to lead them in battle. Lots of great stories about Deborah, Gideon and Samson. Both Joshua and Judges bring up the thorny issue of holy war. Certainly, the biblical writers felt that God did take sides in battle. How do we responsibly interpret these stories for today? Does God take sides in war? Does God ever want war? Why might they have viewed things the way they did in biblical times?

In 1 Samuel, the people want a king. God isn’t so excited about this. A king might cause the people to worship him or the nation rather than God. God reluctantly concedes and gives them Saul who ends up having ego problems. Great stories. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel are some of the most well written literature in scripture. Enjoy!

2 Samuel tells of David’s reign in Israel. You will read of his conquests, his affair with Bathsheba, his dysfunctional family, and the death of his son. David wasn’t perfect. Some may feel his misdeeds were worse than Saul’s. But God liked David. Maybe it was because he wrote such great poetry.

1 Kings is the story of Solomon, how he became king, how he built the temple, and how his kingdom divided into Israel (north) and Judah (south) after his death. We then will read the stories of the rulers of both kingdoms. In 1 and 2 Kings, each king gets a report card on whether or not they disobeyed the Lord. We are introduced to the prophets whose role was to keep the kings in line with the Word of the Lord. Elijah is the archetype.

2 Kings continues the stories of the rulers of Israel and Judah down to the fall of the northern kingdom, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and their exile into Babylon. 2 Kings begins as Elijah passes the prophetic mantle to Elisha who brings a boy back to life, heals Namaan of leprosy, makes an axe head float, makes stew taste better, and has 42 children killed by bears because they called him “Baldy.” Whoa! Let that be a lesson. All is fun reading.

January Quick Guide (Torah)

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Genesis and the first half of Exodus will be easy, fun reading, filled with great stories about Abraham, Sarah, Rebekah, Jacob, Tamar, Joseph, Moses, Miriam and the gang. We will go from Creation to the covenants with Noah and Abraham, to how the Hebrews ended up in slavery, culminating with their subsequent release through Moses and the revealing of the Ten Commandments.

The last half of Exodus will be less exciting. It contains laws such as “don’t boil a kid in its mother’s milk!” You will also find instructions for building the tabernacle as well as the kind of clothes the priests should wear. According to the storyteller, YHWH (the Lord) delivers these instructions to Moses on the mountain. Don’t get frustrated if you get bogged down. There is no prize simply for reading every word! Get a flavor for the detail. The headings in the NRSV Bible are quite helpful. At the least read a few of the sections to get an idea of issues these early tribal people faced in regard to their laws and worship. Ask yourself as you read, “What is the significance of these rules and regulations?” Skim when you get bored.

Leviticus is similar to the last half of Exodus. The first 16 chapters contain instructions for worship, ordination of priests, the various sacrifices, purification of women(!), how to test for leprosy and so on. The section containing chapters 17 through 26 is referred to as the “Holiness Code.” It contains laws typical of tribal cultures of this period as well as rules unique to the Hebrews as they understood themselves called to be “Holy” or “set apart” as YHWH’s people. The laws are often mundane, sometimes profound (ie. chapter 25 “Year of Jubilee”), and sometimes offensive. Skim if bored but don’t pass it up!

The book of Numbers details the lives of the Hebrews during their forty-year excursion through the Wilderness. Sure it has some boring stuff (there were 32,200 men from the tribe of Manasseh!) But it also has some cool stories involving spies, talking donkeys, walking sticks that produce almonds, and poisonous snakes. Throughout Numbers, the Hebrews rebel, are punished, forgiven, and start over only to rebel again. They learn the hard way what it means to trust in God.

Deuteronomy is written in the form of a sermon. As the Hebrews are poised to cross the Jordan and enter the promised land, Moses recounts for them their history and reminds them of the importance of living in God's way in their new land. In 1630, aboard the Arabella, John Winthrop preached "A Model of Christian Charity" to his fellow Puritans as they approached the New World. Fashioned after Deuteronomy, Winthrop exhorted his people not to be seduced by "our pleasures, and proffitts, and serue them" but to "loue the Lord our God, and to loue one another to walke in his wayes and to keepe his Commaundements...that wee may liue and be multiplyed, and that the Lord our God may blesse vs in the land whether wee goe to possesse it...." I wonder how this exhortation might be translated in our global era?

Month by Month Reading Schedule

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Here is the schedule of readings, month by month.

We are going to read what Christians call the "Old Testament" from the perspective of the Hebrew Scriptures. They contain the same books but in a different order. The Hebrew Scriptures are called the TaNaKh. T is for Torah. N is for Nevi'im. K is for Ketuvim.

The Torah is the center. In the synagogue, the Torah is read through each year. The Prophets are commentary on the Torah, and the Writings are stories of wisdom.

Think of concentric circles of importance, with Torah in the center, the Prophets the second circle, and the Writings the third circle.

The Torah is known as the Instruction or the Law. The first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. We will read these books in January.

The Neviim or the Prophets are divided into former and latter prophets.

We will read the former prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings) in February.

The latter prophets are divided into the major prophets and the minor prophets. These are called minor prophets not because they are less important, but because they are short and all fit on one scroll.

In March we will read the major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel).

In April we will read the minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi)

The Ketuvim or the Writings are divided into three parts. The poetic books, the Megilot or Five Scrolls , and the Post-Exilic Writings.

In May we will read the poetic books (Job, Psalms, and Proverbs).

In June we will read the Megillot or the Five Scrolls (Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther) and the Post-Exilic Writings (Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles).

We will also be reading the apocrypha or deuterocanonical books. Some of these writings are included as scripture in various Christian communities.

These books were originally written in Greek as opposed to Hebrew. These are included in our NRSV Bible. We will divide these readings into two months.

In July we will read Tobit, Judith, Esther (Greek), The Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, Azsariah and the Three Jews, and Susanna.

In August we will read Bel and the Dragon, I & II Maccabees, I Esdras, The Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, III Maccabees, II Esdras, and IV Maccabees.

We will also read the New Testament in a different order. We will do this to get a sense of historical order of these writings. I have also added a couple of works (such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Didache) that did not make it into the Christian canon, but are important works of early Christian history. I have also included 'Q' which is a reconstruction that the scholarly community believes was a source for the Gospels of Luke and Matthew.

In September we will read the seven authentic letters of Paul (1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians (Letter L), Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, 2 Corinthians 10 – 13 (Letter H), 2 Corinthians 1 – 9 (Letter R), and Romans in the order scholars think they were written). Paul's letters are the oldest writings in the New Testament.

Scholars debate on which letters were actually written by Paul and which are written in his name, but are not his. All scholars agree that these seven are authentic.

In October we will look at the historical Jesus and the Gospels. We will read Q, the Gospel of Thomas, Letter of James, the Didache, the Gospel of Mark, and the Gospel of Matthew. I will explain this further in later posts.

In November we will read Hebrews, Colossians, II Thessalonians, Ephesians, Revelation, the Gospel of John, and 1, 2, and 3 John.

Finally in December we will read the Gospel of Luke, Acts, Jude, 1 & 2 Peter, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus. The rationale for reading these works in that order will become clearer as we move ahead.

The Family Story Bible Overview

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We are doing a fun thing at church this year. From January through December 2008, we are going to read The Family Story Bible cover to cover!

Each month you will read some stories, answer some questions, turn in your answers to Pastor John and win a prize in worship each month! At the end of the year, everyone who finishes and answers all the quizzes will win a really big prize!

Reading the stories with your parents or grandparents and answering the questions with them may even be more fun than the prizes! You never know! Each month, when you finish with the questions, bring them to church on the last Sunday of the month. Pastor John will read them and give return them to you in church with your prize on the first Sunday of the month.

There are about ten questions for each month. You can write the answers or you can tell your parents what to write and they will write them for you!

Enjoy these great stories! Reading the Bible is fun!

We have copies of The Family Story Bible free to children of members and friends of our congregation from nursery age through grade five. See Pastor John about getting one! You can download and print the workbook and quizzes here.

The Bible Cover to Cover Overview

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We have begun our quest to read the Bible cover to cover in 2008. Here is how it works. Each month we read an assigned amount. There is a quiz for each month. The quiz contains multiple choice questions, short answer, and some longer questions designed to help you with your reflection. Turn in the quiz at the end of each month and win a prize! The point of the quiz is to provide a fun incentive to keep reading.

It is very easy to get bogged down and soon lose interest in reading the Bible. The point is to become familiar with as much of the text as possible, not to doggedly read every word and feel bad when you don’t. Read enough to answer the quizzes. Skip the boring parts. Don't worry about getting behind. If you don't finish the readings for one month, start afresh with the new readings for the new month and catch up on the earlier readings later. You can turn in your quizzes at any time during the year.

In addition to your own reading, I will be preaching on key texts and themes from the assigned readings in worship. I am also facilitating a Bible Lunch Time every second and fourth Tuesday from noon to one in the Martin Hall. Bring a bag lunch and we will go over the readings for that month.

Finally, on this weblog, Bible and Jive, you will find numerous resources to aid you in your reading. Each month I will offer a more in-depth guide to the readings for that month, plus introduce you to other resources on-line and in print to provide background.

The approach to the Bible will be historical/metaphorical/symbolic. This means that we will look at the historical context in which the texts were written to seek to understand the type of literature produced. We will also explore this literature through the lens of depth psychology. We will look at how issues of power, politics, gender, race, class, play into reading the texts. Always before us will be the question of authority. Who says ‘God says’?

If you would like your very own NRSV Bible with Apocrypha let me know. You can donate $10 to our Bible Fund to receive one.

Also, families are encouraged to read The Family Story Bible with their children. Click here to download a workbook with quizzes. The Family Story Bible is free for all children in our congregation from infancy to grade five!