Ken Baker: Wisdom Christian College Student Forum


Philippians 3 (Greek texts)

Here is last week’s Lecture on Philippians 3  and the updated  University Schedule. Please note that you need to get going with the choice of 4-12 verses for your exegesis paper. This is a major level 2 assignment and needs an appropriate amount of preparation. Kairete!



Studying the New Testament

 From time to time there are specific queries from students about useful books to purchase to build up a good, rounded NT library. Here’s a selective nt-booklist.docwhich could have been much amplified. Enjoy.

The asterisks mark those of particular importance.



Pauline Studies: Assignment
March 6, 2008, 10:25 pm
Filed under: Bible Studies, PAULINE EPISTLES

During your placement, please give attention to one of the following areas and start preparing your assignment. Please let me know of your choice by email. Make sure your project engages with contemporary literature on Paul’s writings.

Pauline Christology

Pauline Soteriology

Pauline Ecclesiology

Cosmic Exaltation of Christ

Pauline Pneumatology

Paul and the Law

Pauline Eschatology

Paul and Suffering



Paul on Damascus Road: Conversion or Commission?
February 22, 2008, 7:23 pm
Filed under: PAULINE EPISTLES | Tags: , , ,

caravaggio_st_paul.jpg

Here are a couple of Word documents covering the background to the module   session-1.doc   and   session-2.doc  The caravaggio-paul.ppt is a short study on Caravaggio’s famous picture of Paul on the Damascus Road, as a teaser to today’s discussion Paul: Converted or Commissioned? The two powerpoints provide further background  investigating-paul_s-life.ppt   paul-life-2.ppt    and our over-all schedule is here: pauline-studies-maf.doc   



Using the Internet at Bible College
February 19, 2008, 7:14 pm
Filed under: Bible, Bible Studies, College, NEW TESTAMENT, Old Testament, Theological Education

A recent photo of dr-baker-in-his-study.jpg reminded me of the usefulness of internet research.

Here’s a few pointers.

Important websites (”meta-sites”) See the relevant links for Biblical Studies on the useful links pages. A particularly useful site for New Testament work is the New Testament Gateway. For Old Testament / Hebrew Bible, the iTankakh site, Ralph Klein’s OT Studies site, and the OT Gateway are particularly useful. Also helpful is The Text This Week (especially its Scripture Index). New Testament: Barry Smith’s textbook-like course pages You may find Barry Smith’s introductory course pages helpful; they are almost at a point where they would qualify as a substitute for an introductory textbook for NT studies. Old Testament / Hebrew Bible: Barry Bandstra’s textbook As pointed out in the module syllabus booklet, you may find Bandstra’s introductory textbook helpful: Bandstra’s website, which reproduces this book (Bandstra, B 1999. Reading the Old Testament. Rev. ed. Belmont: Wadsworth) is freely available at: http://www.hope.edu/academic/religion/bandstra/RTOT/RTOT.HTM Old Testament / Hebrew Bible Introduction There is a useful online ‘Introdution to the Old Testament course up with text / video / audio at the ‘Open Yale Courses’ website: http://open.yale.edu/courses/religious_studies/introduction-to-the-old-testament-hebrew-bible/home.html. It’s designed for a US-American college audience, so it’s pretty simple. Worthwhile listening to. You can get the 24 classes as text (transcript), audio (MP3), or various video file types. They are all free to download. Theology Today (journal) It is worth noting that this journal is accessible online; all but the most recent issues may be viewed at http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu. Relevant to OT studies are, for example:

Biblica (journal) Similarly, the journal Biblica is available online, though limited to issues from the past five or six years. Of interest may be an essay like:

Bulletin for Biblical Research Now online apart from the most recent volumes, at www.ibr-bbr.org/IBRBulletin/IBR_BBR_ByYearList.aspx. The server is often a little slow, but it’s worth persevering with.Religion Online See also many useful texts at this large site offering online versions of high-quality texts. For example:

  • Knight, D A 1982. Old Testament Ethics. Christian Century Jan. 20, 55. Online version at www.religion-online.org (accessed July 27, 2002).
  • Waetjen, H C 1998. The Origin of Jesus Christ: Matthew 1:1-25. Christian Century (May 20-27, 1998), 524-531. www.religion-online.org

 



Philippians: Introduction
February 19, 2008, 6:53 pm
Filed under: Greek, PAULINE EPISTLES, Philippians

philippians-intro.ppt Here is the Introduction lecture from the Greek Texts (Philippians) class.

This week we are going to sketch a few of the major themes in the Epistle. Here is the lecture: themes-in-philippians.ppt

Your homework from last week’s session was the preparation of the first seven verses in Greek. Hope you’re ready… it makes for a nice easy beginning.

Philippians 1



GETTING TO THE TEXT: The new semester modules
January 28, 2008, 7:39 pm
Filed under: Biblical Languages, Greek, Hebrew, Hermeneutics, PAULINE EPISTLES, Wisdom Literature

As you know, there have had to be some massive changes in the modules on offer during this year’s second semester due to the last minute withdrawal of two of our Biblical Studies lecturers.

So here follows a revised version of the modules that I am supervising, with the textbooks required:

HEBREWS II follows HEBREWS I (now there’s a surprise).  We have been working from Page H. Kelley, “Biblical Hebrew - An Introductory Grammar” (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992). We completed up to the end of chapter 12 (strong verbs) page 93 in this book. We may shift across from this textbook to use some of the exercises in Weingreen’s Hebrew Grammar for practice purposes. There’s a few copies available in the library;   you might consider buying your own  from http://abebooks.co.uk ; or alternatively, try hassling a 3rd year.

GREEK II follows GREEK I directly, using Duff from page 55.

In both these modules there will be an attempt to work directly from the Biblical text, so the purchase of a Greek New Testament and a Hebrew Bible will not be out or order and essential for all future Biblical work.

GREEK I for the newcomers starting this semester (Welcome!) we will be beginning with Duff’s Elements of New Testament Greek which should be purchased as soon as possible from the college bookstore. Check in Admin.

GREEK TEXTS. This year we are examining Philippians in the Greek. There are many excellent commentaries, but O’Brien’s NIGTC is to be preferred. In a rather disarming way, the cover note promises the following:

 “The text on which these commentaries are based is the UBS Greek New Testament, edited by Kurt Aland and others. While engaging the major questions of text and interpretation at a scholarly level, the authors keep in mind the needs of the beginning student of Greek as well as the pastor or layperson who may have studied the language at some time but does not now use it on a regular basis.”

 Is that you?

WISDOM LITERATURE will follow the details in the December 29 post below. Brown’s Character in Crisis is the textbook and this too must be purchased as soon as possible. A book review is required, so why wait? I’ll post a schedule in the next few days.

PAULINE STUDIES is an overview module providing historical, social and religious contexts for all the letters that the NT accredits to Paul. We will consider some of Paul’s major theological emphases and using John Ziesler’s excellent little book Pauline Christianity.

BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS (MTh module). I’ll deal with this separately.



Romans 14 and the Gospel of Vegetarianism?
January 11, 2008, 11:01 am
Filed under: NEW TESTAMENT, PAULINE EPISTLES, Romans

Does Romans 14 Abolish Laws on Unclean Meats?

Many believe Romans 14 says that Christians are free from all former restrictions regarding the meats they may eat. They cite as proof verse 14, in which Paul wrote, “I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.”

This approach, however, fails to consider the context of Paul’s letter as well as the specific Greek words he used.

Many Bible resources agree that Paul wrote the book of 1 Corinthians around A.D. 55 and that he wrote his epistle to the Romans from Corinth in 56 or 57. The food controversy in Corinth (reflected in chapters 8 and 10) was over meat sacrificed to idols.

Since Paul was writing to the Romans from Corinth, where this had been a significant issue, the subject was fresh on Paul’s mind and is the logical, biblically supported basis for his comments in Romans 14. (more…)



Romans 13: Should Christians be doormats?
December 9, 2007, 5:41 pm
Filed under: NEW TESTAMENT, PAULINE EPISTLES, Romans

rc_notdoormat_thumbnail.jpg 

Here’s some notes on this week’s seminar should-christians-be-doormats.doc and the notes from the “Church and Israel” discussion on Romans 9-11 rom-9-11.doc. I’ve included the sermon on Romans 11 sermon-rom-1133-36.doc to give you an idea how yours might look. The two PowerPoint outlines are here romans-lecture-12.ppt and here romans-lecture-11.ppt and here is the PowerPoint lecture on  romans-13.ppt.

We are getting ready now for the last bit of our assignment project, based on an exegesis of Romans 14 in relation to Paul’s view of the Law. This week we are considering Paul’s view of civic responsibility, as outlined in Romans 13:1-7. (Check out Esler Confliuct and Identity through these next two weeks. He is exceptional, plus other links through http://ntgateway.com ).

Here’s how your assignment should be shaping up ready for delivery by Christmas:

The assignment will be a study of Paul and Law. It will have four sections: an interpretive section on Rom 3:21-31;A lesson plan for a 45 minute class on Rom 7:7-25; a sermon on Rom 11:25-32; and an exegetical  section on Rom 14. 



Romans 8
November 14, 2007, 10:19 pm
Filed under: NEW TESTAMENT, PAULINE EPISTLES, Romans

romans-lecture-10.ppt   Here is the outline from this week’s seminar on Romans 8. Thanks for your input, guys. Just to confirm: next week I propose to select one or two class-members to preach at either/both Tuesday or Wednesday chapel. Be prepared!