OTEN5300 Notes 8/21/08

Old Testament Introduction
I. Genesis
A. Authorship
1. General agreement that Moses wrote a large part
2. dominant theory that there are four sources that apply to the Pentateuch
J(Man and Earth), E(use of term Elohim), D(Deuteronomi), P(
3. the real issue is more how we receive the material
B. 1-11
1. Linking Phrase = "Beginnings of a People"
2. Purpose
Theological History
"to show how God worked with people in history, particularly with the Hebrew people"
3. Topics and Texts
Creation
"Parallels" - ancient texts with distinct similarities and differences
How are these materials related? Is the bible based on other texts are they based on the bible-majority belief if that others are older but not necessarily the basis
One way to think about it is that the Biblical text provides the correct perspective and corrects misguidings
Starting Point in History
Originates with God's creation and we should view the biblical text from this perspective
Subtopic
C. Context
1. Dr. Brown's opinion is more that we should focus that it is more theological and focused on the creator and what he has created. He does not feel that it is "perfect history" or scientific. It is not necessarily inteded to tell the how it happened.
2. Not necessarily intended to be perfectly chronological
D.
II. Main Topic
III. Glossary / Definitions
A. Pentateuch
1. First Five Books of the bible.
B. Documentary Hypothesis
C. Historiography
1. Describes the process of writing history
D. Polemic
IV. Key Thoughts
A. Are we setting people up by not being educational with oposing views to the bible so that people are not shocked when they go to the "real world"?
B. Never forget that the Bible's main focus is to share the nature, character and power of God. It is a theological text inspired by God and recorded by man.
C. Read text from the inside out and evaluate what it is before evaluating if the what is right or wrong by our inapplicable modern standard
V. Why do we have these terms
A. History
1. Persons
2. Places
3. Events
4. Chronological
5. Understand that there is selectivity, emphasis and order that is imputed by the author
B. Historiography
1. Describes the process of writing history
C. Historical