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Am writing up a chronology of the Bible* for a Bible study. Perhaps having too much fun. Half-done and already 4.5k words. (The Bible is a long, complex document that is 3,000 years old and has been at the center of very turbulent history for most of that time. Believe me, 4.5k words to get to the time of the early church fathers is stripping things down to bare bones.)
*NB this is not a chronology of events in the Bible. Those are a dime a dozen, you can find decent timelines of that in most good study Bibles. I am writing a chronology of the Bible itself, how it came to be and major events and movements that shaped it and the way we look at it. I learned pieces of this in many different classes--Old Testament classes, New Testament classes, theology classes, church history classes. Never was everything summarized concisely in one place, from early proto-Hebrew tribes sitting around campfires and telling stories in 2000 BCE to the present day. In fact, nowhere have I been able to find pieces of it concisely summarized. I'm having to go through all my text-books, picking out key events and processes, and each one reminds me of three others that need to be included. Thank God for Wikipedia, is all i can say--I wouldn't want to trust it as a primary source, of course, but when I know basically what I'm talking about and just need to double check the dates or spelling or whatever, it's much easier than sorting through half-a-dozen textbooks looking for the right one.
If anyone wants a copy when I'm done, lemme know and I'll e-mail you.
Also. Is Evangelical Christianity Having a Great Gay Awakening? God, I hope so,* and not a bit too soon. If the subject of homosexuality in the Bible interests you, and you would like to read a solid academic (solid meaning "good scholarship," not "dense," though it's that in places, too) treatment of the issue that pretty well undermines the traditional position on the issue, I recommend finding a copy of Homoeroticism in the Biblical World by Martti Nissinen.
*This is not taking the Lord's name in vain. This is prayer.
*NB this is not a chronology of events in the Bible. Those are a dime a dozen, you can find decent timelines of that in most good study Bibles. I am writing a chronology of the Bible itself, how it came to be and major events and movements that shaped it and the way we look at it. I learned pieces of this in many different classes--Old Testament classes, New Testament classes, theology classes, church history classes. Never was everything summarized concisely in one place, from early proto-Hebrew tribes sitting around campfires and telling stories in 2000 BCE to the present day. In fact, nowhere have I been able to find pieces of it concisely summarized. I'm having to go through all my text-books, picking out key events and processes, and each one reminds me of three others that need to be included. Thank God for Wikipedia, is all i can say--I wouldn't want to trust it as a primary source, of course, but when I know basically what I'm talking about and just need to double check the dates or spelling or whatever, it's much easier than sorting through half-a-dozen textbooks looking for the right one.
If anyone wants a copy when I'm done, lemme know and I'll e-mail you.
Also. Is Evangelical Christianity Having a Great Gay Awakening? God, I hope so,* and not a bit too soon. If the subject of homosexuality in the Bible interests you, and you would like to read a solid academic (solid meaning "good scholarship," not "dense," though it's that in places, too) treatment of the issue that pretty well undermines the traditional position on the issue, I recommend finding a copy of Homoeroticism in the Biblical World by Martti Nissinen.
*This is not taking the Lord's name in vain. This is prayer.
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Date: 2011-01-28 03:00 pm (UTC)From:Yes please
Date: 2012-01-17 10:52 am (UTC)From:I tried to read the Bible last year (about 2/3 through the Old Testament, and have read most of the New Testament in bits and pieces). I honestly found the Old Testament very confusing and quite distressing, and I don't understand why it is the way it is, and how our Christians friends manage to see it as conveying the same message as the New Testament (or even just a compatible one). I would love to learn a bit about how and why and by whom it was written, that would help on the confusion I think.