Politicizing The Bible

This review article is about the essay written by William C. Placher and it has been oriented from a reading assignment from a class. Sir William has managed to illustrate his meticulous thinking about the Bible. In this astute exposition, Placher contends for a model of scriptural power which is wealthier than that found in either what he calls "scriptural peculiarity" or radicalism. He keeps up that the message of the Scriptures is dependable when rightly comprehended (recognizing contrasts in type, social setting, and view of history), and he urges perusers to get sufficiently comfortable with the content to comprehend it accurately.

Michale J. Kruger is professor of New Testament and academic dean at Reformed Theological Seminary, is the author of the Gospels of the Savior, and the coauthor of Gospel Fragments and the Hersey of Orthodoxy. His research on the Christian origins has made him a trusted authority on the development of the New Testament canon. In Canon Revisited, Kruger looks deeper than the traditional surveys of councils and creeds, mining the biblical text itself for direction in understanding what the original authors and audiences believed the canon to be. While there are many interests, critiques, and approaches to understanding the biblical canon regarding authenticity, authority, and historicity in this text Michale Kruger takes on the problem of canon

The validity of the bible and its contents has been a popular topic deliberated by numerous religious scholars for over three-hundred years. Biblical scholar and professor, Dr. Bart Erhman, dedicated his studies to canonical text in their original languages. Erhman’s evangelical background had a large impact on his pursuit in an education and career in religious studies, but his initial opinions about Christianity were completely flipped when he began to discover the great number of mistakes and intended adjustments within the texts that had been made by earlier translators. In Erhman’s first book, Misquoting Jesus, he illustrates his provocative case to convey that many treasured theological stories and beliefs from the bible are the outcome

In Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, Bart D. Ehrman, a well-known New Testament scholar and critic, seeks to show that the New Testament is a corrupt document that has been changed through the evolutionary process of scribal alteration, Early Christian theological apologetics and poor scholarship’s. Ehrman begins by speaking of his personal experience with the study of the Bible and textual Criticism. He concludes that various early scribes altered the New Testament in which we have no idea of knowing if what we’re reading is even the word of God or just what the scribes wanted to write.

These subjects, debated for decades and known in nearly every adult’s life, have become completely opposed to one another. Thus, similar to Poe, Mueller’s allusions help to elevate her argument by creating an environment where biblical events must be “invented” in order to sustain imagination and

Bruce makes it clear that this volume is dedicated to Christian students throughout the world. However, in the “Preface to the Fifth Edition,” he sets the tone by identifying the target audience for his work: “non-theological students” who are studying the New Testament documents, and who are more inclined to tolerate a source which has historical relevance as opposed to a source that does not (xiv). Thus, Bruce sets out with the goal of melding theology and history in an attempt at answering the question posed in the title, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? Bruce uses 124 pages and 10 chapters in an attempt to prove that the New Testament documents are reliable. He provides ample

Even early church writers contested the validity of what Luther referred to as an “epistle of straw”, even denigrating it as a leftover from Judaic writers. Even recent commentary writer Sophie Laws referred to “the epistle of James is an oddity. It lacks almost all of what might be thought to be the distinctive marks of Christian faith and practice.” The Luther casts further doubt on the authenticity of this epistle.

Sensitivity relating to the perceived expiration of the first Mosaic covenant has brought forth a minor controversy in recent decades about the political correctness of referring to the Old Testament as being "old." Some Catholic Scripture professors express a preference for "Hebrew Scriptures," while others apologetically retain the old reference to prevent confusion. (Pazcuzzi 2/97). The issue of Judaism having been superceded by Christianity will be addressed at various points in this paper.

In today’s world it is difficult to read any piece of literature that has not been at least minorly impacted by a piece of literature that has come before it. In fact, many stories published today incorporate elements of past works or reference them directly in a literary device known as allusion. One of the most commonly alluded to literary works is the Christian Bible, one of the oldest books to be published in the common era. Because the Bible is often alluded to in other literary works, it has been analyzed by countless scholars in many different ways. The most important way, that is, the way in which Norman W. Jones analyzes the Bible is in a literary manner. Because of this, this review will focus on Jones’s literary connections and the

The Bible is not read simply because the information it brings about the ancient Israel or the early church, this is irrelevant to the reader searching for more than an ancient story. It is read because men believe that in it they find expressed something about God’s acts, intentions and demands. Among the evangelical world, the Bible is accepted as the word of God spoken to humans. However, are those words intended to be without error in all kinds of fields –science, history, anthropology or psychology? Or, is it necessary to approach them as everlasting principles of faith, addressing only the spiritual sphere? This paper discusses the issue of the Bible’s inerrancy argued by evangelicals,

The Bible has challenged many people as a piece of literature containing history, poetry, and written letters. Some would argue that the contents of Scripture are inaccurate, however would still agree that it carries significant value as a piece of literature. Conversely, those who ascribe to the teachings of the Bible are dealt with questions about the authority and inerrancy of Scripture. It is becoming increasingly important that Christians understand and embrace the full inerrancy of Scripture. The theological implications dictate the contemporary church’s view of God himself. Also, there is rising arguments versus the inerrancy of Scripture found in postmodernism. Beyond an all-out attack on the inerrancy of the Bible by liberalism, even some Christians argue the notion that it is irrelevant for theological conversations within the contemporary church. Historically speaking, churches that have abandoned the inerrancy of Scripture, have also gone on to abandon theological foundations of faith, which has eternal consequences. The office of Biblical inerrancy must be defended in order for a strong foundation of Biblical theology.

The third section dissects the formation of the New Testament with more historical context and views of other writings defined as Gnostic writing. Bruce explains the spoken words of the apostles carried as much authority as their written words and gives an in depth explanation how the Gospels and Pauline writings were viewed by the Church Fathers. The rest of the section demonstrates the Church Fathers and their views of what was to be considered scripture and the councils that affirmed the inspired scripture.

The Bible is a unique book that is different from others because it contains sacred text that has continued to influence societies from generation to generation. Generally, the impact of this sacred book is worldwide since it has affected every department of human activity. The influence of the Bible on society is derived from the fact that it contains various themes that are used to shape the moral progress of the world. In addition, the influence of this book is not restricted to Christians and Jews because it impacts more than 50 percent of the world population. One of the major ways that the Bible has influenced society is through its effects on politics, especially political thought and action. In most cases, the Bible is used as the basis for formation of laws and rules that govern society.

In biblical study, Narrative Criticism has been developed against the evolutionary models of historical criticism, which has been mainly focused to reenact the position and thought of the original writer and audience through certain ‘scientific and analysis of biblical material’. This discipline is the study of a narrative text most likely similar to any narrative literature. It is sub discipline of interpretation method under literary criticism, which emphases on ‘the literary form or shape of the text in its final form’ as pointer of what the texts meant. There is general agreement among the various disciplines of literary approach, that they all consider Scripture as a ‘literary document’, rather than a ‘historical’. These various disciplines,

Grabbe (2007, P.54) conducted a study under the title “The Kingdom of Israel From Omri To The Fall Of Samaria: If We Only Had the Bible...” According the author there was a heated debate on whether the Bible is a problematic source of information about the settlement of central Palestine. The debate evolved to focus on the period of the first part of the monarchy the early period of ‘nationhood’ (Grabbe, p. 54). Consequently, the author conducted a study with four objectives and a main objective of identifying ways of assessing Biblical stories that cannot be checked with supplementary sources of information. The author arrived at five main conclusions, which indicated that the Bible provides both accurate and misleading information on the topic in question. This paper is an objective critique to Grabbe’s (2007) publication because it analyzes the main debate, methods used, and evidence provided by the author.