Selected Readings of the Bible

Lecture One

Fall 2013By: SU, Xiaoxiang

Course Information

• Title: Selected Readings of the Bible (New International Version)

• Location: 复 507• Credit Hours: 32 hrs (2 per week)

Instructor’s Information

• Instructor of the first half: Dr. SU, Xiaoxiang• Instructor of the second half: Dr. PENG,

Gongguan• Contact information:

suxiaoxiang@hotmail.com

Text, Reading & Material

• The Bible (The New International Version)• Available at:

http://www.biblica.com/bible/browse-books/

Objectives

• The course aims at introducing stories in the Bible that influences the western culture

• It also aims at familiarizing students of the idioms originated from the Bible

Grading

• Your final grade will be based on four factors:– In class performance– Group performance– Quizzes– Attendance

Basic Facts about Bible

• When is it written?– Over a period of about 1600 years, from about

1490 BC to about 100 AD.

• What is the structure?– 66 separate books: 39 in the Old Testament and

27 in the New Testament

• What language is it originally written?– Hebrew and Greek

Basic Facts about Bible

• The world’s bestselling book– It has sold approximately 2.5 billion copies since

1815.– It has been translated into more than 2,200

languages or dialects

– Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible

Geographical Setting

• Most of the biblical drama unfolded in the Ancient Near East.

• This area covers the modern states of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey.

• It has been called the “Cradle of Civilization”.– Many important cultural and technological

advances took place there.

Geographic Setting

• The Biblical drama happened in Palestine in particular, which includes land on both sides of the Jordan River extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and from the Leontes River in the North to the Wadi el Arish and Ezion Geber in the South.

Palestine

• The land-bridge between Africa and Asia.• A thoroughfare for wandering peoples,

tradesmen, and armies.

Storylines of Bible

• Act 1. God creates the world as our home and the place he intends to live with us;

• Act 2. We disobey God and break his trust, bringing sin and death into the world;

• Act 3. God responds creatively to the problem, establishing the nation of Israel to bring blessing to all peoples;

Storylines of Bible (II)• Act 4. The story reaches its climax in the coming of

Jesus the Messiah; he fulfills Israel's mission and brings God's surprising victory through his life, death and resurrection;

• Act 5. Jesus calls and commissions his followers to spread the word of his victory and live his way as a light to the world;

• Act 6. Heaven and earth are reunited when God makes his home with us in the new creation.

Summary of the Old Testament

• After Adam and Eve, the Hebrew lineage truly began with Abraham.

• Abraham’s Personal Covenant with God• Hebrew People’s Covenant with God (Exodus

34:27-28)• Southern Kingdom• Northern Kingdom•

Influence on Western Culture

• Politics• Arts• Daily life

• “The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity.”

----Immanuel Kant

Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address

Hand on the Bible

 Bible and politics

Bible & Politics

• US constitution & Bible– The rule of law laid out in the Constitution

descends from the Ten Commandments• A system of checks and balances and separation of

powers to prevent one individual or group from abusing the citizens. (the flawed nature of human beings shown in Genesis 3 and Jeremiah 17:9.)

Bible and Literature

• Paradise Lost• Paradise Regained • By John Milton

• Tess of the D’Urbervilles• by Thomas Hardy

Bible and Arts

• Paintings• Filmshttp://www.doc88.com/p-

235796706341.html • Songs

Bible and daily life

• Christmas • Easter http://www.doc88.com/p-

389943713904.html • Wedding ceremony• 人名地名层面的渗透 http://

wenku.baidu.com/view/1e0e1fd776eeaeaad1f330fd.html

• …

Bible and Daily Life

• Church going• Bible Reading• Bible and Marriage

• Christians believe that marriage is a gift from God, one that should not be taken for granted.

• "To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.”

• The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is God's doing: "God himself is the author of marriage", which is his way of showing love for those he created.

• Because a marriage is a divine institution it can never be broken, even if the partners are legally divorced: as long as they are both alive, the Church considers them bound together by God.