Dusting Off The Good Book: Interpreting the Bible and Its Literature

An Adult class taught by Asst Pastor Barry McWilliams in the Spring of 1998 at Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, Lake Stevens, Wa.

Part 1: Basic Principles for Understanding the Bible

The object of this class is to give us confidence that we can correctly interpret the Bible. It deals with "Hermeneutics" - the art of interpretation. The grounds for this confidence are given in the Summary of Seven Principles - first, as to its nature as God's inspired revelation to mankind given within real historical contexts, secondly, as written texts with meaningful language and grammar, and finally, by recognizing the diversity of literary forms found within the Bible. Included in the class are surveys of the various books of the Bible.
• Summary of Principles

• Revelation and Inspiration and the Bible
• The Lord and the Scriptures --The Question of Inerrancy
• Translations and Interpretation
• Diagram: Ways the Bible is Received
• The Purpose of the Bible
• Commentary on Psalm 19: 7 - 11
• Sproul's Reading Program for Beginners
• The Clarity of Scripture -- Types of figures of Speech in the Bible
• Historical Revelation: Putting Scripture in Context
• A Bible History Timeline
• Progressive Revelation
• The Unity of the Scriptures: Theology
• An Outline of Christian Doctrines
• Chart of The Teachings of the Confession (a diagram I originally got from Paul Gilchrist, my Bible teacher in College.)

  Part 2: A Survey of the Literature of the Bible

• The Diversity of the Scriptures

• The Epistles: How to read them
• Paul's Correspondance with His Churches
• The General Epistles - NT Echatological Chart

• The Narratives: How to listen to a story
• The Historical Books of the Old Testament
• Discerning the Story Structures in the Narrative Literature of the Bible
• Diagrams of Narrative Structures

• The Gospels: Witnessing Jesus and His Teaching - A brief Gospels Bibliography
• Two Quizes on the Gospels
• Chart: Distinctives of the Gospels
• Chronology of Christ's Life
• Jesus' Master Plan
• Chart: Christ's Messianic Ministry

• The Parables: Catching the Point
• The 30 Main Parables

• The Poetry and Wisdom Literature
• Psalms: Interpretive Principles - The Book of Psalms
• Proverbs: Making right choices -- Job and Ecclesiastes: Asking hard questions -- The Song of Songs: Sing the beauty of Marriage
• The Language of the Lovers in the Song of Songs

• Law in Scripture: Principles for living
• Isreal's Unique Law Codes
• The Books of the Pentateuch

• The Prophets: Forthtelling the character of God - Interpretation
• Chart: The Prophets and the Timeline
• The Writing Prophets

• Biblical Symbolism: Types and Symbols -- Symbolism in Apocalyptic Books
• Charts: OT Sacred Times and Sacrifices
• Biblical Types
• Views on Revelation

  Part 3: Bible Study and the Illumination of the Spirit

  To be Added
• Devotional Use of the Bible
• Some Bible Study Methods
• A Brief History of Bible Interpretation
• The Holy Spirit's Role in Interpreting the Word
• A Bibliography on Hermeneutics

- Barry McWilliams Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, Lake Stevens, Wa. Fall 1997- Winter 1998