Pre-Reading Notes Major Characters Nathan Price - Father of four daughters, One of the major masculine roles in the book, Nathan is married to Orleana. He moves his family to the Congo due to his work because he is a baptist minister. He was a veteran of World War II. He is the antagonist of the book, due to his actions that he exhibits throughout the book. He creates a type of tension within the book between the other characters, he is not very friendly with the people from the Congo.
The title, The Poisonwood Bible, is an excellent title for the plot of this book. “Tata Jesus is bangala” (331), which has two different meaning because bangala means precious and also the poisonwood tree. Reverend Price says this phrase at the end of every sermon, but he mispronounces the word bangala so that it means poisonwood tree. So the locals think he is saying “Jesus is the poisonwood tree” instead of “Jesus is precious.” This makes the title very important because it makes the Congolese not want to know God because they think He is poisonwood.
Tobias Wolff’s “Bible” explores the nature of a woman whose life is in “danger” and the personality of her abductor. At the beginning of the story, Maureen is vulnerable. She leaves her friends at a bar to go home alone on a cold Friday night. She is powerless over her own body.
He points out that the Bible cannot be taken literally because sometimes it can be interpreted in different ways. The Bible was written for the common people and illiterate to understand, and to prove his point he mentions that the Bible gives God a body like ours while theologies believe God has no such features. He moves to his main point about who has the authority to determine what is true and untrue. He argues that what is scientifically proven will to understand the Bible true meaning.
Throughout this book the author, Darrel R. Falk, argues from his personal journey as a professing evangelical Christian and biologist, that only science, and not scripture, can reveal the details of creation. In the first chapter, the author talks about how, when one is living with both science and religion; it is like trying to live in two worlds at once. Falk spoke about how he grew up in a church that taught a literal view of Genesis, but those in leadership were not equipped to answer his questions about contradictions between the Bible and the real world. For this reason, Faulk drifted away from Christianity towards a life studying biology. Eventually he
Bart D. Ehrman. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. New York: Oxford University Press, Fifth edition, 2012 SUMMARY The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings is an 536 page, illustrated, historical guide to early Christianity and many of the early writings of the time—not just those of the New Testament Canon. As the title boasts it is used as an introduction textbook for scholars studying the New Testament.
In this book, the main point Gonzalez wants the reader to understand first and foremost is just being able to see the Bible through the eyes of a person of Hispanic decent. This forces the reader to see the Bible in a whole new perspective. It’s vital that each person should be able to understand biblical concepts and be able to identify with them. It’s part of what makes the Word so powerful for many. The author feels an importance to point out that it is critical that every person be able to have this type of connection to the Scripture, understanding that backgrounds and life views play a role in this type of comprehension.
INTRODUCTION The authority of the Scripture is fundamental to evangelical faith and witness. But at the same time, not all evangelicals affirm the inerrancy of the scripture. Biblical inerrancy affirms that the biblical text is accurate and totally free from error of any kind. The difficulty in affirming the inerrancy of scripture does not seem to be so much on the spiritual and moral teachings of the Bible, however, the difficulty perhaps seems to emerge on the issue of accuracy in other disciplines such as history, science and acheology.
Hesiod’s account of creation, as outlined in the Theogony offers one of the most detailed and accepted theories of creation in the Greek culture. On the other hand, the Biblical account of creation, regarded as a Hebrew culture creation account, is to date one of the most widely acknowledged and accepted versions across various cultures seeking explanations for the origin of life and the earth. However, even though these creation accounts originate from two different cultures, they share some thought-provoking parallels in terms of their content and intentions, as well as some contrasts that make each of the creation accounts unique. Both Hesiod’s and the biblical creation accounts are similar in that they argue that prior to the beginning of creation events, the earth was merely a void that had no shape or form and this void was filled with darkness.
Beowulf, the oldest surviving epic poem, has been recognized as one of the most important works of Old English literature. It deals with battles, warrior culture, and redemption in a Germanic society. Many writers have analyzed the relationship between Christianity and Paganism in Beowulf, and how these were a depiction of an early medieval Scandinavian society. J. R. R. Tolkien, renowned author of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series, presented his view on the Pagan and Christian elements found in early medieval societies, as shown in the poem Beowulf. Tolkien explained that the poem shows “the nearness of a pagan time,” and with it “the shadow of its despair, as an intense emotion of regret” is conveyed throughout the poem (Tolkien).
Introduction: Professors Richard Dawkins and John Lennox go head to head in a battle to match their superior intellect. The debate was titled “Has Science Buried God?” Lennox also announced his new book “Gods Undertaker”. The John Lennox - Richard Dawkins Debate - bethinking.org. 2015
Historical knowledge and science provide a point where biblical and cultural stories collide (Goheen & Bartholomew, p. 130). Culture is communicated through common stories and events. Science or the human desire to explain what is seen can be identified within Greek mythology throughout history to the postmodern views of today. The Christian worldview provides a basis for belief in a creator, not dependent on human action continue existence (Goheen & Bartholomew, p. 23). Scientific exploration and discovery is a part of God’s creation.
These two historical but sacred pieces of writing also happen to show that there is an explicit conflict between religion and science. The Old Testament shows this as displaying the fact that a supernatural being created the natural world. According to Frederick Seller, this supernatural being acts “frequently to intervene in his creation, to make things act in contradiction to their natures.” The New Testament says that it is unscientific and that the world was created by a causally impossible events or miracles. Two examples of these miracles are Mary giving birth as a virgin and Jesus walking on water.
“The Bible: The Epic Miniseries” The story of Moses is among the most well-known stories of the Bible, yet nothing is mentioned about Moses’ childhood or teenage years. “The Bible: The Epic Miniseries” took this as an opportunity to illustrate an inferred story of how Moses came to realize his descent. While some aspects of the biblical story seep through this portion of the episode, much of it strays from the original source, adding and deleting parts that are either relevant or irrelevant to the plot of the episode.
Christianity explains salvation as redemption by God’s grace through faith from unrighteousness and sins to Cleanliness, also known as Salvation. The Bible explores salvation in different perspectives including reconciliation, redemption, ransom, forgiveness, and justification. Even though the Bible is a unitary book, the new and the old testaments present salvation in different aspects. However, the different aspects are complementary. In fact, the Old Testament presents many prophesies about salvation that was fulfilled in the New Testament (Kärkkäinen 87).
