There are several literary forms contained within the New Testament, which include the Gospels, the church history, the letters and historical texts, and the apocalyptic literature (Harris, 2014). The first major literary genre, the Gospels were written to describe Jesus’s life and ministry according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Bethel University, 2017). These books were written by the Evangelists to tell the “good news” of Jesus Christ and his work (Harris, 2014 p. 13). From a Christian and literary perspective, these books tell a magnificent story of Jesus, beginning with his birth and ending with his resurrection based from first-hand eyewitness testimonies, but the main focus is the last phase of his life, teachings, and death (Harris, …show more content…
In this book, the early history and development of the church are portrayed, beginning with the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascension into heaven, and ending with Paul’s work in Rome (Harris, 2014 p. 14).
Next, the letters, or epistles, were the straight-forward letters written by Paul to a church to address a particular issue or to express happiness over something the church did (Bethel University, 2017). The letters offer an explanation of close up encounters of events or situations, within communities involving Christianity, and the difficulties they faced while trying to follow Jesus and practice their beliefs (Harris, 2014 p. 15).
Last, the apocalyptic literature, which is described as the book of Revelations, an interpretation, and understanding of the end of times, and is thought to have been written during times of persecution (Bethel University, 2017). Apocalyptic literature in relation to the New Testament highlights the struggle between good and evil, or God and Satan, and how ultimate good prevails (Harris, 2014 p. 15). The Book of Revelations portrays an urgent message to believers and how it is important to hold on to the faith because the ultimate war is coming soon and is relevant to the return of Jesus Christ (Harris, 2014 p.
Paul E. Johnson and Sean Wilentz’s book, The Kingdom of Matthias, is a story of a religious cult that is formed in response to the changing economic, religious, and social roles in society in the 1820s and 1830s. Johnson and Wilentz discovered the story of Matthias and his Kingdom at different times, but both found the story to be an interesting one to write together. Throughout their research, they found that the information they found presented itself perfectly as a historical narrative, especially the form of a stage play . After merging their differing writing styles, they were able to write a book that they think did a relatively small story in American history justice. Many other small sects of religious reform happened during this time
“The Gospel For Those Broken By The Church” by Dr. Rod Rosenbladt Rod Rosenbladt paints a fantastic picture in his presentation “The Gospel For Those Broken By The Church.” He discusses how the church can often push people away from the Gospel, and, by extension, God. He explains how pastors push people away from Christianity and why many of the “alumni of the Christian faith” are feeling how they do: why some of them feel angry, and why some others feel sad about the Christian faith. Rosenbladt’s presentation, in many ways, mirrors Paul's presentation of the Gospel in the first eight chapters of his letter to the Romans. In said letters, Paul explains how we are all God’s apostles, how we try to uphold the law, and even though we fail
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.
The heart of the Old Testament second edition is a book written by Ronald Youngblood. Robert Youngblood wrote this book with a goal of showing people that the Old Testament is not any different from the New Testament, and should not be treated as a separate entity. In the book, Youngblood identifies the nine themes that form the pillar of the Old Testament. He then discusses these nine themes of the Old Testaments with supporting scriptures from the New Testament. The nine themes include monotheism, covenant, law, sovereignty, theocracy, sacrifice, election, redemption and faith (Youngblood, 1998).
Rick Moody’s, The Apocalypse Commentary of Bob Paisner is hardly an academic paper. The narrator, here a forthcoming graduate, traces his own experiences in college in the order of the Revelation of St. John. By random inclusion of parenthetical documentation of biblical scripture; and allusion to key apocalyptic figures, concepts, and events throughout the plot; Moody created a parallel between his life and the prophecy of John recorded in the book of Revelation. He marks each instance as a new section, labeled by a significant component of Revelation, in chronological order. Moody does little to expand upon or explain the prophecies of John beyond how he perceived them to be happening in his own life.
Book of REVELATION, is the last book of the Bible. The word ‘Revelation’ is derived from the Greek word ‘apokalupsis’ which means “a disclosure, or unveiling, and this book unveils Christ and the mystery of His return to earth as the Judge. This revelation was given to the apostle John while he was in Roman-imposed exile on the Island of Patmos in the eastern Mediterranean around 95 A.D. The book of Revelation has 22 chapters and the events are arranged in chronological order.
The author Ronald Youngblood observed the preface of the Old Treatment in the book, The Heart of the Old Testament by demonstrating the basic outline of the Scriptures is to trace the development of certain key ideas from one end of the Bible to the other. This book serves a great purpose that lays out nine themes that constitute the heart of the Old Testament. The nine themes are monotheism, sovereignty, election, covenant, theocracy, law, sacrifice, faith, and redemption. Dr. Ron Youngblood has achieved his purpose in an admirable layout before us the heart of the Old Testament in a careful and practical manner. Dr. Youngblood links the key theological strands of the Old Testament to the New in a style that is biblically sound, highly readable,
“The Old Testament” is narrated by Rachel, the title is a comparison to her life. Chapter Five is about her early life, which is where the title comes in play. Ruth was accustomed to migrating as a child, being that her father was a rabbi. He'd sign contracts every year and they would never get restored which caused their family to relocate. They resided in six different areas she can remember, every place she recalled brought a special memory.
Reading opens up a world of possibilities and experiences, each word, punctuation mark, and methodical construction of a complete thought into a sentence, collectively serves as a road map guiding us through twists and turns into a whole new dimension of consciousness. Each genre conveys its message through its own unique prose, from narrative to scholarly articles, but it is ultimately the reader who must go beyond the words filling each page and interpret the significance. Walter Brueggemann’s book Truth Speaks To Power: The Countercultural Nature of Scripture, provides a narrative milieu for deciphering the interface of truth and power within the bible, and welcomes readers to embark on a conscientious reading of the Old Testament while reflecting upon the subversive messages that demonstrate perpetual conflict over truth, between the dominant power and the defenseless or weak castes of society.
As stated above, apocalyptic literature is concerned with the heavenly realm and the past, as well as featuring a ’restlessness with the imperfections of the present and…quest for a new and total solution to the human problem’. Both the apocalyptic visions of Daniel 7-12, and in the preceding six paraenetical chapters deal particularly with the supernatural and the future. The overall focus is the judgement of God toward the enemy, and the hope of his future kingdom.
One of the most controversial topics involving the bible is the ending of the Gospel of Mark. This is a topic that majority of scholars do not agree on and hold a strong opinion on. “…that such a pivotal work as Mark should end so suddenly, so unexpectedly, has been called the “greatest of all literary mysteries”…” The verses starting at Mark 16:9 are where the controversy begins. Many scholars believe that the Gospel ended at verse 8 and that verses 9- 20 were later added on where other scholars believe that the ending is a true ending provided by Mark. This paper will demonstrate that the Gospel of Mark ends with the short ending at verse 8.
Because of his attribution to the New Testament as writing 13 books in the total of 27 books, Paul even considered himself “as little more than an ambassador or emissary for Jesus” (Powell, 231). Paul is the person who had oppressed the church. After that, on the road to Damascus, when he experienced a rendezvous with Jesus, he became a Christian missionary. Discussing particular theological issues, Paul’s epistles are written to a specific person or a specific group of people. Paul’s epistles are to Romans, two to Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, two to Thessalonians, two to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
The major literary forms in the New Testament at the Gospels, Passion, Letter, and the Apocalypse (Harris, 1995). Additionally, all gospels are considered literary works about Jesus in first person accounts of these events. Most the gospels tell the story of Jesus’s life, while others only include the actual word Jesus spoke. While the gospels give us a look into Jesus life they leave out information from the age of twelve until thirty no one wrote on those years of his life. The Passion is detailed in John the fourth gospel where it goes into great detail of the last days of the life to Jesus.
The New Testament has several literary forms be as it is a great body of work authored by different authors over a large span of time. It is thought that the New Testament was authored over a period of time that encomposes a century. Some of the literary forms found within the New Testament are Gospels, historical literature, and Apocalyptic literature (Harris, 2014). The Gospels are stories that tell of the good works performed by Jesus. These are stories that were meant to be spread amongst the people of the land to inform them of the events happening around them.
The New Testament just like the Old Testament, or rather the Hebrew Bible, contains many literary forms (Harris, 2011). The New Testament writers utilized four very specific literary forms (genres) as they laid out the grand form of what came to be known as one of the most prolific ancient religious texts. The New Testament is broken down in literary form by the Gospels, Account of the Early Church, Letters and the Apocalypse. The Gospels present a very unique perspective as the New Testament marks the first use of the form as it was invented by the early Christians, translating to mean good news (Harris, 2011).