A Study of the Origins, Composition, Divine Inspiration, Canonicity, and Preservation and Transmission of the Bible Through the Centuries
Instructor:
Dr. Jefrey Breshears
Time and Location:
Wednesdays, Starting Jan. 15
7:00 PM
Johnson Ferry Baptist Church / Room 105
Course Fee:
$50 / $90 per couple.
(All registration is at the door)
Course synopsis:
This seminary-level course is approximately 12 weeks long. Virtually everything that Christians believe about truth and the nature of reality is derived either directly or inferentially from the Bible. But in our day many (if not most) people no longer consider the Bible to be an authoritative source for what they believe and how they live their lives. Increasingly over the past 200 years, the Bible has been subjected to intense criticism and not only by nonbelievers but often by Bible scholars, theologians and ministers who profess to be Christians.
This is why it is so vitally important that we develop a thoughtful and defensible philosophy of the Bible, and why it is imperative that we understand not only what the Bible teaches but why we should trust it as an infallible guide for what we believe and how we live.
Bibliology is a systematic study of the Bible, but it is fundamentally different than what is commonly known as Bible study. Although Bibliology is based on a thorough knowledge and understanding of the contents of Scripture, the goal of Bibliology is not so much exegesis, hermeneutics, and the practical application of particular biblical books and passages as the development of a thoughtful philosophy of the Bible. In other words, Bibliology concerns how we view the origins, philosophy and theology of the Bible, including issues related to divine inspiration, the Bible’s origins, principles of hermeneutics, canonicity, and issues related to biblical textual criticism the preservation and transmission of the Bible through the centuries. In this regard, Bibliology addresses questions such as…
- What is the Bible? If you were asked to describe what the Bible is without using a term such as “the Word of God”, what would you say?
- What is the basic philosophy of the Bible?
- What is the central message of the Bible?
- What is the nature of divine inspiration, and how does biblical inspiration differ from other forms of “inspired†literature, art, or rhetoric?
- Why should we believe the Bible has been divinely-inspired?
- What are the basic principles for interpreting the Bible?
- How and when were the various biblical manuscripts composed?
- Why were certain books included and excluded from the biblical canon? and
- What are our oldest and best surviving biblical manuscripts, and has the Bible been accurately preserved and transmitted through the centuries?
The Areopagus Seminar in Bibliology is an interactive study built around directed readings and focused discussions of these and other issues related to developing a thoughtful and defensible philosophy of Scripture.
