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You get to enhance your spiritual development under the discipline of the Word of God through Personal Application assignments. In addition to being mini-exegetical exercises to provide practice of what you learned in hermeneutics, these are intended to press you to mentally and spiritually engage with the biblical text and to facilitate personal reflection on the texts.
Tips on doing a P.A.:
N.b. In preparation for these assignments you may want to skim Haddon Robinson's "The Heresy of Application" in Leadership Journal 18 (1997) 20-27
One of the opportunities you have to develop life-long learning skills is your intentional engagement with others' perspectives on issues. In these assignments you get to interact with others (scholars, ministers, and others) on issues related to the material you are studying.
Tips on doing an Interactive Review:
You get to gain further skill in applying the principles for reading (interpreting) written texts that you learned in the hermeneutics course. In completing this assignment you will walk through the steps of the exegesis of a biblical text to the point of preparing to expound (teach/preach) the text.
Work with one of the more literal translations (e.g NASB, ESV) and consult a more dynamic or paraphrastic translation (e.g NIV). This assignment does not call for a full-blown homiletical appropriation but does expect that your will take the first few steps toward preaching or teaching the passage.
If you want to brush up on exegetical method, you may want to consult Walter Kaiser's Toward an Exegetical Theology referred to in the syllabus.
The presentation of your finished product for this assignment must be organized as follows:
1. Present the "big idea" of the passage (i.e., what is the author's main point?). N.b., although this is first item in your presentation, you will have arrived at it as a result of the steps of exegetical analysis you will present next. This is your "thesis statement." You will want to flesh out this "thesis statement" very concisely from key evidence you will have developed below. (a paragraph or two).
2. Next, present your analysis of the context of the passage. Use quality resources appropriate to graduate research & writing. Use footnotes as appropriate in this section. There are two aspects you will want to treat in a page or two:
2.1 Historical-geographical context: Present your own analysis of "time-space" data from the text in context, from related biblical texts, and from extra-biblical primary sources. State how this data enhances one's understanding of the passage. Helps in identifying sources (biblical and extra-biblical) include dictionaries, encyclopedias, histories, and technical commentaries.
2.2 Literary context: Present your own analysis of how genre influences the reading; how the passage relates to its immediate context (surrounding paragraphs/chapters) and to the whole book; your analysis of the division of the composition into units of thought (paragraphs or strophes) and your analysis of the contextual clues that indicate why this passage is located where it is(-- what is the flow of the author's "argument?"). You need not consult commentaries for this step.
3. Now present your own analysis of the text itself. This is the bulk of your presentation.
3.1 Paragraph analysis. State the "big idea" of each paragraph or strophe in one sentence each. This may be a topic sentence taken directly from the text or your re-statement of the paragraph's theme. Be sure to provide solid evidence. You need not consult commentaries for this step.
3.2 Sentence analysis. Identify and discuss important features of individual sentences. Avoid merely paraphrasing on the one hand, and unnecessary comment on the other (don't analyze the obvious). You do want to discuss your analysis of the flow of the author's treatment of the subject: what is the author emphasizing? How does the author argue his point? Are there particular stylistic matters worth noting? How is the author using imagery, developing plot and characterization, for example? Are there clues as to why the author selected certain material or de-selected material the reader might have expected? Is the author using terms that have acquired a technical meaning? Does the author use terms or develop ideas that appear elsewhere in the book or in earlier biblical books? You may use concordances or electronic search engines as well as theological dictionaries here. Technical commentaries and journal literature will be useful in identifying issues in interpretation as well as in providing technical expertise. e.g., in linguistics. N.b., resist the temptation to depend on commentaries and do your own work here.
3.3 Theological analysis. Present the results of your analysis of the theological affirmations intended by the author for his audience. Demonstrate an awareness of the theology of antecedent Scriptures which inform this text.
4. Further support for your analysis in this section will also be provided in an appendix containing 1.) a syntactical layout (clause-level diagram or "map") of the passage and 2.) an exegetical outline flowing from that layout. (see Kaiser, Toward an Exegetical Theology, chap. 8 for examples)
5. Homiletical appropriation: How might you communicate this passage to an audience? For the purposes of this assignment the appendix will also include your presentation of a one page summary which follows the pattern below.
Your presentation should be neatly "typed" with pages numbered . An 11-point font is preferred. You will not want to submit your first draft. Carefully proofread and edit your work. (See "Common writing Errors to Avoid")
It goes without saying that this is expected to be your own work. That said, you must give proper notice when quoting from another work, citing another work as authority, or using the original work/idea of another. You do not have to document common knowledge. Proper documentation must be provided for any sources used, including a separate bibliography of any works consulted at the end of the paper. Attention should be given to ensuring that sources and authorities used are appropriate to graduate-level work. Use "bibliography-style" footnotes rather than endnotes. As specified in the catalog, Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers is the authority on matters of form and style.
As to be expected, your presentation must demonstrate an educated use of the English language. That being said, we do recognize that we have brilliant students whose mother-tongue is not English. In such case you may want to have a qualified person proofread your final (or next-to-final draft).
Whether dealing with prose or poetry, historical narrative or prophetic speech, the interpreter is concerned to analyze how the words and phrases are used in their context. This means looking carefully at the larger unit of thought (prose paragraph or poetic strophe) to see how meaning is developed from the clause level on to the paragraph level.
1. Identify and mark off the literary unit of thought (paragraph or strophe) and its topic topic sentence or proposition.
2. Identify and classify the constituent clauses (independent (main) clause, coordinate clause(s), and dependent (subordinate) clause(s).
3. To help you visualize how the author develops the argument in the text you will want to re-set the text* so the syntactical features are more visible. Do not change the order of the text (i.e., relocate clauses) (*copy from a database such as Biblegateway.com and paste into your word processor)
3.1 The main components of the paragraph are set to the left margin. Each line will be comprised of a full clause.
3.2 Subordinate clauses are indented.
3.3 You may want to set multiple modifiers or multiple objects on separate lines directly under the word/phrase to which they refer.
3.4 Note the function of key clauses.
Preaching Unit: Malachi 2:10-16
Provisional Title: A Call to be Authentic in My Family
Subject: Integrity
Complement: Relationships
"Big Idea" of the Text (stated as a "timeless principle"): One's relationship with their spouse affects their relationship with God and their witness for Him.
Sermon Proposition: An authentic, healthy, growing relationship with my spouse is mission-critical.
Interrogative: Why
Key Word*: Teachings (*keyword=plural noun that refers to all main points)
Main & Sub-Points:
I. Marriage is sacred because God designed it v.15
A. God designed marriage to be one-for-one v. 15 (Gen 2:23-24; Mk 10.6-9)
B. God intended marriage to be believer-to-believer v.11 (2 Cor 6.14-18)
C. God intended marriage to be a witness v. 15b
II. Marriage is sacred because it is a covenant v.14
A. Meaning of biblical covenant
B. Sanctity of biblical covenant (Num 30.2; Eccl. 5.4)
C. God's perspective on violation of biblical covenant v. 16
III. Marriage is sacred because it is a picture of God's relationship
with His people
A. Model is selflessness, humility, compassion, responsiveness sacrifice (Hosea;
Eph 5)
B. Unfaithfulness in marriage relationship usually reflects spiritual unfaithfulness.
v.10-11
C. Unfaithfulness in marriage relationship impacts one's spiritual relationship
with God v. 11-13
Conclusion: v. 16b "So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not break faith." Husbands & Wives - renew vows & revitalize relationships; Moms & Dads – ask God to keep you authentic as you model a life of faith & obedience, love & grace; Students – Seek God's direction in the choice of a life-mate and commit to marrying a believer; Congregation – pray for our families THAT TOGETHER WE MIGHT BE A CLEAR CHANNEL FOR BROADCASTING THE GOOD NEWS OF OUR GREAT KING (Mal 1.11, 14b)
| Why? Because of... | How? by... | When? |
arguments set out |
heeding admonitions choosing better alternatives overcoming barriers obeying commands avoiding dangers mastering details obeying directives avoiding excesses avoiding extremes practicing the fundamentals following the guidelines following the instructions obeying the laws practicing the lessons taking advantage of the means applying the methods overcoming the obstacles following the patterns following the plans appropriating the powers observing the principles taking the precautions making adequate preparations making use of the provisions following the rules following the steps following the stipulations obeying the teachings |
changes are taking place circumstances demand directions specify duties demand guidelines indicate ideals call for |
Who?
What?
Where?
