Teaching the Bible in the Context of General Education

Three conceptions of general education developed under the titles ‘general,’‘generalist,’ and ‘generalizing’ are matched with appropriate strategies for teaching the Bible. These provide the basis for two points relevant to teaching the Bible in colleges and universities: first, that the prime object of attention is not the Bible, but rather a corporate agreement regarding an educational project; and second, that the ways in which the Bible might be taught will vary, appropriately, according to the ways in which that educational enterprise is understood. A corollary is stated: teachers of the Bible need to be as informed about research in teaching as they are in biblical research.     

Human Conception in Antiquity: The Hebrew Bible in Context

Abstract

This article explores ideas concerning human conception as reflected in the Hebrew Bible in particular. After reviewing above all biological texts from ancient Indian, Greek and Roman sources, the various clues as to how human conception may have been understood in the ancient Hebrew context are thoroughly investigated. The notion that Aristotelian ideas of preformationism and pneuma inform the Hebrew Bible is refuted. Instead, both divine and female contributions to conception appear to be more prominent.     

Marriage as Covenant: Tradition as a Guide to Marriage Education in the Pastoral Context

Public sentiment and rhetoric in recent years have unleashed a maelstrom of discussion over the definition of marriage. The insights that arise from consulting tradition and understanding the development of marriage for Christians are fundamental for explicating the special place matrimony holds in Christianity. Marriage ministry, especially marriage education, must employ an integrated holistic approach that offers a balanced presentation of the social, personal, and spiritual dimensions of marriage. The purpose of this paper is to review Christian tradition in order to inform and guide a ministerial praxis.     

Childhood and Age in the Bible

Biblical studies has often avoided the children in the biblical text, to the detriment of the discipline. The topic of childhood in the Bible provides a particular opportunity for dialogue between biblical studies (including historical, theological, and social approaches), psychology of religion, and pastoral psychology. This article examines three biblical stories: Adam and Eve, David, and Jesus. In each case, I inquire about the ages of the characters, the interpretive assumptions at work in biblical studies, and the psychological insights that may be brought to bear on the biblical text.     

Experiencing the Bible

This study uses interpretative phenomenological analysis, a qualitative interview methodology, to examine the information experience of Catholic readers of the Bible. It presents a detailed, individual-focused account of how Catholics experience the Bible, in its diverse oral, print, and digital manifestations, as a source of religious information. Participants in this study were found to experience the Bible as God's Word, with which they interface in three thematic ways: Connections, Journey, and Practice. These themes are, in turn, linked by the processes of sharing, repetition, and interpretation. This work extends previous research on the religious reading of believers and numinous document experience, and it contributes to a budding conceptualization of reading as an example of document work rather than a merely cognitive activity.     

《圣经》的生态思想

<圣经>认为宇宙万物和人类是上帝创造的,上帝创造的世界是美丽、有序、和谐的;人是自然的一部分,自然是人类赖以生存的基础;世界万物都有其存在的价值,人负有管理万物的责任;人与自然关系的不和谐是人类犯罪的结果,"原罪"引发了最初的生态危机;耶稣基督救赎的范围包括自然界;<圣经>以恢复人与神的正常关系为中心,人与自然的和谐关系以此为基础.     

赫胥黎与《圣经》

赫胥黎是达尔文进化论的坚定捍卫者和热情发扬者。他以“不可知论”为武器,与基督教神学作了卓越的斗争。本文就其对《圣经》的态度所作的介绍,生动地体现着这一精神。     

The Brest Bible and other Polish translations of the Bible in the poetical works of Erazm Otwinowski

Abstract

Polish antitrinitarians of the sixteenth century (also known as Polish Brethren and later as Socinians) rejected some of the most fundamental dogmatic beliefs of traditional Christianity. However, while their Church emerged as the result of a split in the Reformed Church, they still used the Brest Bible to read not only the Old Testament (the antitrinitarian translation of Szymon Budny was controversial and rarely accepted by the Brethren), but also the New Testament. This situation is discussed here using the example of Erazm Otwinowski, a major antitrinitarian poet. His two major poetical works are based on various biblical passages. In his Parables of Our Lord Jesus Christ there is considerable evidence that he used both the Brest Bible and the first edition of the New Testament translated by his antitrinitarian friend, Marcin Czechowic. However, it is also possible that he used Jakub Wujek's Catholic version, even if strongly contested in Czechowic's polemical works.     

Pastoral psychology and the future

Pastoral Psychology -     

Hebraica veritas in the Brest Bible

Abstract

The Brest Bible is regarded traditionally as the first translation of the entire Scriptures from the original languages into Polish. This study assesses this claim. A cursory analysis reveals that the Brest translators generally followed the hebraica veritas. They made use of Stephanus's Latin Bible (1556/57) whose Old Testament text was the literal Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible by Santes Pagnini (Pagnino); the Vulgate text was also included. It is shown that where there are significant differences between the printed editions of the Hebrew Bible of the sixteenth century and Pagnini's version, the Brest Bible follows Pagnini. Its translators followed Pagnini in Stephanus's edition verse by verse, and also applied the latter's division into chapters and verses to the Polish text. It is, then, suggested that there is doubt whether the Brest translators translated directly from the original version, it being more likely that they availed themselves chiefly of Pagnini's Latin version.