college – subject two

I’m only taking two subjects, so I’m officially off the starting blocks for this semester. Today we learned a lot of introductory information about the New Testament: specifically, the ancient history information bridging the end of the Old Testament, and leading into the last century BC.

Fascinating stuff; helps me understand a lot of the events of the New Testament with a little more insight than I’ve had. Among the suggested homework is to watch Alexander – not for the historical accuracy, but for a general introduction to the times and some of the geography.

Chapel was also a good experience: sitting with a bunch of other college students, listening to a sermon targeted at students (on Philippians 1:1-11, about relationships and their importance: something to be joyful about).

In the library, I looked up a journal article from the “additional reading” section: (Richard) Pratt wrote an article about pictures, windows and mirrors: different ways of reading the old testament: pictures – literary analysis (the words themselves); windows – historical analysis (the events described by the words), and mirrors – thematic analysis (the way a particular topic has been handled). This was illustrated with a look at Genesis 12:10-20, highlighting something I’d certainly never noticed before: the structure of the narrative – deceitful Abraham enters Egypt, suffers under Pharaoh, is rescued by God, given a lot of possessions, and leaves Egypt to return to Canaan. This is a mini version of the Israelites and the Exodus, and is also a miniature picture, in a sense, of the gospel: sinful humans are rescued by God, and returned to God’s favour.

From there, I went (via Campos coffee) to moore books for some textbooks. The next step is to read said textbooks, which won’t really be accomplished by blogging.

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