by Luke Geraty | Nov 2, 2018 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, New Testament, Scripture
On Sunday, I shared a message addressing the question, “Is Christianity oppressive to women?” Take a listen by clicking “play” above or go here and download it. My conclusion is that, yes, sometimes Christianity has been oppressive to women...
by Luke Geraty | Mar 8, 2017 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, New Testament, Old Testament, Scripture
As I have continued studying issues related to women in ministry, gender, and hermeneutics (biblical interpretation), I have come to the conclusion that the Bible requires that Church does all that she can to both encourage and empower women to actively pursue...
by Brad Blocksom | Mar 8, 2016 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, New Testament, Old Testament, Scripture
Do you interpret the Bible literally? Have you ever been asked this question as if it was some kind of test for orthodoxy? No one takes everything in the Bible literally!! Do you believe that the earth is a rectangle (Is. 11:12)? Do you really believe that Jesus wants...
by Brad Blocksom | Jul 28, 2015 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, Scripture
It was one of those late into the night conversations. It was the final night before the conclusion of the Society of Vineyard Scholars Confernce back in April of this year. I stopped by my friend Kenny Burchard’s room at about 11:30pm. We talked into the wee...
by Luke Geraty | May 6, 2015 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, Scripture
What is the Bible? The Bible is unlike any other book ever written… it’s an ancient collection of writings, comprised of 66 separate books, written over approximately 1,600 years, by at least 40 distinct authors. The Old Testament contains 39 books written from...
by Brad Blocksom | Feb 10, 2015 | Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Hermeneutics, New Testament, Scripture
Matthew 13:52 (ESV) “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” – Jesus So I was reading this passage during my devotions last month...
by Andrew Williams | Jan 19, 2015 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics
Postmodernism is thought to be as both the villain and the savior for the contemporary church, depending on who is asked. To some, postmodernity is the greatest threat to the Christian Church since Nero, and to others, it is a breath of fresh air that promises the...
by Brad Blocksom | Dec 9, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, Scripture
10. Recapture a rigorous commitment to the critical role of the Holy Spirit in exegesis and hermeneutics. As I stated in last week’s post, I spent 10 years in Seminary having Grammatico-Historical exegesis pounded into my head as the only legitimate way to...
by Brad Blocksom | Dec 1, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, Old Testament, Scripture
#9. Christological interpretation is an important key. Whereas many Biblicists seem to border on being guilty of Bibliolatry. After almost 10 years in Seminary I took a course from Tremper Longman on Proverbs/Wisdom Literature. After years of having...
by Robby McAlpine | Nov 25, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Hermeneutics, New Testament, Scripture
Have you ever heard the saying, “A text without a context is only a pretext?” It’s a pithy reminder that taking Bible verses out of their context can (usually does) result in teaching that’s weak, unsupported, or downright false. Context is crucial; the game-changer....
by Brad Blocksom | Nov 18, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, Scripture
#8. The church and Christian Academia need to stop viewing each other as mortal enemies. The Christian academy needs to stop bashing the church as a bunch of caveman fundamentalists who know nothing about the Bible and assume their rightful place in assisting the...
by Brad Blocksom | Nov 11, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, Scripture
#7. Single column text, normal paragraph formatting/layout and, dare I say it, removing verse numbering from our Bibles will go a long way toward helping people to read the Bible as if it were actually a real book! Truth be told, I have already written a fair amount...
by Brad Blocksom | Nov 3, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, Scripture
#6 When we systematize the Bible, or pick and choose verses from its diversity for a “topical teaching” we deceive ourselves if we believe that we have somehow improved upon the Bible from the form that God actually gave it to us in. Prior to the late eighteenth...
by Brad Blocksom | Oct 27, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, New Testament, Old Testament, Scripture
#5. Proof-texting is a bad habit that we need to break ourselves of. Simply citing chapter and verse does not end any theological/biblical argument! I will define proof-texting as the idea that if we can cite a single verse from the Bible which supports the point...
by Brad Blocksom | Oct 21, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, New Testament, Old Testament, Scripture
#4. Radical Biblicism is actually a bad thing! Before you burn me at the stake as a heretic, let me just make clear what I did not say. I did not say that a great reverence for or a high view of scripture is a bad thing. I did not say that believing the Bible is the...
by Luke Geraty | Oct 20, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Hermeneutics
If you pay attention to certain theological circles, you’ll have heard someone say something like this: “Preachers who do not use the word “sin” in their sermons are watering down the gospel. If you aren’t willing to name sin, than you...
by Brad Blocksom | Oct 14, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, New Testament, Old Testament, Scripture
#3 The Bible is story. This includes both individual stories in the varying “books” of the Bible, as well as an underlying story of God’s plan for redemption of creation (a.k.a. redemptive history). To tell the truth, I kinda already talked about this a lot in last...
by Brad Blocksom | Oct 7, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics
#2 The Bible is literature and should thus be read as law, poetry, narrative, theological history, apocalyptic, etc. Welcome to week 2 of our 10-part series on reading the Bible as God intended. Since last week we looked at how not to read the Bible, I thought it...
by Brad Blocksom | Sep 23, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics, Scripture
Earlier this year, in April, I presented a Paper (with the same title as above) at the Society of Vineyard Scholars conference in Columbus, OH. as part of a panel discussion on Hermeneutics. Specifically,the topic was The Authority of God in Scripture. Because the...
by Luke Geraty | Mar 18, 2014 | Biblical Studies, Hermeneutics
Everyone reads the Bible with some basic assumptions about how the Bible best speaks. For example, these are the types of questions that people are often thinking of: What did this mean when it was written? What did the author intend for this to mean? How have people...
