Given the time and resources (and of course having the desire) what book would you choose to study in great depth?
2007-01-09 08:02:48 · 5 answers · asked by Quantrill 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Probably Breshit (Genesis) because it has so many themes of interest, like origins and how things came to be the way they are, God's plans for the world and how God deals with problems. It is also full of stories about people and families and relationships so it has a strong human interest element.
There are many approaches to studying the Tanach and many levels of study and interpretation. Some of them are rather dry and boring, like the historical-critical approach which is primarily concerned with issuses of authorship and source criticism. More interesting is the Bible as Literature approach which leaves questions of sources aside and instead takes the final form text that we have now and seeks to use techniques from the study of literarture to interpret it.
Such methods have their uses, but personally as a person of faith, they seem to me to sometimes ignore the role of the Bible as a message given by God to people of faith. I find it more interesting to study it from an exegetical and theological approach. To try and see what messages God may be trying to get across to us earthlings in it.
So, i would do things like ask what the text says, what did it mean in its original context, to its original hearers in an ancient Near Eastern culture, and what princinples can we learn from it that we can apply into our 21st century culture and situation. What does it mean for us today. I would also look for themes within and books, like God's blessing on Abraham which is a commission to be a blessing to all families and nations of the world, and how this is taken up again and again throughout the stories in the Torah and indeed the Tanach, or maybe the idea of sin -- what it is, how it is dealt with, or maybe a subject like family values -- what were considered family values in the Bible are quite different from modern Western (especially American) Christian ideas.
2007-01-09 08:54:14 · answer #1 · answered by Beng T 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Genesis
2007-01-09 16:07:51 · answer #2 · answered by Royal Racer Hell=Grave © 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Exodus.....it greatly details all of the instructional stuff for the Jews to follow.
2007-01-09 16:07:23 · answer #3 · answered by The Carmelite 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The bible but of course
2007-01-09 16:08:10 · answer #4 · answered by tlnay025 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
psalms-joshua-isaiah and daniel.from mikhal in israel.
2007-01-09 16:26:29 · answer #5 · answered by mikhal k 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋