Читать книгу A Contemporary Introduction to the Bible - Colleen M. Conway - Страница 32

This chapter introduces the basic orientation of the textbook and sets the stage for what follows with three overviews: geographical, historical, and methodological. The beginning of the chapter answers the questions “What makes academic study of the Bible different from typical ‘bible study’?” and “Why is such academic study important?” We will briefly compare the general outline of the biblical story with the history of Israel that will structure this textbook. Next you gain a bird’s-eye view of the major regions of the land of Israel, the periods of Israel’s history, and methods used by scholars to analyze the Bible. Your future study will be helped in particular by learning the location of the two major regions of ancient Israel – the heartland of tribal Israel to the north and the area of David’s clan, Judah, to the south (with the famous city of Jerusalem between these two areas) – and by memorizing the dates of the major periods in the history of Israel and beginnings of Judaism and Christianity (see also the appendix to this chapter).

EXERCISE

Write a half-page to one-page statement or mini-autobiography of your past encounters with the Bible. Which parts of it have been most central in such encounters? Have you studied the Bible in an academic context before? Have you had unusually positive or negative experiences with the Bible or people citing it?