1. Discuss book endings. Book endings, or inclusions, begin and end with the same word or expression, like book ends holding something together. While in the middle, you hold onto the book ending for influence (for example, "A" = "Richard is undisciplined and full of bad habits with no intention to change," "B" = "He drinks, curses, smokes, is unfaithful to his wife, and cheats on his taxes," and "C" = "Richard is a new Christian, and he is having trouble changing his old ways." With book endings, "CBC" evokes an entirely different response than "ABA.")

2. Discuss literary interpretation as a part of hermeneutics. Literary interpretation is the third area of hermeneutics. First, it analyzes the Bible as world literature. The Bible is not written in a heavenly language. It is written in everyday language. Second, it deals on the level of the passage. Third, it deals with: (a) the development of the whole text to understand how it is put together, (b) rhetoric (study of effective communications and persuasion), (c) looks at how the author is trying to present his message, (d) emphasis, and (e) genre (why is the text poetry rather than narrative). Fourth, literary interpretation can overlap with grammatical interpretation. Fifth, it usually asks "how" or "why" (it is looking for the function, not for the "what"). Sixth, it often means studying indirect communications ("what do you think?" when you really mean "it looks good, doesn't it?")

3. Discuss the field study in emphasis. Doing a field study in emphasis is broader than a case study. It involves: (1) selectivity ((emphasis is on teaching through extended influence) - soap operas influence, so does the Bible. Genesis 43:3-10 (statement by Judah) is an example because Moses used many words rather than a short sentence.) and (2) highlighting ((emphasis through concise impact) - a person does not highlight a whole page but just the most important parts. Highlighting should be brief, to the point, and drive the point home through repetition (book ending is this), stringing synonyms together (just read Psalm 19 and let the whole passage sweep over you), developing in a concise fashion, using adjectives, and syntax (overlaps grammatical interpretation).

4. Discuss a case study on "inclusion". Some other words for inclusion are book ending and inclusio. Bookending is having the same beginning and ending in the text, and the purpose is to influence the reading in the middle. Some examples are: (1) Exodus 13:3 and Exodus 13:16, (2) Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25, and (3) even the whole Bible (Genesis 2 (the Tree of Life) and Revelation 22). Other literary devices are irony, satire, shift in expectancy by author (this causes a rise in the reader's attention level), and many are genre specific (plot structures are not in poetry but are in narrative).

5. Name some related books. Some books are: (1) Words of Delight and (2) Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation, by Longman.

6. Name the book endings in Genesis 9. The book endings are in Genesis 9:1 and Genesis 9:7, where both verses emphasize multiply ("be ye fruitful, and multiply").

7. State the case study for Lesson 12. In I Samuel 15, the Bible says that God does not repent. Then, it says that He can change His mind. Explain this apparent contradiction.

				Tom of Bethany

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Lesson 12. Biblical Theology

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