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| Abbreviations | |
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| Preface | |
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| Introduction | |
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| The Task of Interpretation | |
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| The Need for Hermeneutics | |
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| Why Hermeneutics? | |
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| Hermeneutics Defined | |
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| The Art and Science of Interpretation | |
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| The Role of the Interpreter | |
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| The Meaning of the Message | |
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| The Text | |
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| The Author and the Audience | |
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| Some Challenges of Bible Interpretation | |
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| Distance of Time | |
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| Cultural Distance | |
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| Geographical Distance | |
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| Distance of Language | |
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| Eternal Relevance--The Divine Factor | |
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| The Goal of Hermeneutics | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| The History of Interpretation | |
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| Jewish Interpretation | |
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| Hellenistic Judaism | |
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| The Qumran Community | |
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| Rabbinic Judaism | |
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| The Apostolic Period (ca. A.D. 30-100) | |
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| The Patristic Period (ca. A.D. 100-590) | |
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| The Apostolic Fathers (ca. A.D. 100-150) | |
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| Alexandrian School (ca. A.D. 150-400) | |
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| Church Councils (ca. A.D. 400-590) | |
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| The Middle Ages (ca. A.D. 590-1500) | |
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| The Reformation (ca. A.D. 1500-1650) | |
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| The Post-Reformation Period (ca. A.D. 1650-1800) | |
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| The Modern Period (ca. A.D. 1800--Present) | |
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| The Nineteenth Century | |
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| The Twentieth Century | |
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| Post-World War I | |
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| Post-World War II | |
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| Recent Literary and Social-Scientific Approaches to Interpretation | |
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| Literary Criticism | |
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| Narrative Criticism | |
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| Applications | |
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| Critique | |
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| Poststructuralism | |
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| Reader-Response Criticism | |
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| Deconstruction | |
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| Social-Scientific Approaches to Scripture | |
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| Classification | |
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| Social History | |
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| Application of Social-Scientific Theories | |
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| Advocacy Groups | |
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| Liberation Hermeneutics | |
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| Cultural Criticism | |
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| Feminist Hermeneutics | |
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| The Canon and Translations | |
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| The Biblical Canon | |
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| The Canon of the Old Testament | |
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| The Development of the Canon | |
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| The Order of the Canon | |
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| The Canon of the New Testament | |
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| The Development of the Canon | |
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| The Order of the Canon | |
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| Criteria of Canonicity | |
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| Canon Criticism | |
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| Texts and Translations | |
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| Textual Criticism | |
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| Techniques of Translation | |
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| The Major English Translations | |
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| Choosing a Translation | |
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| The Interpreter and the Goal | |
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| The Interpreter | |
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| Qualifications of the Interpreter | |
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| A Reasoned Faith | |
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| Obedience | |
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| Illumination | |
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| Membership in the Church | |
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| Appropriate Methods | |
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| Presuppositions for Correct Interpretation | |
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| Presuppositions about the Nature of the Bible | |
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| Presuppositions about Methodology | |
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| Presuppositions about the Ultimate Goal of Hermeneutics | |
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| Preunderstandings of the Interpreter | |
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| Definition of Preunderstanding | |
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| The Role of Preunderstanding | |
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| A Philosophy of Interpretation as Preunderstanding | |
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| Testing Preunderstandings | |
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| A Christian Preunderstanding | |
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| Preunderstandings Change with Understanding | |
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| Preunderstandings and Objectivity in Interpretation | |
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| The Goal of Interpretation | |
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| Levels of Meaning | |
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| Does the Text Have One Fixed Meaning or Several Levels of Meaning? | |
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| Author-Centered Textual Meaning | |
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| What Kind of "Meaning" Ought to Be the Goal of Interpretation? | |
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| Legitimate Reader-Response Interpretation | |
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| How Can We Assure that We Give the Reader Full Due? | |
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| Validating Our Interpretation | |
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| How Can We Validate Our Interpretation? | |
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| Understanding Literature | |
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| General Rules of Hermeneutics: Prose | |
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| Literary Context | |
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| The Importance of the Literary Context | |
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| Principles of Hermeneutics Relating to Context | |
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| Circles of Contextual Study | |
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| Historical-Cultural Background | |
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| The Significance of the Historical-Cultural Background | |
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| Principles for Historical-Cultural Interpretation | |
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| Retrieving the Historical-Cultural Background | |
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| Word Meanings | |
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| Crucial Issues about the Nature of Words | |
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| Steps for Performing Word Studies | |
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| Grammatical-Structural Relationships | |
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| The Importance of Grammatical Relationships | |
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| Steps for Discovering Structural Relationships | |
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| General Rules of Hermeneutics: Biblical Poetry | |
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| The Dynamics of Poetry | |
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| The Sounds of Hebrew Poetry | |
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| Rhyme and Meter | |
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| The Sounds of Poetic Words | |
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| The Structure of Hebrew Poetry | |
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| Parallelism | |
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| Basic Units of Parallelism | |
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| How Parallelism Works | |
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| Types of Parallelism | |
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| Other Poetic Structures | |
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| The Language of Poetry | |
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| Imagery | |
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| Devices of Poetic Language | |
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| Similes and Metaphors | |
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| Other Poetic Language Devices | |
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| How to Interpret Poetic Language | |
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| Larger Units of Poetry | |
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| Sense Units | |
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| Understanding Bible Genres | |
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| Genres of the Old Testament | |
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| Narratives | |
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| Old Testament Narrative Genres | |
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| Reports | |
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| Heroic Narrative | |
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| Prophet Story | |
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| Comedy | |
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| Farewell Speech | |
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| A Sample Narrative: Judges 7:1-15 | |
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| Embedded Genres | |
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| Popular Proverb | |
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| Riddles, Fables, and Parables | |
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| Songs | |
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| Lists | |
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| Law | |
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| Types of Old Testament Legal Material | |
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| Casuistic Law | |
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| Apodictic Law | |
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| Legal Series | |
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| Legal Instruction | |
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| Principles of Interpretation--Law | |
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| A Sample Legal Text: Exodus 21:7-11 | |
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| Deuteronomy | |
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| Poetry | |
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| Types of Old Testament Poetry | |
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| Prayers | |
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| Songs | |
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| Liturgies | |
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| Wisdom Psalms | |
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| Principles of Interpretation--Poetry | |
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| Prophecy | |
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| Basic Types of Prophecy | |
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| Prophecy of Disaster | |
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| Prophecy of Salvation | |
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| Woe Speech | |
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| Prophetic Dirge | |
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| Prophetic Hymn | |
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| Prophetic Liturgy | |
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| Prophetic Disputation | |
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| Prophetic Lawsuit | |
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| Prophecy Against Foreign Nations | |
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| Prophetic Vision Report | |
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| Prophetic Narratives | |
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| General Principles for Interpreting Old Testament Prophecy | |
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| Interpreting Prophetic "Forthtelling" | |
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| Interpreting Prophetic "Foretelling" | |
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| The Many Ways of Fulfillment | |
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| Specific Principles for Interpretation--Prophecy | |
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| A Sample Prophetic Text: Isaiah 5:1-7 | |
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| Apocalyptic Prophecy | |
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| Wisdom | |
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| Types of Wisdom Literature | |
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| Proverbs | |
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| Instruction | |
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| Example Story and Reflection | |
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| Disputation Speeches | |
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| A Sample Wisdom Text--Proverbs 30:24-28 | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Genres of the New Testament | |
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| The Genre of the Gospels | |
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| Implications for Interpretation | |
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| Historical Trustworthiness | |
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| Reading Horizontally and Vertically | |
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| The Gospels' First Audiences | |
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| Key Theological Issues | |
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| The Kingdom of God | |
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| The Ethics of Jesus | |
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| The Forms Within the Gospels | |
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| Parables | |
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| Miracle Stories | |
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| Pronouncement Stories | |
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| Other Forms | |
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| The Genre of Acts | |
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| Implications for Interpretation | |
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| Thinking Vertically | |
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| The Significance of Pentecost | |
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| Acts as Narrative | |
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| The Genre of the Epistles | |
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| Implications for Interpretation | |
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| General Considerations | |
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| Specific Considerations | |
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| Distinctives of Hebrews and the "General Epistles" | |
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| Individual Forms in the Epistles | |
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| Creeds or Hymns | |
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| The Domestic Code | |
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| Slogans | |
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| Vice and Virtue Lists | |
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| Key Theological Issues for the Pauline Epistles | |
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| The Center of Pauline Theology | |
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| Is There Development in Paul's Writings? | |
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| The Genre of Revelation | |
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| Revelation as an Epistle | |
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| Revelation as Prophecy | |
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| Revelation as Apocalyptic | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| The Fruits of Interpretation | |
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| Using the Bible Today | |
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| To Gain Information and Understanding | |
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| To Worship | |
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| To Create Liturgy | |
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| To Formulate Theology | |
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| To Preach | |
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| To Teach | |
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| To Provide Pastoral Care | |
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| For Spiritual Formation in the Christian Life | |
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| For Aesthetic Enjoyment | |
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| Summary | |
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| Application | |
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| The Importance of Application | |
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| Avoiding Mistakes in Application | |
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| Total Neglect of Any Context | |
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| Partial Neglect of the Literary or Historical Context of a Passage | |
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| Insufficiently Analogous Situations | |
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| A Four-Step Methodology for Legitimate Application | |
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| Determine the Original Application(s) | |
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| Evaluate the Level of Specificity of the Original Application(s) | |
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| Identify the Cross-Cultural Principles | |
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| Find Appropriate Applications that Embody the Broader Principles | |
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| The Role of the Holy Spirit | |
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| Annotated Bibliography | |
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| Hermeneutical Tools | |
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| Annotated Listing | |
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| Indexes | |
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| Index of Subjects | |
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| Index of Scripture and Ancient Writings | |
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| Index of Authors and Names | |