| Index of Available
Articles |
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The
following is a map of the OOLSB (Overcomer On Line Study Bible). But first a
note on bible interpretation. Bible students should first read the Introduction -
hermeneutics under the Tools section. This introduction provides
a brief outline of the hermeneutics employed and how the hermeneutical
approaches influence a "subject based" correlative process.
In a
general way hermeneutics is the activity that results in a translation of some
part of the bible and therefore includes at it's lowest level of analysis an
exegesis which is the grammatical analysis in the language of the text
involving the cotext and context. At the highest level hermeneutics determines
the genre or literary type (form, style, subject matter) of the text as
literature. Considerations must identify if literary styles are mixed or pure,
if certain conventions are followed, as well as establish textual expressions
as metaphorical, symbolic, idiomatic, or ideomorphic - customized by or unique
to the author or group of authors. In this regard, often repeated expressions
or ideas applied in the same way from more than one author suggest historical
and or cultural meanings associated with or adapted from a community usage. For
example, the application of the idea of love as a special kind of caring
commanded by Christ, and fellowship or assembly together in deep bonds of
trust, sharing, and collaboration as a special kind of social intercourse,
together define the basis of Christian relationships and the roots of a
Christian culture. This observance of "culture" or lifestyle becomes then the
assumed basis of attitude regarding problem solution between members of that
culture. So by first resolving basic social attitudes and motivations held by
the authors it becomes easier to grasp their intent in different
situations.
Because of these and other intellectual challenges,
Hermeneutics is often called an art by some, a science by others, a disciplined
approach by yet others, and we use the term to mean a methodical analysis
process which applies various considerations which affect how the words, text,
and discourse are to be generally treated in order to realize authorial intent,
reader response and the "locus of meaning". To some extent this process is
executed in a step by step fashion. For example, it is first necessary to
establish the genre or literary style and it's purpose in order to apply an
understanding of how the text of the discourse is to be treated or understood.
For example a historical narrative can be an objective account involving
people, places, and events. Two historians may see the same situation very
differently. It can also be propaganda and a totally false representation of
these things. History is most often an account of the victor and written from
that perspective. An apologist for the Roman Catholic church will explain the
Crusades much differently than other historians not having that affiliation. I
had a history professor that told me to disregard the standard university text
book as he did not agree with it and he also said that his research was more
accurate and insightful and I would only pass the exams if I wrote what he
wanted to read.
The literary style and purpose all depends on the
writer, their attitude and their motivation in authoring some work. Whether the
work is history or poetry or some other kind of literature like the Book of
Revelation or the major and minor prophets. Take for example Isaiah who authors
a mix of narrative with prophetic statements some of which he expects to see
fulfilled in his near future with others of a longer term. He places all this
information in various literary forms visible in the Hebrew and where the
readers understanding is expected to jump back and forth between the two
different types of prophecies. He makes profuse use of expressions which have a
double meaning one of which might be symbolic. He seems to use figurative and
metaphonic expressions. If it were not for New Testament references back to
these prophecies we might easily miss their relevance.
The
considerations such as the recognition of historical and cultural word useage
as well as an appreciation of the genre and purpose in which the discourse
occurs are skills acquired by linguists over many years and often involve
comparative language studies. This has resulted in an "attitude" that only such
skilled people can involve themselves in true bible interpretation. Worse yet,
these scholars cannot agree amongst themselves.The Book of Revelation is such
an area of dispute with at least 4 differing view points regarding how to treat
the entire textual discourse. The literary style is apocalyptic. The main
thrust of disagreement hangs on it's literary style and purpose. The literary
style uses symbols like a candle stick which represents something else. The
symbols used in the first part of the book are explained and apply to the
Christian culture in each of 7 specific assemblies. This first part may
therefore be an introduction explaining the literary style, purpose, and
initial recipients of the revelation. The book may have been passed on to the
churches with the meaning of the other symbols conveyed verbally so only those
for whom the book was written would understand the highly figurative symbolic
language of the book. These were dangerous times for Christians.
Regarding the interpretive process. I use the New Testament to understand the
Old Testament. However, this does not mean I discount the value of the Old
Testament in terms of the cultural impact on the New Testament writers. Jesus
said that all references to him had to be fulfilled and he opened the
scriptures to his followers. So it is clear from these New Testament references
that the Old Testament conveys the purpose and plan of God in Christ. But when
it comes to the Book of Revelation we do not have this kind of cross
correlation. Of course those that try to affix date event prophecies by linking
passages in the Old Testament with those in the Book of Revelation would
disagree. But assigning date driven events to figurative expressions is not
correlation it is human assignment. The symbols are not defined within the text
itself. For my part, at least until or if I come to a different persuasion, I
take the symbology in the Book of Revelation as generally descriptive of how
history progresses, the consequences manifest in history of a church that has
lost it's first love, the sovereign will of God administered through Christ
expressed through that history, and finally the triumph of Christ and the
perfection of his bride with the rule of heaven administered on this earth. The
times do not matter. I watch and I wait as instructed. But my mandate and the
mandate of all Christians is to care for the Body of Christ so that Body and
it's members can be a witness of the redemptive love of God. We must execute
this mandate as we stand in the midst of history in the making. This is why the
NEWS section of this web site is considered to be an important feature of the
web site. The bible issue has always been from beginning to end, throughout
history, the revelation of God in Christ to man who as a species must learn to
listen and obey his creator.
Fortunately, the results of these
hermeneutical skills appear in encyclopedic dictionaries such as the New
International Dictionary of New Tetament Theology. The results also appear in
various versions of the Bible. Customs of the people and the time have been
catalogued in various books and much has been written regarding the various
hermeneutical approaches. The same is true of exegesis. But even so, this is a
lot information and unless the person engaging in this kind of bible study
"thinks" in the terms of the language the time challenge is formidable. It is
the objective of this web site to bridge these obstacles and make it possible
for the average person to at least appreciate the challenge of translation and
exegesis even if they cannot engage directly in the process. We provide the
means for the reader to challenge the view points we set out as a basis of
Christian living. Anyone if they understand the technique can do correlative
analysis with embedded situation analysis. They need not do this on the
original manuscripts such as Greek and Hebrew, although that would be best. The
idea is this for different English interpretations where a genuine effort has
been made to reflect authorial intent. For a given English interpretation,
identify related subject matter and the various word useage associated with
that subject matter. Correlation Analysis involves the identification across a
large part of the bible (such as the New Testament) of this related subject
matter as well as the significance by noting the cotext and context and the
differences of situation where the subject matter is expressed as well as the
similarities. What was said to who by whom and why and where. From this we come
out with an appreciation of what is common and different by both author as well
as the entire collection of text. Please note that we use the term "subject
matter". One single word does not qualify as the subject matter. It may in your
mind only but not for correlative purposes. In order to identify the textual
portions that deal with certain subject matter a word search is appropriate but
many words must be used and the subject matter must legitimately exist
throughout the text scanned. For example, "mind" is a high level word but to do
correlative analysis on the subject of the human mind in the New Testament
would involve searches on "knowledge", "understanding", "wisdom", "acts of
thought", "decisions", "attitudes", and many other words all associated with
the functioning of the mind. What this does is identify all the textual verses
where related subject matter is referenced in one way or another. Much of this
cannot be done with a word search but by reading in a studied way looking for
aspects of the discourse that require involvement associated with the aspects
of mind.
This turns out to be the biggest theme in the New Testament
because everything said to someone involves mental interaction and
understanding. This in itself highlights the importance of the theme but one
has to now narrow it down to what are my responsibilities with respect to my
mind and how should my mind be like the mind of Christ. This means we need a
clear idea of what is meant by the word mind and why and how should that be
altered.This situation characterization is called context analysis and also
involves the historic and cultural considerations. We have done that for this
very subject matter as the first and most important theme of the New Testament
which is contained in a number of articles.
The OOLSB is a long term
effort and will come together in pieces with not every piece having all of it's
features such as Greek exegesis and Kloine Greek pronunciation of the text when
first published. Therefore, it is important to generate the most important
pieces first and come back at a later date and add all the features left out in
the first pass.
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Study Bible Advisory
Please note that the Overcomer On Line Study Bible is now
under construction. What you see below is the format to access it's features.
The asterisk indicates which features are now available in part or
full.
Overcomer on line Study Bible
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OOLSB
Tools
Select one of the highlighted
tools for a description of using a specific feature of
OOLSB |
OLOSB
Themes
Select one of
the highlighted themes or HELP under Tools for useage
NOTE: UC means under construction
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OLOSB
Key Word New Testament
Select one of the books of
the New Testament or HELP under Tools for useage
NOTE: UC means under construction
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. Introduction -
hermeneutics
. 1. Greek
Exegesis KWNT
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| General Notes on Tools |
When you
click on one of the above highlighted tools a java controlled small window
should appear on your screen and contain information describing the tool as it
is used in the themes and books to provide increasing depths of knowledge. For
example the Parsing Code window will describe the codes and their meaning for
identifying the inflections of Greek words. Eg; code for the first person
singular indicative ...etc. Greek words and passages as well as associated
lexicon and parsing information are in gif picture format. Clicking on the
picture will execute a sound file giving a reading of the word(s) and
passage(s)
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These are large comprehensive themes consisting of
many sub themes.
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| General Notes on Themes and Books |
When you open a theme or book by selecting one of the
highlighted items you will get a java controlled window containing the theme or
book written in English. In the content you will find words, phrases and
sentences highlighted. When you click on a highlighted area you will bring up a
java controlled small window providing background or supportive information.
CODES: Most of the time if you wnat to get at
the Greek level text from the English level test you have to click on a
highlighted item. If the highlighted item has (G) after it then you will get
only a Greek exegesis. If the item has (XG) you will get an exposition and
exegisis. (X) means exposition only. (D) means supporting details only. (DG)
means details with Greek exegesis and so on. The order of the characters does
not matter. Eg., the word "theology" is highlighted followed by (DG) meaning
details on the subject of theology with associated Greek exegesis covering
words, concepts, and bible passages. Support codes are defined at beginning of
all themes and books.
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1.
Matthew
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OLOSB
New Testament
Click here to
see and hear the Greek.
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