This webpage and its linked resources provide open
educational materials for studying the Bible.
The "Introduction to Biblical Literature" course covers the
entire Bible in a single semester, aiming to combat biblical illiteracy.
Students in he course are assigned Bible study sheets,
crossword puzzles, map assignments, and other tasks to deepen their understanding of the
Bible.
This webpage offers supplementary materials such as powerpoints, audio/video resources,
memory quizzes, and study guides to enhance the learning experience.
Photo of fragments of one Dead Sea Scroll
Open Educational Resources
This page and the resources linked from it are Open Educational Resources (OER)
"Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures." —
Luke 24:45
"Bib-Lit", as Introduction to Biblical Literature came to be called on the Southern Nazarene
University campus, is a one-semester all-the-way-through-the-Bible course that aimed to stamp
out biblical illiteracy!
In this entry-level course I tried to give students a grasp of basic Bible facts in chronological
order.. We met 80 Bible characters and looked at 15 key chapters. We learned at least one phrase
about the content of every Bible book. By the end of the course, students were writing the entire
story of the Bible in one page.
" I stumbled across your internet pages on the Bible. I needed to get back to basics
and this helps. Thank you." -- Dan C., Florida
Class resources including assignments, due dates, and exam study guides
What Nazarenes believe about the Bible:
"We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we
understand the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, inerrantly
revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever
is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith.
(Luke 24:44 47; John 10:35; 1 Corinthians 15:3 4; 2 Timothy 3:15 17; 1 Peter 1:10 12;
2 Peter 1:20 21)
-- Articles of Faith, Church of the Nazarene
There are a dozen of Bible Study assignment sheets to be
completed. They start with Genesis and go through Revelation. Along the way, you will read
about a fourth of the Bible. You will be asked to reflect on the lives of lots of 80 Bible
characters. Don't be overwhelmed. Here's what to do:
Turn each one in on time
Take the due dates calendar and write those dates on the
individual sheets as well as the master calendar of assignments which you keep (I hope) for all
your classes.
Bible Study sheets are due at the beginning of class period
Don't be overwhelmed that there are a dozen of them. Remember the Chinese riddle:
Crossword puzzles based on material in Discovering the Bible, the
textbook for Introduction to Biblical Literature. Click on numbers to retrieve sheets
"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness" -- 2 Timothy 3:16
Helps for Bible study
As you get deeper and deeper into the Word, you'll find the following of help:
Bible concordance
Alphabetical listing of words in the Bible with the verses in which they appear.
Several concordances or Bible search engines can be found online.
Bible dictionary
Alphabetical arrangement of explanations of Bible history, culture and general contents
Bible encyclopedia
Similar to a Bible dictionary with an alphabetical listing of topics and explanations. Covers
more territory in greater detail than does a dictionary
Bible atlas
Geographical and topographical information on Bible lands, including geopolitical
boundaries
Bible commentary
Scholar's comments on the meaning of the text of the books of the Bible, often verse by
verse. Commentaries often are multi-volume sets
What will you get out of this BibLit course?
Student comments from previous semesters:
"It helped me learn more about things I thought I knew."
"I read more of the Bible than I ever had before."
"I was exposed to stories in the Bible that I hadn't read before."
"We took 'field trips' that were very helpful."
"It brought the Bible to life."
Do you read novels? Then, let James Michener bring alive
for you the drama of Israel's turbulent past in his novel The Source. Michener is a
marvelous story teller. In this 1965 book, Michener uses historical fiction to bring Israel's past
eras to life. The focal point of the novel is an archaeological dig at Tell Makor, an imaginary
mound that is the accumulated residue of abandoned settlements, each resting on the ruins of its
predecessor.
I don't agree with all of Michener's assumptions and theological conclusions. However, the
book is great reading in terms of helping one sense the drama of biblical events.
Writing standards
Most courses at SNU contain a writing
component. I expect students to produce written work that is focused, well developed,
organized and relatively free of grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors. Papers
falling short of this standard will not be graded. That work will be returned to the students for
further revision and resubmission. See my writing
checklist.
Ready for a light-hearted moment?
As we jump into the course, would you like a
chuckle? [ more ]
Note: The complete Bible is now available in 670 languages. The New
Testament by itself has been translated into into 1521
more languages while Bible portions have been translated into an additional 1121 languages.
Bibles into at least 65 languages can be found at
Biblegateway.com
Nave's Topical Bible: Another useful Bible study tool is a "topical Bible"
in which relevant passages are grouped
according to topics.
Nave's On-Line
Topical Bible
Do you read novels? Then, let James Michener bring alive
for you the drama of Israel's turbulent past in his novel The Source. Michener is a
marvelous story teller. In this 1965 book, Michener uses historical fiction to bring Israel's past
eras to life. The focal point of the novel is an archaeological dig at Tell Makor, an imaginary
mound that is the accumulated residue of abandoned settlements, each resting on the ruins of its
predecessor.