Thirdmill Online Courses

HE GAVE US SCRIPTURE

Course Description

Evangelical Christians affirm the Scriptures as God's inerrant word, but we still disagree sometimes over the meaning of particular verses or passages, and these differences can influence our Christian doctrine and practice. One reason for these disagreements is that there are many different approaches to interpreting the Bible. But how do we know which approach to interpretation is the most responsible? This course will help answer that question. It is based on the lecture series, He Gave Us Scripture: Foundations of Interpretation, produced by Third Millennium Ministries and hosted by Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr. with contributions from a variety of professors.

Goals and Objectives

GOALS

In this course, we would like to accomplish the following:

1. We hope you will understand the fundamental principles of biblical interpretation, including the terminology and history of hermeneutics, the biblical approach to meaning, the unique nature of the Scriptures, and the proper way to discover the original meaning of a passage and apply it to our modern context.

2. We hope you grow in your desire to study the Scriptures carefully and to discover the best approach to interpret them.

3. We hope that you will apply the guidelines of this course to develop appropriate habits of biblical interpretation.

OBJECTIVES

When you have done the following, it will show that the goals are met:

1. Obtain satisfactory grades on the tests, demonstrating that you can identify the fundamental principles of biblical interpretation, including the terminology and key information about the history of hermeneutics, the key aspects of a biblical approach to meaning, the unique characteristics of the Scriptures, and the main principles of discovering the original meaning of a passage and applying it to our modern context.

2. Answer the application questions in the study guides, in which you practice applying the teachings of the lessons to a specific Bible passage.

Explanation of Assignments

The Multimedia Lessons

1. Study the lessons, watching the video, listening to the audio, or reading the text.
2. Complete the study guides for each lesson. These study guides will prepare you for the online quizzes and help you apply the teachings of the lesson to your own life. (For those students associated with a particular institution wishing to track the completion of the completion of the Study Guides, a drop box has been provided at the end of the course.)
3. Take the online quizzes on each section of the lessons. The quizzes may be taken as many times as you want, but you must wait five days between each attempt, and the official grade will be from the first attempt.
4. Optional: We recommend that you look through the glossaries and use the learning games to become familiar with special names and technical terms used in the lessons. 
5. Take the cumulative test for each complete lesson. You may take the test again as many times as you want for review, but you must wait five days between each attempt, and the official grade is from the first attempt.
6. When you have finished all the lessons on the multimedia lectures, take the final exam on the lectures.

Other Required Activities

1. Complete the supplementary lessons for each lesson. These lessons give you additional background information and provide other learning aids related to the lessons. You may repeat these lessons as many times as you want, and the official grade will be the highest score out of all the attempts.
2. Complete the questionnaires for the lessons to help assimilate the teachings and apply them to your own life. These are not quizzes. The answers are more subjective. The grade is for completing the assignment.
3. There is a final lesson based on recommended additional reading. The student should do the reading, complete the study guides, and take the corresponding quizzes and cumulative test based on the reading. These will be graded as extra credit. (For those students associated with a particular institution wishing to track the completion of the Reading Study Guides, a drop box has been provided at the end of the course.) 

We recommend that you work on these reading assignments and quizzes during the entire course, instead of waiting until you finish all the lessons based on the video lectures. For each lesson, do the percentage of the work on them that corresponds to the number of lessons in the course. 

Additional Activities

Some institutions may require you to do one or more of the following optional assignments. If so, read the instructions in lesson 1 and follow the specific guidelines given in the instructions for each lesson.

1. The Written project
2. Essay Questions
3. Journal Questions 
4. Optional Additional Reading

Grades

The final grade will be calculated as follows:

1) The quizzes on the lectures are each worth 10 points.
2) Each cumulative test is worth 30 points.
3) Each supplementary lesson is worth 10 points.
4) Each questionnaire is worth 10 points.
5) The final exam on the lectures is worth 100 points.
6) Each quiz on the reading assignments is worth 10 points (extra credit).
7) The cumulative test on the additional reading is worth 30 points (extra credit).

The final grade of the course will be calculated by adding the corresponding percentages of all assignments and tests, making a total of 100% possible.

A total course score above 70% is considered passing.

Greek and Hebrew

Some lessons in our courses make reference to words in Greek or Hebrew. If you have not studied these languages, you might want to at least become familiar with the alphabets.

For the Greek alphabet, see:
https://www.billmounce.com/greekalphabet/greek-alphabet

For the Hebrew alphabet, see: 
http://hebrew.billmounce.com/BasicsBiblicalHebrew-01.pdf

List of Contributors to He Gave Us Scripture: Foundations of Interpretation

Dr. Jimmy Agan is Associate Professor of New Testament and Director of Homiletics at Covenant Theological Seminary.
Dr. David R. Bauer is Dean of the School of Biblical Interpretation and the Ralph Waldo Beeson Professor of Inductive Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Dr. Bruce Baugus is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.
Dr.Steve Blakemore is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wesley Biblical Seminary.
Dr. Darrell L. Bock is Executive Director of Cultural Engagement and Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. Stephen J. Bramer is Department Chair and Professor of Bible Exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. P.J. Buys is Missiology Research Professor at Northwest University in South Africa.
Dr. David Chapman is Associate Professor of New Testament and Archaeology at Covenant Theological Seminary.
Dr. Robert B. Chisholm, Jr. is Department Chair and Professor of Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. Gareth Cockerill is Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Wesley Biblical Seminary.
Rev. Larry Cockrell is Senior Pastor of Household of Faith Church and faculty member of Birmingham Theological Seminary in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. Brandon D. Crowe is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary.
Dr. Andrew Davis is Pastor of First Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina, and Adjunct Professor of Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Daniel Doriani is Vice President of Strategic Academic Initiatives and Professor of Theology at Covenant Theological Seminary.
Dr. Howard Eyrich is Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program in Biblical Counseling at Birmingham Theological Seminary and Minster for Counseling at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. Matt Friedeman is Professor of Evangelism and Discipleship at Wesley Biblical Seminary.
Rev. Michael J. Glodo is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary's Orlando Campus.
Dr. Benjamin F. Intan is President of International Reformed Evangelical Seminary in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Rev. Thad James, Jr. is Vice President of Academic Affairs at Birmingham Theological Seminary in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. Dennis E. Johnson is Academic Dean and Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Seminary California.
Dr. Gordon H. Johnston is Professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. Craig Keener is the F.M. and Ada Thompson Chair of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Dr. Ghassan Khalaf is Professor of Biblical Studies at Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon where he previously served as President from 1993-2008.
Dr. Daniel Kim teaches Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary.
Dr. Billy Kristanto teaches at International Reformed Evangelical Semianry.
Dr. Michael Kruger  is President of Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte campus, and Professor of New Testament.
Dr. Peter Kuzmic is the Eva B. and Paul E. Toms Distinguished Professor of World Missions and European Studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the co-founder and director of Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, Croatia.
Dr. David Lamb is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biblical Theological Seminary.
Dr. Rob Lister is Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at the Talbot School of Theology.
Dr. Robert K. MacEwan is Department of Chinese Theology Director and Biblical Studies resident faculty member at the East Asia School of Theology in Singapore.
Dr. John McKinley is Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Biola University.
Dr. Thomas J. Nettles  is Professor of Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Miguel Nuñez is Pastor of Baptist International Church in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Dr. Luis Orteza teaches courses in advanced biblical counseling and counseling theory at Birmingham Theological Seminary in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. John Oswalt is the Visiting Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Rev. Youssef Ourahmane is involved in training church leaders at the Timothy Training School in Algeria.
Dr. Jonathan Pennington is Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Gregory R. Perry is Associate Professor of New Testament and Director of City Ministry Initiative at Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri.
Dr. Robert Plummer is Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Vern S. Poythress is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Westminster Theological Seminary and Editor of the Westminster Theological Journal.
Dr. J. Scott Redd is Campus President of Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. and Assistant Professor of Old Testament.
Dr. David Redelings is a New Testament professor at Bethel Seminary.
Dr. Philip Graham Ryken is President and Professor of Theology at Wheaton College.
Dr. Thomas Schreiner is the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Associate Dean of Scripture and Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Glen Scorgie is Professor of Theology at Bethel Seminary's San Diego Campus.
Dr. James D. Smith III is Associate Professor of Church History at Bethel Seminary's San Diego Campus, as well an adjunct professor of religion at the University of San Diego.
Dr. Mark Strauss is Professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary's San Diego Campus.
Dr. K. Erik Thoennes is Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Biola University.
Dr. Derek W.H. Thomas is Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary's Atlanta Campus.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Tong is the founder of the Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministries International and the Reformed Institute for Christianity and the 21st Century.
Dr. Stephen Um is pastor of Citylife Presbyterian Church in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Gideon Umukoro is President of the Servant Leadership Institute (SLI) in Nigeria.
Dr. Bill Ury is Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Wesley Biblical Seminary.
Dr. Miles Van Pelt is the Alan Belcher Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, and the Academic Dean at Reformed Theological Seminary.
Rev. Dr. Simon Vibert is the former Vicar of St. Luke's Church, Wimbledon Park, UK, and is presently the Vice Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and Director of the School of Preaching.
Dr. Brian Vickers is Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Assistant Editor of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology.
Dr. Carey Vinzant is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Wesley Biblical Seminary.
Rev. Dr. Peter Walker is Professor of Biblical Studies at Trinity School for Ministry.
Dr. Daniel Wallace is a member of the Society of New Testament Studies and serves as Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. Guy Waters is Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary.
Dr. Stephen Wellum is Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Donald Whitney is Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality and the Senior Associate Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Dr. Sanders L. Willson is Senior Minister at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, TN and serves on the boards of The Gospel Coalition, Union University and Reformed Theological Seminary.
Dr. Ben Witherington III is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary.