Everything in the New Testament was written to be understood—by people like you. But the fact that the New Testament was written almost 2000 years ago by ancient people who spoke various languages means that often we much work at discovering what the authors actually meant. This interpretive task need not, must not, be left to the “experts.”
This semester you will begin learning how to interpret the New Testament for yourself. You will do this by critically analyzing a selection in the New Testament. Use the following procedure to develop your Scripture Passage Analysis Paper.
1. You will be assigned a particular selection from the New Testament to study.
2. Become familiar with the selection by comparing at least four(4) translations of the New Testament. What is the selection about? Read it aloud. Note the differences in translations.
3. KEEP CAREFUL NOTES OF WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING ABOUT THE SELECTION.
4. Using the heading in your New Oxford Annotated Bible (bottom of the page) to guide you, read the sections before and after your selection. They may or may not be closely connected to your selected passage. Do they help you understand your selection? You may benefit from reading the entire book.
5. Relate the footnotes and study notes in your New Oxford Annotated Bible and one other study Bible to the selection you are studying. Begin to look for leads on the following matters:
a. Are there textual questions you need to understand?
b. What is the grammatical structure and literary type of the passage? You probably would benefit by drawing a diagram or mind map of the selection.
c. What key terms are used by the author? Make a list. Study about these words in the Bible dictionaries. How are the words used in your passage?
d. What about the writer and original audience’s circumstances sheds light on the
meaning of your selection?
6. Try to find explanations in the Cory text that will help you understand your selection.
7. Chase down answers in Bible concordances, dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias, histories, and other special tools. Bible dictionaries are especially important for looking up key “loaded” words; the use of at least one (1) Bible dictionary is required for the requirements of the paper.
8. Study the comments on your selection in at least one (1) of the one-volume Bible commentary , looking for (a) answers to your questions and/or (b) suggestions about the passage’s meaning.
9. Study the comments in at least three (3) full-scale/multi-volume scholarly commentaries , comparing the conclusions to which the commentators come. If you find a commentary that looks good which is not on the list of sets recommended, check with the professors.
10. Try your hand at writing out a paraphrase of your passage—as you have come to understand it, in your own words.
11. In your own words, write out an answer to the question: What is this passage about? What does it say about that?
12. What are your suggestions about how the message(s) in the selection might be applied to life today?
13. In your own words, write up your finds. Document the sources of the ideas and information you use.
14. Your paper must be double-spaced and 8 pages long, not counting the title page and bibliography.
15. Type your paper, following correct Turabian or SBL form. For formatting helps see the class website for the “paper form” and the “sample paper” files.
16. Turn in your paper for review and the final draft on the dates assigned in your syllabus.
17. Make all the revisions the professor suggests for the paper.
