Two Notable Fall 2017 Assignments

Two assignments in particular this year were beneficial for me as a student and as someone studying to teach Scripture well. They were also very informative for my own understanding of the context of 1 Cor 2:1–5 and I thought it might be useful for others or serve as an interesting example of some of the usefulness of certain aspects of studying the Bible.

So here are two papers, one a cultural-historical background paper about Greco-Roman sophists (the “wise” orators of the day) and a word study paper on the Greek word ἀσθένεια, which is often translated as “weakness” in epistle/letter genre in the NT.

I would love to hear what you think or to receive correction on where I missed something. Keep in mind, these are my first pass at writing in this format and the paper had specific guidelines as to how long and what content was required. If it feels a bit short and cramped, I probably didn’t have much choice 😁

I’ll also give a quick plug for book we used as our primary textbook for this class. As noted in the paper’s title page, our professor, Dr. Andy Naselli, required us to use his book How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology (P&R Publishing, 2017). It is an excellent handbook for understanding the categories and practicalities of hermeneutics. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to broaden their understanding of how to study, understand and apply the New Testament, both to one’s self and to those you might teach.