Week 26: Why Should I Be Convinced a Man Rose from the Dead?

We're wrapping up our year of discussions on tough questions about the faith. This week we're exploring the importance of the resurrection of Jesus, which is a keystone of the Christian faith. 



Key Themes:

• 1 Corinthians 15

• Inter-connectedness between theology and history

• Evidence of Jesus' resurrection

• John 12 ("doubting" Thomas)

Digging Deeper:

• Video: "The Cold Case for the Resurrection"

• Book: Without a Doubt, chs. 10 and 11

Week 20: Why Are There So Many Versions of the Bible?

We're wrapping up our series surrounding the origin and history of the Bible. This week we're surveying the various translations of the Bible.

Key Themes:

• Ingredients of a good Bible translation

• 4 families or types of translations

• readability vs accessibility

• changes in translations

Digging Deeper:

• Book: How to Choose a Bible Translation

• A few study Bibles (liked by the instructor): 

• NIV Study Bible

• NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

• ESV Study Bible

• Orthodox Study Bible

• An interesting new (one man) translation: The Passion translation

Week 18: How Do We Know We Have the Right Books in the Bible?

We're continuing to explore questions surrounding the origin and history of the Bible. This week we're surveying the development of the canon of the Christian Scripture. In other words, we're asking the question, "How do we know we have the right books in the Bible?"

Key Themes:

• Old Testament canon: 
• Ordering of the books
• Development of the Septuagint (LXX) vs. Masoretic
• Catholic/Orthodox Canon
• Protestant Canon

• New Testament canon:
• Disputed books
• Apocrypha

Digging Deeper:

• Handout: List of New Testament canon
• Book: The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance

Week 17: Has the Bible Been Corrupted? Part 2

We're continuing to explore questions surrounding the origin and history of the Bible. This week we're wrapping up our discussion of the question, "Has the Bible been corrupted?" In other words, is the Bible we have today the same as the one written 2000 years ago?

 Key Themes:

• Brief review of last week's lesson

• Excerpts of the debate between Bart Ehrman and Dan Wallace (2012)

• Introduction to textual criticism

• New Testament manuscripts

• Variants

Digging Deeper:

• Activity: Simulation in textual criticism

• Video: Full debate between Bart Ehrman and Dan Wallace at the University of Chapel Hill, SC (2012).