Understanding the Scriptures
- What did people do before they had the Bible? How could they know God's will?
- Since increased blessings bring increased responsibilities would Israel have been better off not being the chosen people?
- Why do you think God chose a different language and culture for the New Testament from the Old Testament? Does it make a difference?
Words and Meanings
When no exact equivalent word exists, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the following options:
- Transliterating the original word into the target language?
- Using a phrase or sentence or two to convey the whole meaning?
- Inventing a new word from known roots of the target language?
Repetition, Word Patterns, and Meanings
- How much does punctuation help and what do we lose if they are removed?
- How does a reader convey punctuation marks?
- How does English or any other language use doubling of word roots, and other forms of repetition?
Texts and Contexts
- How does context give meaning to words when words create the context?
- How should a translator deal with word plays and figures of speech?
- Why do you think God chose the root "mud/earth" for Adam and the root "air/breath" for Eve?
Books and Their Messages
- Is revelation and inspiration different for poetic and historical books compared to prophetic books?
- Why is it important to study the historical setting of a book?
- Why do you think that the authors of some Biblical books are unknown?
- Why do you think there is no date or setting given within the book of Job?
