Course Description
This course explores the special nature and unique character of the Bible. Emphasis is placed on enabling the student to understand the process God used to reveal the Scriptures and pass down the 66 books of the Bible to us in their present form. Topics such as Bible and culture, prolegomena, theme, inspiration, canonization, transmission, translation, paleography, perspectives, archaeology, and historical reliability of the Bible will be addressed.
Course Objectives
- Grow more in love with Jesus Christ, establishing a deeper knowledge of Him and intimacy with Him through the study of His Word. The primary goal of this class and the CCSoD in general is to grow in your relationship with Jesus.
- Gain a complete macro-view of the Bible to know how we got our Bible and why certain books were included.
- Instill confidence that the Bible is trustworthy and inerrant.
- Learn arguments about the infallibility of the scriptures to be able to share apologetically with doubters of the Bible.
Course Schedule
First Day of Class August 29th
Labor Day – No Class September 5th
Midterm Week October 17th
Last Day of Class December 12th
Final Exam December 19th
Course Requirements
Homework –
Book Report – Each student will be required to read the book, From God to Us; How we got our Bible, by Norman Geisler and William Nix, (Moody Publishers, 2012) and write a 2-4 page book report about the contents of the book.
- Other smaller assignments will be given over the course of the semester.
- *All homework assignments are due on the designated date; there will be NO late homework accepted.
Midterm Paper – We will have a Midterm Project due during the term, on October 17th. The paper will be a research project about one of the areas of research related to the Bible.
Final Exam – We will have a Final Exam at the end of the semester on December 19th. It will be a review of the material taught throughout the entire semester.
Grading
Your grade in this class will be based upon the criteria above. The percentages are as follows:
Homework = 25%
Midterm Project = 35%
Final = 40%
Grading Scale
97-100 A+ 77-79 C+ Below 60 F
93-96 A 73-76 C
90-92 A- 70-72 C-
87-89 B+ 67-69 D+
83-86 B 63-66 D
80-82 B- 60-62 D-
Plagiarism
Anyone who plagiarizes (i.e., presents as one’s own work something which has been taken from someone else) may receive an automatic failure on that piece of work and a warning. (Plagiarism can involve the taking of an idea or structure of a written work as well as the actual copying of what is written.) For a first-time offense, the student will receive a 0% grade for the paper with a 1-week grace period to rectify and correct the paper. If such corrections are made on time and to the standards of the course outline the result will be a grade maximum grade of 60%. A second offense of plagiarism will result in failure (“F”) for the final course grade.