📜 Course Description

The very nature of the Bible as the message of God is communication and thus it must be interpreted. The question is not whether to interpret Scripture but whether it is interpreted well or poorly. The module is designed for believers who are called into a ministry of communicating the Word. The primary context of their ministry is the Church, which is nurtured by the Holy Spirit’s application of Scripture to its life and work. To grow in this, ministry students need to learn the appropriate tools and processes of interpretation and to practice the use of such tools and processes. Beyond knowing, students must become lovers of Scripture, seekers after God, and joyfully committed to adopting the message into their own lives and to their contemporary contexts.

Students should have completed Telling the Old Testament Story of God and Telling the New Testament Story of God (or their equivalent) before beginning this module.

📜 Course Outcomes

This module contributes to the development of the following abilities as defined in the U.S. Sourcebook for Ministerial Development.

Program Outcomes

CN 15—Ability to describe how the Bible came into being up to contemporary translations

CN 16—Ability to identify the steps of historical, literary, and theological analysis used in exegesis

CN 17—Ability to exegete a passage of Scripture using the steps listed above

OUTCOME STATEMENTS

• Understand that the need for hermeneutics arises from the multiple sources of meaning of texts
• Recognize the formative role of corporate and apostolic understandings for interpretation of Scripture
• Be able to describe the role of author, text, and reader(s) in the issue of meaning
• Be able to compare and contrast the ways Wesleyan and prominent non-Wesleyan presuppositions impact interpretation—including personal vs. corporate interpretation
• Recognize the importance of a sound hermeneutical method for Wesleyan theology
• Be aware of his or her own understanding of inspiration and authority of Scripture and how that understanding relates to Article 4 of the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene
• Grow in his or her joyful submission to the power of the Spirit working through Scripture
• Be able to identify and illustrate the primary methods of scriptural interpretation from major (various) periods of Church history
• Be able to understand and articulate the process of translation from original languages to the version(s) in hand
• Be able to describe the way in which translations participate in the inspiration and authority of Scripture