Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Who? Author and Audience

Why does this matter?

Some Bibles for sale on amazon.com list their author as "God." This reference to the divine inspiration of the sacred Scriptures is amusing, but it clouds an important reality. God's word comes to us through real people. The people who created the Scriptures as we know them were humans like us: people who told the stories of their faith, wrote them down, edited them, compiled them, and painstakingly copied them over the centuries. The people who created the Bible were deeply invested in their own faith, and in passing on their traditions to others.

What we find in the Bible is the embodied Word of God — embodied by those who originally spoke and wrote the words. God's truth comes to us in human-shaped containers. The humans bearing God's word spoke certain languages, had particular beliefs about the world, and had relationships with their original audiences. Much of that information is lost to us. But what we can discover about the authors of the Scriptures enriches our understanding of the words.

Sometimes the Bible itself tells us about its authors. Psalm 51 is attributed to King David, for example. This psalm of contrition is much more meaningful because we can read up on the back-story (2 Samuel 11-12). Paul's letter to the Philippians is made richer by knowing the story of Paul founding the Philippian church with Lydia (Acts 16:11-40).

In other instances, our ability to get to know the author is guesswork based on the text itself. The Book of Isaiah, for example, is suspected to be composed by three different individuals, then compiled into one prophetic book. Biblical scholars identify these three "Isaiahs" by their writing style, the historical references they include, and the themes they take up. Knowing that the original Isaiah wrote from a crumbling Israelite kingdom, while a later "ghost writer" wrote from the Babylonian exile, gives the text new shades of meaning.

Knowledge of the people who wrote and received the Bible isn't essential to interpretation. God's word continues to speak in new contexts. But connecting, even in a small way, with the humans on the other side of the stories might bring them to life in a new way for your students.

Learning Goals

* Spark curiosity about the authors and original audiences of the Bible

* Introduce and use a Bible dictionary

* Sharpen deductive reasoning skills in biblical interpretation

In the Brain of a Tween

You may think you need to have all the answers in order to do an in-depth Bible study for tweens. I've got good news for you: you don't! In fact, your students will probably prefer it if you avoid handing them answers. Instead, let the students take the lead in the investigation. Your job is to ask good questions, encourage their imagination, and intervene as needed to keep the group on track.

Tweens are naturally very curious, but they may not feel comfortable training their curiosity on the Bible. If they've been discouraged from questioning in the past, or taught that there is only one correct interpretation of a given Bible story, they may feel afraid to explore.

Remind the students that you're with them on the journey — even adults have questions and want to learn more! Bring your own questions about Bible people and be sure to remind the students that it's okay not to have all the answers.

Supplies

* Bibles (CEB)

* Bible dictionary (CEB)

* Student Journals

* sticky notes

* pens, colored pencils, markers

* dry-erase board and marker set

* presentation supplies such as posterboard, video camera, computer/tablet

* unused tube of lip balm

Explore

PLAY TOGETHER — GUESS WHO?

* Before class, make a sticky note with the name of a famous person for each student. Suggested names include: George Washington, Elvis Presley, Albert Einstein, Queen Elizabeth, Walt Disney, J. K. Rowling, Martin Luther King Jr., and so forth.

* As students arrive, stick a sticky note to their backs. Begin class by inviting students to mingle with one another, asking yes-or-no questions to ascertain their identities.

* ASK: What information helped you discover which famous person you were?

* SAY: Now we're going to play a different kind of "guess who" game. We're going to see what information we can discover about the people who wrote the Bible.

Behind the Texts

Here are some text conversations recovered from a random individual's phone. What can you tell me about this person, just based on their text conversations?

EXPLORE THE THEME

* Invite students to take turns reading pages 2-3 of their Student Journals out loud.

* ASK: What questions do you have about the people who created the Bible?

* Write the students' questions on the dry-erase board. As you continue the session, revisit the questions to see how many you were able to answer about the apostle Paul.

EXPLORE

* Play Together — Guess Who?

* Explore the Theme

* Try It Out — Behind the Texts

STUDY

* Connect It — Bible Person Profile

* Read a Text — Second Timothy

* Use a Tool — Bible Dictionary

REFLECT

* Journal

* Discuss

* So, What?

SHARE

* Make a Plan

* Get to Work

* Blessing

TRY IT OUT — BEHIND THE TEXTS

* Invite students to pair up and complete the Behind the Texts activity on pages 4-5 of their Student Journals.

* Invite each pair of students to share their responses.

* ASK: Were you surprised by how much you could learn about the people who wrote these texts? Why or why not?

Study

CONNECT IT — BIBLE PERSON PROFILE

* Invite the students to turn to pages 6-7 of their Student Journals. Have them divide the Scripture passages among themselves and look them up in small groups or pairs, then use the information they discover to create a social media profile for Paul.

* ASK: What do we know about Paul based on these passages?

* Invite students to write their responses on the dry-erase board to create Paul's "profile." They may choose to mimic the social media profile template in the Student Journal.

READ A TEXT — SECOND TIMOTHY

* Have the students find 2 Timothy 1:3-14 in their Bibles and take turns reading the passage aloud, each student reading a sentence.

* ASK: How does the information you learned about Paul affect how you read this passage? Who is Paul writing to? What can you tell about Timothy from this passage?

USE A TOOL

* Invite the students to look up Paul/Saul and Timothy in a Bible dictionary.

* ASK: What did you learn about Paul? about Timothy?

* SAY: Bible dictionaries compile important information about Bible people, so you don't have to read every verse about them to make a profile.

Reflect

JOURNAL

* Invite the students to spend some time in individual reflection, responding to the prompt on page 8 of their Student Journals.

DISCUSS

* Invite the students to share their responses as they feel comfortable.

* ASK: Do you think Paul realized that his letters would become sacred Scripture? Do you think he would have written any differently if he had?

SO, WHAT?

* ASK: Why does it matter if you know about the people who wrote the Bible? What difference does it make? How would you summarize our discussion today in one sentence?

Share

MAKE A PLAN

* SAY: Your challenge this week is to find a way to share what you've learned about the apostle Paul with your family. You can do that in whatever way you like. You can create a video, a skit, a poster, a computer presentation, or plan an activity to do together. You can work together or in pairs to make your plan.

GET TO WORK

* After the students have decided how they want to share Paul's profile, they can use the remaining time together to execute their plan. Make presentation supplies such as posterboard, video cameras, and a computer available for their use.

BLESSING

* Invite your students to bless each other as they prepare to go out and share what they've learned. Students may anoint one another's hands with an unused tube of lip balm while saying a simple blessing, such as "God be with you as you share the good news." Save the lip balm to use throughout this study. Use it each week for this Blessing activity.

CHAPTER 2

What? Genre

Why does this matter?

In the 1999 movie Galaxy Quest, the washed-up stars of a popular 1970s science fiction show are visited by aliens. The aliens beam the actors onto their spaceship and explain that they've discovered their "historical documents" and have proudly modeled their society after them. What they've really discovered are reruns of the science fiction show. They've made a mistake in genre.

It's an easy mistake to make. The television show is a broadcast from another society, in another time and place. But as this light-hearted comedy illustrates, making a mistake in genre can skew one's entire interpretation. Modern readers of the Bible face a similar challenge as the aliens in Galaxy Quest. We have stories and writings that have come to us from another society, in another time and place. One of the first major questions we face when trying to interpret these texts is that of genre.

Genre is the category in which a piece of literature belongs. Some examples of biblical genres include: poetry, worship songs, historical records, parables, narratives, satire, letters, and apocalyptic literature. Each genre has its own forms and style by which it is identified. Biblical poetry often uses parallelism, hyperbole, and metaphors. Letters often identify the author and audience in the first lines. Historical records list kings and events.

Some genres are easier to identify than others. Satire, for example, is often tricky. Think of how many people post articles from satirical news websites without realizing they aren't true — and those are articles from our own time and place! Bible readers have even more difficulty identifying certain genres because of our lack of familiarity with the social and literary conventions of biblical societies.

Because of those barriers, we often must rely on biblical scholars who have researched other ancient writings to help us identify genre. You and your students don't have to become experts in the forms of biblical case law to understand the ten commandments. The important thing is to simply recognize that genre matters and know how to investigate biblical genres.

Learning Goals

* Introduce and explore biblical genres

* Learn to use Bible commentaries and study Bibles to identify possible genres of texts

* Explore the significance of genre for biblical interpretation

In the Brain of a Tween

You may think you need to have all the answers in order to do an in-depth Bible study for tweens. I've got good news for you: you don't! In fact, your students will probably prefer it if you avoid handing them answers. Instead, let the students take the lead in the investigation. Your job is to ask good questions, encourage their imagination, and intervene as needed to keep the group on track.

Tweens are likely to only hear the word genre in English class. They may not have made the connection between interpreting classic novels and interpreting other texts — from the Bible to the ads that pop up as they browse the web. Everything has a genre. Tweens may have been taught that the Bible is one book with only one genre. Remind the students that the Bible is full of many different kinds of writings, and God speaks to us in many ways! Remind your tweens that it's amazing to have these ancient writings passed down to us, and it's our job to read them carefully and try to interpret them as best we can.

Supplies

* study Bibles (CEB, KJV)

* Bible dictionary (CEB)

* Bible commentary

* Student Journals

* Class Pack

* dry-erase board and marker set

* pens, colored pencils, markers

* scissors

* presentation supplies such as posterboard, video camera, computer/tablet

Explore

PLAY TOGETHER — MATCH IT UP

* Before class, print the Match It Up Cards (Class Pack — p. 1) and cut them out.

* Mix up the cards and lay them facedown in a grid on the table. Invite students to take turns flipping two cards. If the cards match, the student may keep the pair and flip another two cards. If they don't match, the student flips the cards back over and the next student takes a turn.

* Green cards have the name of a genre, or category of writing, while red cards have an opening line. Students must figure out which genre matches each opening line to form a pair. Students may mistake the genre of a line. Keep track so you can verify whether students have found a match.

* ASK: How did you identify what genre each line belonged to?

* SAY: Genres are categories of writing. There are always clues in the text to let you know what its genre is. Some clues are more obvious than others.

EXPLORE THE THEME

* Invite students to take turns reading pages 10-11 of their Student Journals out loud.

* ASK: What kinds of genres do you think are included in the Bible?

EXPLORE

* Play Together — Match It Up

* Explore the Theme

* Try It Out — Category Clues

STUDY

* Connect It — Translating Genre

* Read a Text — Jonah

* Use Some Tools — Study Bible, Bible Dictionary, Commentary

REFLECT

* Journal

* Discuss

* So, What?

SHARE

* Make a Plan

* Get to Work

* Blessing

TRY IT OUT — CATEGORY CLUES

* Invite students to pair up and complete the Category Clues activity on pages 12-13 of their Student Journals.

* Invite each pair of students to share their responses.

* ASK: Do you think you can use these same clues to tell what genre a book of the Bible belongs to? Why or why not?

Study

CONNECT IT — TRANSLATING GENRE

* SAY: In the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament, there were no vowels, punctuation, verse numbers, or formatting. All of that is added for you by the people who copied and translated the Bible. They had to decide when each sentence and section ended and began, and how to format the text depending on what genre they thought it was.

* Invite the students to read page 14 of their StudentJournals, and to look up Jonah 2 in two translations of the Bible (CEB and KJV).

* ASK: What genre does each translator assign to the passage? How can you tell?

* Invite the students to try their hand at choosing punctuation and formatting for a biblical text by completing the activity on page 15 of their Student Journals. Afterwards, invite the students to share and compare their responses before looking up the passage in a Bible.

READ A TEXT — JONAH

If you have time, have the students take turns reading the entire Book of Jonah. Otherwise, invite the students to read an abridged version: 1:1-6, 11-12, 15 and 17; 2:1 and 10; 3:3-5 and 10; 4:1-11.

* ASK: What genre do you think the Book of Jonah is? What clues are in the story to let you know?

USE SOME TOOLS

* Invite the students to look up the Book of Jonah in a study Bible and Bible commentary. Typically, possible genres are discussed in the introduction to a book. Have the students look Jonah up in a Bible dictionary as well, along with any unfamiliar terms.

* ASK: What genres do the commentators assign to Jonah? How would your interpretation of the story be different depending on the genre you assume?

* SAY: Study Bibles and Bible commentaries are written by scholars who study the Bible in its historical context. But remember that commentators are just people, sharing their best interpretations with us. You bring your own insights and questions to the Bible. It's okay to disagree with a commentary.

Reflect

JOURNAL

* Invite the students to spend some time in individual reflection, responding to the prompt on page 16 of their Student Journals.

DISCUSS

* Invite the students to share their responses as they feel comfortable.

* ASK: Do you believe God still speaks through the Bible, even if the original meaning is lost to us? Why or why not?

SO, WHAT?

* ASK: Why does genre matter when you're interpreting the Bible? What difference does it make? How would you summarize our discussion today in one sentence?

Share

MAKE A PLAN

* Before class, identify an adult Sunday school class or small group that would appreciate learning from your students.

* SAY: Your challenge this week is to find a way to share what you've learned about genre and the Book of Jonah with the adults in our church. You can do that in whatever way you like. You can create a video, a skit, a poster, a computer presentation, or plan an activity to do together. You need to work as a group to make your plan.

GET TO WORK

* After the students have decided how they want to share their findings, they can use the remaining time together to execute their plan. Make appropriate materials such as posterboard, video cameras, and a computer available for their use. If possible, have the students present to their adult pupils during the last ten to fifteen minutes of your time together. If not, schedule another time to present.

BLESSING

* Invite your students to bless each other as they prepare to go out and share what they've learned. Students may anoint one another's hands with an unused tube of lip balm while saying a simple blessing, such as "God be with you as you share the good news."

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Learning to Study the Bible Leader Guide For Tweens"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Abingdon Press.
Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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