Mr. GunninkJones College Prep

No- If it is taught subjectively in order to promote faith in Judaism/Christianity (First Amendment)

Yes- If it is taught objectively as a literary, historical, and cultural document

In fact, the Supreme Court ENCOURAGES teaching the Bible the objective way in high school

So do many college professors

It has heavily influenced American history and culture

It is alluded to constantly in literature, art, movies, television, music, etc.

Three major World Religions are based on these stories (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

The majority of Americans identify themselves as Christian (cul

And most importantly for this class…

From Greek “ta biblia”- “the books” More like an anthology- not one big

story Narratives, Poems, Epics, Songs,

Biographies, Letters, Visions, Prophecies, Histories, Legal Codes, and much more

We can learn much about writing and language from studying these genres

Torah- the Jewish term for the first five books of the Bible (scholars call it the Pentateuch)

Tanakh- the Jewish term for the Old Testament

Old Testament (OT)- the older part of the Bible, shared by Jews and Christians

New Testament (NT)- the newer part of the Bible, focused on Jesus, that only Christians consider sacred

Hebrew (Jewish) alphabet was one of the first written alphabets

God could not be visually depicted The Hebrew name of God (YHWH) was

sacred and not allowed to be spoken out loud

Instead they called him Adonai (THE LORD)

Symbolic word choices Most names are symbolic, and frequently

this is explained Parallelism and repetition

There are lot of repeated phrases or grammatical structures (easier to memorize and recite)

Figures of Speech Simile, metaphor, personification, irony,

exaggeration, and much more