FREE RELIGIOUS STUDY JOURNAL

We hope that you find your Free Religious Study Journal a useful means of focusing on various topics of interest and importance on Biblical and related subjects.

The intent of the Free Religious Study Journal is to provide an opportunity to do independent study in the subjects presented. Since the Free Religious Study Journal does not involve enrollment in any course, you are under no obligation to pursue the study topics at all or in the sequence in which they are presented.

Our main goal is to offer you a systematic study program that you may choose as a supplement to the study you do already. Some of the subjects will assume a background in the subject matter; others will be beginning and basic. You will benefit most from the study of the subject matter if you supplement your Free Religious Study Journal with reading materials related to the subject matter.

The presentation of the subject matter is not in essay form. Generally, the guide to the subject matter is presented in question form and/or statements that need research, explanation, resolution, or just reflection. There will occasionally be some controversial issues raised in the subject matter. Hopefully, the controversial issues will sharpen our wits and strengthen our abilities to deal with them.

We hope you enjoy and benefit from your Free Religious Study Journal. If you believe your Free Religious Study Journal has merit and is useful, please pass it along to others – fellow ministers, missionaries, leaders, families, and members of your congregation, and others – wherever they may be. And, by all means, please let us know how you feel we can improve your Free Religious Study Journal.

God bless you in your studies and ministries in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jim Benton

PS Some of you may have received a previous Issue 1. This mailing is in a revised format for easier reading. I want to thank those of you who passed along suggestions for a simpler format.

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CHURCH HISTORY Please click HERE to return to Current Topics Director above

When does church history begin?

What do we mean by “church”? What do we mean by “history”? What, then, do we mean by “church history”?

Important to a study of the history of any subject is the consideration of time and place and people.

Regarding place – describe the world in which the church began. Note especially its political and religious realities.

Let’s consider some of the secular earlier and current background to the beginning of the church. For this issue of the Free Religious Study Journal, it will be enough to identify the following three people (We will have more background history to study in the next issue):

Alexander the Great

Augustus Caesar

Tiberius Caesar

There is a possibility that you may be saying and asking “I know Augustus Caesar and Tiberius Caesar

are mentioned in the NT, but what about Alexander the Great?” The fact that you might be asking that question is probably a good reason to determine why Alexander the Great is relevant to the beginning and early progress of the church.

Regarding these three important historical personages, please do some in depth study. Just to note what the Bible says about Augustus and Tiberius is not enough to give you a necessary base to build your knowledge and understanding of church history.

As far as Alexander the Great is concerned, it would be difficult to explain the world in which Jesus lived without understanding Alexander’s achievements and contributions. Why is that statement true? Or is it?

Also, inventory what you know about the terms “Hellenism” and “Hellenistic”. Do a little research if necessary. Any connection with Alexander?

In parting until next month, let me throw out a bit of a challenge for you (of course, you probably already know – so much for challenges) Was the government of Rome at the birth of Jesus a republic or an empire? Was the governent of Rome ever a republic or an empire? What effect did Rome either as a republic or an empire have on the church? Does the concept of a Roman Empire have any effect on later church history?

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COLOSSIANS Please click HERE to return to Current Topics Director above

How many books in the New Testament? Why is Colossians one of them? What human agency determined that Colossians should be part of the NT? (Now, we know that Colossians is in the Bible because God wants it in the Bible.) But what I am after is tracing the human agency concerning Colossians that details the steps to Colossians attaining Biblical status. You will have to do a bit of research on this perhaps. It’s worth it.

Now, back to time, place and people (as we mentioned in the Church History section). Colossae had a fascinating history before Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Colossae. What was its history? I can assure you the more you dig backwards in its history from NT times the more you will appreciate the Colossae past and its potential at the time of Paul’s writing.

Ok. Before we launch into the text of Colossians itself, take a plunge into the book itself. Read the book through 3 times (it’s a short one and won’t take you long. Yes – even if you have read it recently. Read it three times right now or soon.) Based on what you have read before in Colossians and from what you have read in Paul’s other epistles, make a few notes as to what kinds of information you expect in Colossians. Then, as you read the epistle to the Colossians the three times, add information to the information that you expected that you would find. When you have done that we will move on to the next step which is:

Who is Paul? What do you know and actually remember about him? Now, add to that (and here you will need to do a bit of research) information about Paul (since we don’t have any certain records about Paul apart from the scriptures) that is found in the literature for the next few centuries of the ancient church. Rather interesting information that helps get a grip on alternative views of Paul.

As you know, in the epistles of Paul, you run across many names of Christians, some you recognize, some you don’t. Some mentioned one time and never heard of again. So, take a look at the names of persons in Colossians about whom you have knowledge from other books of the NT. List them and recall everything that you remember about them and determine what they did in their ministries and why they were important enough for Paul to mention them.

OK. This is enough for the first go at Colossians. We want to just get a feel for the book, renew our acquaintance with the concerns that it has, refresh our memories about the facts that we have and expand them. Next time we will get into the scriptures themselves. I am assuming that we have Greek readers and non-Greek readers. That is fine! All are welcome! Occasionally, I will whet the appetite of our Greek reading participants with a little Greek challenge on the side. If you don’t read Greek, don’t feel unloved! We are not going to feed the Greek readers that much and there will be plenty to go around! God bless you! See you next time.

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CHRISTIAN COUNSELING Please click HERE to return to Current Topics Directory above

The title of this study indicates that counseling may be Christian. To get started, just exactly what do you think Christian counseling is? For your record, why not take a sheet of paper and write down before the

study goes much farther what you think Christian counseling is.

Ok. Now, take a few minutes and jot down any other kinds of counseling available. Well, you may be thinking that there are different kinds of counseling, but you can’t think of them. That probably means you need to refresh your memory about the kinds of counseling that have slipped your mind right now.

There are a number of simple ways to get that basic information. You can use your computer search machine. Type in something like psychological counseling or psychotherapy and browse the results. Or why not drop by the public library or, if you are so blessed to have a university or seminary in your town, drop by one of those libraries. Go to the card file (most likely online now) and enter psychological counseling or psychotherapy.

You can expect to see some names of leading theorists and practitioners and some names of leading theories and methods. Take a few minutes to soak up some information, possibly taking a few notes for later reference.

Now that you have made your definition of Christian counseling and have identified your understanding of other kinds of counseling, ask yourself this question “what do Christian counseling and any other counseling theory and method have in common? Are they compatible? Are they exclusive? Do they support one another? How?

One of the interesting thoughts about Christian counseling and any other kind of counseling is the concept of the essence of man/woman. Where and why do Christian counseling and any other kind of counseling differ/agree regarding the essence of man/woman? Or is there a difference? And, so what? What difference would a difference make?

By the way, as we close this first go at Christian counseling, sleep on this question. What is psychological counseling suppose to accomplish? What is Christian counseling supposed to accomplish? If we don’t know the destination, it is likely we won’t know the way there.

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WOMEN IN RELIGIOUS HISTORY Please click HERE to return to Current Topics Directory

Well, you know already where we will start – in the Garden. And why not? God created a beautiful place for the happiness and welfare of his new human creatures. Must have been a sight to behold that we can only image through an artist’s eye. God’s creation is still a beautiful place to be and to behold. His testimony is there always for all.

But, something went “haywire”. Sin got a grip and the world has not been the same since. What we are going to look at is the important roles women have filled down through time until our present day. Sometimes greatness, breathtaking greatness was displayed in the lives of courageous, strong, spiritual women. Sometimes, just the opposite. As we make our way from the beginning until the 21^st century, we will take in the best and the worst of times and women who have been prominent in coloring the

beginning, growth, and outcomes of events, movements, and epochs in religious history.

This will not be limited to women of the Church of Christ in history. Our selection will come from across all lines and regions and creeds and confessions. There is magnificence and magnitude ahead in the study of the lives of these women.

Let’s get started by asking that we dig into the Old Testament – a little independent research – to come up with 20 women that are notable for good and/or evil. Who do you think they are? And while you are at it, make a note of things like “who were their parents, what tribes were they in (if they were in tribes), who were their husbands, brothers, sisters, children, and other relatives mentioned in the Bible, where did they live and what did they do” In other words, find out all you can about your 20 women. Then, determine what the outcomes of their lives were.

I think we have an exciting and ennobling adventure ahead in this study.

So, let’s be ready to go next month.

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GREEK and HEBREW Please click HERE to return to Current Topics Directory above

These studies are for two sorts of people – those who have had some Greek/Hebrew and not stayed in touch with them (rusty around the edges to forgot everything) and those who have studied no Greek/Hebrew (Your advantage is there is no rust and you haven’t forgotten anything.)

I do think those of you who have not studied Greek/Hebrew before may find a different kind of challenge than those whose knowledge lies somewhere in the deep recesses of their minds and only needs to be awakened by a sharp confrontation with a Qal verb or a 2^nd Aorist Infinitive. (If those won’t jar you from you linguistic revere I am sure a Pe Waw verb or a Genitive Absolute will.)

Anyway, I am copping out. You will have to do all the work. I will only provide the study directions. (Listen, it doesn’t get much better than that!) Here is what I would like for you to do between now and next month: if you have an old Greek and Hebrew grammar and a lexicon, dig them up and start reviewing from the front of the books. If you don’t have any, buy them. (There are some good deals on Amazon if you don’t mind owning a used book in very good condition.) There are a lot of good ones. Check around with some of your fellow ministers or professors for recommendations. In the next issue, I will recommend some basic texts and a simple lexicon that really is invaluable to most students of Greek and Hebrew. Also, next time, I will separate the Greek study from the Hebrew study; each will have its own sections with it own study directions.

I think we will have a good time brushing up or learning anew the languages of the Bible. Just think how much more efficiently we can serve our brethren through a more accurate exegesis and understanding of the Word. Sounds great to me!

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