Word Bank Archive

Page 1

Chapter 1

Pg. 20

Allegory/allegorical - reading that is primarily symbolic, as opposed to literal. (I.e. "the staff of heaven" is not an actual physical staff, but represents authority)

Neo-Platonic - a mystical philosophical system built on the work of Plato and Gnosticism

Pg. 22

Ancient Near East (ANE)- large region where the Old Testament was lived out and written in

Pg. 24

Yaweh - the Divine Name, the closest thing we have to a proper name for our God, the God of Israel

Pg. 25

Monotheism - belief in only one god

Polytheism - belief in multiple gods

Epistemology - the study of how one acquires knowledge

Pg. 26

Ma'at - Babylonian god

Pg. 29

The fall - a major part of history where sin entered mankind through Adam and Eve

Chapter 2

Pg. 32

Hermeneutical - study of how to interpret Scripture properly

Pg. 36

Cosmology - study of how the world came to be

Consubstantial - everything made of the same substance (in this case, gods, humans, animals, water, and nature consists of the same stuff). This in direct conflict of our view of God being totally separate in substance from His creation.

Primordal - existing before creation (in this case, the waters present before creation)

Chapter 3

Pg. 48

Aphorism - a concise, proverbial statement

Pg. 50

Quasi-poetic - somewhat poetic

Pg. 51

Historical-critical method - study of the writer's original intent for his original audience, including the historical situation it was written in

Pg. 52

Repudiate - reject

Pg. 53

Hegemony - dominance

Pg. 54

Pragmatism - determining truth by seeing if its successful on the practical level

Nihilism - belief that life at its core is meaningless, rejection of religious/moral principles

Pg. 57

Covenantal urgency - the urgency in which the biblical authors wrote was as covenantal in nature (i.e. bold, sure, God-given)

Pg. 58

Congruent - agreement/harmony

Didactic - intended to teach

Pg. 60

Muscularity - powerful/forceful (in this case with language)

Parody - humorous and exaggerated imitation

Anthropocentric - mankind as central/most important (over God, and other parts of creation)

Pg. 61

Corpus - entire work/collection of writings

Pg. 62

Smorgasbord - wide variety

Pg. 67

Anti-thetical - displaying opposites

Pg. 69

Dialectical - comparing opposing forces/ideas

Sublimity - wonderful, transcendant

Pg. 71

Catholicity - not Catholic denomination, but used here to describe beliefs consistent with Christian tradition, like orthodoxy

Chapter 4

Pg. 74

Dating - year a text was written

Admonition - warning, caution

Pg. 77

Preeminent - surpassing others, distinguished

Pg. 79

Character-consequence structure - like cause and effect

Pg. 88

Intertextual - the relationship between text, in this case - clues found in other books of the Bible that shed light on what Proverbs is saying

Pg. 90

Salient - important

Pg. 91

Natural theology - study of God based on nature and experience

Pg. 92

Allusion - loose or indirect reference

Chapter 5

Pg. 101

The Reformation - an important time-period that has helped define how we read Scripture today. There's a ton of info on Google if you're curious to know more.

Pg. 102

Chiastic couplet - related to the chiasm discussion (ch. 3, pg. 67)

Pg. 105

Doxology - formal, written praise to God

Pg. 106

Encomium - high praise

Pg. 107

Luther and Melancthon - major figures in the Reformation period

Pg 112

Trenchant - strong criticism

Pg 116

Theoretic activism - activism that is not practically expressed, in this case causing no real-world benefits

Pg 120

Akkadian - people group and language which influenced the biblical Hebrew we read (translated into English) today

Sumerian - people group (similar to Akkadian)

Chapter 6

Pg. 143

Irascible - tendency to be easily angered

Pg. 145

Imbued - like infuse

Pg. 147

Centripetal - moving toward a center

Pg. 149

Epistemology - study of knowledge, how we acquire it

Pg. 151

Anomalous - odd, abnormal

Pg. 154

Palpating tension - in this case, examining the account of Job with a compulsion to resolve the issue

Pg. 156

Biblical theodicy - justifying God's continued good character in light of evil

Pg. 160

Omnipotence - God is all-powerful

Ch. 7 Word Bank

Pg. 167

Irenic - peaceful

Pg. 172

Metallurgical - technique of heating/separating metals

Impressionistic - in this case, a writing focused on evoking the senses

Cosmology - study of how the universe was formed

Babylonian, Ugaritic, and Semitic - all people groups who influence the historical context of the Old Testament

Pg. 180

Purveying - like supplying/providing

Pg. 183

Immanent - existing within, in this case refers to the fact that we seek to understand the world by a means outside of it - God

Pg. 186

Subversive - undermining authority, in this case - the authority of Job's friends

Chapter 8 Word Bank

Pg. 191

Dialogical - related to dialogue/speech

Pg. 195

Historical-critical scholars -

OT narrative - Gen-Esther (excluding wisdom books and the prophets)

Pg. 196

Paradigmatic - akin to following a model

Pg. 198

Postexilic period - the period of time after Israel was exiled from the Promised Land because of disobedience. This period is vast. More can be researched on it if you're interested.

Pg. 200

Denouement - outcome/resolution of a plot or problem

Pg. 202

Nihilistic hedonism - pursuing a life of pleasure without meaning

Pg. 204

Canonical (or canon) - related to the authorized 66 books we know as Scripture