Introducing the Bible An Active Learning Approach

This book encourages users to read the Bible and primary sources closely and carefully, and offers background sketches about topics not explained in the Bible. It points to specific versus and chapters, asking carefully constructed questions that prompt readers to think creatively and figure out their own answers. The book also shares with learners the issues that biblical scholars study, and more importantly, how biblical scholars create arguments about those issues. An emphasis on biblical literacy provides an understanding of major themes in the Bible, an introduction to major biblical characters, and knowledge of Biblical scholarship. The book also contains a variety of scholarly techniques for analyzing biblical materials. For church-based adult Bible-study classes, and for anyone who want to do more than study the Bible.

Adam L. Porter provides a unique and valuable resource for students who are reading and studying the Bible. Using a series of questions in a workbook format, Porter directs students in a careful reading of biblical texts, helping students understand and see how scholars debate important issues in biblical interpretation. As Porter writes:

• The genesis of this book was when students asked me to give them a family tree for Abraham's family. I did so and then realized they would have learned more if I pointed them to the biblical verses and asked them to draw the genealogy themselves. I decided to write a whole book that does just this: points the students to verses and chapters and asks them to think creatively.

• Valuable text for all introductory Bible, Hebrew Bible, or New Testament courses
• Students taught scholarly techniques for analyzing biblical materials (including source criticism, redaction criticism, form criticism, and literary methods of analysis)
• Questions-based organization, with simple questions leading up to more complex questions for analysis
• Suggestions for further reading for each chapter