1. Mr. Gunnink Jones College Prep

2.  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

3.  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  And most importantly for this class…

4.  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

5.  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

6.  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)

7.  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