Interpreting scripture is necessary to Christian life, whether a Christian is seeking leadership in ministry or simply trying to gain understanding of scripture. Whatever end of the spectrum one falls on it is essential to interpret scripture correctly. There is a certain method to interpreting that will lead the interpreter towards success, this is the hermeneutical method. This method looks at the text of study then moves to the chapter it is in, then the book, testament, other testament, and finally the entire message of the Bible. When looking at these different sections, it is essential to research the historical and literary components of the passage. Below is an example of the hermeneutical process being put into practice on a passage from the book of Zephaniah. This student has spent time looking into the context and background of the passage and has come to an individual interpretation of Zephaniah 1:14-18.
Immediate Text
The text below is part of the prophecy given by Zephaniah to the people of Judah. This passage ends chapter one with the judgment that is imminent since the people of Judah have been continually disobedient towards God. The original text was written in Hebrew, a Hebrew translation of the text of study follows the English. The text reads:
“The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the loft battlements. I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, ...
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...e to fame quickly and a fall shortly thereafter. The tortoise had nothing until the birds gave him wings to make him fly. In the same sense, Okonkwo had nothing left to him by his father. He had to start fresh. Just as the tortoise fell back to earth from the sky, so did the legacy of Okonkwo once he was exiled.
Once the reader comes to a full realization about the comparison of Okonkwo to the tortoise, they are allowed to look deeper and see another purpose behind the parable. That purpose is the foreshadowing of colonialism. What the tortoise did to the birds is an earlier version of what the white Christian missionaries did to the Igbo culture. The missionaries could have been perceived as coming and taking over the society just as the tortoise came in and took the power from the birds. Needless to say, this parable is essential to the novel Things Fall Apart
In my passage Ephesian 1:15-23, this is Pauls prayer to Jesus of giving thanks, God has given us so much, and when God gives us a lot our perception can be changed based on how much we get from God, but we are blind because we can never be satisfied so we ask for more. We can build a wall of ungratefulness and never see the “light of God”.
Both characters have life goals before the fall. “In Things Fall Apart, Achebe makes it clear that Okonkwo’s single passion was ‘to become one of the lords of the clan’. According to Achebe, it was Okonkwo’s ‘life spring.’ Okonkwo wanted to be a hero,” claims Nnoromele (41). In becoming a great man and hero he must overcome the shame his father has left upon him. His father was lazy and had no titles. This helps motivate him on the road to heroism.
Okonkwo had dreams, some of his dreams were fulfilled while others weren’t. Okonkwo's dreams were to be successful and better than his father which happened because he was one of the greatest, well known and respected men in the tribe of Umuofia. His other dream was for his son Nwoye to be just like him which didn’t happen since Nwoye was not happy with the way he was being treated and he went and joined the white men church in spite of his father.
The most prominent and compelling theme in the novel originates from the main character Okonkwo
Before beginning this essay proper, it is important to first comprehend some of what is meant by the term eschatology, and how it is understood in the Book of Revelation. Eschatology broadly defined is that part of theology which deals with conceptions of the ‘end times’ and of the final things of the world and humanity. Within it sit many concepts, such as heaven and hell, divine judgment, the second coming, the defeat of evil and the new creation, among others things. As such, it encapsulates any discussion about the ‘end times’. This is certainly an apt title for much of the Book of Revelation then, with so much discussion of divine judgment on the first earth, the second coming of Christ and the coming of the New Creation. Within the pages of this text, however, a more complex eschatology is portrayed. While in the grander literary scheme of the text we see the ultimate destruction of death and hades and their throwing into the lake of fire...
Things Fall Apart, a novel by Chinua Achebe, is a story which goes into great depth with its character development. The descriptions of the characters in this book go beyond first impressions and delve deeply into the minds of the people being described by explaining their thoughts and the experiences of their lives. Okonkwo is perhaps the most interesting example of these descriptions throughout the novel. He is a very successful man who is driven by fear and shame. Without fear there can be no courage, but when one does not choose to be truly courageous, fear can overcome them and lead to hopelessness and despair as things begin to fall apart.
In the book, Things Fall Apart, there are a couple of folktales that are extended throughout the book. These folktales contributes to and comments on the central narrative of the story. Animals and folktales were important to the Igbo people. They used animals in fables and stories to demonstrate their beliefs and rituals. With all rituals, animals and symbols play a crucial role in Igbo society. The fable of the Tortoise and the Birds has uncanny similarities with Okonkwo and his rise and fall. The tortoise’s strength and cunningness eventually gets to be too much, which ends up crushing him. And Okonkwo’s inability to adapt to change leads to his demise. Both the tortoise and Okonkwo’s seek to be strong in society and they both want to be known as important. That is why I believe that the fable, The Tortoise and the Birds, is the closest fable to the central narrative of the story.
Authority of Scripture reconciles the community with God and can transform our lives. To participate in the fuller blessing of understanding, it is important to view Scripture with historical and literary sensitivity, interpret theocentrically, ecclesially, and contextually. I realize each of these can be overwhelming to the average person who is seeking direction for a specific concern in their life. Therefore, Migliore reminds us, interpreting Scripture is practical engagement in the living of Christian faith, love, and hope in a still redeemed world. When we listen carefully to the voices of the past, from a worldwide culture, and guided by the Holy Spirit, we will open ourselves to those transformational opportunities.
The character of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was driven by fear, a fear of change and losing his self-worth. He needed the village of Umuofia, his home, to remain untouched by time and progress because its system and structure were the measures by which he assigned worth and meaning in his own life. Okonkwo required this external order because of his childhood and a strained relationship with his father, which was also the root of his fears and subsequent drive for success. When the structure of Umuofia changed, as happens in society, Okonkwo was unable to adapt his methods of self-evaluation and ways of functioning in the world; the life he was determined to live could not survive a new environment and collapsed around him.
The Christian Apocalypse, also known as the end of the world is described in great detail by the Book of Revelation. Revelations is one of the most famous End of the World stories. The book itself is the last book in the bible, and is described as a scroll with seven wax seals. In the myth as the scroll unravels, a series of events unfolds. This begins with many wars, famines, diseases, and other heavenly signs to alert the world that the apocalypse is here. After series of natural disasters, a political ruler called the Antichrist will appear and will take control over the entire earth.
In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is portrayed as a respected and determined individual whose fatal flaw eventually works against him. Throughout the novel the readers are shown that Okonkwo has many of these Characteristics because he is obsessed with the idea of becoming just like his father. This becomes his flaw in the novel that puts him into exile and makes it hard for him to adjust to the changes that were made with in his village.
Zephaniah the prophet, the opening verse of the book Zephaniah is given a genealogy stretching back four generations. Starting with the son of Cushi. Cushi could be a personal name, but also means Ethiopian . This raises the question as to whether an editor thought that someone who may have come from foreign, perhaps immigrant stock needed a longer pedigree to justify his true Jewishness. Zephaniah is also the great-grandson of Hezekiah; giving rise to speculation as to whether this was King Hezekiah.
I have read the book ‘Face’ by Benjamin Zephaniah, a Jamaican author and poet. He grew up in east London where he decided the book should be set. His previous experiences from being a victim of racial discrimination and prejudice and being a teenage rebel, involved in theft and drug crimes gave him a stimulus to write the book. The author himself having been discriminated upon found himself using previous burn victims like Simon Weston, who was badly burnt in the Falklands war, to help his book seem more realistic. This story is about Martin. He's the leader of the Gang of Three, and the classroom joker. He lives in the East End of London. You have to be careful what you say and who you say it to on the streets of Martin's neighborhood - not that Martin is particularly racist.
The Bible has a large amount of stories about war and destruction. Some of the stories are historical writings, but not all. God of the bible is omniscient and God uses this to give humanity a unique look into our future. The stories of destruction that this paper will look at are some of the future visions given to humanity by God. The apocalyptic literature are the recorded visions given to believers and they are used to warn people of the impending doom of the world. The bible takes different approaches to the same topic in order to make the message fully know.