NT Exegesis Resources

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Online and Library Resources Keyed to Gorman's Five Major Phases

NB: The required and recommended commentaries for REL 321 are listed here.

In Appendix B (pp. 205-209), Gorman provides something close to step by step directions for writing a research exegesis paper that incorporates his various "elements."  You should consult this often as you work on your paper.  It's your basic roadmap.  What is provided below overlaps substantially with it, but also provides some specific directions about resources I expect you to use.

I. Preparation

See Gorman

II. Initial Exegesis

A. Survey: The First Element (chapter 3)

1-2. Read the passage and the text in which it occurs in several translations recording observations and questions that come to mind as discussed on p. 60.  See chart on p. 52 for translation classifications and recommendations. (Substitute TNIV for NIV).  All of these translations are available online (see Canonical Texts section below).

3. Start looking into the basic historical and literary context using the  recommended resources: Study Bibles (book intro and notes on the passage), NT intros (including Roetzel for REL 321), Bible dictionaries, and one volume commentaries. 

  • Study Bibles: See pp. 52-56.  At a minimum, consult at least one of the following: the New Oxford, the HarperCollins, or the Catholic Study Bible.  The New Interpreters Study Bible is also useful. 
  • NT Intros: The New Testament introduction textbook you used for REL 102 at Missouri State (Ehrman or Harris), is a good place to start, but you also should consult a more advanced introduction.  At a minimum, consult Brown:
  • Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (New York: Doubleday, 1997).
    BS2330.2 .B76 1997
  • Werner G. Kümmel, Introduction to the New Testament (rev. Eng. ed., trans. Howard Clark Kee; Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1975).
    BS2330 .F413 1975
  • Bible Dictionaries: See pp. 166-68.  The best are the HarperCollins, Anchor, and Eerdmans.  All are in the reference section at MSU. 
  • One Volume Commentaries: See pp. 164-65.  The best are the New Jerome, Harper's, and Eerdmans.  You will only need to check the Eerdmans since it is the only one available in our reference section.  (BS491.3 .E37 2003)

4. Start bibliography.

5. Educated guessing.  Formulate some initial impressions of the meaning of your passage, asking yourself "What is the topic of this text?  What perspective on the topic does it offer?  What role might it play in the book as a whole?" (p. 61).  Gorman also suggests at this point that you reflect on who you are, where you are coming from, and how this affects your encounter with the text.  Formulate a working thesis about the meaning of the text, but you won't actually write the introduction of your paper until your exegesis paper is nearly complete.

B. Contextual Analysis: The Second Element (chapter 4)

Two basic questions are addressed by the second element, Contextual Analysis: 1) "In what historical, social, and cultural situation was the passage written?" and 2) "How does the passage relate to what precedes and follows it, and to the document as a whole?" (p. 65).  The fundamental questions for you to answer while doing each of these tasks are listed on p. 68 and pp. 70-71.  Remember that there is a not only a literary dimension to the context, but also a rhetorical one.  At this stage of your work, you are dependent on what you have been able to discover from the resources listed above and your own reflection.  At a later stage, when you dig into the major commentaries on your passage, you will learn much more about these matters. 

C. Formal Analysis: The Third Element (chapter 5)

See Gorman.

D. Detailed Analysis: The Fourth Element (chapter 6)

See Gorman.

E. Synthesis: The Fifth Element (chapter 7)

See Gorman.

F. Reflection: The Sixth Element (chapter 8)

See Gorman.

III. Research

A. Prepare a bibliography

1-4. You already know the required commentaries (click here).  The place to start for articles is the ATLA Religion Index.  Click here to get to the Indexes page.  Then select ATLA Religion (Religion Index).  When you get to the EBSCO host page just type the Bible book name and chapter into the search line. To see if the Missouri State library has particular journals, use TDNet. The Divinity Library at Vanderbilt University has an excellent page on Religious and Theological Research.  It includes lots of advice on how to use the ATLA Religion Database most effectively.  Of course you will also do standard Library site searches for books on your topic.

 

V. Writing

E. Form

The discipline of Biblical Studies, being very historically oriented, uses mostly the Chicago/Turabian style.  I want you to use footnotes rather then endnotes.  Word (and WordPerfect) make this very easy.  If you've never done footnotes in Word (or WordPerfect), search for "footnote" under Help.   Do not turn your paper in as a PDF file.  I prefer Word. 

The following sites will be very helpful for proper style:

Research and Documentation Online

Dr. Mark's Writing Resources Page

Student Supplement to The SBL Handbook of Style

Rochester College SBL Style Manual Guide

 

Online and Library Resources Keyed to Fee's Exegesis Steps

Step One: Survey Historical Context

The New Testament introduction you used for REL 102 at Missouri State, either Ehrman or Harris, is a good place to start, but for serious exegesis you also should consult a more advanced introduction.  At a minimum, consult Brown:

  • Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (New York: Doubleday, 1997).
    BS2330.2 .B76 1997
  • Werner G. Kümmel, Introduction to the New Testament (rev. Eng. ed., trans. Howard Clark Kee; Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1975).
    BS2330 .F413 1975

Steps Two and Three: Confirm Limits of Passage and Become Thoroughly Acquainted with Passage

After you've learned how to say the alphabet and pronounce a few words, you may want to go on to the Syllabification link and recite along with Mounce as reads from 1 John.

  • When reading your passage in multiple translations (see Fee, 12), the Bible Gateway site has very useful parallel Bible features.

Step Five: Establishing the Text

The major exegetical commentaries recommended by Fee (p. 75) will discuss text-critical issues.  Additionally, the footnotes of the NET Bible provide many excellent text-critical discussions.

Step Seven: Analyze Significant Words

The main lexicographical resources I want you to consult are BDAG (see Fee, 79-89) and TDNT (see Fee, 93).  Both BDAG and TDNT are in the Reference section of Meyer.  The Blue Letter Bible provides the volume and page number for words in TDNT.  It also provides the root forms of words, which you will need to know to look up words in BDAG.

  • Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BDAG), 3d ed., ed. Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).
    PA881 .B38 1979 (Reference Section)
  • Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich (eds.), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT), 10 vols. including index vol. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964-1976).
    BS2312 .K5813 1964 (Reference Section)

The Blue Letter Bible

After you've searched for your text, click on the "C" button at the beginning of the verse. 

Steps Eight to Twelve:

The four major exegetical commentaries listed by Fee on p. 175 for the epistle you choose will discuss all the subjects included in these steps.

Step Thirteen: Consult Secondary Literature

The place to start is the ATLA Religion Index.  Click here to get to the Indexes page.  Then select ATLA Religion (Religion Index).  When you get to the EBSCO host page just the Bible book name and chapter into the search line.

To see if the Missouri State library has particular journals, use TDNet.

The Divinity Library at Vanderbilt University has an excellent page on Religious and Theological Research.  It includes lots of advice on how to use the ATLA Religion Database most effectively. 

Of course you will also do standard Library site searches for books on your topic.

Step Fifteen: Write the Paper

Fee discusses this on pp. 35-37.  As for style, the discipline of Biblical Studies, being very historically oriented, uses the Chicago/Turabian style.  I want you to use footnotes rather then endnotes.  Word (and WordPerfect) make this very easy.  If you've never done footnotes in Word (or WordPerfect), search for "footnote" under Help.   Do not turn you paper in as a PDF file.  I prefer Word. 

The following sites will be very helpful for proper style:

Research and Documentation Online

Dr. Mark's Writing Resources Page

Student Supplement to The SBL Handbook of Style

Rochester College SBL Style Manual Guide

 

Canonical Texts

 

 

Includes most modern popular translations, but unfortunately not the RSV/NRSV.  It also allows you to put five translations at a time in parallel columns.

Crosswalk's tools include most modern popular translations, but you have to put up with ads.  See further comments on Crosswalk's interlinear in next section. 

See comments in next section.

An online gospel parallels using the RSV text.

An outstanding new web-based translation that includes thousands of excellent scholarly footnotes.  The translation team is very conservative Christian and sometimes this confessional bias is evident, but so far I've been impressed with their scholarly integrity and honesty.  For example, this is the only conservative Christian translation I know of that accurately renders Isa 7:14 according to the Hebrew.

A good modern Catholic translation. 

 

Hebrew and Greek Resources

Follow the instructions they provide for installing the fonts. Use Windows 98 fonts if you have Windows XP. You may need to restart your computer to get the fonts to work whether or not you are prompted to do so.  The Hebrew and Greek texts provided are practically the same as the current critical editions.  It is not really set up like an interlinear with the English equivalent under each Hebrew or Greek word, but you can click on each Greek word to find which English word corresponds to it.  Unfortunately, there are lots of errors in the language resources and the lexicons are very elementary.  However,  it provides the volume and page numbers for looking up words in TDNT, and it also provides the root forms of words which you will need to know when looking up words in BDAG.

This one has a neat format. After you've searched for a text, click on the "C" button at the beginning of the verse.  The Hebrew Bible verses include the Septuagint and "Old Greek" translations! 

This one is set up like a true interlinear.

This is a page of Michael Palmer's wonderful website called Greek Language and Linguistics.  Among other things, it also has a page with links to free online introductions to Greek! 

Bill Mounce's website.  It includes some free helps, but is mostly geared toward getting you to buy his popular Greek language textbooks.

 

Classical Texts

The premiere resource for online classical Greek and Latin texts.  It includes Josephus and the Westcott and Hort Greek NT.

 

Extracanonical Texts

This is a very valuable resource for students since it provides a range of critically considered dates for most all early Christian literature.  E.g., Matthew is dated 80-100 C.E.  This range represents a broad consensus on earliest and latest probable dates.

A similar resource to Early Christian Writings. 

An excellent place to get acquainted with "the Gnostic gospels" first-hand.

General Resources