RELIGIOUS STUDIES 7
NOTES: Chapter 3
More Than History
3.1 OBJECTIVE: To be clear about the difference between historical fact and
religious truth in the Bible (pp. 32-33)
1. Are there historical facts in the Bible? YES Is everything mentioned in the Bible
historical fact? NO What biblical story is a good example of this fact? JONAH
This story, like many others in the Bible, is not inspired history; rather, it is an
inspired PARABLE, a story used to TEACH A LESSON.
2. One lesson from the above story is FACE RESPONSIBILITIES/ NEVER BE
AFRAID OF DOING GOD’S WORK What meaning did Jesus give to this story?
TO TEACH ABOUT HIS OWN DEATH & RESURRECTION
3. List 2 examples of history in the Bible:
 DAVID
 PAUL’S JOURNEY
Can you name another?

VARIOUS ANSWERS
4. So, the Scriptures do have some history in them, but they are more than history. They
contain a greater truth…The Bible is an inspired book about RELIGIOUS truth.
This means that the human authors of the Bible, under the INSPIRATION OF
THE HOLY SPIRIT, INTERPRETED events and people. They looked for
DEEPER MEANING behind things in their lives. This religious truth, then is what
kind of truth? THE TRUTH THAT GOD INTENDED TO REVEAL
5. What, then, was the primary concern of the biblical writers?
DIVINE
REVELATION, which is GOD MAKING HIMSELF KNOWN TO US.
6. The fullness of God’s “making himself known to us” comes to us is JESUS, whom
we call the THE WORD MADE FLESH.
7. So, when we go to the Scriptures, what kind of truth are we looking for?
RELIGIOUS TRUTH. Said simply, when we read the Bible, we are looking to
ENCOUNTER Jesus Christ.
3.2 OBJECTIVE: To discover that the writers of the Bible depended above all on
oral tradition for the passing on of information in the faith community. (pp. 34-35)
8. Name some examples that show that just because the biblical writer was interested in
religious truth, history was still important:
 ABRAHAM
 JESUS BORN INTO HISTORY
 CHURCH FOUNDED/APOSTLES CHOSEN
1
9. Describe the main differences between modern and ancient writing of history:
MODERN: READING, MEDIA, ETC.
MOUTH, MEMORY, ETC.
ANCIENT: WORD OF
10. So, one of the most important characteristics of ancient writers was that they
depended on ORAL TRADITION rather than written records. Though different
from our modern way of passing on truth, we are told that this way was still based in
the truth of history. Do you accept this statement? Why/why not? VARIOUS
ANSWERS
11. List and briefly describe the 3 stages of the formation of the Gospels:
Stage 1: LIFE & TEACHINGS OF JESUS
 ACTUALLY LIVED IN HISTORY
 WHAT JESUS DID/SAID, ETC.
Stage 2: ORAL TRADITION
 APOSTLES’ PREACHING
 UNTIL @ 65 A.D.
Stage 3: WRITTEN GOSPELS
 WRITTEN UNDER INSPIRATION OF HOLY SPIRIT
 FROM @ 60’s – 70’s A.D.
12. From the Catholic ID section, who is the saint whose mind was occupied with the
gospels when she prayed? ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX. What else do you know
about this saint? VARIOUS ANSWERS With what other saints are you familiar
who had a particular love of the Bible? VARIOUS ANSWERS St. Jerome, who
was the first to translate the Bible into Latin vulgate (Roman “street language”) loved
the Bible so much that he said “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ!”
(memorize that “wiseword”!)… St. Jerome also had a real human skull at his study
desk to remind him that “Life is short…Pray hard!” Cool stuff!
3.3 OBJECTIVE: To explore the basic literary forms of prose and poetry; to
discover the literary form of the gospel. (pp. 36-37)
13. Every piece of literature—including the Bible—has its own appropriate
LITERARY FORM, which an author uses to get his/her message across.
14. The two most basic literary forms are PROSE and POETRY.
15. What kind of writing is prose?
When is it used? CLOSEST TO SPOKEN
LANGUAGE/DIRECT STATEMENTS
RUNNING NARRATION
THAT
PRESENT
FACTS/
16. What kind of writing is poetry? When is it used? IMAGINATIVE/ SYMBOLS,
SOUNDS, RHYTHMS, EMOTION > DESCRIBES EXPERIENCES AS
PROSE CANNOT
2
17. Why is awareness of literary forms important in understanding literature? BIG
DIFFERENCE BETW. WAY PROSE &POETRY ARE READ
18. Is this awareness important when we read the Bible, too? YES. Why? RELEASES
POWER OF THIS DIVINE & HUMAN WORD FOR MODERN PEOPLE
19. The first and most recognizable literary form in the New Testament is the GOSPEL
20. The gospel is an ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GOOD NEWS. In fact, the
word itself means “GOOD TIDINGS”
21. The four Gospels are MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE & JOHN.
22. What “good news” do the Gospels announce? SALVATION(ie. Our friendship
w/ God) IN JESUS CHRIST.
23. The inspired words of the Gospel are not only meant to share the message of Jesus.
They are also meant to MOVE THOSE WHO HEAR THE MESSAGE to
make a commitment to CHANGE THEIR LIVES.
24. Although there is much biographical detail in the gospels, their primary purpose is
not to present a biography of Jesus, but to HAND ON THE “HIGH POINT”
OF GOD’S REVELATION TO US IN JESUS CHRIST
3.4 OBJECTIVE: To explore other literary forms of the New Testament. (pp. 38-39)
25. The six types of literary forms discussed in our text are:
 EPISTLE
 PARABLE
 HYMN
 GENEALOGY
 MIDRASH
 APOCALYPTIC WRITING
26. The word epistle means LETTER.. In the New Testament there are 21 epistles of
varying lengths and different authors. The most famous epistle writer was ST. PAUL..
27. Parable comes from a word that means “TO COMPARE”.
A parable is a
FICTITIOUS SHORT STORY THAT USES ORDINARY EXPERIENCES
OF LIFE TO TEACH A DEEPER LESSON. By their twists and turns, parables
3
CHALLENGE us and make us ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR LIVES. Give
2 examples of parables: PRODIGAL SON/ GOOD SAMARITAN/ SOWER &
SEED/ OTHERS…
28. Some of the words of HYMNS sung by the early Christians gather for liturgy made
their way into the New Testament. One of the most beautiful of these hymns
summarized belief in the HUMANITY and DIVINITY of Jesus (Philippians 2: 5-11).
29. A genealogy is a LISTING OF ANCESTORS. The most famous genealogy in the
New Testament is found in MT. 1:1-17. This genealogy roots Jesus in the HISTORY
OF ISRAEL and in the family of ABRAHAM.
30. A distinctively Jewish literary form is MIDRASH. Rabbis used this form of writing to
reinterpret (explain in a new way) THE O.T. texts for the people of their day.
Gospel writers did the same for Christians.
31. APOCALYPTIC WRITING is highly symbolic and often uses images describing
future times and the end of the world, at which time God finally destroys THE
FORCES OF EVIL.
32. The biblical writers used so many different forms because they were dealing with the
truth of DIVINE MYSTERIES(ie. Truths about God), and no one form can
completely describe this truth.
33. Despite their differences, the goal of all the literary forms is the same: to get at the
TRUTH.
4