by Vern S. Poythress

Welcome to the Westminster Theological Seminary course NT 123, on Biblical Hermeneutics: Old and New Testaments!

I am providing various course documents on line, which you are free t download. Let me remind you that these course materials are very much works in progress. They are tentative in nature, and subject to repeated alteration and improvement. Not everything in them represents settled views on my part.

You may use all the course materials under the GNU Free Documentation License or Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0. For details, you must read this license. Briefly, the license allows you to use and pass on both unaltered and altered files, provided that you give credit to the author and that you grant to others the same freedom given to you.

Visual Presentations are provided in three formats: .ODP (editable), .PDF (fixed), and a second .PDF format that has cleaned out all the color in order for you to use it for note taking. The last of these formats contains some slides twice, the first time in the form that you will see in class, the second time with more expansive verbiage.

Visual Presentations

• All files in one .zip file: 123odp.zip; 123pdf.zip.
• I. Introduction: 1C1Cours.odp; 1C1Cours.pdf.
• II. Foundations: 1C2Found.odp; 1C2Found.pdf.
• Foundations: Christ: 1C2aChri.odp; 1C2aChri.pdf.
• III. Basic Steps: 1C3Simpl.odp; 1C3Simpl.pdf.
• IV. Application: 1C4Appli.odp; 1C4Appli.pdf.
• V. Historical Background: 1C5HisBk.odp; 1C5HisBk.pdf.
• VI. Redemptive History: 1C6Histr.odp; 1C6Histr.pdf.
• Modern Interpretation: 1C6aModr.odp; 1C6aModr.pdf.
• Typology: 1C6bTypo.odp; 1C6bTypo.pdf.
• VII. Words: 1C7Words.odp; 1C7Words.pdf.
• VIII. Studying Topics: 1C8Topic.odp; 1C8Topic.pdf.
• Technical Terms: 1C8aTerm.odp; 1C8aTerm.pdf.
• IX. Syntax: 1C9Syntx.odp; 1C9Syntx.pdf.
• Theory of Syntax: 1C9aThyS.odp; 1C9aThyS.pdf.
• Translation: 1C9bTrns.odp; 1C9bTrns.pdf.
• X. Large Structures: 1C10aLarg.odp; 1C10aLarg.pdf.
• Narrative: 1C10bNar.odp; 1C10bNar.pdf.
• Motific and Analogical Analysis: 1C10cMot.odp; 1C10cMot.pdf.
• Genre: 1C10dGenre.odp; 1C10dGenre.pdf.
• XI. Examples: 1C11Exmp.odp; 1C11Exmp.pdf.
• Christ in the Wisdom of Proverbs: PProverbs.odp; PProverbs.pdf.
• XII. Conclusion: 1C12Conc.odp; 1C12Conc.pdf.

Older Forms of Presentations

Below are older forms of the presentations. These materials were used before I removed the material on rhetorical analysis of expository literature. In the last few years, rhetorical analysis of expository literature has come to be handled in the curriculum at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, as part of the final segment of Greek. It is now called bracketing (in a slightly variant form, “arcing”). For convenience, and for the sake of people who do not have access to the new curriculum in Greek at WTS, I have included the materials below. In 1C10LargOlderWithRhetoricalAnal.odp is included rhetorical analysis of expository literature in the form that I taught it. (This form differs in detail from bracketing and arcing, but is similar in conception.)

Syllabus from 2016 (pdf format only).

• X. Large Structures: 1C10LargOlderWithRhetoricalAnal.odp.
• Motific and Analogical Analysis: 1C10aMotOlder.odp.

Text files

These files are text files that go with NT 123, both older and newer forms.

• ZIP (all files together): 123odt.zip; 123rtf.zip.
• Cover: 1L0Cover.odt; 1L0Cover.rtf.
• Contents: 1L0Conte.odt; 1L0Conte.rtf.
• Bibliography: 1B.odt; 1B.rtf.
• I. Introduction: 1L1Intro.odt; 1L1Intro.rtf.
• II. Foundations: 1L2Found.odt; 1L2Found.rtf.
• III. Beginning Steps: 1L3Begin.odt; 1L3Begin.rtf.
• IV. Application: 1L4Applc.odt; 1L4Applc.rtf.
• V. Historical Background: 1L5HisBk.odt; 1L5HisBk.rtf.
• VI. Time and History: 1L6TimeH.odt; 1L6TimeH.rtf.
• VII. Words: 1L7Words.odt; 1L7Words.rtf.
• VIII. Studying Topics: 1L8Topic.odt; 1L8Topic.rtf.
• IX. Syntax: 1L9Syntx.odt; 1L9Syntx.rtf.
• X. Large Structures: 1L10Larg.odt; 1L10Larg.rtf.
• XIII. Glossary: 1L13Glos.odt; 1L13Glos.rtf.
• Worksheets: 1W1.odt; 1W1.rtf.

Useful pdfs

I have included some useful pdfs of books whose copyrights have expired.

• Thayer Greek Lexicon: Thayer.pdf.
• Liddell-Scott Greek Lexicon: LS.pdf.
• Burton on Greek Syntax: Burton.pdf.
• Brown, Driver, and Briggs Hebrew Lexicon: BDB.pdf.
• Gesenius Hebrew Grammar: Gesenius.pdf.
• Cassell Latin Dictionary: LatinDictionary.pdf.

Supplement

A textbook-like introduction to hermeneutics is Vern S. Poythress, Reading the Word of God in the Presence of God: A Handbook for Biblical Interpretation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016). It is available for free download at http://www.frame-poythress.org/ebooks/. Print rights are retained by the publisher.

Those interested in reading more about language or about postmodernism may consult Poythress, In the Beginning Was the Word: Language–A God-Centered Approach (Wheaton: Crossway, 2009). It is available for free download at http://www.frame-poythress.org/ebooks/. The book contains a bibliography. Print rights are retained by the publisher.

Explanation

Formats

All the files are available in .odt and .odp formats, which conform to the OASIS international standard “OpenDocument” format. .odt is for text files; .odp is for slide shows. This is the preferred format. It is the native format for LibreOffice, which is available for free download.

See the base page http://frame-poythress.org/course-materials/ for an explanation of formats.