The Bible among the Myths

The Bible among the Myths Introduction John N. Oswalt, the author of the book â€Å"The Bible among the Myths† and he introduces his book by a comparison of the Old Testament, beliefs, and acculturation. John as well explains a great theoretical division while judging the Old Testament against its equals.Advertising We will write a custom book review sample on The Bible among the Myths specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Some of the differences that Oswalt notes include â€Å"essence† and â€Å"adversity†. When an individual speaks concerning the essence of a given entity, the individual is citing the things that compose its practical details.1 Adversities, on the other hand, refer to things that are purely accidental and do not essentially describe the entity. John Oswalt brings the reader into the perception of myth. With the admission that intellectuals vary intensely on a particular description, John affirms that this aspect is not suppos ed to deter the person from searching for an excellent description of the word. With the aim describing the word, John Oswalt lists four fundamental features of a myth. To start with, one of the features is that people possess slight or no intrinsic worth. Another feature is virtual lack of concern in historical researches. Thirdly, is the carrying out of magical and association with occultism and lastly is the denial of accountability for individual activities. In the last section of the introduction, John maintains that theological assertions are indivisible from historical assertions. Reliability of the theological concerns depends on the reliability of the historical assertions. Should the historical assertions be actually bogus, then no acceptance should be accorded to the theological assertions.Advertising Looking for book review on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Nevertheless, if the histor ical assertions are in line with the known, then the person who reads the bible must take the theological assertions critically. Chapter One The initial chapter of this book handles the bible with respect to its setting and the role it plays in the community at large. John affirms that there exists numerous of its roles with regard to the manner in which the Western world perceives certainty, with the Bible acting as the greatest contributor. The Greek people initiated a form of thinking that bore weighty influence on the community. Some of their most noteworthy roles include the conviction in the â€Å"universe† rather than a â€Å"polyverse†, plain cause and effect, and non-inconsistency.2 The Hebrew individuals were as well distinctive in their worldview and the impact was almost the same. Their belief was in the existence of just one God, the creator of the universe. God is separately existent from the creation. He found it necessary for Him and His testament to be identified by human beings. Moreover, God awards and reprimands individuals after going against His will. Both Hebrews and Greeks shared common thinking patterns concerning certainty in numerous approaches. The intellectual thinking of the Greeks coalesced with the monotheism, which was embraced by the Hebrews. The conviction of the Greek people concerning the law of non-inconsistency merged with the conviction of the Hebrew people concerning the existence of God as detached and different from creation.Advertising We will write a custom book review sample on The Bible among the Myths specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More John raises the controversy that sense was not fully established until after individuals came to the realization that God was not just the creator, but as well totally different from the creation. In spite of the presently supported convictions of the dominance of sense and science with the exception of religion, John af firms that sense and science brings about self-annihilation.3 Devoid of the inspiring creator of the universe to guide the ways of humanity, individuals just appear to serve themselves. John applies Hiroshima and Buchenwald campsite as instances of the accomplishments of people without the influence of God. Chapter Two In chapter two, John tries to come up with an applicable description for myth. Prior to the description of myth, John re-examines the idea that intellectuals have wandered from the perception that the Bible is distinctive from other publications, religions, and cultures of Ancient Near East. From the 1960s, intellectuals have been affirming that the features of the Bible and its current conviction systems have universal resistance grounds although the information employed in backing these grounds has stayed unchanged. The author desires using the suitable categorization to the Bible. Particularly, he deals with the concern of whether the Bible could be perceived as my th or not. In a bid to respond suitably to such issue, an individual must reflect on the numerous descriptions created currently by intellectuals. John names these descriptions and discusses his reasons for deeming them insufficient.4 A particular group of descriptions lies in the historical-philosophical class. The initial description of myth in this class is the etymological description. The weight here is placed on the fallacy of the deity or incident.Advertising Looking for book review on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The second description is the sociological-theological description. As per this description, the reality is deemed virtual and something is regarded as truth when other people have first deemed it as truth. The last description is the literary description. Under this description, the incidents are not viewed as correct or incorrect.5 Rather, the narrative utilizes intense application of symbolism to convey its implication. The numerous descriptions of myth bear a common item at their central point, viz. they all support the idea of continuity. According to continuity, not all items are associated with each other, although they are each other in one way or another. John employs the case of an individual as â€Å"with a tree†. In accordance with continuity, the person is not only symbolically the one having the tree, but the person is a section of the quintessence of the tree and the tree is similarly a section of the quintessence of the person. Chapter Three The third chapter mainly focuses on continuity. The main thing that myths bear in common at their central point is the existence of continuity. The manner of thinking with respect to continuity perceives all items as a section of each other in a number of ways. Some three vital strengths (humankind, the natural world, and divinity) are present on a spherical scale where they all bear substantial and indefinite overlie. John affirms that the effects of a worldview like that are extensive.6 A major consequence is the highlight of searching for indications in nature. Endeavors are carried out at presenting truth from climatic samples such as epidemics, fire, droughts, and heavenly bodies. A different consequence is the application of magic to sway and have an impact on the universe. The final instance from the list of consequences of continuity encompasses the appeal of people on fertility. John applies the instance of the way sexuality is vital to the people’s lives presently based on the conseq uence of continuity. In conclusion, John tackles his perception of the common characteristics of myth bluntly. Except for a few exclusions, all myths have in common that there exists several gods.7 Additionally, myths share the conviction of the application of representations and signs to interrelate with the godly and nature. The gods are regarded lowly and are perceived to be imperfect things. The explanations on creation entail some kind of major argument with the intention of resulting into the cosmos. Lastly, myths share low natural worth set on humankind, which originates from the conviction that there exists no measure of ethics. Chapter Four In the fourth chapter, John opts to discuss features of the Bible. In this regard, he tackles the subject of transcendence where deity (existing separate from the universe) decisively interrelates with cosmos in an intense and supernatural manner. John offers the reader an all-inclusive list of a number of common features. Among the most apparent features of the Bible is monotheism, which delineates Christianity from other religions.8 Aside from the religions that owe their origin to the Bible, roughly every other religion revered more than one god. A major different feature was the conviction of the pre-existence of God. There is not a thing in the universe that was present before God. All things that exist are thus compliant to God who created them all. Most of the creation explanations of myth entail divine being(s) controlling matter in a number of ways with the intention of shaping the universe, as it currently exists. According to the Bible, God created all things from nothing.9 The Bible ranks humankind highly, which is another feature that outlines biblical notion unlike in other religious convictions. This declaration adds up when a human being takes the words of the Bible from Genesis chapter 1 and verse 27, which affirms that God made humans in His likeness. Human beings bear natural worth, they were the climax of the creation of God and were charged with authority over it.10 Different features that outline the biblical worldview unlike other world perceptions is the conviction of God as supra sexual, the forbiddance against magical performances, and the ethical regulations that God commands people to obey. Transcendence could be regarded as the basic standard amid the major features of biblical conception. Chapter Five In this chapter, John carries on the suggestion that the Bible should not fall in the class of myths. John goes into details with the subject of ethics. Two outlines of ethics were supported by the non-biblical world perceptions in the Ancient Near East. One of the outlines tackled the manner in which individuals interrelated with one another.11 The second outline of ethics tackled the way individuals acted upon the divine beings. According to the Bible, ethical conduct was set by God, and thus not subject to the urges of change by the society. Other unique characte ristics of the biblical ethics encompass a single lay down of ethics, universal relevance of the ethical systems, and criticism against others, which were deemed an evil doing towards God. John discusses a number of resemblances involving both Israelites and non-Israelites. Even being alike, John reiterates his conviction that these sections are accidental and not necessary to the fundamental uniqueness of those individuals. Chapter Six Similar to the description of myth, history denotes another expression that has been described in a different way by numerous intellectuals. Even as the description of myth is somewhat controversial, the descriptions of history are not as diverse. John employs Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language in a bid to acquire descriptions that he sees as a depiction of the accord. During the early times, there were numerous and different kinds of writings that provided intellectuals with the awareness into the existence of humanity. W hile frequently helpful in the comprehension of cultures of ancient times, John affirms that the majority of their writings are not as per the description of the history. The numerous kinds of non-biblical writings entail omens, king lists, and date formulae just to mention a few.12 Omens try to apply representations from nature to establish the line of action that a leader must follow. King lists encompass descendants of considerable individuals, but frequently highly overstate the information. The date formulae comprises of a list of major occasions in the progression of a community, but fails to connect the occasions in a manner that provides individuals a profound understanding of the culture. Other kinds of non-biblical writings fail to satisfy accurately the state of history due to overstatements and highlights on a person over groups of individuals among other reasons. The people who existed in the ancient times did not employ historic writings. John outlines a number of caus es for this trend. The individuals of ancient times failed to see the significance of writing information for the gain of others because they were only caring of the present situation. A different cause for their failure to make use of historic writing was due to their self-seeking perspective. They were not concerned with removing themselves from current conditions while writing concerning occasions due to the creation of intensely biased descriptions. Additionally, they believed in numerous foundations when simple foundations were adequate, backed by the conviction that they would not have power over their destinies and cared more regarding sustaining order. Nevertheless, the Bible is distinctive in its dealing with historical occasions. It tackles human beings as actual mortal persons.13 The authors incorporated imperfections in their descriptions while non-biblical authors could not reveal the same. For instance, the account of David and the way he sexually sinned prior to a kil ling to conceal the crime/sin. The highlights of people affiliations and selections are as well instances of things that result into the distinctiveness of the Bible and its portrayal of history. Chapter Seven and Chapter Eight The author tackles a number of alarms that are raised in opposition to the Bible regarding its historical authenticity. A number of these issues regard its disclosure, supernatural occurrences, and if Israel was distinctive in these sections.14 The author exposes the manner in which the supernaturally exposure of God to the humankind by Himself resulted into the Israelites ascertaining that they were cautious in guaranteeing that they were perfect in their scripts. Oswalt gives an explanation in the eighth chapter that is significant in the comprehension that the Bible is a historically perfect text. John arrived at the notion of the perfectness of the Bible to some extent earlier in the script, but develops it in the eighth chapter. It is significant to unde rstand the entire Bible is historical. Pertaining to the poetry books, the prophetic books and other books in the Old Testament, they disclose the historical standpoint of the Bible. These sections depict individuals and stretch out their connections with each other, cautious not to marginalize flaws, imperfections, and indecencies. John brings the reader to a greatly shaded perspective of history and divides the description. The wrapping up of this part verifies history in the Bible to be undividable from theology therein. It is from theological convictions that historical occurrences sprout. John employs a perfect instance in the resurrection of Jesus to back this ending. In the book of Corinthians, Paul declares that the conviction of a person cannot survive devoid of historical conviction in Christ’s resurrection.15 Chapters Nine and Ten Chapter 9 tackles a number of alternative perspectives regarding the biblical description as it currently exists. The primary condemnati on is by John Seters and the manner in which he stated that Jewish priests changed the biblical writings probably to suit their needs following the expatriation of Babylon.16 A different condemnation is by Frank Cross in insisting that the Bible is utilized as heroic poetry, but was modified at a particular point to the condition of the Old Testament. The third condemnation by William Dever involves his conviction that the faith structures of Israelites were equivalent to the faith structures of the Canaanites. Additionally, he declares that Christian intellectuals have paid no attention to distinct realities all through history and have instead opted to smear an incorrect description of the traditional Israel. Lastly, John Oswalt discusses Mark Smith and the way he portrays that the beliefs of Israelites originated from the polytheistic convictions of the Canaanites.17 In conclusion, John Oswalt sums up his book in the tenth chapter and essentially reaffirms his major points from t he earlier chapters. The main theme that Oswalt highlights is the one of the dissimilarity between biblical and non-biblical perspectives of truth. The biblical perspective is based on the transcendence whereas the non-biblical perspective is based on continuity. Bibliography Oswalt John. The Bible among the Myths. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009. Footnotes 1 John Oswalt, The Bible Among the Myths (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 11-12. 2 Ibid, 21-23. 3 Ibid, 24-27. 4 Ibid, 29-34. 5 Ibid, 35-43. 6 Ibid, 48-53. 7 Ibid, 54-61. 8 Ibid, 64-70. 9 Ibid, 71-78. 10 Ibid, 79-82. 11 Ibid, 85-107. 12 Ibid, 112-120. 13 Ibid, 121-127. 14 Ibid, 138-157. 15 Ibid, 158-170. 16 Ibid, 172-176. 17 Ibid, 177-185.

How To Use Google Docs For Blogging And Marketing

How To Use Google Docs For Blogging And Marketing Google Docs is where I do my blogging. I’ve mentioned it before, and listed my reasons, which include everything from interface to how it fits into my blogging workflow for both myself and freelance clients. Let’s not forget to mention that it is free. There are a lot of other places you can do your blogging (Evernote, OneNote, WordPress), and there are good reasons to use them. Some of those tools, such as WordPress, can be extended through plugins to get them to do all that you need them to. But now that you can easily attach your Google Docs into , let’s take a look at why Google Docs is a great place, from both writing and cooperative standpoints. How To Use Google Docs To Simplify Your Blogging And Marketing via @JulieNeidlinger The Writing Experience The experience you have when writing matters. This means the actual writing as well as everything else that goes into writing your blog post, such as research. The experience you have when writing matters. #bloggingLess distracting writing. I love, love, love distraction-free writing. The appearance of the tool I’m using has an effect on how well I write. While Google Docs isn’t technically â€Å"distraction free† (it actually has a lot of formatting options available on the writing screen), there is a strong semblance to it. Google has been steadily adjusting all of its products across the board to a more consistent and user-friendly appearance, and Google Docs is no different. Part of removing the distraction of writing is removing the decisions you have to make to get to the actual process of writing. Google Docs, particularly if you are already a Google Drive or Google products user, makes it easy to get going on writing without having to deal with much beyond a few clicks. Portable writing and copy. Portability is more than a handy feature, especially if you are working either outside the geography of a typical office or outside of your blogging platform. Freelancers and those with writing clients, especially, have this experience. Not everyone is using the same blogging platform or wants to give access to their blogging platform to outside writers. There are two approaches to portable copy that I want to cover: working offline and flexible copy. Working offline:  Using Google Drive apps on your Chromebook or mobile device, you can write blog posts when you don’t have an Internet connection. I frequently write on my Chromebook in the offline mode on airplanes or in hotels without an Internet connection. While you won’t have access to online research tools, you can get basic writing done. Flexible copy:  Yes, Google Docs can export your copy in several formats, but what you’ll probably do most often is copy and paste into a blogging platform. Google Docs does a good job of exporting clean HTML right into WordPress (save for adding the b tag to the h tags). Unless you get really fussy with your text styling, Google Docs has improved a great deal when it comes to copying and pasting text without excess formatting. There’s some additional good news regarding just how portable copy is for users, and  we’ll cover that at the end of the post. Write in Google Docs even when you're offline, then transfer to and into WordPress....Built-in research tools. While doing research with a search engine is easy enough, Google Docs has some tools that make it possible to do it all right from your Docs screen without having to hop into other tabs. Tools: Google Docs comes with a lot of built-in tools. You can access these from the main menu as well. The handy one is the â€Å"research† tool, which allows you to do sidebar Google searches. You can do a general search, or break down many specific kinds of searches (for example, just Google Images or just Google Scholar). If you’re doing all of your writing in Google Docs, you can even do a personal search of your own content on Google. Add-ons: You can grab add-ons from the main menu. There’s a pretty good selection depending on what you need. I have added a bibliography creator, document navigator (for the longer writing projects), one to manage workflows, and so on. Adding them to your Google Docs is done while in an actual document. It’s not as if you can’t do these searches or find these tools elsewhere in standalone tools, but again, if you’re like me, you have enough tabs open at any given moment. Sometimes its nice to be able to do the research in the same place without always jumping back and forth. That’s part of simplifying your blogging workflow. Organizing Your Workflow And Your Work While research and writing tools are handy, Google Docs really shines when it comes to working with others. Whether with team members or with clients, it has both discussion and organizational tools that are helpful. Setting up folders. Google allows you to write a basic description of the folders and files found in your Google Drive. As a freelance blogger, I give each writing client their own folder. I then use the description of their folder to add notes about client requirements, such as word counts, contact information, and other copy specifications. This makes it easier to keep important information straight. For your blogging team, you might organize your folders based on blogging category, content campaigns, or workflow process (e.g. Ideas, In Progress, Review, To Publish). You can use the folder description to alert your team to what that category of content should be about, notes on the campaign from a team meeting, or the â€Å"rules† of using your workflow properly. Even if you are a solo blogger, using folders properly in Google Docs will keep your Google Drive from becoming a huge mess. You may have a folder for images, ideas, for research- whatever fits how you work. The descriptions on each folder are a great place for notes of things you need to remember for any content that goes inside. While Google Docs has a great search function, that’s no excuse to be haphazard. How I Set Up My Folders: Being both a solo blogger and a freelance blogger, I put folders to work. I have the following top-level folders in regards to my blogging: Clients:  I changed the color to red for this folder so it stands out. Each folder inside of it is a client. The description of those individual client folders tells me, at a glance, word count and important client expectations. Blogging: This folder is for my own blogging. I have subfolders for actual blog posts, ideas (blog posts started or outlined but not yet written), and research (where I save PDFs of websites using the Ctrl-P and â€Å"Save To Google Drive† option on my Chromebook). I also have, not in a subfolder, a few spreadsheets (analytics, headline ideas, etc.). I save research as a PDF because sometimes Web pages and ebooks disappear, and I want to be able to reference them in future blog posts. I have a few subfolders in the research folder to organize those PDFs by category so when it comes time to write on a related topic, I just have to hop in and see what I’ve discovered while surfing the Web earlier. I also have a Google Doc in each subfolder where I save quotes and interesting snippets from books and magazines I’ve read, with bibliography. In this way, when I find interesting content even while â€Å"off the clock†, I can still help myself out later when it comes time to write. I just hop into the subfolder on the topic I need, find PDFs or quotes to build content around, and writing just got easier. It’s similar to people using Evernote or Pocket, saving Web content for later. Working with your team. One of the big struggles when creating content with a team is the discussion around the content, versioning controls, and making necessary edits. Having that kind of discussion and activity happen alongside the actual content (instead of in an email with references to â€Å"changes in the fourth paragraph† or something similar) is very helpful. There are four basic ways you need to work with your team when it comes to the actual content you’re all trying to create: Editing: The default setting, when you open or create a doc, is full-on editing. You can change this, though, to suggestions so that the actual edits don’t change the copy but suggest the changes. You can accept or reject those changes with a click. Commenting: By highlighting portions of copy, your team can ask questions and carry on conversations. General review: Sharing the Google Doc with your team is easy, whether you want to give them full-edit access, or just need to let team members in on the content but not have the ability to make changes. For example, your graphic designer and social media manager may need to see the copy but you don’t want them to be able to edit it. Revisions: You can always see or revert back to an old version by checking out past revisions. This control is found under File See Revision History. It will bring up a listing of revisions in the right sidebar, using color to show you what has changed since the latest version. Of course, you’ll need notifications when things happen on your document. Each document has notification controls (all notifications, only yours, or none) so you get an email when someone leaves a comment. You can alert specific team members by tagging them in your comments with @ or +theiremail@gmail.com, but you’ll have to have shared the doc with them, of course. If you haven’t, you’ll be asked to do so. You can also email collaborators on a specific document that you’ve shared with them earlier through the â€Å"File† menu. 4 Ways To Use Google Docs To Turn  Your #Marketing Team Into Rock StarsWorking with clients. There are a couple of ways you can work with blogging clients who might need to approve your copy before it can be published. You can do it within the standard Google Docs setup, or you can use an add-on. Share and review: By sharing your finished blog post with your client, you can give them access. If it is read-only, they can preview it and offer feedback via email. If you give them edit access, they can leave comments on specific parts of your copy. Approval workflow: If you need more to your client approval workflow than comments and edit suggestions, there is another option. The add-on that you could put to use for a more standard client approval workflow is called â€Å"Workflows.† Its aim is to establish read-only versions, send emails to those you need to approve the content, and stay on top of the approval process. It isn’t a perfect solution, by any means, but if you aren’t using any other app or system for such approvals and you’re already doing your work inside Google Docs, it may be an option for you. For most clients, the share and review process is enough, particularly if you’re using an app like where things like tasks and discussion are also happening. If you aren’t using , Google Docs also integrates with most of the popular project management tools (Trello, Asana, Zapier, etc.) and much of that workflow can be handled there. Why Use Google Docs? Why not just use WordPress instead of writing in Google Docs? All your writing in one place:  As a possible control freak, it lets me keep a copy of everything I’ve written in one place. I also downloaded the Google Drive app to my computer so that it is backed up for offline access, too. Easy to rework content:  If my content isn’t locked inside WordPress, I can easily turn it into an ebook or something else. Google Docs is more portable. Flexible for multiple clients:  Freelancers are going to discover that each client uses their own project management tools. Using Google Docs has helped me cut through the hassle of creating content to fit so many tools since most have Gmail and are familiar with Google Docs. A client’s WordPress may or may not be an option to you, depending on the access you are given. Multiple people working at once:  WordPress wisely only allows one person to edit a post at once. Gone are the days of lost copy because someone else was in a post. Google Docs lets you all in, notifying everyone who is in there and coloring your cursor to pinpoint your location in the document. You all can edit live. Cleaner interface:  This is a personal opinion, but I’m not keen on the new distraction-free WordPress. The latest version does not allow for the â€Å"quick save† of the old, but instead refreshes the whole page (as well as some other annoyances). Google Docs saves as you go. Better editing experience:  The editing tools and ability to accept or reject suggested edits right there in the copy is a huge help. No one will miss the agony of long email chains or conversations held in places away from the actual copy, causing you to jump back and for from tab to tab to make the changes. 6 Reasons To Use Google Docs For #Blogging And #MarketingGreat News For Users now integrates with Google Docs as part of an all-in-one editorial calendar feature! You can write your posts- and any other kind of content- in Google Docs, and sync it with . now integrates with Google Docs for your all-in-one #marketing calendar! With this integration, Google Docs is combined with the great workflow tools available in . Freelancers can still manage and organize their content from their end, but easily send that finished copy right to without having to manually copy and paste. That’s exciting stuff! And if this sounds like something you'd like to try for yourself, make sure to download your free 'How To Use Google Docs For Blogging And Marketing' infographic to remember the takeaways from this post.