The Biblical Narrative Foundation

The Truth Project

Tim Nichols — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:33:06 +0000

As you can see, if you pay any attention to the posting dates, this little blog has not lived up to its initial promise. However, an opportunity has appeared to add some material.

A local church here is taking its people through The Truth Project, a small-group series on Christian Worldview by Focus on the Family. It’s hosted/taught by Del Tackett, whose formative influences in this area include the likes of David Noebel (of Summit Ministries fame) and Francis Schaeffer. I and a number of my congregants have been graciously permitted to tag along, and we’re all enjoying it thus far. We’re only a week into it, so my initial impressions may be off, but thus far it looks to be taking a very academic, intellectual/doctrinal approach; very ‘heady,’ but with a strong lifestyle/application component as well.

Nothing wrong with that; it’s good intermediate-level material. It assumes you went to Sunday school and paid attention for a few years, and are familiar with the common Bible stories and so on. And it takes you from there to embracing a much wider world of application than a pomo-friendly ‘hobby religion’ would allow. Hallelujah, and may there be many more such courses.

But I see an open door to offering a counterpoint from a Narrative Foundation point of view, a more concrete approach that frames the issues in terms of their context within the overall story of humanity. So over the coming weeks I’ll be working up a series of short treatments following the paradigm(s) presented by Stephen (Ac. 7), Paul (Ac. 17, Rom. 9-11), and the author of Hebrews (Heb. 11). There will be a lot of repetition. Can’t help it; I’ll be telling the same story every week. But it’s a great story, and I’ll be telling it with a different facet turned to the light each time.

Hope you find it worthwhile.

Exegetical Outline of Jude

Tim Nichols — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:41:49 +0000

Last summer (August 2007), a group of miscreants DABAR exegetical method practitioners gathered at a cabin in Green Valley Lake to work together on the book of Jude. We ate good food, drank good fermented libations of various kinds, played with Clubbells and kettlebells, fellowshipped, and produced this outline. Our understanding of Jude increased by leaps and bounds, and a good time was had by all. Many thanks to Bill and Ann for hosting a weekend of high-octane insanity.

Necessary Warning Note: As with all our outlines, this one employs a certain amount of abbreviation and a highly nonstandard grammar. The abbreviation is just for brevity; reasons behind the grammar can be found in the two discussions of the method linked here.

Jude Diagrams Now Available

Tim Nichols — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:34:54 +0000

My diagrams of Jude (in Greek) are now available here.

Getting started…

biblicalnarrativefoundation — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:54:04 +0000

We are a group of pastors and theologians who share a dedication to taking the clear Word of God on its own terms. Because of this, we also share a particular approach to exegesis, theological method and preaching. We are scattered across two continents, and poised to expand into two more. This blog is meant to be a public clearinghouse for our work, so we can stay in communication with one another.

More information to follow — we’re still working out how to use wordpress at this point.