Ok, so since this has taken me 6 times longer than expected (entirely my fault) and I don't often talk about it I thought this would be as good a time as any to mention some of the ups and downs of this course so far. This is by no means a summary of the class, it is just some of the things I either enjoyed or didn't know before.
One of my favorites things in this course was Typology which is everywhere in Genesis. It is one of those things you kind of pick up on but didn't know their was a term and study form behind it. Once you know about it you see it even more than before.
Typify: a.) To serve as a typical example of; embody the essential characteristics of: a painting that typifies the artist's work. b.) To represent by an image, a form, or a model; symbolize or prefigure.
Typology: a.) The study or systematic classification of types that have characteristics or traits in common. b.) A theory or doctrine of types, as in scriptural studies.
One of the more common examples of typology in Genesis would be the sacrifice of Isaac on Mt Moriah. Isaac typifies the christ here in many ways such as when he carried to wood up th mountain that was to be the fire for his sacrifice. In a similar fasion the Christ carred the wooden cross which He was to be nailed to as a sacrifice. A fairly obvious type would be that both Isaac and Jesus where the only sons of their fathers and where loved greatly. Isaac belonged to Abraham and Jesus belonged to God. Another type in this situation is that both Jesus and Isaac were promised births. The birth of Jesus was foretold long before Isaacs time and Isaac himself had been a promised seed to Abraham. In both the sacrifice at Mt Moriah and the crusifixtion of Jesus the father and son walked together to the event. Also, both Jesus and Isaac willingly submitted to being the sacrifice that their fathers wanted. And finally, after the event on Mt Moriah Issac seems to almost disappear. Jesus, likewises, ascends into heaven after the events of the crusifixtion and resurection. Their are many more though and some are much more potent than this. Another very common type is the appearance of Melchizedek in Genesis 14.
My least favorites are Evidential, Presuppositional, and Classical apologetics. Actually, it's not that I don't like the them I just don't like how people seem to go about it. I meen each of the three forms has within it several variations and none are appreciated by the majority. Each has its own faults when put under scrutiny but each has something to offer as well. Of them all I would currently choose the presuppositional form. It is the closest one to my personality and how I approach people. On the other hand Evidential would be great to have a firm grip on because when people say things about how scripture didn't really happen or can't be documented I could correct and then direct them to the truth that many many things have been documented. The combination of these events, places, people, and timelines goes a great distance in removing the doubts of the casual opposition.
I also loved how much prophectic verses I had missed before as this is the 3rd or 4th time I've read Genesis but had never picked up on them before. Another thing, and probably the most influential, was how detailed the relationships were compared to how before when I basically read on my own. Getting to know the characters and the author in such an intimate way helps to feel a connection to each situation and each person which I hadn't been able to grasp before. In almost every verse I was led to feel a connection to the plot or the character. When they were doing well I was happy and when they were doing poorly I felt sorry for them. This, though the most important to me, is by far the hardest to summarize.
Overall it was a good class regardles of how slow I moved at it. I have the lectures scanned in as pdf files but didn't upload them yet. If you are interested you can download them later.
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