750 word Response to BI101 I originally started this course because of really loving Dr. Heiser’s content, I started with “The Unseen Realm” then fast forward about 4 more years I have read nearly everything by him and also read most of the things he has recommended, when I saw he had this introductory course I felt it be an easy yes to watch. In this course Dr. Heiser details points in biblical Interpretation that many believers are completely oblivious to, to be quite honest. Several concepts are foreign to laypeople, I am extremely happy with this course as it has taught me a lot and what to look out for in my studies of the bible. One of the things I learned within this course is about the obstacles regarding meaning. Meaning is not self-evident and there are several obstacles to getting to the biblical writer intent. Here is some of those obstacles Presuppositions -the assumptions that we have about certain things as we try to interpret the biblical text. They’re assumptions that are encoded in our brains just because of our background, our experience, the framework of our whole life. Author - we have this inherent obstacle of trying to figure out what the author himself was thinking when he wrote something down under inspiration in the text of Scripture Reader - Ourselves, our own thinking. They bring their own presuppositions, meaning. Thinking is interpretation. Medium - The mode of communication, it’s a written document. You miss voice inflection, facial expression, body language. Meaning - only one meaning? Literalism Translation - we want to penetrate past our English translation to the original languages of the biblical text. i.e., manuscript variances, different interpretations Precedent- We have whole bodies of tradition handed down to us through time by different groups that all took Scripture very seriously. Context- we must decide whether we are letting our own context or some foreign context to the biblical writer interpret we interpret what they wrote something that’s official and written down, and this issue is just wider. The right context for interpreting the Bible is the context of the writer—the context that produced the thing we’re trying to interpret. Everything else is foreign, and we need to be aware of that. Relevance-How what we are studying applies to our lives. Validation- how do we know we are right? In utilizing this course we begin to see how much we have to be aware of, there are several pitfalls that can make bible interpretation difficult, but not impossible in discerning. Later in the course Dr. Heiser discusses several tools that can be used in helping to determine the worldview context, here are some listed, Primary Sources - check out the ancient literature section in a passage guide Reference Works - dictionaries and encyclopedias Academic Monographs - books focused on a specific subject matter Bible Commentaries - Academic research, but a scarcity of specifics Devotional or Popular Commentaries - focused on application, not interpretation Expositional Commentaries verse by verse exposition, but not much in terms of original language study, what most Pastors will use Scholarly Commentaries - will engage with original languages and will assume the reader will have a working knowledge of the languages as well and will take the reader into the context of the writer Journal Articles - more specific than reference works, but not as lengthy as an academic monograph Digital Resources - blogs and Podcasts as long as they are subject matter experts Later Dr. Heiser details different fulfillment types, He describes them in the following way, sensus plenior is really about a fuller metaphorical—maybe if you want to use the word even “symbolic”—kind of fulfillment, but I like metaphor personally. Analogical is a step back from that, where a NT writer will see something happen with Jesus or will hear about something that happened with Jesus, and then he’s writing the account down later, and he will sort of sense an analogy with something in the OT. So there’s not as direct of a connection between what the nt writer is writing about and something specific in the ot. Even though the nt writer will quote an ot passage, it’s analogous thinking.1 1 Heiser, M. S. (2018). BI101 Introducing Biblical Interpretation: Contexts and Resources (Revised Edition). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.   And finally, Typology is a foreshadowing of the future in a nonverbal way. Let me read Rom 5:14; this is where the term actually comes from. Paul writes, “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”1 1 Heiser, M. S. (2018). BI101 Introducing Biblical Interpretation: Contexts and Resources (Revised Edition). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.   This course has helped shaped my understanding in bible interpretation, it has really helped to give a better sense of grasp what the biblical writers, I recommend this course to everyone who wants to get a little more in the bible study endeavors.