BUILDING BIBLICAL THEOLOGY
PREPARATION FOR LESSON 2
SYNCHRONIC SYNTHESIS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

In preparation for this lesson, read Psalm 72. What kind of literary conventions are used in this Psalm? What historical information can you discern from reading this passage? What theological structures are revealed in it? Write down your thoughts.

This lesson will be divided into three major sections:

Orientation
Historical Information
Synthetic Structures

The work for this lesson will follow the same pattern as Lesson 1.

Goals and Objectives of Lesson 2

GOALS

In this lesson, we would like to accomplish the following:

1. We hope you will become enthusiastic about using Biblical Theology to study the Old Testament, especially the approach of synchronic synthesis.

2. We hope you will make use of all the resources and activities of the lesson to understand the the meaning, importance, and proper use of synchronic synthesis in Biblical Theology.

3. We hope you make some changes in your life as a response to the teachings of this lesson.

OBJECTIVES

When you have done the following, it will show that the goals are met:

1. Use all the resources and complete all the written assignments of the lesson, expressing your own thoughts and attitudes regarding the approach of synchronic synthesis as used in Biblical Theology.

2. Obtain a satisfactory grade on the test, demonstrating that you can identify: a) the meaning and importance of synchronic synthesis, b) the meaning of "that world" and "their world" as seen by Old Testament writers, c) literary conventions used in Old Testament poetry, d) norms regarding comprehensiveness, precision, and objectivity that were followed by Old Testament authors as they narrated history, e) various sources from which we can discern theological structures, and f) examples of different levels of synthetic theological structures that can be discerned as we study a period of Old Testament history.

3. Answer the application questions in the study guides, in which you apply the teachings of the lesson to your own life.

"Instructions for Lesson 2"

Carefully read the "Instructions for Lesson 2." You may want to print them out so that you can refer to them as you proceed through the assignments.

If you need a little reminder of how to do the assignments, go back to the instructions of lesson one and read the "General Instructions for Assignments" again.