Background, historical and cultural information to help you study the bible.
What are the Sacraments?
What are the Sacraments? What’s the difference between the Protestant view of Sacraments and the Roman Catholic view? Rome has 7 sacraments, while Protestants have 2.
Coins in the Bible
What’s the difference between a shekel, a denarius, and a talent? They are all coins circulating at the time of the New Testament. But one was Jewish, one Greek, and one Roman. Here’s what they were worth in relation to each other.
What was the Canaanite religion?
“Canaanite” refers to the group of polytheistic people living in the historical region of Israel and Palestine at the time of the Old Testament. Canaanite mythology centered around three primary exploits of Baal.
Introduction to Ancient Egypt
The first third of the book of Exodus takes place in Egypt. The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 400 years and were steeped in Egyptian culture. The cultural and historical setting of Exodus is ancient Egypt. Here’s a brief introduction.
Introduction to the Intertestamental Period
The time between the end of the Old Testament (400BC from the prophet Malachi) to the preaching of John the Baptist (25 AD) is known as the “intertestamental” period. Here’s an overview of what happened.
Introduction to New Testament Jewish Groups
The ancient historian Flavius Josephus identifies four rival religious philosophies among the Jews at the time of Jesus: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots.
When did the Exodus happen?
When it comes to biblical history, you can divide scholars into minimalists and maximalists. Minimalists believe almost nothing in the Old Testament is historically accurate. Maximalists believe the Old Testament is a reasonably accurate historical document. Among the maximalists, there are two main competing theories about the date of the Exodus: early and late.
Introduction to the Northern Kingdom
After the death of King Solomon, two of his sons, Rehoboam and Jeroboam, fought for the throne. When Rehoboam harshly raised taxes on the people, the 10 northern tribes rebelled and installed Jeroboam as their king, creating the northern kingdom of Israel. The two southern tribes, Benjamin and Judah, remained with Rehoboam and became the kingdom of Judah.
Introduction to the Southern Kingdom
After the death of King Solomon, two of his sons, Rehoboam and Jeroboam, fought for the throne. When Rehoboam harshly raised taxes on the people, the 10 northern tribes rebelled and installed Jeroboam as their king, creating the northern kingdom of Israel. The two southern tribes, Benjamin and Judah, remained with Rehoboam and became the kingdom of Judah.
Who was Nebuchadnezzar?
Nebuchadneeezar II was king of Babylon from 604-562 BC
Introduction to the Exile and Return
Overview and timeline of the exile of Israel and her return from captivity.
Who are the early church fathers?
The “church fathers” are the earliest writers outside of the New Testament. Their writings are not classified as apocryphal nor are they considered authoritative. They wrote to edify their fellow Christians.
What is a disciple?
The Greek word usually translated disciple simply means a student or one who learns. But it was a particular kind of student in Jesus’ day.
Chart of Israel’s Judges
The book of Judges tells of the various leaders raised up to deliver Israel from the enemies remaining in the land after the conquest under Joshua. The Judges of Israel (c. 1375–1050 BC) came from various tribes and regions of Israel.
What is an apostle?
What makes an apostle of Jesus Christ an apostle? There are 4 qualifications.
The Old Testament books in Chronological order
The Old Testament is organized by genre rather than historical timeline. Here’s a list of the Old Testament books in chronological order with the traditional (approximate) dates.
How is the Old Testament organized?
In the Christian Bible, the Old Testament is divided into 4 main parts based on genre. Within each genre, books are organized by author, chronology and size.
Paul’s Missionary Journeys
The itinerary of Paul’s three missionary journeys on 1 map and in 1 chart with links to background information on the cities and the reference in Acts.
How many letters did Paul write to the Corinthians?
How many letters did the Apostle Paul write to the Corinthian church? The answer is not as easy as it sounds. We have two letters to the church at Corinth in our Bible, but both of these letters mention another letter. Many scholars believe Paul wrote four letters to the Corinthian church but only two of them survived. If they are right, the chronology of Paul’s correspondence and visits to Corinth might look something like this.
City of Corinth
In Paul’s time Corinth was the 2nd most important city in the Roman empire. Corinth was an exceptionally wealthy and important city in Greece.
Early Church Heresies
While not a complete list of early church heresies, these groups are the ones that the New Testament authors seem to write against and respond to most often.
Why is the New Testament in Greek?
Why was the New Testament written in Greek while the Old Testament was written in Hebrew?
Abraham’s Family Tree
This chart summarizes the Abraham’s family tree, based on what we know from Scripture.
Chronology of Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronology of the post exile: Ezra-Nehemiah
List of the Parables of Jesus
Jesus often taught in parables. Parables are stories which include a dramatic illustration that makes and impact on the listener and calls for a response. Parables are serious theology. But they are metaphorical theology. They teach through metaphor, simile, and dramatic action rather than through logic or reasoning. Here’s a list of the parables of Jesus as recorded in the gospels.
Chronology of the Apostle Paul
This chart gives a timeline of the major events in the life of the Apostle Paul and the dating of his letters.
King Saul’s family tree
This chart summarizes the King Saul’s family tree, based on what we know from Scripture. I’m always looking for this information and couldn’t find it in one place. This is a work in progress. Please contact me if you find errors, omissions or broken links.
King David’s family tree
This chart summarizes the King David’s family tree, based on what we know from Scripture. This is a work in progress. Please contact me if you find errors, omissions or broken links.
Chronology of Jeremiah’s Ministry
Jeremiah was a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah who wrote the book of Jeremiah. His name means “exaltation of the Lord.” Below is a basic chronology of his 40+ year ministry.
Books of the Bible by date written
“When was it written?” Here’s the most likely order in which the books of the bible were written.
Kings of Israel and Judah
This chart summarizes the Kings of Israel and Judah from the crowning of Saul to the captivity of Judah.
Why we have 4 Gospels
A good teacher tailors her presentation to her audience. The same is true of the four New Testament gospels. Each gospel writer had a different audience in mind and tailored his presentation of the story to his audience.
Where was the manger and what was the inn?
You have seen, heard, and sung the Christmas story so often you can recite the details by heart. Most of what you know is likely “cultural mythology.”
Where to next?
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Top Photo by Giammarco Boscaro on Unsplash
