BOOK GENRE & STUDY TYPES



A. THE TEN BOOK GENRES


  1. Bibles
    • This genre includes only accepted translations of God's Holy Word.

  2. Greek & Hebrew
    • This section contains ancient manuscripts of the Old and New Testament and complementary study tools.

  3. Commentaries
    • Commentaries encompass all literary works that expound on various scripture passages. Usually, commentaries follow the Holy Bible's chapter and book breakdown.

  4. History
    • Books that give historical data on various periods in time fall into this section.

  5. Sermons
    • Lengthy sermons or lectures written by some of the greatest. Usually these sermons cover a passage or two from scripture.

  6. Dictionary
    • This genre includes only books that define particular words or phrases.

  7. Topical Bibles
    • These reference materials categorize passages of the Bible under topical headings, thus making it easy to find biblical material on virtually any topic.

  8. Theology
    • The various books found in this category use philosophical deduction to discover the doctrinal thought and teachings of the Bible. Some authors employ arguments to convince others that their rational breakdown of biblical thought is correct, while others just state their theological paradigms--conceptual models. When developing these models, they do their best to harmonize their theories to what the Bible says as a whole. This can easily be compared to scientific communities attempt at inventing mathematical models to explain natural phenomena. This highlights why theology was once considered a science.

  9. Philosophy
    • Philosophy employed in the study of religion is interconnected with theology, and could be considered a subset of it for all intents and purposes. Philosophical works represent the rational or argumentation behind various theological viewpoints. Very little philosophy is employed with theological thought in current society. Today, most Christian philosophical works appear to be apologetic in form.

  10. Devotionals
    • Devotionals encompass all literary works that focus directly on exciting great love and devotion towards God. Exhortation and example situations are primarily used to convey this message.



B. THE FOUR BIBLE STUDY PLANS


  1. "Thru the Bible"
    • "Thru the Bible" is one of the major sections of Verse Master's library. It was created for the purpose of providing chapter by chapter Bible study with easy access to Bible Helps. These helps are linked to each chapter of the Bible and they aid in biblical interpretation and application. Five main genres of these helps can be accessed. They are Bible History, Sermons, Bible Commentary, Bible Translations and Topical Reference. These five groupings provide everything that is required for a complete Bible study.
    • First, open another browser window, so you can follow along with this tutorial. Goto Verse Master's main page, Default.html. Scroll down the page until the heading "Thru the Bible" is visible Look through the list of books available under this heading. Notice that there are five columns of books. Each one represents a certain category topic.

      If you move your mouse over the top of each column--small graphic with a cross, you will see a note pop-up that describes the category.
    • Now, open the KJV Bible by clicking on its link. Notice the Book/chapter layout of the KJV Bible index page. Scroll down the page and find a chapter that you would like to read, and click its link. You should now see the chapter of the Bible you chose with a picture map at the top. The picture map is your connection to the Bible study helps. Each one of the books listed on the map are a link, and they correlate with the book and chapter of the Bible you are on. This map includes the first four genres listed in paragraph one above. Click one of the book links, browse through the page, and click the back button on the Browser. Now, scroll down the Bible chapter, past the picture map. The Bible chapter text should now be visible. Within this text there are links on many key words. These links throughout the text represent the fifth category that I mentioned above. Click on one of the text links. This will take you to a page that references the word you chose. It lists in ranking order the pages in Verse Master that relate to the chosen word. Click on the browser back arrow. The Bible chapter should be visible again. Notice the previous and next chapter links. These are for your convience, so you don't have to wait until a page fully loads to go to the next chapter. Move to the bottom of the page. Notice that there is a link to the next chapter there too. This link allows you to go to the next chapter without the hastle of moving up to the top of the page.
    • When I created the "Thru the Bible" Section for Verse Master, I had in mind a certain process for studying scripture. I thought to myself, why not develop a process that will lead an individual through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, while providing background information on every verse along the way. With a shelf full of books, it would be a difficult to read through the Bible, and look up verse background information at the same time. But with the dawn of the computer, books have taken on a more user-friendly form. Now, it is possible to read multiple books at the same time, with less effort, time and energy. Well, this marks the end of this tutorial. Have fun using Verse Master!

  2. The "Parallel Bible"
  3. Topical Studies
  4. Greek/Hebrew Studies