Explanation of journal questions

CORE 150
Prof. Jay Shim
The journal subject is the main subject of the class. If you carefully read the assigned readings and write
a thoughtful journal, you are well prepared for the class and for the coming tests. Journal is based on
reading. Journal is much more than your faith statement. Though your personal faith is important for
the class, journaling is an academic assignment. Even though some journal questions are given in the
form of short definition-asking questions, what I want to find in your journal is not dictionary definition,
but your thoughtful answer based on careful reading.
J1: How do we know God?
We have watched DVD presentation on diverse perspectives of seeing religion and religious experience.
Read the assigned reading (John 20, 2 Tim 3, and handout of John Calvin) and write a journal on the
Christian way of knowing God.
J2: What am I created to be?
The main subject of the class is creation of humanity, especially the image of God. Read the assigned
reading (Gen 1-2 and handout) and find Gods purpose of creating human beings, which will lead to
missions of humanity.
J3: What is the big picture of the Bible?
Gen 1-11 is a unit in the sense that it provides the foundation of all the stories that follow. It describes
the origins of the world and sin. It also describes the nature of sin and how God is going to deal with it in
the world. After reading the assigned reading, especially the handout, write a journal on what God is
doing in the redemptive history of God revealed in the whole Bible.
J4: What are covenant and law?
You have already studied the covenant that God made with Abraham. God made the covenenat 430
years before God gave the law through Moses. Covenant is one of the main subjects of the redemptive
history of God in the Bible. Covenant is the tool that God uses to redeem his world and the law was
added to the law. After reading the assigned reading, find out the natures of the covenant and law, and
find how the two are interrelated.
J5: What is prophecy?
We are now moving into the genre of prophecy of the Old Testament. Be prepared for the class by
writing a journal about the nature of the prophecy in the Bible after reading Fee chapter 10 along with
the assigned Bible texts.
J6: What is prophesied of the Messiah?
God is promising Israel to send the Savior. Such promises are recorded in the Prophets. Read the
assigned texts and find out how the Messiah was described. Find from the biblical texts what images
were used to describe the coming Messiah.
J7: What is gospel?
What is asked for by this question is not a dictionary definition, but the nature and major content
material of the gospel in the New Testament. Read carefully the assigned texts, especially Fee 7.

J8: What is the Kingdom of God?

Find out the nature of the kingdom of God in the assigned reading.
J9: How do we use Christian freedom?
This subject we began already when we dealt with Exodus. God freed Israel out of the bondage of Egypt;
so God is freeing us from the bondage of the evil. What is the nature of the Christian freedom? How are
we supposed to live with it? The assigned texts will tell you.
J10: What are Heaven and New Heaven and New Earth?
The heaven is a very popularly used concept, but many use it in a very confused way. During the last
couple of classes we will deal with such biblical concepts of heaven and new heaven and new earth.
Those are also well deal with in N. T. Wrights Surprised by Hope, one of the three books for review. Find
out what they mean in the Bible from the assigned reading.