In your paper, you will interact with two theologians and how they approach the Bible.

For one of the theologians, you may pick any one of the Christians that you read in the Global Perspectives part of the course.
For the second theologian, I want you to read a  short article by Donavon Riley short article by Donavon Riley - (PDF LINK ON BOTTOM) He graduated from CSP and has gone on to be a Lutheran pastor. You can also get the article from his blog here.
You will select one of these “well-loved texts” as the focus for your project.
Genesis 8:13-22
Ruth 1:6-17
Psalm 27:1-14
Isaiah 25:6-10
Matthew 6:5-15
Luke 15:11-24
John 15:1-11
Romans 8:31-39
Your Signature Project will have the following sections:

Introduction to the Project including a thesis statement (a one -sentence summary of how you will answer the question in the conclusion).
Discussion of the text itself showing your ability to state its historical/cultural and literary contexts. You will answer the question: what did this text say to its first hearers?
Discussion of your chosen Christian perspective. You will answer the question: how would your writer interpret/read this text in his/her context?
Discussion of the Lutheran perspective. You will answer the question: How does a Lutheran perspective shape the reading of this text? How is the text all about Jesus? How doe the text "translate" the reader?
Conclusion. You will answer the question: What have I learned about the process of interpreting the Bible through this exercise.
A list of sources cited.
You should write this paper using standard academic English and follow the MLA style guide. It will likely take you five to eight pages to do so.

How Luther Taught Me to Read the Bible — Christ Hold Fast https://www.christholdfast.org/blog/how-luther-taught-me-to-read-the-bible
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BY DONAVON RILEY
I've always been more at home in the Old Testament
than in the New Testament. When I first came to
believe that there was a God, I purchased and read
the Koran. I had watched the movie, Malcolm X, a
couple months before and thought, "If the Koran
helped him straighten out his life, maybe it can help
me too:' It didn't. There were too many rules. Too
many things I had to do to show my faithfulness.
There was too much of it that seemed to put the
responsibility on me to prove my worthiness to God.
Then I picked up the Bhagavad Gita and read that. It
seemed to say, "If you want to gain enlightenment
you've got to do all these things:' Then the Tao Te
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Ching, which I liked but it didn't offer any answers as
to why God was after me, then parts of the
Mishnah and Talmud-still no help. And finally, I
bought an edition of the Oxford English Bible.
I sat on the floor in my apartment, searching it as I'd
done with the other 'holy' books. It was months
before I read anything that offered an answer as to
why I now believed there was a God, and why He
was personally involved in my life. I tried to read
Matthew's Gospel but I gave up as soon as I read,
"And some will come to me on that day, saying
'Lord, Lord; and I will say to them, 'I never knew
you:" (Matthew 7:21-23)
I tried to read Romans, Ephesians, Philemon, Jude,
and Revelation. At the time, they seemed to say the
same as the other 'holy' books. "God expects you to
do something if you don't want to be judged or
damned or end up in hell:' But when I turned to the
Old Testament, to the Psalms and Jonah in
particular, it was like drinking from a fire hose. Here
were people who struggled to believe, who suffered,
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who were angry at God, who had hurt themselves,
who cried out for help, and didn't seem to get along
with religious people. These were my people!
The testimony of
men moved by
God's Spirit to
write about the
faithful, loving,
kindness of God
toward His chosen
people?'
Later, when I was introduced to Martin Luther, I
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discovered a spiritual brother. Here was an Old
Testament Professor. A man who'd been awakened to
the faithful, loving, kindness of God in the midst of
his spiritual struggles, while he was lecturing on the
Psalms. At last I'd found someone who could teach
me how to read the Bible. A Christian brother who
could point me to the answer I was looking for in
the Bible: "Why did God choose me?"
Luther showed me that the book of Genesis is
essentially a Gospel book. He led me, in his
introductions to the books of the Old Testament,
through the Old Testament. He taught me to
distinguish between God's word of Law ( that judges
and condemns sin), and God's word of Gospel (that
gives grace and forgives sinners). He taught me to
distinguish between God's two words of Law and
Gospel that run throughout all of Scripture.
He also taught me to read the Old Testament as
God's published will about the history of His saving
work for His people. The Old Testament wasn't a
history of God doing terrible things to punish
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terrible people. It was a library of books. The
testimony of men moved by God's Spirit to write
about the faithful, loving, kindness of God toward
His chosen people. A people that were, like me, so
twisted up by doubt and pain and selfishness, that
when God called them "my people, my children;'
they rebelled. They treated God as an enemy. They
ignored and killed his preachers. They treated his
gifts as payment due. And they heard His promises
of Salvation as commands to save themselves. God
sent Martin Luther to show me that:
"Here [ in the OT] you will find the swaddling
cloths and the manger in which Christ lies:'
(Luther, AE 35:236)
Most important of all, Luther taught me the key that
unlocks the Old Testament is the first chapter of
John's Gospel.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He was
in the beginning with God. All things were
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made through him, and without him was not
any thing made that was made. In him was life,
and the life was the light of men. The light
shines in the darlmess, and the darkness has not
overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name
was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness
about the light, that all might believe through
him. He was not the light, but came to bear
witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone,
was coming into the world. He was in the world,
and the world was made through him, yet the
world did not know him. He came to his own,
and his own people did not receive him. But to
all who did receive him, who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of
God, who were born, not of blood nor of the
will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of
God.
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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the
only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John bore witness about him, and cried out,
"This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes
after me ranks before me, because he was before
me:") For from his fullness we have all received,
grace upon grace. For the law was given through
Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God,
who is at the Father's side, he has made him
known.
John's Gospel revealed that the Word of God, God's
Word made flesh in Mary's womb-Jesus Himself is
running loose in the Old Testament. Wherever God
speaks, that's the second Person of the Trinity, the
pre-incarnate Jesus. When God said, "Let there be
light;' that Word was Jesus. In the Garden of Eden,
when God calls Adam out of hiding, that was Jesus.
When God promised Sarah she would give birth to a
son, that promising Word was Jesus. When God
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spoke to Moses at Sinai; that was Jesus. When the
prophet's spoke, "Thus sayeth the Lord;' the Word
that exploded out of their mouths was Jesus. When
the Psalmist prayed in the Spirit of God, "My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me:' that was Jesus
praying. Everywhere I read in the Old Testament,
wherever God spoke, there the pre-incarnate
Word-Jesus, revealed Himself to me.
That opened up the New Testament too. The New
Testament was (and is) a commentary on the Old
Testament. Gospel books and apostolic letters that
point back to the Old Testament. More men inspired
by God's Spirit, who pointed back to the history of
Israel. And what they pointed to was the history of
God's Word promising His faithfulness even when
His people were faithless. Every word in the New
Testament now said to me, "What you read in the
Old Testament, all the works and promises of God,
they all came true in Jesus:'
Luther taught me what he'd learned as a young Old
Testament Professor at the University of Wittenberg:
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I wasn't reading the Bible the right way. What I
imagined the Bible was about was all turned around,
upside down, and backwards. @@I wasn't
interpreting Scripture-Scripture was interpreting
me.@@ It was translating me. I was being translated
from my way of understanding Scripture into God's
way, His Jesus way of doing the words to me.
Jesus, it turns out, exegetes Himself. In the Old
Testament he says it. In the New Testament he
explains it. Then he sends his chosen people out to
proclaim it. It's all about Jesus. The Word of God in
the flesh, the second Person of the Trinity. Our
Savior, who reveals Himself to his people; in His
own words, in His own way. "All the Scriptures point
to Christ alone:' (Luther, AE 35: 132) And in this
way, He gives Himself to us so that we have all
received grace upon grace.
Luther quotes are from the American Edition (AE)
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of Luther's Works, Volume 35: Word and Sacrament I.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley is a Lutheran pastor, conference speaker, author, Online Content
Director for Higher Things, a contributing writer at 1517 Legacy Project, Christ
Hold Fast, and LOGIA. Pastor Riley co-hosts the podcast: 'The Higher Things Simul
Cast'. He is pastor of Saint John Lutheran Church in Webster, MN. A graduate of
Concordia Universities in St. Paul, Minnesota and Portland, Oregon, Pastor Riley
received his seminary and post-graduate education at Luther Seminary in St. Paul,
Minnesota. He colloquized into the LC-MS from the ELCA in 2008. He is married
to Annie, and is the father of four children: Owen, Alma, Hoshea, and Hallel.
Twitter @DonavonRiley
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