The Holy Scriptures

Resources

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha by Michael Coogan; Marc Brettler (Editor); Carol Newsom (Editor); Pheme Perkins (Editor)
Call Number: REF BS191.5.A1 2018 N48 2018
ISBN: 9780190276096
Publication Date: 2018-04-01
The introduction to each biblical book gives you an overview of its theology, authorship, time of writing, main themes, etc. The footnotes will help you with background to the specific passage you are dealing with. Articles and maps in the back give you large-scale overviews of historical periods and biblical interpretation.

Print Version

Accordance software
Your Accordance software contains useful articles, maps, and timelines and the Eerdmans Encyclopedia
Bible Odyssey. Society of Biblical Literature. 2019. Web. 16 Oct. 2019.
Bible Odyssey provides short entries on a number of People, Places, and Passages that can be quickly read. The “Tools” tab also has the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, similar to the Eerdmans Bible Dictionary in Accordance, and a Timeline Gallery.
Biblical Chronology
This provides a brief chronology from the 13th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. Only major events are listed.
Oxford Reference Books
This collection includes:
The Oxford Companion to the Bible has brief articles on topics, persons, places, and events.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Ethics has articles from 1,000 to 7,000 words on topics and approaches to issues intersecting the Bible and Ethics.
Oxford Handbooks
This collection includes:
The Oxford Handbook to the Prophets has articles about each prophetic book as well as World Behind the Text information drawn from cultures that are contemporary with Israel during the time that the prophetic books were created and redacted.
The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms has articles that deal with the World of the Text and the World Behind the Text for the Book of Psalms.

Video presentation from Dr. Steven Bishop

Bishop, Steven. "GOE: The Holy Scriptures." GOE Prep LibGuide. 28 Nov. 2020. Web. 28 Nov. 2020

Sample Question and Rubric with notes from Southwest Faculty

The most important skill you need to exercise in writing a GOE exam in Scripture is the hermeneutical circle. It is always referenced in the question; the trick is to discover it. Here is the question from 2019, as an example. The world of the text is highlighted in blue; the world behind the text is highlighted in red; the world in front of the text is highlighted in green. In addition, theological statements and questions are highlighted in brown. Additional notes from SSW Professors are in italics.

Sample GOE question and rubric.

Material provided by Dr. Steven Bishop, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Director of the Master of Divinity Program, and The Rev. Jane Patterson, PhD, associate professor of New Testament and Director of Community Care at Seminary of the Southwest.