The final three chapters of ENTG cover slightly more disjointed topics than previous chapters, filling in various gaps which would have been overwhelming earlier. If you have followed along with me on how to understand and memorise the verb, you will again reap a reward in this chapter.

The Old Testament book of Daniel will be the focus of our attention in this chapter, and thus we will consider the literary genre of apocalyptic writing. In general, there are two subcategories of apocalyptic writing: historical and otherworldly. The latter is characterized by the transcendence of space and a celestial setting.

We have many apocalyptic compositions dating from the mid second century bcethrough the second century ce. As we examine the style and characteristics of this unique form of communication, we will observe that the concept of apocalyptic writing manifests a marked distinction between the spiritual and the physical worlds. Reading such literature appropriately, we will observe its primary purpose of encouraging the reader in faithful endurance and patience, assured that God will ultimately triumph and care for his righteous followers. Although monotheism is not explicitly stated in Daniel’s apocalypse, we will note that his God is the sole deity of the universe.

Explains both conceptually and historically the project of the book, which is to integrate Jewish tradition with analytic philosophy. It identifies the various forms that Jewish philosophy has taken, as well as the methods and source materials with which it is pursued in this book.

It is widely known that the ancient Greek language distinguished three main kinds of love. With the exception of one sustained discussion that I consider carefully, friendship receives scarcely a handful of references in its own right in Works of Love, for it is usually lumped together with erotic (or romantic) love – “and friendship” is the phrase used to conjoin philia to eros as a kind of afterthought, and this occurs dozens of times in Kierkegaard’s tremendous yet maddening 1847 text. Incessantly, the flaws of philia are declared in Works of Love to be exactly the same as the flaws of eros. For the most part, that leaves no room for a consideration of friendship itself. My chapter seeks to remedy this neglect, turning to Kierkegaard’s example of Jesus’s love for Peter.

In Extra Help we will see how nouns and adjectives are formed when their stems do not end in α or ο (consonant stems, or 3rd declension). The Extra Material in this chapter is a just a trivial pointer about accents.

This is the first of three chapters devoted to questions about human free will from a Jewish perspective. I identify three challenges to belief in free will: divine foreknowledge; divine control of history; and scientific determinism. The Bible ignores problems about free will that philosophers obsess over. This serves as a prelude to chapter 5, which examines a biblical episode that does engage one problem that analytic philosophers have addressed.

This chapter continues the historical and religious overview to the emergence of the Qur’an. The treatment here concerns the person of Muhammad and major regional events from 580–614 CE.

In Extra Help we will see how nouns and adjectives are formed when their consonant stems end in a contract vowel. In the Extra Material you will meet the very few contexts for the nominative, and use them to think about when sense overrules strict grammar.

In this final chapter, we will summarize the Old Testament and explore its lasting contributions to world history, society in general, and the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Specifically, we will explore four particular aspects of the Old Testament and examine how each functions to create a cohesive and living whole.

This overview in turn will remind us that the Old Testament’s central message communicates, in a host of ways, what it perceives as Israel’s life in covenant relationship with God, obeying God’s Torah, and living morally and ethically in right relationship with other human beings. Within this overarching concern of the Old Testament, we have already observed the continual thread of a monotheistic worldview in process. The development toward the Old Testament’s conviction of the singularity of God is indeed among the most enduring contributions to human history.

Similarly, the Old Testament’s contribution to civil society cannot be underestimated. Thus, in conclusion, we will explore three core values in particular that are rooted, not in secularization as often is assumed, but in the rich and enduring legacy of the Old Testament.