TheBibleandHistory.com                      The Bible and History Center of Charlotte

I am a retired psychotherapist who is in a unique position.  First of all, I must decide What to do with the rest of my life.  Secondly, I have been encouraged to write a book.  While I have written several published pieces, I feel none would be marketable by today's standards. 

However, as one who began his professional life as an Ordained BaptistMinister/Preacher, I wrote and preached a number of sermons.  I possess none of them at this point in my life, either written or recorded.  However, despite developing a debilitating diagnosis of STML (Short Term Memory Loss), my long term memory is pretty much in tact.  Therefore I trust that some, if not most, of the sermons, lectures and presentations I have prepared over the years can be recovered.



 At 67, I am encouraged by my physicians to engage in mental or brain exercises.  The primary recommendation is crossword puzzels.  There was a time in my earlier years when I would have been pleased to do cross word puzzels as doctor's orders or with a note from the doctor! 



However, since my early retirement and becoming the primary homemaker and child care giver, I discovered this marvelous creation or invention called the PC or Personal Computer.

In time, the children grew up and I became single.  At the age of 67, there are not a significant number of jobs for me in the workforce.  However, through association with colleagues and close relatives, who have most impressive websites, I decided that creating and adminstering a website would be a much more rewarding and fulfilling activity than doing crossword puzzels!



Now, the issue was, what to call it!  Since my life has been shaped by the Christian Bible and my major areas of study have been History and Human Development, the name almost presented itself.

The Bible, for so many people is not just the biblical canon, but the canon for all reality.  The main reason for developing this site is to help people understand that such is not the case, and has never been the case.

History produced the Bible and in turn the Bible has produced History.  I was in the seminary from 1968 until 1971.  One of the key issues was, can we have a Christian Faith without Mythology or even without Religion.  The vast majority of us were in the Seminary because we believed that Faith is a vital part of life and if we were able to help Church Members to see and experience this reality, that we would be on our way in the process of fulfilling our calling. 

Let me be the last person to say we failed in our quest.  But, the fact of the matter is that our studies were more about making a living for some, and achieving statue and success for others, than it was about matters of Faith.

I do not wish to be misunderstood on this point.  A good number of us were married by this time and providing for a family is high on Maslow's Heiarchy of Needs. 

Later in life when I had crossed the divide of no longer being a Pastor, I was working as a Case Manger for Foster Children with psychological and/or psychiatric issues.  Among the many difficult issues was to play some sort of referee between the child, the birth parents and the foster parents.  Needless to say, the foster parents tended to be less difficult than the birth parents!  However there was one particular birth mother I shall never forget!

 

Any time this particular woman was unhappy with me, I was continually engaged in an onslaught of a conversation on the subject that I, along with my peers, were only engaged in this type of work for the money.  We were definitely not dedicated.

 

It was as though I was listening to a member of the Congregation in a Church Business Meeting, where my salary was being presented for approval.  One of the Mothers of the Church pointed out that no man can raise a family on dedication alone.  My response to the unhappy parent was that I had to make a living doing something.  If it came down to a choice between shoveling manure and being a case worker for children with psychological and/or psychiatric issues, my choice was the later.



In developing this website, those issues have passed off my radar screen.  The issues now are bringing to bear my lifetime of experiences and studies to make a statement to a world that is radically different from that world of Theological Studies.  Compared to the Humanistic Values of that day, the world of today seems to have lost its way.  I intend to use this website, and the weekly blog associated with it, to help raise the bar on our level of discourse and to assist in bringing about a higher level of civility and discourse, particularly for the theocratic segment of our population.

To understand each other, how we think, how we believe and how we feel; is important and necessary in our common life.  If we are to live in community where each and every one of us respects the other, then such tolerance and acceptance is necessary.

 

 A text from the Bible asks the question

What is man, that you think of him;

  mere man, that you care for him?

Psalm 8:4 (TEV)

 

The answer or response to this question has many answers and depends on one's point of view, or world view. 

Indeed how we see or perceive the world is the reality in which we live.  For example, my father was convinced that the Sun was only about two miles above the Earth, the size of a house and stood still!  Out of respect, love and trepidation, I did not attempt to correct him or to challenge him on his cosmological assumtions.  Because of the work of a 16th Century Astronomer named Copernicus, my father was right on at least one of his assumptions: The Sun Stood Still! (Joshua 10:12-14)My father's view of the Universe came completely from the Bible.  What ever ran contradictory to Scripture was wrong and not to be taken seriously.

When we speak of a worldview, today in America there are two basic understandings held by communities that are almost polar opposites.  The most dominant one is a Religious Worldview that is primarily based on ones understanding, interpretation or perception of what the Bible is and is not. 

To be fair, open and honest, the Bible was the repository for my understanding of the universe as well as my father's.  However, because of my studies, mostly extra-curricular or additional reading, I had to maintain a sidecar worldview along with my religious or theological understanding of the universe.

The other Worldview is a Secular one shared by the vast majority of those who believe Charles Darwin turned the biblical worldview of the place of humans in the universe up-side-down.  The fact of the matter is that such was not the case.  The ancients, particularly  philosophers, had an understanding of the development of humans which may not have been as empirical as that of Darwin's, but a significant number of them hypothesized that Humans had developed from lower life forms.

There are many persons of Faith who embrace the scientific method.  They understand that the Bible is a Book of Faith that tells the story of a Community of Faith over a period of three or four thousand years, depending on one's interpretation of where Prehistory ends and History begins.  But it is just that.  Even within the Bible, the worldview of the authors evolves over time.

For example, the cosmology of the Old Testament is three storied or tiered.  There are the heavens above, held into place by a firmament, the earth beneath which is supported by two large mountains, and the underworld beneath the earth referred to as Sheol.

By the time of the return from the Babylonian Captivity, the biblical world view had incorporated some of the cosmological concepts of the Persians, Meads , Neo-Babylonians or Chaldeans and the Achaemenid Empire.

It is this cosomology that we see reflected in the writings of the post exilic authors, particularly in Daniel.  For Protestants, the biblical worldview ends during this period.  However, Daniel, which is written during the period of the Seleucid Empire, post dates the period of Malachi;  which is written during the time of Ezra, Nehemiah and Ezekiel.  This is the period of the return from captivity and the rebuilding of Jerusalem.  Malachi is also the last Book in most Protestant Bibles.                                                            

(This website is under construction.  I welcome your ideas, concepts and comments.)

Harold A Pulley, Th M

haroldpulley@thebibleandhistory.com

Weekly Post:

thebibleandhistory.com/blog

LAYOUT, NAVIGATION AND CONTENTS OF THIS SITE

THE BIBLE

A survey and introduction to the Books of the Bible

HISTORY

A presentation on human origins, development and behavior

INTERPRETATION

A presentation on how the Bible is used and understood in our culture

VIDEOS

Videos selected to add insight and commentary on the contents of this site.

ABOUT US

Information on the intent of purpose of this site.

CASE STUDIES

Information providing insight into the human condition.

CONTACT US

Questions, Comments, Opinios and Insight Are Requested And Welcome

RESEARCH

The material in these web pages is the result of using search engines to link content to the websites, documents or email addresses referred to therein.  However, subject matter written as Papers, Lectures, Sermons or other Documents, are linked to the Navigation Tabs in the site Menu. 

Futhermore, if a reference is to the same website, subsequent references will be in bold.  The intent here is avoid multiple   links to the same site.  If a different site is referenced, then another link will be provided.

Wikipedia tends to be the Primary Site for the linkes to the pages in This Site.  There is a good reason why such is the case. Again, returning to my discovery of the PC and the Internet, I found the material in Wikipedia to be a Continuing Education or Learning Tool for me.  My youngest daughter was a sophmore in high school by this time.  She warned me of the flaws, faults and failures of Wikipedia.

I added that I had seen a 60 minutes piece on the untrustworthiness of Wikepedia.  However, what I liked most about the site is that it is free and open to anyone seraching for information.  There is also an invitation to improve or assist in the reserach and documentation of any given subject. 

Furthermore, there is a Talk or Discussion Room for those interested enough in the subject matter to become engaged. At this point, I most admit that I have joined that process and submitted material where it is requested.  In addition, where a subject has begun to be discussed but needs further development, I have added my two cents, as it were.  I have also iniated a page or two if it there was no information on a Subject in which I was interested. 

Why Wikipedia?  Because this site is not intended or designed for the academic or the scholarly.  Instead, it is designed for persons who may have totally Secular lives and are unfamilar with the Bible and its Message, other than on a cursory or superficial level.  This Site is also designed to be a  Continuing Education Tool for those who have outgrown their basic and fundamental Church Teaching.

Most importantly of all, there is a significant community of individuals who Believe and are Convicted or Self Assured that they have been Called to Preach.  While my Church life is represented by what used to be referred to as a Mainline Protestant Denomination or Tradition; and, therefore is Served and Led by Ordained Ministers. 

Ordaination usually takes place after four years of undergraduate or Liberal Arts; followed by three to four years study at an accredited Seminary.  Ordaination for Ministry then, is analogolous to Passing the Bar for a Counselor at Law, or having a License to Practice Medicine for a Physician.

As a Baptist, I have forced to realize and accept that there is not necessarily a one-to-one correlation between being a  Minister who has experieced a Calling to Preach or to Ministry, and the Educational Process.  In other words, Church History, I believe, would land on the side of Conviction and Calling, not to the esclusion of, but in spite of academic degrees or certificats.  been Prepared for Ministry On a more frequent basis than my confort will allow, I encounter Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Bishops and Ordained Ministers or Preachers

The author of the Book of Revelation

states:

I, John, solemnly warn everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to his punishment the plagues described in this book.  And if anyone takes anything away from the prophetic words of this book, God will take away from him his share of the fruit of the tree of life and of the Holy City, which are described in this book.

Revelation 22:18-19 (TEV)

My mother took this warning most seriously.  Like far too many Church Members and Believers today, she believed these words not only applied to the Revelation to John, but to the entire Bible.  Needless to say, I believe this warning is intended to deter anyone who would tamper with or attempt to rewrite John's work. 

Nonetheless, despite being raised a Presbyterian, my mother took biblical teaching quite seriously; and became a faithful and loyal Baptist, as my father was.  She often told the story of what Jesus said when confronted by his critics/enemies:

Some Pharisees came to him and tried to trap him.  "Tell us," they asked, "does our Law allow a man to divorce his wife?"

Jesus said to them, "Moses wrote this law for you because you are so hard to teach.  But in the beginning, at the time of creation, 'God made them male and female,' as the scripture says.  'And for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife,and the two will become one.'  So they are no longer two, but one.  Man must not seperate, then, what God has joined together."

Mark 10:2-9 (TEV)

My mother did not appreciate what she referred to as Sophisticated Preaching.  She often stated that the Preacher's job was to make the Word so plain that even a wayfarer could understand it (I was not sure what a wayfarer was.  But, when I began to study Elizabethean English, I learned he was one who was a traveler, particularly on foot.  No doubt our version of a homeless person or a member of the Underclass).

However, my mother would go on to say that to understand the Word for yourself does not qualify you to teach or preach to others.  For this, she believed preparation was not only desirable, but necessary!

Therefore, I am trusting and praying that those who seek to learn about the Bible, instead of being indoctrinated into implausible, dogmatic positions; will find their way to this site.

I was a Field Organizer for the SCLC.  I came to love and respect the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.  He often said, that at the End of His Journey, he wanted neither his academic or other achievements to be mentioned.  Instead, he asked that a song popular in most traditional Black Churchs, and made famous by Mehalia Jackson be performed: "If I Can Help Somebody"

If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,
If I can spread the message as the master taught,
Then my living will not be in vain.

And so it was.  Phillip Copeland covered the subject so well in one his blogs.  He even includes the request from Dr King.

I began my life's work as a Pastor.  I continued that work with Counseling; even serving as a Juvenile Probation Officer and a Prison Chaplin.  At one pont in my life, I was an Adjunct Professor at Boston University School of Theology.

I have worked with those individuals who feel compelled to preach but without adequate preparation.  This site is designed with them in mind as well.  If it helps that population, then I trust it will be helpful for anyone else with a similar interest.

At one point in my life of retirement, I had the opputinity and the gift of being a Teacher, Mentor, Tutor and Counselor in a GED Program.  The oldest student was a young man of 36 years.  The youngest was a 14 year old who wanted to learn to read and write.

The GED examination is 80% verbal and 20% math.  As I was teaching basic composition I was often asked, "Is there anything you have written that we can read?"  The question was in response to my attempt to teach them how to write a basic composition.

thebibleandhistory.com was in all honesty and modesty, with no intention of being self serving; the only thing I could point to considering the sources I had at my disposal.

thebibleandhistory.com is a quest, as a disciple of the Rev Dr King, as well as a Disciple of Jesus Christ; to help somebody as I travel along, so that my living will not be in vain. It is a quest to put my life's work down in print and into this website.

I am still moved by the singing of, "If I Can Help Somebody."