Essay on the Conventions and Guiding Principles of Ancient Historiography

Historiography entails the practice of writing history. Many years ago, historians had different ways of writing history as compared to how it is written today. According to John Walton, he offers relevant information on how history was written in the ancient times. Every scholar in the ancient times had guidelines and principles that were fundamental in their course of writing history. As such, the bible was written in a different convention and is totally different with modern day writing (Hill and Walton, Introduction to the Historical Books, 169).

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Israelite were guided by a convention where their writings were purely theological. They recorded events that occurred around religious beliefs as well as the covenants in regards to the actions that revolved around such covenants (Walton, Understanding the Past: Historiography, 217).

It is imperative to note that they took a keen interest in the legitimation of the Kings. This kind of delving into the kingdom aspect was done from time to time in the ancient period. Regardless of this, it is such an imperative presumption to posit that the Israelites were only not just looking into historic aspect of Israelites as a basis of writing. Dutcher-Walls incorporates the use of process of shaping the past by applying Old Testament historians to exemplify the present ideology. This particular tool is very fundamental in supporting traditional aspects and other customary issues in the past as well. (Walls, Reading the Historical Books, 172). A clear history that indicates this guideline is where in the OT historians utilized the tool to illustrate how the history was shaped. For instance, in Judges: The people of Israel were led into their enemies wrath but when they called upon Gods deliverance, they receive a judge through God who rules in their favor (138). The pattern is illustrated when the judge passes on and they have to turn to God again.

Moreover, the historians of ancient time also were guided with some aspect of evaluation and being interpretation. The historians conveyed their messages in a manner to assess the kings. Take for instance the Kings of the northern state of the Dueteronomistic which was an indication of negative history. However, the historian focused on bringing out the relevance of such situations.

Another guideline that was a principle in the ancient writing was to define Gods intentions and illustrate his purpose particularly towards informing of his deeds and outcomes. These events were documented to give an account of Gods works and his major creations. The historians found pleasure in writing about the events in a religious manner to suggest the good actions of God and needlessly offering critics.

How Are They Different from Our Modern Conventions and Principles of Historiography?

The modern conventions and principles are different to the ancient Israelites laws that they observed. The Israelites lived in the two dimensions when God appeared himself and when he sent his son Jesus to redeem everyone even the non-Israelites. This dispersion has a different form in which people related to God through the Holy Spirit. This is believed to be the Spirit of God. His Spirit was absent when the Israelites lived, and they could not relate to God as we do today. As opposed to the traditions of Jews, that said that the priests must offer sacrifices to God. Nowadays we are known as a royal priesthood thus everyone can be a priest of God. The love of God is demonstrated for all which makes us able to appear in the presence of God because Jesus suffered for our sins already. Then Jesus had not suffered, that is why people were punished, and the suffered the consequences of their sins. In Jesus, we all sons and daughters of God. In the past, the children of Israelites knew about God and his miracles. However, nowadays we develop a relationship with God because Jesus was our only bridge to God.

Therefore, the rules of engaging with the society are also different since we are told to forgive as many times as possible. In fact, we have urged that God is the vindicator so we cannot take revenge on people. This was not the case in the past since there was no love for the neighbors. People avenged for everything. Also, people judged the sinners and killed them. However, when Jesus came, he said that forgiveness is for all even those that are condemned by the law. The blood of Jesus is all powerful, and it cleanses every one. However, in the past, the Israelites used a scapegoat to be cleansed, but this story changed when Jesus came. There are differences in the Bible. The commandments are summarized into only two bits of loving God and our neighbors. Thereby, there is the undeniable difference between the New Covenant and the OT.

How Does This Affect How We Interpret the Old Testament?

All believers believe in the whole Bible. However, we are to engage with God according to the new testament, but we can borrow the revelation knowledge that is hidden in the old Testament. The old testament shows how deep covenants can affect the lives of people and method by which covenants were administered. Comparing the two times makes the Old Testament look like a scary and harsh time to leave in since people were brutally punished. However, it through the stories of the various people in the Bible that our faith grows and we are encouraged that God is a God of seasons. The easy of operating at a time when there is grace. This makes our relationship with God easy. Although we see people who lived after the time of Jesus were full of the power of God. This is different from the miracles seen in the old testament. In fact, most of the miracles of Jesus were performed by only one prophet in the Bible. This shows that the power that is manifested is showed differently thus there is a clear difference of how we interpret the old testament. Also, the people of the old testament did not experience the love of Jesus. Thus, their hearts are void of that love. In the old testament, there are very few people who are in a position of receiving the love of God. Thus, the old testament is a place of knowing God from a perspective of God as God. The Holy Spirit and Jesus are not as evident as in the New Testament. The power that is bestowed upon those that work through the gifting of the Holy Spirit is intense even than the old Testament which shows that people perceive the New Testament as the place that the power of God exhibited. Additionally, the presence of God is felt in different ways that are not shown in the old testament again making it look a bit traditional and formal.

In conclusion, the differences showed in the two testaments are evident, and these differences are unavoidable. However, the whole Bible is used to reveal the character of God. It indicates that God is a God who is above our understanding. It proves that God is an everlasting God who was the past and the present. The significant similarity of the old and new testament is that the character of God is consistent. Even when he dealt with the different people differently and people would relate differently to him. People are now in a position to know God from the point of relationship and understand who He is on a personal level.

Bibliography

Hill, Andrew E. and John H. Walton. Introduction to the Historical Books. Pages 169-76 in A Survey of the Old Testament. 2nd edition. Zondervan, 2000.

Walton, John H. Understanding the Past: Historiography. Pages 217-38 in Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2006.

Dutcher-Walls, Patricia. Reading the Historical Books: A Students Guide to Engaging the Biblical Text. Baker, 2014. 172 pages. $21.99. ISBN 0801048656

DeRose, John J. "Back to the Future with Textbooks: Using Textbook Passages from the Past to Help Teach Historiography." History Teacher 42, no. 2 (February 2009): 229-237. Professional Development Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed May 5, 2017).

Walton, John H. and Kim E. Walton, The Bible Story Handbook: A Resource for Teaching 175 Stories from the Bible. Crossway, 2010.