Drew University Library : University Archives : Theses and Dissertations
    
authorKwangseog Yun
titleA Study on Faith Growth through One Year Reading of Tong Bible: A Case Study of Eoyang Church, Jeollabuk-do, Korea
abstract Several scholars have done a study on a relationship between spiritual maturity and the Bible reading. One of the factors to predict spiritual growth of a person was his or her reading habit of the Bible. Although one reads the Bible regularly, the patterns of reading the Bible has been partial and biased in terms of focusing on verses and points. This way of reading the Bible has limitations and problems since it does not encourage one to see the whole picture of the Bible.

This project presented Tong Bible of Byoungho Zoh for an alternative method to deal with the limitations and problems of a traditional way of reading the Bible. Tong Bible advocates one to read the Bible as one story not fragmented parts. Tong Bible is also to lead one to read Bible in the order of history. Most importantly, it helps readers to grasp the mind of God in the Bible.

This project suggests <Reading the Tong Bible Once a Year> for an effective tool to proceed reading the Bible in a real pastoral scene of the Church. This study is based on case studies of Iri Eoyang Church that prescribed the Bible in the range of 365 days a year and implemented reading the Tong Bible once a year.

The congregation of Iri Eoyang Church who participated in the project became to recognize the value of the Bible. And they came to be aware of a need to read the Bible daily. They valued the Bible as 'the bread of life' and 'the manna of soul' as the food of soul and they read the Bible every day. As a result, those who had given up reading the Bible once became to read the whole Bible again.

The participants of this project in Iri Eoyang Church understood the whole Bible as a story and preached the gospel with stories to other people. They became to read the Bible in the order of history. As the sacred citizens of the kingdom of God, they became to give rise to practical religious persons who win the temptation of sin. Trying to read the mind of God, they are feeling of Jesus Christ and are working hard to live a life that is consistent with the will of God despite of anger and destructive ideas, feelings of despair and sadness in environments. I believe this project would offer new alternatives to the churches of 21st century regarding faith growth through reading the Bible.

schoolThe Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Drew University
degreeD.Min. (2016)
advisors Younglae Kim
Byungho Zoh
committee Leonard Sweet
full textKYun.pdf