About+Us


 * Purpose**

The Expositor's Wiki (hereafter TEW) aims to serve the church by providing accurate and clear information around the disciplines that are a part of the process of exposition. This includes: Bible backgrounds, hermeneutics, biblical languages, exegesis of texts, biblical theology, systematic theology, and practical theology. Within this, the site will attempt to provide a streamline synthesis of a wide scope of information about any given topic in addition to helpful resources. In this way, TEW cannot replace pastors, teachers, or even commentaries/books/articles. Rather, TEW can serve as a good introduction for being a discerning reader/listener. It hopefully will provide the first step into the breadth of biblical exposition.

Because of its explicit purpose to serve the church, TEW is unapologetically confessional. It does not act as a pure academic forum (neutral position) but operates from an expansive Doctrinal Statement. See below for how this will impact the wiki.


 * Content Guidelines**

Those who write or read this website must remember this "introductory" nature of the wiki. The idea is not to supplant personal study or academic/pastoral teaching. It is to usher people toward those areas. Accordingly the content should accomplish three major tasks:

1. Any article should //provide// its readers with an excellent and thorough //summary// of the issues.

Example questions to satisfy: Does the article provide the major events/people/places/ideas relative to the subject? Does it provide the major views listing their respective pros/cons? Does it provide a good walkthrough of the content of a book and show its flow?

2. Any article should also //leave// its readers with //greater interest// in the subject.

Example questions to satisfy: Does the article show initial implications of the subject matter that may incite the reader to desire to know more? Does it connect to other articles in an effective way to lead a reader on a quest for related knowledge? Does it point to God in such a manner so as to cause people to desire to ponder the subject more.

3. Any article should also //direct// its readers to helpful resources that will provide more information.

Example questions to satisfy: Does the article contain frequent endnotes to numerous sources? Do other resources (commentaries/articles/monographs) cite those same resources as helpful? Are the resources cited original sources?


 * Writing Style Guidelines**

Proper grammar and spelling is demanded. Those who have writing privileges can report typographical errors by leaving a comment as a thread for an article below that entry.

In addition:
 * 1) Third personal pronouns alone are accepted. No article (unless quoting from a different source) can use first or second person pronouns.
 * 2) The style is not preaching or teaching as much as a report. Read other wiki articles to see this diction exhibited.
 * 3) Beware of an abundant use of adverbs or adjectives. Using them less frequently makes their appearance effective and removes clutter from an article. Remember, the expositor has the job to paint word pictures; this site aims to provide him the information to begin to do so.
 * 4) Beware of an excessive use of the passive. Not only does the passive increase the number of words, it also detracts from a vivid writing style. Passives can be used effectively; however, use it in such a manner.
 * 5) Use endnotes employing Turabian style of citation. Sometimes documents typed in Microsoft Word copy and paste neatly over to the wiki (including endnotes/footnotes) and other times the writer will have to manually enter endnotes using the reference widget (access from the editor tool bar).
 * 6) Use ExpositorsWiki Standard Template (default). Using this template allows the writer to have reftagger as well as a table fo contents. Place all content between the TOC (table fo contents) widget as well as the reftagger widget (labeled "other widget"). //Make sure the "other widget" is on the very bottom of the page//. This allows one to see the Bible reference easily (e.g., Psalm 145:10).
 * 7) While various views can and should be presented, any decision explicitly made by an article must abide by the Doctrinal Statement. Note: for areas of disagreement amongst protestament evangelicals (e.g., eschatology), a writer may elect to just present the different options fairly and thoroughly. That is acceptable for this wiki.
 * 8) Section guidelines, the following provide examples of organizational structure and formatting. Make sure to highlight the text and select from the edit bar "heading 1" or "heading 2" so that the table of contents will display correctly.


 * Heading 1 (with horizontal line)**

//Emphasis, Book titles//
 * Heading 2**


 * Filing and Linking**

TEW uses the following filing system (using tags):
 * 1) //Backgrounds:// all discussions on history, manners and customs, archaeology, geography relating to the Bible.
 * 2) //Hermeneutics//: both philosophical hermeneutics as well as pragmatics. This includes discussions over issues including center of meaning as well as the nature/categories of genre.
 * 3) //Languages//: all discussions over the grammar/lexicography of Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Cognate languages (e.g., Syriac, Ugaritic, Akkadian, Latin, and Coptic) are also valid as they pertain to the bibilcal languages.
 * 4) //Exegesis//: interpretations of various individual books and passages. This includes arguments of entire books.
 * 5) //Biblical theology//: explanations concerning connections between books and passages including various motifs and themes that bind multiple passages together.
 * 6) //Systematic theology//: all discussions under the traditional categories of systematics
 * 7) //Church history// and/or //historical theology//: while actually two different disciplines, they are for now combined and may be separated at a later time. This includes people, places, as well as ideas that have impacted the development of the church to the modern era.
 * 8) //Pastoral theology//: all discussions relating to counseling, preaching, pastoral ministry issues.

The filing/taging system will be expanded from time to time. However, the member bears responsibility for tagging his articles correctly. This is essential so that people may have access to them. The writer may add other tags to his posts; however, he must categorize his writing by the above eight tags. He should write his article with a focus upon one of the tags even though it may include information pertinent to other categories. He could also either write additional articles for those other categories and/or post that such an article is necessary.

The writer bears responsibility for linking his article properly to other related work within the wiki. He should also create links to non-existent pages if he thinks an article should be written about that subject. By doing this, he generates an entry on the [|"wanted page" list] that can generate ideas for others and fulfill a gap of information on the wiki.

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