I'd like to make some observations about how courage may relate to fear in the Bible.
I don't know how to generate a report that might help.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Larry
Talbotgrad
There are multiple ways of doing that which may be complementary.
1. You can do a word search to find passages, books, and articles that discuss both in close proximity. I would suggest looking for sense rather than word, that is, <Sense fear> will find more than just places where the word fear is used. Same for <Sense courage>. You can decide how close you want these to be mentioned in relation to each other. In the Bible, I would probably want them closer to each other: e.g., <Sense fear> WITHIN 30 WORDS <Sense courage>.
2. You can use topical resources you use such as Nave's Topical Bible to look up both and see whether they refer to the other. Same for Bible dictionaries, encyclopaedias.
3. You can use the Topic Guide to search for either as topic and see from the results what you find that cross-references both.
4. Not all your resources will be tagged for sense searches, so you will want to search for words instead, e.g., (fear*, afraid, fright*, coward*) WITHIN 100 WORDS (courage*, bold, brave). You can reduce or enlarge the scope, but I think that a book that has a chapter that speaks about fear may have references to courage later in a chapter and not in very close proximity to the fear referent itself.
These are just a few ideas. I'm sure others will pitch in.
To Francis's excellent suggestions I would add resorting your results "By Count." That way more relevant hits may come to the top. My thinking is, considering a search like fear NEAR courage, the more numerous the occurrences within a book, the more likely it will be comparing the two concepts. Just a possible timesaving suggestion.
Hi Larry,
I don't have anything to add about searching that hasn't already been said here. But your inquiry is a coincidence since that is what I'm working on for this Sunday's sermon. Just to give you a way to start thinking about courage and fear, I would begin reading in Mark 8:22-16:8. Seems that on the surface Mark is contrasting the courage of Jesus with the disciples being afraid. Under the hood, I think Mark is contrasting the faith of Jesus with the unbelief of the disciples. The fear of the women at the empty tomb is highlighted by their fear, which seems to say they have trouble believing Jesus is risen, since Mark says they tell no one about the resurrection. I think Mark ties together courage and faith together contrasted with tying fear and unbelief. Joshua chapter one seems to be an example of this same theme. Hope this gives you a starting place to explore your theme.
thanks!
good ideas!
I'm speaking at a men's retreat in two weeks and the topic I've been given is: I Live with Fear, But I’m Not Afraid to Admit It
Courage is the overall theme.
Thanks!
Larry,
Just a thought.... A courageous action or lifestyle may certainly be realities in light of circumstances that confer fear. Yes, I understand the many "fear nots" and their purpose within Scripture... I do not discount them in the least. My point is that courage and fear are not necessarily polar opposites. Classically, we think of courage and cowardice (one could argue that being a coward infers the element of fear) as being diametrically opposed. Consider a couple of secular quotes:
Thanks for this advice, it is really appreciated.
The more I dwell on this, the more I wonder why Jesus so strongly rebuked the disciples after calming the waters and how I can challenge yet encourage men to "man up".
Yes, they were fishermen, but that in fact would perhaps increase their fears because they know the powerful forces of wind on open waters.
Was the rebuke because Jesus was in the boat, or would it have been the same if Hr were not in the boat?
THX
