DESCRIPTION:

This course will provide a survey of the Old Testament, emphasizing information and skills that are necessary for an informed reading and faithful theological appropriation of this portion of scripture. Attention will be given to the literary, historical, cultural, and theological dimensions of the text. Thematic continuities will be traced between the particularities of the different witnesses, and broader connections with the New Testament will be suggested.

The Old Testament offers both challenges and resources to the church. Sometimes it is invoked in support of unhealthy attitudes or practices, raises severe apologetics issues, or merely seems irrelevant; it is important for Christian leaders to have broadly based and theologically coherent ways of addressing such problems. It is also crucial to make full use of this sometimes neglected portion of the canon, drawing upon its themes of anchoring a particularist salvation history in the creation of the world and its diverse populations, norming community life, maintaining theological integrity across many centuries of cultural accommodation and change, challenging the ever-present gods of the land, offering wise counsel and challenging easy theological formulations, and worshipping with both lament and praise the God "who kills and who makes alive."

This course will meet four hours daily for two weeks. In addition to lecture sessions, approximately one hour each day will be set aside for focused discussion on a topic of practical theological interest.

Extensive reading in the Old Testament.

Boadt, Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction. New York: Paulist Press, 1984.

Brown, William P. Character in Crisis: A Fresh Approach to the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.

Brueggemann, Walter. The Psalms and the Life of Faith, ed. P. D. Miller. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995.

Gowan, Donald E. Theology in Exodus: Biblical Theology in the Form of a Commentary. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994.

Gutiérez, Gustavo. On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent, tr. M. J. O'Connell. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1987.

Janzen, Waldemar. Old Testament Ethics: A Paradigmatic Approach. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994.

Meeks, Wayne A., ed. The Harper Collins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.

There will be two major requirements for the course: (1) a take-home final examination, including a combination of objective and essay questions; and (2) a 12-15 page paper offering a critical review and theological assessment of an issue chosen for special attention.

None.

Meets OT core requirement for M.A.C.L.