DESCRIPTION:

The course comprises a selective introduction to the Old Testament as a whole. It will include an overview of the Torah, the narrative books, the poetic books, and the Prophets, and also look in particular at Genesis, Deuteronomy, Judges, Ruth, Job, Psalms, Isaiah, and Jonah.

The course presupposes that a knowledge of the Old Testament is essential to serving Christ and prepares people to use it in that context.

The course will meet for four-hour periods two evenings a week, for five weeks. Each session will combine lecture and plenary discussion with work in groups of four; the course will include some dramatized reading, creative writing, and listening to recorded material. All sessions will require substantial preparation on the part of students, on average four hours of preparation for each four-hour session, including study of the biblical text, material in the course reader, and other reading which will be specified. The course emphasizes collaborative learning, and students need to be willing to be committed to working together with other students.

Students need to possess an NRSV Bible and a copy of the course reader.

Andersen, F. I. Job. Leicester/Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1976.

Brenner, A. (ed.). A Feminist Companion to Judges. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993.

Brueggemann, W. Genesis. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1986.

_________. The Message of the Psalms. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984.

Goldingay, J. After Eating the Apricot. Carlisle, UK: Paternoster, 1996.

Sawyer, J. F. A. Isaiah. 2 Vols. Philadelphia: Westminster/Edinburgh: St. Andrew's Press, 1986.

Wright, C. J. H. Deuteronomy. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996.

1. Attendance at lectures, with a pass-fail exam for students who have to miss more than one four-hour block.

2. Preparation for lectures, with submission of a file of preparation notes to be graded pass-fail.

3. 15-20 page reflection paper.

None.

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

No.