Spring 2004/Pasadena
OT501
McAlpine
OT501: PENTATEUCO (Pentateuch). Thomas H. McAlpine.
DESCRIPTION:
- The course focuses on the Pentateuch (Genesis--Deuteronomy) and its
interpretation in the context of the Church in mission. This focus entails
attention to the content of the Pentateuch itself, its historical-cultural
context, questions of interpretive method, and questions of contemporary
application. The course is designed to help students acquire tools necessary
for an ongoing disciplined reading of the Pentateuch: an understanding of and
commitment to this reading, an awareness of fundamental issues in the
Pentateuch, a sense of the contributions and limitations of various critical
methods, and of the challenge of reading and application in pre-modern, modern,
and post-modern contexts.
RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY:
- Our ministries both feed off and reveal who we believe God and
human beings are, what we believe a good church or a good society might look
like, etc. Scripture takes these beliefs to be at best a first approximation:
we see through a glass, darkly. The Chilean Segundo Galilea puts it this way:
"Knowledge of and conversion to the God of the Gospels is a lifelong task, for
everyone. Spirituality is the gradual conversion to the God of Jesus." A
disciplined reading of Scripture in the context of ministry is a part of this
process of conversion.
COURSE FORMAT:
- The course will meet twice weekly for two-hour sessions for lecture
and discussion.
REQUIRED READING:
- Briend, Jacques. El Pentateuco. Cuadernos bíblicos
13. Estella (Navarra): Editorial Verbo Divino, 1983.
- DeWit, Hans. En la dispersión el texto es patria. San
José: Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana, 2002.
- LaSor, W. S., , D. A. Hubbard, and F. W. Bush. Panorama del Antiguo
Testamento. Grand Rapids: Libros Desafío, 1996.
- Pritchard, J. B. The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and
Pictures. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958.
- Rad, Gerhard von. Teología del Antiguo Testamento, I:
Teología de la tradiciones históricas de Israel. Biblioteca
de estudios bíblicos 11. Salamanca: Ediciones Sígueme,
1969.
RECOMMENDED READING:
- Blenkinsopp, Joseph. El Pentateuco. Estella (Navarra):
Editorial Verbo Divino, 1999.
- Fewell, D. N. and D. M. Gunn. Gender, Power, and Promise: The Subject of
the Bible's First Story. Nashville: Abingdon, 1993.
- Lohfink , Norbert F. Option for the Poor: The Basic Principle of
Liberation Theology in the Light of the Bible. Berkeley Lecture Series 1.
2nd ed. D & F Scott Pub., 1996.
- Mann, Thomas. The Book of the Torah: The Narrative Integrity of the
Pentateuch. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988.
ASSIGNMENTS:
- The assignments for the course include (1) reading the Pentateuch
and the other required reading (5%); (2) participation in class discussion
(15%); (3) a final exam (40%); (4) a 20-page paper (40%).
PREREQUISITES:
- Spanish.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM:
- Meets M.Div. core requirement in Old Testament "a" (OTA).
FINAL EXAMINATION: Yes.