DESCRIPTION: This course offers an inductive introduction to the Old Testament
through the lens of its latest canonical portion, the Writings. Close attention
will be given to the Psalms, the Wisdom literature (Job, Proverbs, and
Ecclesiastes), the Festival books (Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, and
Esther), the apocalyptic book of Daniel, and the historical books of
Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. From these varied works, examples of literary,
historical, and theological connections will be traced to the rest of the
canon, "the Law and the Prophets."
SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: This course will lift up classic themes of
the Old Testament as they are attested in the Writings and illustrated from the
rest of the Old Testament: creation, the elective traditions of Moses and
David, ordering of the community life in worship and ethical exhortation; land,
land-loss, and diaspora; crises of faith, both corporate and individual; and
hope expressed in endurance and resistance.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students who successfully complete this course will have
demonstrated: (1) a grasp of the range of Israel's worship traditions,
drawing from the Psalms and from other canonical witnesses to the ordering and
criticism of the cult; (2) an understanding of the ethos of Israel, as
reflected in its value-affirming wisdom and its legal traditions; (3) an
overview of Israel's history and of the diverse traditions that remember it,
comparing Chronicles and the Former Prophets; (4) an understanding of
apocalyptic and its relationship to competing understandings of the future
hope; (5) a grasp of various models for reconstructing the processes by
which the Old Testament developed into its canonical form; (6) an ability
to reflect upon and evaluate theological issues raised by the Old Testament and
to discern their implications for Christian faith and practice; (7) an
awareness of how we may learn from historically and culturally diverse vantage
points better to read, use, and obey this portion of Scripture.
COURSE FORMAT: The course will meet once each week for three-and-a-half hours.
Class sessions will be devoted to a combination of lecture presentations and
structured class discussions.
REQUIRED READING: