OT508
Butler
OT508: OLD TESTAMENT LITERATURE. James T. Butler.
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.
RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY:
- 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."
COURSE FORMAT:
- 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.
REQUIRED READING:
- Extensive reading in the Old Testament.
- Boadt, Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction. New
York: Paulist Press, 1984.
RECOMMENDED READING:
- 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.
ASSIGNMENTS:
- 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.
PREREQUISITES:
- None.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM:
- Meets OT core requirement for M.A.C.L.
FINAL EXAMINATION: Yes (take-home).