This course provides students with a basic introduction to the Christian Old Testament, focusing on its content, historical context, theology, and significance for today. The Old Testament puzzles many Christians in our time. Yet, it comprises about two-thirds of our Bible. Furthermore, as our first companion says (see below), the OT is a great friend, helping us address many thorny issues in honest conversation with God and each other.
Since there are so many good introductions to the Old Testament and it is impossible to follow them all at the same time in the order in which each presents the themes, this Instructor proposes, whenever possible, to follow Matthew Schlimm’s book (our first companion in this course), selecting 1-2 key biblical texts from each of his chapters and complementing the issues there presented with other readings. Therefore, there are several required texts (which should be available through the library as well), all of which will not be read from cover to cover, but will be often resorted to—and they are good life companions.
REQUIRED TEXTS
- A study Bible (not based on a paraphrase), such as NRSV, NIV, Jerusalem Bible or other. You may use a study Bible in another language as well;
- Matthew Schlimm, This Strange and Sacred Scripture: The Old Testament as Friend in Faith (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014);
- Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley, ed., Women's Bible Commentary (3rd, twentieth-anniversary ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012);
- Bruce C. Birch, Walter Brueggemann, Terence E. Fretheim, and David L. Petersen, A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament (2nd ed. Nashville: Abingdon, 2005).
- Teacher: Mercedes García-Bachmann