Understanding the Old Testament
On Sundays at 9:45am our educational series, Understanding the Old Testament presented by Robert D. Miller II, Ph.D., takes place in the Sunday School room. All are welcome to join anytime!
Christians and Jews share a set of sacred writings that Christians call the Old Testament and Jews call the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. Written in Hebrew by ancient Israelites over the course of many centuries, the Old Testament is a collection of literature of multiple genres: narrative, philosophy, poetry, invective, history, and mystic vision. The books of this collection reveal a historic people and have served as a basis for art, literature, law, and belief in Western society to this day.
This course provides an understanding of these writings. On one hand, this understanding is based on reading within the context of the ancient Near East. That context includes the historical context as revealed by the discoveries of archaeology and the intellectual context revealed by the writings of ancient Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia.
The history of Israel will emerge from this reading. The similarities and contrasts between Old Testament—Israel’s literature—and the literature and worldviews of Israel’s neighbors provide interpretive keys to the text.
On the other hand, the course also considers the Old Testament as a work of great literature that has the capacity to transcend time and place. Although the origin and development of the biblical books are discussed, the course’s primary focus is on the final form of the text, providing a coherent reading of the text that has been handed down to us.
Upcoming lectures:
1 February - The Book of Kings
8 February - Biblical Short Stories: Ruth and Esther
15 February - Amos, Prophet of Justice
22 February - The Prophet Isaiah in Three Movements
1 March - Jeremiah, Persecuted Prophet
8 March - Daniel and Apocalyptic Literature
15 March - How Scholars Study Psalms
22 March - the Music of the Psalms
29 March - Proverbs in the Bible: Wisdom Literature
5 April - no class
12 April - Job’s Suffering and Understanding
19 April - Ecclesiastes and the “Vanity of Vanities”
26 April - Slaying the Dragons of the Old Testament