The World of the Old Testament (Honors)

This 3-credit Honors Level integrated humanities course aims to acquaint students with the broad scope of the historical and cultural world in which the Old Testament was written. Although students will read much of the Old Testament, this is not a typical “Bible Survey” course. Rather, the sequence integrates biblical books with many writings and events occurring in the major pagan cultures surrounding Israel at key moments in her history. For instance, what impact might the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh have had on the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? How does the Law of God given through Moses compare and contrast with law codes from Babylon and elsewhere? What might we learn about the Israelite monarchy from studying the kings of the Hittites and Persians? What makes the wisdom of Solomon superior to wisdom writings from Egypt? Above all else, how specifically did God make Israel a light to the nations?

Course Objectives:

1. To give students a greater, more integrated understanding of the Old Testament itself
2. To help students develop a “Big Picture” grasp of how the Old Testament fits with major historical achievements of other Ancient Near Eastern cultures (up to the early rise of Rome in Italy)
3. To prepare young Christians biblically, historically, and apologetically for some of the distinctive attacks on the Faith that have arisen through skeptical scholarship trying to reduce the Bible to just another man-made cultural product from very ancient times

Texts:

• The Old Testament
• Stephanie Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia
• Bill T. Arnold and Bryan E. Beyer, Readings from the Ancient Near East