Old Testament [Hebrew Bible] Introduction

A course sponsored by the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in cooperation with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

• Saturday mornings, 8:30 -11:30 A.M.
• 13 January - 15 November 2003
• Martin Luther Church, 9235 W. Blue Mound Rd, Milwaukee

This course is intended to introduce students to the Old Testament [Jewish Bible], providing both a survey of its contents and opportunities to learn helpful ways of reading this ancient, but ever-new, collection of writings. Through reading of major blocks of the biblical material, the students will learn the basics of the history of ancient Israel in its encounters with God. Through readings in a modern textbook, they will learn of the historical environments in which the Old Testament came into being, and of various methods which have been used to understand the meaning of scripture in Jewish and Christian history as well as in modern scholarship. The class sessions, primarily lecture and discussions, will integrate these readings.

1. A modern translation of the Old Testament or complete Bible. List of suggested Bibles.
2. Lawrence Boadt. Reading the Old Testament: an introduction. New York: Paulist Press, 1984. [Copies are available from synod office.]

Readings will be assigned.