RS 313 RU - God & Hebrew Bible: Prophets & Wrtgs

4 Credit(s)

If you want to meet God there is no better place to start than the Hebrew Bible. This text, which is foundational for much of Western civilization, is also an intimate and compelling report of God’s relationship with God’s people, whom God never deserts. This God is not a theological abstraction but rather the foremost example of the twin virtues of justice and mercy whose goal is to create a people who, like God, see these attributes as complementary rather than antithetical. The prophetic literature of ancient Israel is a remarkable meditation on these virtues, and on the difficulties of living them in a cruel, competitive, and materialistic society. Beyond that, though, these sections of the Hebrew Bible are also a prayer book for Christianity and Judaism, a wellspring of ancient Wisdoms, and a most fearless and perceptive analysis of the problem of human evil. Our initial goal is to read selected sections through lenses drawn from historical, theological, and narrative methodologies. Gradually we will expand from straightforward readings to a deeper engagement with the text as it forms human character and informs human communities. But we do not seek, nor will we find, definitive answers, for the inquiries that underlie the Hebrew Bible are the great questions and they are resolved only as they are lived.

Prerequisite(s): T- and W-tags or equivalent.