Averett University
Teacher: Skip Horton-Parker
 | The collection of books called by Christians the Old Testament is the single most extensive historical written record that we possess, covering more than 2,000 years of human experience. In its pages, one meets with answers to the most perennial questions native to the human condition: How did the world begin? What is a human being? Is there a God, and what is God like? What is justice? How do we live the "good life"? In the Old Testament literature, these and other questions are addressed through matchless storytelling, proverbs, songs, poems, and the powerful ethical vision of the prophets. The worldview expressed in the collected books of the Hebrew Scriptures has served as the foundation of three of the world’s great Wisdom Traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; and its ethos has shaped the philosophical, ethical, and religious understanding of Western civilization more profoundly than any other force. The singular vision expressed in the Bible set the stage for innovations such as democracy, "history" (as a progressive concept), the rule of law, and even the advent of science. Its power and richness therefore remain relevant and enlightening for us today. It will be our task in this course to hear the Hebrew Scriptures story with new ears, and to examine it in an academically disciplined way. As a result of this exercise we will learn how to understand the Old Testament in terms of its literary, cultural, and historical setting. In the process, we will also seek to comprehend why the world was so profoundly changed by one obscure Semitic nomadic tribe that transmitted a new way of living, thinking, and being. |
