Course Description:

This is a graduate level, advanced study of Old Testament / Hebrew Bible Hermeneutics. The graduate student will be introduced to both the history of Old Testament /Hebrew Bible interpretation and methodologies that have been used to understand the First Testament. Critical issues that have attracted the scholarly community, recent innovations in both the Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal sphere will be investigated.

Course Objectives:

This course intends to:

1. introduce the graduate student to the history of Old Testament / Hebrew Bible interpretation;
2. acquaint the student with the critical issues that scholars have been investigating over the years;
3. expose the graduate student to the "state-of-the-art" in First Testament interpretation;
4. consider some Asian and Pentecostal innovations.

Required Textbooks:

• Enns, Peter. Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
• Krentz, Edgar. The Historical-Critical Method. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1975.
• Noll, Mark A. Between Faith and Criticism: Evangelicals, Scholarship, and the Bible. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Backer Book House, 1991.
• Sandys-Wunsch, John. What Have They Done to the Bible? A History of Modern Biblical Interpretation. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2005.
• Sekine, Seizo. Transcendency and Symbols in the Old Testament: A Genealogy of the Hermeneutical Experiences. trans. Judy Wakabayashi. BZAW 275. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
• Tucker, Gene M. Form Criticism of the Old Testament. Guides to Biblical Scholarship, Old Testament Series. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1971.

Syllabus: OT-Hermeneutics-2006

Course Outline:

Segment 1: Introduction to the Study of the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible & the Historical Critical Method

• Presentation - Introduction to the Study of the Old Testament
• Presentation - Authority of the Scriptures
• Presentation - Historical Criticism
• Presentation - Research in the Old Testament & the ANE
• An Introductory Bibliography to the Masoretic Text
• An Introductory Bibliography to Septuagintal Studies
• An Introductory Bibliography to the Samaritan Pentateuch
• An Introductory Bibliography to Targumic Studies
• An Introductory Bibliography to the Peshitta
• Bibliography of Historical Criticism
• Bibliography of Postcriticism
• Readings:
  • Enns, Peter. "Getting Our Bearings." In Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, 13-22. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
  • Krentz, Edgar. The Historical-Critical Method. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1975.
  • Nations, Archie L. "Historical Criticism and the Current Methodological Crisis," SJT 36 (1983), 59-71.
  • Roberts, J. J. M. "Historical-Critical Method, Theology, and Contemporary Exegesis." In The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Collected Essays, 393-405. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2002.
  • Steinmetz, David C. "The Superiority of Pre-Critical Exegesis." TT 37 (1980): 27-38.

 

Segment 2: The History of Old Testment / Hebrew Bible Interpretation

• Presentation - History of OT/HB Interpretation - Part 1
• Presentation - History of OT/HB Interpretation - Part 2
• Reading:
  • Enns, Peter. "The Old Testament and Its Interpretation in the New Testament." In Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, 113-65. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
  • Sandys-Wunsch, John. What Have They Done to the Bible? A History of Modern Biblical Interpretation. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2005.

 

Segment 3: Introduction to Text Criticism of the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible & History of Religions (Religiongeschichteschule or Religionswissenschaft) - The Comparative Method Today

• Presentation - The Text of the OT/BH
• Presentation - OT/BH Text Criticism
• Presentation - History of Religions - Methodology & Usage; Cherubim; Ark; Lachish
• Bibliography of OT/BH Text Criticism
• Bibliography of History of Religions
• Victor H. Matthew's Ancient Near Eastern Studies Bibliography
• Reading:
  • Enns, Peter. "The Old Testament and the Ancient Near Eastern Literature." In Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, 23-70. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
  • Epp, Eldon Jay. "The Multivalence of the Term "Original Text" in New Testament Textual Criticism." HTR 93, no. 3 (1999): 245-81.
  • Finkelstein, Jacob J. "Bible and Babel: A Comparative Study of the Hebrew and Babylonian Religious Spirit." In Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient near East, ed. Frederick E. Greenspahn, 355-380. New York: New York University Press, 1991.
  • Talmon, Shemaryahu. "The "Comparative Method: In Biblical Interpretation - Principles and Problems." In Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient near East, ed. Frederick E. Greenspahn, 381-419. New York: New York University Press, 1991.
  • Tov, Emanuel. "Criteria for Evaluating Textual Readings: The Limitation of Textual Rules." HTR 75, no. 4 (1982): 429-48.

 

Segment 4: Source Criticism: The Demise of Documentary Hypothesis? & How Many Isaiahs Do "They"Say We Have?

• Presentation - Introduction to Source & History of Traditions Criticism
• Presentation - Multiple Isaiahs?
• Readings:
  • Carr, David. "Controversy and Convergence in Recent Studies of the Formation of the Pentateuch." RSR 23, no. 1 (1997): 22-31.
  • Enns, Peter. "The Old Testament and Theological Diversity." In Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, 71-112. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
  • Enns, Peter. "William Henry Green and the Authorship of the Pentateuch: Some Historical Considerations." JETS 45, no. 3 (2002): 385-403.
  • Noll, Mark A. Between Faith and Criticism: Evangelicals, Scholarship, and the Bible. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Backer Book House, 1991.
  • Rendtorff, Rolf. "The Book of Isaiah: A Complex Unity. Synchronic and Diachronic Reading." In New Visions of Isaiah. JSOT Sup Series, no. 214. ed. Roy F. Melugin & Marvin A. Sweeney, 32-49. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.

 

Segment 5: Form Criticism and Beyond via Rhetorical Criticism

• Presentation - Introduction to Form Criticism
• Presentation - Introduction to Rhetorical Criticism
  • Bibliography of Form Criticism
  • Bibliography of Rhetorical Criticism
• Readings:
  • Tucker, Gene M. Form Criticism of the Old Testament. Guides to Biblical Scholarship, Old Testament Series. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1971.
  • Muilenburg, James. "Form Criticism and Beyond." JBL 88 (1969): 1-18.

 

Segment 6: Redaction Criticism & Canonical Criticism

• Presentation - Introduction to Redactional Criticism & The Redaction of the Book of the Twelve
• Presentation - Canon of the Hebrew Bible, Part 1
• Presentation - Canon of the Hebrew Bible, Part 2
• Presentation - Canonical Criticism
  • Bibliography of Redaction Criticism
  • Bibliography of Canonical Criticism
• Readings:
  • Enns, Peter. "The Big Picture." In Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, 167-173. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.
  • Van Seters, John. "An Ironic Circle: Wellhausen and the Rise of Redaction Criticism." ZAW 115 (2003): 487-99.
  • Van Seters, John. "The Redactor in Biblical Studies: A Nineteenth Century Anachronism." JNSL 29, no. 1 (2003): 1-19.
  • Shephard, Gerald T. "Canonical Criticism." Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 1: 861-66. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
  • Wharton, J. A. "Redaction Criticism, OT." IDB: 729-32.

 

Segment 7: Newer Methodologies: Narratology & Intertextuality

• Presentation - Introduction to Narratology
• Presentation - Introduction to Intertextuality
  • Bibliography to Narratology
  • Bibliography to Intertextuality & Inner-Biblical Exegesis
• Readings:
  • Alter, Robert. "A Literary Approach to the Bible." In The Art of Biblical Narrative, 3-22. New York: Basic Books, 1981.
  • Bar-Efrat, Shimon. "Some Observations on the Analysis of Structure in Biblical Narrative." VT 30, no. 2 (1980): 154-73.
  • Claassens, L. Juliana. "Biblical Theology as Dialogue: Continuing the Conversation on Mikhail Bakhtin and Biblical Theology." JBL 122, no. 1 (2003): 127-144.
  • House, Paul R. "The Rise and Current Status of Literary Criticism of the Old Testament." In Beyond Form Criticism: Essays in Old Testament Literary Criticism, ed. Paul R. House. 3-22. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1992.
  • Sternberg, Meir. "The Bible's Art of Persuasion: Ideology, Rhetoric, and Poetics in Saul's Fall." HUCA 54 (1983), 45-82.

 

Lecture 8: Seizo Sekine

• Presentation - Transcendency and Symbols in the OT
• Readings:
  • Sekine, Seizo. Transcendency and Symbols in the Old Testament: A Genealogy of the Hermeneutical Experiences. trans. Judy Wakabayashi. BZAW 275. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1999.