BS-515 Pentateuch

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COURSE DESCRIPTION

A study of the five books of the Pentateuch, with an emphasis on Genesis. The course will establish that the Pentateuch is the foundation upon which we are able to understand the rest of the Bible.

In particular, the course will compare and contrast the Old Testament’s understanding of God and the cosmos to the pagan / Ancient Near-East (“ANE”) understanding of the ‘gods’ and the cosmos.

It will also emphasize the importance of correctly understanding and distinguishing between God’s covenant with Abraham (the “Abrahamic covenant”), and God’s covenant with the nation of Israel, entered at Mt Sinai (the “Sinai covenant”). Rightly distinguishing between these two covenants is the key to understanding how the Old Testament does, and does not, still apply to Christians today.

The course will also introduce the student to the critical study of the Pentateuch in modern scholarship, from approx. 1800 to the present. It will address the critical approach to the Pentateuch in general, and its main schools of thought. It will point out the harm that the critical approach to the Bible has done to the church, and yet also some benefits it has produced to conservative scholarship. The course will also present conservative replies to claims of critical scholars.

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PREREQUISITES

Thiss course assumes the student has taken the following courses, or their equivalents:

• BS 502 Hermeneutics
• BS 503 Old Testament Introduction

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COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

A student who has successfully completed this course:

1. Will have a substantial working knowledge of the content, key events & characters, the major developments, and the overall chronological flow, of the Pentateuch. This knowledge will equip the student to read and truly understand the Pentateuch, instead of reading it in a fog.

2. Will be familiar with and be able to use a thoughtful interpretive approach to the Bible (often called the “historical-grammatical method”) for interpreting the Pentateuch. Especially, they will gain skill and insight for interpreting the genre that most of the Pentateuch is written in, narrative.

3. Will know and understand the essential features of a pagan / ANE view of the ‘gods’, of creation, and of the cosmos. They will be able to see how such knowledge helps to shed light on some details in the Old Testament. They will also see that the Old Testament’s understanding of God, creation and the cosmos is very different from the ANE / pagan understanding of it.

4. Will rightly understand the concept of covenant, and will recognize its importance for understanding and applying the Old Testament to Christians today. Especially, they will be able to distinguish between God’s covenant with Abraham (the “Abrahamic covenant”), and God’s covenant with the nation of Israel, entered at Mt Sinai (the “Sinai covenant”).

5. Will learn major elements of at least one viable theological framework by which to apply the OT to the church and to Christian living today. This will enable them to be able to identify what still applies to us, what doesn’t, and why.

6. Will have a working understanding of the critical scholarly approach to the Pentateuch, its philosophical & worldview foundations, its possible benefits, and its limitations.

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Academic Integrity / Plagiarism

Doing Your Own Work.

Students are required to do their own work. Group study and review sessions are fine, and are encouraged. But when completing an assignment or writing a paper, students must do their own work. Similarly, when taking a quiz or an exam, whether in the classroom or online, students are to do their own work.

Do not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) enhanced Large Language Model apps (i.e., ChatGPT, Google Bard, etc.).

Students are to do their own work and write their own papers; they are not to use apps with AI enhanced chatbot such as ChatGPT. If papers are submitted using apps such as ChatGPT, at the professor’s discretion, the student may be required to redo the paper (perhaps for a reduced grade), or will receive a zero on the paper.

“Closed Book” Quizzes and Exams.

If a quiz or exam is “closed book,” students are to take it without the aid of their Bible, any books, reference works, or notes. [Professors will designate whether an exam is closed book, or whether students may use their Bibles or notes, etc.] Using notes or other materials when taking a quiz or exam that is “closed book” constitutes cheating.

Proper Attribution / Plagiarism.

For term papers & research papers, it is expected that students will read and use multiple sources. When referring to information that is commonly known, footnotes are not needed. However, if students use detailed information drawn from a specific source, they must give credit to that author; in specific, they must identify the book, author, and page # of the source. If failure to do so is an honest oversight, as a minimum, it will reduce the grade of a paper. But if a student passes off research done by another person as his or her own work, that is plagiarism, which is a serious violation of academic integrity.

Consequences for Violations of Academic Integrity:

In the case of a violation any of the above, at the discretion of the professor and the Academic Dean of Kairos University, based on the seriousness of the violation, any of the following consequences may be imposed:

• The student may be required to re-accomplish the work or exam in question, or to complete a designated alternate assignment; such work will receive a maximum grade of “C”.
• The student will not be given an opportunity to re-accomplish the work and will receive an “F” for the work in question. This may result in the student will receiving a grade of “F” for the course.

For repeated violations of academic integrity in more than one course, a student may be dismissed from the university.

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COURSE TEXTBOOK / REQUIRED READING

• Our primary textbook will be the Bible / the Pentateuch.

• Our second textbook will be:

  Old Testament Today, 1st edition, 2004, Zondervan. John Walton & Andrew Hill.

  Please note: A second edition of this book was published in 2014. ← Do not get it.

  I want to use the 1st edition (2004). (You can find it online, for $10-15.)

• The third textbook is:

  An Introduction to the Old Testament: Pentateuch; 2007, Moody Publishers. Herbert M. Wolf (You can find it online for about $25.)

• Other Required Reading:

  All course handouts, esp. the “Reading Handouts” on the critical approach to studying the Pentateuch H/O’s #40, & #60 - #65.

• A Reading Schedule / Reading Report will be provided.

  The total amount of required reading will be approx. 500 pages.

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COURSE PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS

Viewing Lectures:

All students in the course are required to view all of the video-lectures.

Online Participation:

All students are expected to participate in the five live group Zoom sessions (6 points per session).

Students who cannot attend the regular Saturday Zoom sessions for this course may attend a 30 to 40-minute alternate session on Mondays at noon PST = 2 pm CST.

Please Note: If you attend the alternate session on Mondays, you also need to watch the recording of the Saturday session (the recordings are posted in the class portal as the last entry under that week). And you also need to submit a one-page summary of: what were the topics discussed, and what were the main conclusions.

If you cannot attend either session, you need to watch the recording of the Saturday session, and submit a two-page summary of: what were the topics discussed, and what were the main conclusions.

These summaries are to be emailed to the prof at the email address listed above before the next Saturday’s Zoom session. Students who do so will receive full credit for the Zoom session.

Point Values for Quizzes, Assignments, Reading & Final Exam:

Grades will be based on the following:

Penalty for Late Work:

The due date for each assignment is stated on the assignment and in the class schedule. Work turned in late will lose 10% of the value of the assignment.

Late work will be accepted up until the final due date, noted just below.

Final Due Date for Course Work:

The last day that any & all course work will be accepted is Saturday, Oct 07, 11:59 pm. Any work not turned in by that time will receive a zero.

Nature of the Final Exam:

The final exam will be mainly objective in nature, with mostly multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. There will also be some short answer questions.

Projected Date of the Final Exam:

The projected dates of the final exam will be Oct 05 – 07.

Grading Scale:

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PROJECTED COURSE SCHEDULE & ASSIGNMENTS

First week: Aug 28 – Sept 2; start viewing the videos.

The complete schedule of the video-lectures to watch, the live group Zoom sessions, the course assignments, the quizzes, and the final exam, is provided separately.