This course will give an introduction to Leviticus as book and as theology. During the lectures and reading assignments, the structure, theology and reception history of Leviticus will be discussed: priesthood, sacrifices, purity, atonement, holiness, festivals, economy and cult.
Exegesis of Old Testament Law and Ethics
Course Description
Course Objective
Students are able to:
- recognize and take into account various academic and religious approaches to the book of Leviticus
- make an exegesis of a passage from Leviticus
- reflect on the complicated issue of cultic laws as Scripture in the Christian Church
- present the contents of one book at an academic level
- write an article at college/professional level
Course Content
Leviticus is a somewhat neglected books of the Bible within European and American Christianity, partly because it deals with rituals and priesthood - items that have become suspect in Protestant circles, especially after the Enlighenment. This course will give an introduction to Leviticus as book and as theology. During the lectures and reading assignments, the structure, theology and reception history of Leviticus will be discussed: priesthood, sacrifices, purity, atonement, holiness, festivals, economy and cult. The various approaches in the academic field, such as anthropology, ritual studies, and the various religious backgrounds of the studies, especially Jewish and evangelical-protestant ones, will be introduced. Part of the course will focus on the complicated relationship between the book and Christianity and the question whether that relationship must be so thin. Recent authors from Christianity and Judaism have offered a new view on Leviticus, through which it is possible to intergrate the Biblical book more easily in (systematic) theology and to use it for sermons and Bible studies.
Additional Information Teaching Methods
Lectures, presentations.
Study Characteristics
- Teachers: prof. dr. E. van Staalduine-Sulman (eveline.van.staalduine-sulman@vu.nl )
- Language: english
- ECTS: 6
- Academic skill: Discipline related
- Graduate School: FRT
- Discipline: Religion and Theology
- In class/online: In class
- Available to: PhD students VU
- Including assessment: yes
- With certificate: no
- Assessment type: Formative assignments (research plan; exegesis of one topic) (aims #2, 4, 5): 20% Summative assignments: Presentation of one book on Leviticus from the list in Canvas (aims #1, 4): 20% , Exegetical paper for a professional (not-academic) audience (aims #1, 2, 3, 5): 60% The paper must be graded sufficiently to pass the course.
- Admission criteria: Knowledge of, and ability to, analyse Biblical Hebrew
-
Course Description & Study Characteristics
Course Description
Course Objective
Students are able to:
- recognize and take into account various academic and religious approaches to the book of Leviticus
- make an exegesis of a passage from Leviticus
- reflect on the complicated issue of cultic laws as Scripture in the Christian Church
- present the contents of one book at an academic level
- write an article at college/professional level
Course Content
Leviticus is a somewhat neglected books of the Bible within European and American Christianity, partly because it deals with rituals and priesthood - items that have become suspect in Protestant circles, especially after the Enlighenment. This course will give an introduction to Leviticus as book and as theology. During the lectures and reading assignments, the structure, theology and reception history of Leviticus will be discussed: priesthood, sacrifices, purity, atonement, holiness, festivals, economy and cult. The various approaches in the academic field, such as anthropology, ritual studies, and the various religious backgrounds of the studies, especially Jewish and evangelical-protestant ones, will be introduced. Part of the course will focus on the complicated relationship between the book and Christianity and the question whether that relationship must be so thin. Recent authors from Christianity and Judaism have offered a new view on Leviticus, through which it is possible to intergrate the Biblical book more easily in (systematic) theology and to use it for sermons and Bible studies.
Additional Information Teaching Methods
Lectures, presentations.
Study Characteristics
- Teachers: prof. dr. E. van Staalduine-Sulman (eveline.van.staalduine-sulman@vu.nl )
- Language: english
- ECTS: 6
- Academic skill: Discipline related
- Graduate School: FRT
- Discipline: Religion and Theology
- In class/online: In class
- Available to: PhD students VU
- Including assessment: yes
- With certificate: no
- Assessment type: Formative assignments (research plan; exegesis of one topic) (aims #2, 4, 5): 20% Summative assignments: Presentation of one book on Leviticus from the list in Canvas (aims #1, 4): 20% , Exegetical paper for a professional (not-academic) audience (aims #1, 2, 3, 5): 60% The paper must be graded sufficiently to pass the course.
- Admission criteria: Knowledge of, and ability to, analyse Biblical Hebrew