Orthodox Understanding of the Old Testament and Contemporary Exegesis

This Old Testament course evaluates the possibility of interaction or dialogue between Orthodox theoria-reading, which understands the Old Testament eschatologically in reference to the New, and modern Western critical approaches to reading the Old Testament text which emphasise historical theology. Students will be introduced to selected texts of the Old Testament, of intertestamental Judaism, and to the early Christian reception and understanding of such texts, together with the critical tools and methodological ideas which make an exegesis possible. Readings of contemporary Orthodox critique and struggle with these tools and ideas will be engaged along with post-critical Western scholarship with a view to forming a responsible Orthodox hermeneutic and exegetical approach to reading and understanding the Old Testament, one that is relevant to the faith and practice of the church today.