General information

• Study points: 4.00
• Language: English
• Category: lecture - interactive lecture
• Duration: 26.0 hours 
• Periodicity: Taught this academic year in the second semester
• POC: POC Theology and Religious Studies

Taught by

Ausloos Hans

Aims

 
Knowledge: 

• To get acquainted with methods and materials for doing independent exegetical research into Psalms and Wisdom Literature.
• To ndicate in which way form and content are interrelated in Old Testament poetic literature.
• Learning to solve textual, linguistic and literary problems, paying attention to both the contextuality and the theological meaning and function of the corpus of texts mentioned.

• To identify the problems of Old Testament poetic texts on the basis of an analysis of modern translations.
• To identify poetic patterns in Psalms and Wisdom literature.
• To develop exegetical strategies for reading and interpreting the Book of Psalms and Wisdom Literature, on the basis of a representative selection of central texts.

• To evaluate Old Testament poetic literature as a poëtic reflection on God and human beings.

Content

The first part of this course is dealing with the Book of Psalms. As a mirror of the soul, Old Testament Psalms formulate in an extraordinary language what lives in the human heart, what moves people and what keeps them going. As a result, it is seen that praise as well as lament, gratitude, prayer and reflection are dealt with in the Book of Psalms. Therefore, when reading and studying the Psalms, one not only learns something about God, but maybe even more about human beings themselves. After an introductory presentation of the Book of Psalms as a whole, in which special attention will be paid to the phenomenon of Old Testament poetry and its characteristics – some well and less known Psalms will be studied in an exemplary way. And, even if the Book of Psalms is both for Jews and for Christians the outstanding book of prayer – New Testament tradition presents Jesus as a paradigmatic prayer of Psalms –  yet, Psalms in which enemies are being cursed or which even invoke God’s vengeance over other people are very difficult and problematic to contemporary believers. The meaning and function of these so-called Psalms of revenge – in Christian liturgy they are all skipped – shall be explained. The second part of the course deals with Wisdom Literature, which can be characterised as the written expression of practical wisdom in life. Within this scope, the starting point of reflection is the belief, based on practical experience, that goodness produces good things and that doing evil hurts and destroys, not only the community but even the offender himself. Wisdom literature aims at motivating its readers to live in goodness and gentleness and to avoid all evil, although the question of undeserved suffering (Job) is also taking a central position. With its ‘yes to life’ Old Testament Wisdom Literature is not presenting an unfounded naïve optimism. Its wisdom is based on the ‘fear for YaHWeH’, an expression that refers to a deep trust in God. As a ‘yes to life’, Old Testament Wisdom Literature is an appeal to enjoy life. Moreover, Old Testament wisdom avoids, within a commonsensical and often even sceptic view of the world, an exceedingly pious and unworldly, religious escape from reality. In order to illustrate the above described aspects of Old Testament Wisdom Literature, this course will first offer an introduction into the structure and content of the different Old Testament Wisdom books (Job, Proverbs, Qohelet, Wisdom and Wisdom of Jesus Sirach). Thereafter, some representative pericopes will be studied in detail.

Course Material

A reader, as well as a basic bibliography, will be put at the student’s disposal.

Course activities

To attend the lectures, take notes, stimulating the reflection of the fellow students by formulating critical remarks, and to acquire insight in the studied issues by way of accomplishing  reading assignments.

Evaluation description

Examination type:
    oral with written preparation
When?: final examination during examination period
Evaluation type:
    Closed book

Explanation

Examination type:
    oral with written preparation
When?: final examination during examination period
Evaluation type:
    Closed book
 More detailed information will be offered in class.