Course Overview

Old Testament Theology (3 credits)

Overview: This course reveals the continuity of Scripture, focusing on the stories of the Old Testament and how they anticipate the life and work of Christ. Part 1 summarizes the redemptive-historical story that Jesus would have learned in his youth. Part 2 develops some Old Testament themes that continue to be very important for the Christian faith and life today. Both the reflections in the book and the accompanying lectures will prove helpful to those preparing to lead Bible Studies or write sermons based on the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

Course Outcomes:

1. Be able to identify and explain the significant events in the redemptive-historical story of the Old Testament. That story, after all, is a significant part of the history of what God has done and is doing for you in Jesus Christ.
2. Gain practice in rightly reading and explaining the narratives of the Old Testament, both avoiding moralism and appreciating how these Scriptures lay a foundation for understanding the fullness of God’s reclamation of his entire Creation.
3. Understand the continuity between the Old and New Testaments. In particular, be able to explain the significance of the Abrahamic Covenant and the Tabernacle/Temple in the Old Testament and what they mean in light of the New Covenant under which Christians now live.
4. Become familiar with some of the Old Testament support for biblical teachings commonly derived from the Scriptures of the New Testament—teachings on such things as the Creator/Creature distinction, rebellion against God, and how God both provides an answer for sinful rebellion and actually reconciles sinners to himself, the primary ways God provides to help us embrace his priorities, some significant areas in which disciples are challenged, and biblical wisdom on marriage, family, and stewardship.

Assignments:

1. Read the Old Testament chapters assigned for each unit, either online or in your own Bible. 
2. Read the online articles for each unit. For your convenience, content is available in more than one format. Usually, the first link for an article is in a format that automatically adapts for easy viewing on cell phones, tablets, and computers. The same content is also offered in a PDF file if you prefer that format or if you want to save the file on your personal device for future reference. (To read PDF files, your device must have Adobe Reader.)
3. Listen to online video lectures. Slide contents of corresponding articles are also posted with many videos to aid your study or to save on your device for later use when you teach others.
4. Use the discussion forum to ask questions and exchange ideas with others.
5. Take the online quiz for each unit. You will have 45 minutes to answer 20 multiple-choice questions for each quiz. Once a quiz starts, you must finish it and can’t retake it. So be ready ahead of time. Each quiz covers readings and video lectures for that unit. While taking the quiz, you may use your notes and refer to articles and other materials. Tip: First, answer all the questions you know. Then try to look up answers to questions you don’t know. When you have entered an answer for every question, submit the quiz for grading before the 45-minute limit. 

*The course has a total of 240 points: 20 points for each of the twelve quizzes.

Grading Scale:

A 95-100%   A- 90-94%   B+ 87-89%   B 83-86%   B- 80-82%   C+ 77-79%   C 73-76%   C- 70-72%    D+ 67-69%   D 63-66%   D- 60-62%   F 0-59%

Your average for the course must be at least 60%. Otherwise, you will fail the class and will receive no credit.

Deadline: You have 180 days to finish the course. Complete all assignments before the final deadline, or you will be automatically unenrolled, and all coursework will be removed. You will have to start over and take the class again to receive credit.

Course Forum: Each course forum is at the beginning of the course, right before the first-course content section, and has comments and questions from other students in the class. The forum is a great way to post a question or comment for other students who are currently enrolled in the course to see. Additionally, you can search the forum to see if anyone in the past has addressed or discussed the issue, question, or comment you wanted to post about.

Accessibility: All videos in this course have notes/slides to accompany them.

Note: This course was formerly called the “Old Testament Story of Redemption.”