Course Overview

Biblical Wisdom Books (4 credits)

Wisdom is more precious than rubies. (Proverbs 8:11)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

Overview: This ministry training course examines the wisdom writings of Old Testament sages and poets: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Lamentations. The class shows the relevance of Old Testament wisdom for knowing God's wisdom in Christ and following Jesus today.

Course Outcomes:

1. Read and become familiar with Old Testament wisdom books and selected Psalms.
2. Understand the theological framework and main message of each wisdom book.
3. Know various types of Psalms: lament, curse, praise, instruction, royal, thanks, and confidence.
4. Recognize some literary techniques of Hebrew poetry.
5. Understand that Jesus is the source and focus of all wisdom.
6. Discern how Old Testament wisdom informs and guides Jesus’ followers today.

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 often 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. For some items, 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 or 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 75 minutes to answer 20 multiple-choice questions for each quiz. Once a quiz has started, you must finish it, and you 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 75-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 were wanting to post about.