Gordon College Dr. Ted Hildebrandt

BI 101 Old Testament Office: Frost 304

Spring, 2012 ted.hildebrandt@gordon.edu

Office hours: T R usually 9:00-12:00; Phone: ext 4412

MWF usually in 9:00-2:00

1. Course Description:. Old Testament History, Literature and Theology examines Old Testament history and teaching against the cultural, geographical and literary backgrounds of the Ancient Near East. Archaeology, comparative history and literature as well as key theological themes underlying the New Testament and Western culture are explored as well as the application of these texts as a foundation of personal spirituality.

2. Course Goals: When you have successfully completed this course you will:

G1: Recall the basic content of the Old Testament (OT)

G2: Comprehend the origin and transmission of the OT text

G3: Comprehend OT cultural issues and their relevance to post-modern

culture

G4: Analyze, interpret and apply the meaning of OT texts from multiple

perspectives

G5: Critically evaluate and integrate your thinking with current OT

research and discoveries

G6: Distill, formulate and integrate your view of God and His kingdom

based on the insights derived from the OT

G7: Comprehend and apply OT community and moral constructs

G8: Share a commitment to caring for the creation, environment and
see connections liberal arts disciplines as part of your religious
commitment.

G9: Be able to express your understanding of texts of the Old Testament

utilizing the potential of new media computer screen rather than as

static text on a page.

3. OBJECTIVES of OT History and Literature class:

Cognitive Objectives: You will understand

CO1. the basic historical framework

CO2. the factual details and stories

CO3. the process of how the Old Testament came to us

CO4. the customs and cultural issues manifested in the OT

CO5. the meaning and implications of the Old Testament stories

CO6. God's character (mercy, justice, love, anger) and actions

(covenant, war, shalom, forgiveness, retribution,

redemption, et al.)

CO7. theological reasons for the care of creation and human life

CO8. the different stages of faith and spiritual formation

Affective Objectives: You will appreciate

AO1. the value of the Old Testament

AO2. the greatness of God and human responsibility in response

in terms of holiness, pursuit of personal justice and mercy

AO3. God's use of and interaction with human culture
AO4. the value of the various disciplines of the liberal arts as supported by the OT

Skill Objectives: You will be able to

SO1. identify major themes, genres and styles

SO2. apply the meaning and significance of the Old Testament
stories to life within postmodern culture

SO3. critically evaluate interpretive options of some of the major

“difficult” passages in the Old Testament

SO4. ask big questions (the meaning of life, death, suffering, happiness, choice, etc.) of the text and then pursue answers

SO5. express OT concepts in new media formats

4. Textbooks

Three items to purchase:

1) A Bible in an accurate translation (NIV, NLT, NRSV, NASB, KJV,

                        NKJV, Net Bible are all good choices; I have prepared a DASV
                        Digital American Standard Version which is available in text and
                        audio on the web site).
            2) Wilson, Marvin R., Our Father Abraham (Grand Rapids: Wm. B.

Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989). This text will play a significant

role in developing your sensitivity to the debt that Christianity owes

its parent, Judaism. Dr. Wilson has incorporated questions for

review and further thought at the end of each chapter. The wise will

observe them carefully. We are privileged to have Dr. Wilson as a

professor at Gordon College. You may be able to find this text used

on campus.

Digital resources: All of the resources will be made available online

in the form of journal articles, dissertations and public domain

books, course PowerPoints, video and audio from a previous
semester. The professor is seeking to limit the cost for textbooks by

constructing a web site that will make substantial OT resources

available to students online. The point is to harness

Internet technology for the benefit of our learning environment.

This is going to be a multiple year project so your patience and

suggestions are requested as I attempt to build piece by piece this

online resource at Gordon. Some of the benefits are that these

resources are freely available to anyone, at any time from

anywhere in the world (it also saves you over $50 for textbooks).

For this course you need only consult the web "Old Testament Lit."
[just Google "Ted Hildebrandt" or use this URL:

http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/index.cfm
Blackboard will only have course announcements and grades posted.

The web site will also facilitate your exploration of topics

beyond this course and beyond the walls of Gordon after you

graduate. The online materials are also available to your friends
            and family if others want to see what you are learning. The readings
            including the DASV OT itself are available in multiple formats
            (*.doc, *.html, *.pdf) as well as audio for virtually all the readings
            (*.mp3).
            There are audio and text/audio combinations so you can download it
            and listen to the text on your iPods, iPads or mobile devices.

All students taking the course are required to purchase the course materials ($10 cash for access to the materials); if payment is received after February 2 the price goes up to $20 and no quizzes or exams will be accepted once the Feb. 9 is passed if no payment has been received. In short, get your $10 in before Feb. 2 as I don’t want to have to chase you down especially when I’m trying to save each of you well over $50 per student. I do not make anything personally from this but the funds are used to develop the more materials for the OT/NT courses and so that they can be provided cheaply to students and others in digital formats. If the $10 is beyond your means talk to me personally before the deadlines.

3) Get Lost in Jerusalem Virtual Reality by Ted Hildebrandt originally
published by Zondervan (is available in the library computer labs).

4. Attendance Policy

A. Students are expected to attend class sessions. The discussions

in class are an essential part of your learning (character and habits of

life matter). Attendance will be taken. You will be allowed 3
            absences, over that points will be deducted from your attendance
            score. You are responsible to find the attendance sheet and get you
            name on it for each class.

B. All quizzes should be taken on time. Missed quizzes will be

assessed as to whether they are excused or unexcused. Unexcused

absences will result in an automatic deduction of 20% for that quiz..

Both excused and unexcused absences must be made up within one

week from when the quiz was originally given or the student returns

to school. If a student gets to class late after the quiz has begun, the

quiz will be considered late. If, however, it is made up within the

week the deduction will be 10%.

C. All exams must be taken on time.

5. Integrity

This is a class in biblical studies. Integrity is at the heart of what is being

learned. Thus any cheating or plagiarism will result in an automatic failure of the whole course. If you are unclear what falls into the category of plagiarism check in the Student Handbook pp 8f. Computer usage is encouraged for note taking. Gaming, surfing, texting, email reading/sending, IM, YouTube, Facebook, etc in the classroom are unacceptable. Be wise. Few comments on classroom etiquette. Class times are learning times for discussion, taking notes and interacting. The following activities are inappropriate inside the classroom context: talking to others outside of the class discussion flow, whispering, sleeping, hand-holding, massaging another, un-civil behavior and behavior not conducive to a learning environment. Students engaged in these activities will be asked to leave the classroom and must talk to the professor in person before being readmitted.

6. Extra Credit may be received (up to 5 points) by:

1) Doing 10 memory verses from the following list (or others that

you may suggest for the prof’s approval). One point for every ten

verses. The verses should be texts you have never learned

                        before. They will be recited orally to the prof. (DASV, NIV, NASB,
                        KJV, NLT, NRSV) Ps 1, 19, 32, 51, 139, 121, Isa 40, 53 are good places
                        to begin looking for materials.

2) This year I will be working with transcribing audio instruction from

            Dr. Meredith Kline on the Kingdom and Prophets as well as Drs. Perry
            and Elaine Phillip’s Historical Geography of Israel and full text
            formats. You may transcribe for extra credit (1 lecture= 5% [usually
            takes 5-7 hours]. Talk to me if you want me to set this up for you
            online.
            There are also option for building outlines of the lectures and
            constructing PowerPoints with audio that can be done as well.
            If you are into computers talk to me and we may be able to come up
            with special projects utilizing the technology for learning the Old
            Testament.
            I’m going to be working on developing more Bible-robics and
            book Quizzer question set. You can work on those things too.
            If you get in trouble grade-wise in this course use extra to
            bail yourself out. If you’re willing to work you can get the grade.

Extra credit is due on Tues. May 1.—plan ahead

7. Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities who need academic

accommodations must speak to professor and also inform him in writing

regarding the nature of the disability and the request for specific

accommodations within the first two weeks of class. Ann Seavey from the

Academic Support Center must be made aware of and approve in writing the

accommodations requested. Students are also responsible for making sure

documentation of the disability is on file in the Academic Support Center.

See Ann Seavey, Jenks 412 Ext 4746. Failure to register in time with the

Professor and have the ASC approve the desired accommodations will

compromise our ability to provide the desired accommodations.

8. Honors option: If a student receives over a 92 on the first exam and has

maintained a 90 or better quiz average, s/he may request the honors option.

The student will work on a project with the prof. related to the OT Web site,

fitted to their interests, skills and possible options. Some options include

            developing outlines, abstracts and PowerPoints for OT lectures online to
            benefit those with learning disabilities or commuters, video editing or
            computer game design, translation possibilities into Spanish or other
            languages, and web searches, or transcription of Phillips/Kline lectures,
            development of this project will replace the final exam hereby easing your
            finals week preparations. You final exam score will be an average of your
            first and second exam. Talk to me if you’d like to do this option after you’ve
            taken the first exam.

9. Tentative Evaluation Percentages: generally I begin my curve with the
following

100-94 [A/A-]

93-85 [B+-B-]

84-70 [C+-C-]

69-65 [D]

65-0 [F]

Quizzes 35%

Exams 55%

Audio transcription Proj. 5%
Class attendance 5%

10. Assignments:

Abbreviations: B = Biblical Text

OFA = Our Father Abraham by Dr. Wilson

Audio Transcription Project:

            The audio *.mp3s are available on Blackboard [under Course Documents]                                     line done by one of the great Old Testament scholars Drs. Perry and
                        Elaine Phillips and Dr. Meredith Kline. We are desiring to create a
                        transcription of the classes he taught on the OT. You will break up
                        into 7 person groups (some groups may be 4-6 people). Your
                        project, should you choose to accept this mission, is to take 7-11
                        minutes of one of his lectures and            type it up into a Word document.
                        Make sure the transcription is clearly labeled with your name, date
                        submitted, and the title of the lecture and which number scribe you
                        were. A group editor will then review the individual group member
                        transcriptions for accuracy and paragraphing and then combine them
                        into one smooth whole class lecture.
                        The goal will then be to take these transcriptions edit them and redo

the audio and build an avatar based PowerPoint video in

                        HTML5/Javascript which will allow these lectures to be viewed
                        online.
                        This project will be completed in the first two weeks
                        of the course. I will then spend much of the semester proofing and
                        working with an editor to get them up to speed.
                        You can see what it the final presentations look like on the web site
                        under Isaiah and Daniel for Dr. Allan MacRae.

                        Important Suggestion: when doing the transcriptions if you are using the
                        Windows Media player. Right-click on the play button and set the speed
                        to "slow" it will help you keep up with it. You can do the same thing on
                        a Mac using Audacity as your sound editing program. Audacity is a free
                        download from Google. It helps significantly to slow it down like that.

Editor's Evaluation Sheet: Audio Transcription Groups
Quality, Timeliness, Proper formatting

Lecture Title Transcribed: __________________________________
Lecture Number: _________

Main Editor: _________________________________