Author: Robert Wallace

In an attempt to help the students understand reading the Bible as a narrative, I asked them to get into their groups and identify what their favorite TV / Book series is? I also asked: If you were trying to help people get into the series, what episode/episodes would you recommend? Any episodes you would skip?…

Source Criticism

Sep 6, 2015

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in 1-Canon, 2-Torah

For a discussion on source criticism in an upper level Torah class, I provided a email from me to my dissertation supervisor from late in my PhD program. The email had several quotes in it from different readers on the committee which I was responding to (without providing quotation marks). I had stripped away dates and replaced…

Daniel

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In their groups, the students shared a story of tragedy they were familiar with and the what type of Godly counsel was given by people in that tragedy. We then transitioned to the purpose of the apocalyptic genre and its message of perseverance and hope. It helped them to locate the apocalyptic to the occasion…

Job

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First we worked through the dialogues of Job and God. The groups then had to imagine they were making a movie based on the book and the producer was not satisfied with the canonical ending. They were supposed to rewrite, omit, or defend the ending to their producer. This provided great conversation on the purpose of…

Job

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After working through the first two chapters together, I asked the students to break into their groups. After reading Job 3, they need to find thematic connections from other areas of scripture. Most of them found Jeremiah 3 and Psalm 88. A few of them found the creation allusions (or anti-creation allusions) in the text…

Qoheleth

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I asked the students to write at the top of the page, “The words of the teacher…” Underneath that, they have to write something that I’ve said that has troubled them and why. After sharing in their groups, we have a debrief and talk through some issues. This allowed me to work through their struggle,…

Song of Songs

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After watching commercials for the Bachelor and Bachelorette, I ask them in their groups to design a reality show that focuses on relationships in a way that would illustrate a restored vision of the man/woman relationship Phyllis Trible reads in Songs.

Proverbs

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In an effort to help them understand the genre of Wisdom Literature. I asked them in their groups to discuss: What is the most useful advice you got before coming to college? What is the most useless advice you got before coming to college? What is the funniest advice you got? I then asked them in…

Psalms

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The students compare the lyrics to “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserable and Psalm 13. After they put their list together, I show them the classical form critical elements of lament. This leads us into a discussion about the role of lament in Israel’s worship life (and the lack of lament in our own). I…

Jonah

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The students did a sociogram of the story. I asked them to note who the main character was, and then symbolize that relationship on the white boards. They connected them with dotted lines (for distance), double solid lines (for closeness), etc. We then discussed what they saw. Some were very creative.

Ezekiel

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Using the socrative app, we take a class quiz made up entirely of true/false questions about elements of the Ezekiel text. This became a gateway to deeper conversations about Ezekiel. By this time in the semester, they were reading more thoughtfully and the discussions are much more substantive.

Ezekiel

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Each of the groups has to draw a representation of the call of Ezekiel on the board. After unpacking each groups representation (some of which have been impressive), I look at four artistic renderings of the text. The discussion revolves around “Are these good readings of the text?” which inevitably moves to the difficult nature…

Jeremiah

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Einstein has famously said, “You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.” I gave the students several of the “complications” of Jeremiah’s ministry and asked them to express it, as comprehensively as possible, in a haiku. We unpacked their haikus as a class, and it was a good time…

Nahum

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This exercise is based on my reading of Nahum as (perhaps) an example of satire. After show the students a clip from the Onion from Youtube, I ask them to imagine what a satirical prophet might look like. This worked well. The class had a great discussion. Several students found the satirical prophetic possibility compelling.…

Isaiah

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I show the students the call scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I then ask them to read Isaiah 6:1-12, Jeremiah 1:4-10, and Exodus 3:1-15. I ask them as a group to come up with the shared elements in these passages and the Python scene. As a class we put together their list…

Prophet vs. King

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I ask the groups to make two concept maps relating the following terms: The king, the prophet, God, the populace, the priestly establishment. One concept map was to show the ideal relationship between these groups. The other map was to show the relationship demonstrated in the biblical text. At this point in the semester they had learned that…

Divided Monarchy

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I told the students the story of the Battle of Qarqar, omitting the Israelite king involved in the fighting (Ahab). I then asked the students to compile a brief but imaginative historical profile on this king based on these Assyrian records. What would life under this king be like for Israel for security? military service?…

Solomon

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In their groups, they had to put together a movie pitch based on the biblical narrative of the life of Solomon. All movie options were open to them. They were told to decide: style of movie (drama, animated, modern adaptation, etc) market (children, adults) theme of movie (tragedy, comedy, etc) characterization (what’s Solomon like?) what elements of…

David

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In their groups, the students read the David & Bathsheba narrative. The groups made a sociogram based on the story. I asked them to note who the main character was, and then symbolize that relationship on the white boards. They connected them with dotted lines (for distance), double solid lines (for closeness), etc. We then discussed what they…

United Monarchy

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In their groups, the students read passages from 1 Samuel that read as in favor or against kingship. The students then had to develop a “tweetable” campaign slogan. We then went through each groups slogan and discussed what they were trying to capture in their slogan and why? The activity seemed to work well. They…

Settlement

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The students read the Deborah story, Jael story, Jephthath’s daughter, and the Levite and the concubine. I then asked them to vote on which was the most offensive and seemed furthest from their world today. The vote was publicly displayed on the screen. After the gave their justifications and asked some questions, I showed them…

Settlement

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A few years ago the book, “Blue Like Jazz, ” was adapted into a movie. The director, Steve Taylor, made a number of intentional changes from the print material when bringing the story to the big screen (with Donald Miller’s collaboration). After listing the changes, I asked the students if the movie told a “true story.”…

Covenant

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For this exercise, I talked about the importance of “remembering.” I first asked them to talk about their holiday traditions in their family. Then I compared the German and Japanese ways of talking about the atrocities in WWII. Then we looked at Deuteronomy 6 and the command to “Remember” and “Teach.” I asked them which…

Covenant

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I had the students read the passage in Lev 25 on the Year of Jubilee. I then had them adapt the rules of monopoly to conform to the Year of Jubilee. They were very creative in some of their rules. Each of them were picking up on different aspects of the game, and focused on…

Covenant

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I showed the students five different passages from the NT that seemed to portray different attitudes toward Christians and “law”. From the sermon on the mount where Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, to Eph 2:15 where Jesus came to abolish the law. I then asked them what was a Christian’s responsibility to the…

National Beginnings

Aug 22, 2014

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As a class we watched three scenes. The “Chicago Way” scene from The Untouchables, The Lex Talionus verses from Exod 21, and the redemption scene from “The Mission.” I then asked them in their groups to discuss which of these scenes best represented God in the story of the Exodus. The exercise worked very well.…

Ancestors & Type Scenes

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I put together a variety of internet memes to talk about type scenes. I showed them the meme, then I asked “What do you have to know for this to be funny?” and “What can I change and still make a joke work?” I then showed them a series of changed memes that I made. They…

Cain & Abel

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The students did a sociogram of the story. I asked them to note who the main character was, and then symbolize that relationship on the white boards. They connected them with dotted lines (for distance), double solid lines (for closeness), etc. We then discussed what they saw. Some were very creative. This activity turned out…

Flood

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The students designed their own etiologies. I showed them a picture of the faculty in full regalia, dressed for opening convocation. I assigned two groups. One had to write an explanation for why we dressed in that manner that demonstrated the faculty’s piety. One had to write an explanation that demonstrated our wickedness. Some of…

Genesis 3

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We analyzed four different artistic depictions of the fall from Italy, Japan, Indonesia and an American child’s coloring book. After each picture, I asked the students to discuss in their groups, “What do you see?” and “What do you wonder about?” At the end, I asked them whether each was a good reading or a…

Creation

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I had the groups each read one text: Gen 1, Gen 2, Psalm 74, Psalm 104, or the Enuma Elish. I asked them to note the order of creation, name of God used, how humanity is discussed, the tone, etc. At the end we discussed the implications of these different playlists (and we referenced the Enuma…

Formation of the Pentateuch

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The students read a list of scriptures, some which implied Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (2 Chron 23:18; Joshua 23:6, 2 Kings 14:6; Ezra 6:18) and others that would cast doubt on Mosaic authorship as the sole source of the text. I think there was benefit in having the students work with primary texts and…

Translation

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The students “translated” a passage from Josephus into contemporary language. I used the Whiston translation which is awkward and stilted to the modern ear. I further handicapped three groups by limiting how they could write. Group 1 could not use any form of “to be” verb. Group 2 could not use any adverbs. Group 3…

Important Texts

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I had the students divide into groups and develop a concept map between the significant texts mentioned in the videos: Masoretic Text, Septuagint, Vulgate, Tyndale Bible, King James Version. I didn’t give any specific directions on how to connect the texts. The concept maps were very creative. The early classes tended to be rather simple…

Formation of the Canon

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