The Patriarchs: Joseph

Theology Class, “The Patriarchs: Joseph”

On January 27th, at 10 am, our Theology Classes will continue. The classes are entitled “Seven Stories of Scripture,” and in them we will tour seven great themes and motifs that run through the Bible that culminate in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This week, we continue our broad look at one of the patriarchs of our faith, Joseph, and his saga that takes up a great portion of the end of the book of Genesis (Chapters 37-50). His story is so big that we will need two classes to merely survey it! We will look at how his life, as a Wisdom figure, and forgiving victim, embodies God’s solution to the folly of the pre-histories and how his life is at the bedrock of our faith as we know it today.

As a rule, our primary reference text will be the Authorized Version of the Bible, which will be available at every class.

Also, on Wednesday, February 13 at 6:30-8pm in Andrew Hall, Professor Jeremy Waldron will begin a series on “Biblical Justice,” focusing mainly on the concepts of judgment, justice, and social justice in the writings of the prophets.

The bookstore has ordered the following books in relation to this course: Walter Houston, “Justice: The Biblical Challenge” (2014) and Enrique Nardoni, “Rise Up O Judge: A Study of Justice in the Biblical World” (2010). But these books are for background reading only; the class will not assume familiarity with them.

The first session, on February 13, will focus on the prophet Amos and the place of justice in his nine chapters. Amos is a short book (7 or 8 pages) and it will be helpful if participants can read it through in advance. Two other classes will follow on Wednesday, February 20 and Wednesday, February 27.

Everyone is welcome.

If you have any questions or more material that I could read about our topics, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Grace and peace to you,

Matthew Moretz+
Associate Rector