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Bible Studies
Intro-level perspectives from Biblical scholarship focusing on some of the most vexing questions for contemporary readers.
The bible in LITERARY & HISTORICAL context
OLD TESTAMENT passages
Judges 4:4-5:31
Psalms 18, 21, & 110
Proverbs 22:17-24:22
Ecclesiastes 2:11-15
Genesis 2:4b-3:24, 6:1-9:29, & 11:1-9
Deuteronomy 1:1-6:25 & 13:6-9
Psalms 15, 24, 72, & 87
Hosea 1:2-3:5 & 11:1-12:14
Isaiah 9:1-11:16
Lamentations 1:1-3:25
Psalms 74, 82, 83, & 106
Ezekiel 16:1-22, 34:1-37:14
Genesis 1:1-2:4a, 12:1-18, & 15:1-22:19
Leviticus 26:1-46
Ezra 1:1-11, 3:8-6:22
Psalm 107, 118, & 122
Job 1-5, 38-42
Daniel 2:20-45, 5:13-6:28, 8:1-27, 11:1-12:13
OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS
1. Excerpts from The Didache, Plutarch's On the Bravery of Women, & Seneca's Letters from a Stoic
2. Excerpts from Philo, Clement of Rome, Josephus' A Jewish War,
3. Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, Esarhaddon Treaty with Ba'al of Tyre, Book of Balaam (Deir Alla), & Annals of Sennacherib
4. Excerpts from Enuma Elish, Decree of Cyrus II, Laments for Ur, & Descent of Tammuz and Ishtar
Supplemental Resources
David Carr, The Hebrew Bible: A Contemporary Intro to the Christian Old Testament & Jewish Tanakh, 2021.
Matthews & Benjamin, eds., Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East, 2007.
NEW TESTAMENT passages
1 Thessalonians 3:14-16 & 4:13-5:11
Galatians 1:13-2:10
Philippians
Corinthians
Philemon
Romans
Mark
Hebrews
Ephesians
Colossians
Timothy
Titus
Matthew
Luke-Acts
the bible in agrarian & ecological context
Biblical passages
Genesis 1:1-2:4a & 2:4b-4:26
Exodus 2:1-3:15, 20:
Leviticus 9:9-10 & 23-25, 23:1-43, 25:1-26:46
Deuteronomy 8:7-10, 11:10-12 & 26:1-2
Psalms 19, 96, & 148
Matthew 12
Mark
Revelation
OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS
Debate Between Sheep & Grain (from Sumerian Disputations)
Excerpts from Enuma Elish & Atrahasis Epic
Supplemental RESOURCES (optional)
Howard Snyder, Consider the Lilies: How Jesus Saves People and the Land, 2025.
Fulkerson & Chopp, eds. Science & the Doctrine of Creation: The Approaches of Ten Modern Theologians, 2021.
John Chrysssavgis, Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration: Orthodox Perspectives on Environment, Nature, & Creation, 2013.
Ellen Davis, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible, 2008.
Ellen Bernstein, Splendor of Creation: A Biblical Ecology, 2005.
sabbath law & Ancient imperial religion
Biblical passages
Book 1:1-11
Book 2:2-22
Book 3:3-33
Book 4:4-44
Book 5:5-55
Book 6:6-66
Book 7:7-77
Book 8:8-88
Book 9:9-99
OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS
Primary Text #1
Primary Text #2
Supplemental Readings (optional)
Walter Brueggemann, Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now, 2017.
Christine Hayes, What's Divine about Divine Law? Early Perspectives, 2017.
Willard Swartley & Albert Meyer, Slavery, Sabbath, War, & Women: Case Studies in Biblical Interpretation, 1983.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath, 1951.
Biblical economics in ancient context
Biblical passages
Book 1:1-11
Book 2:2-22
Book 3:3-33
Book 4:4-44
Book 5:5-55
Book 6:6-66
Book 7:7-77
Book 8:8-88
Book 9:9-99
OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS
Primary Text #1
Primary Text #2
Supplemental Readings (optional)
Ched Myers, The Biblical Vision of Sabbath Economics, 2002.
Walter Brueggemann, Money and Possessions: Interpretation, 2016.
Sondra Ely Wheeler, Wealth as Peril & Obligation: The New Testament on Possessions, 1995.
Matthew Coomber, Economics and Empire in the Ancient Near East, 2023 & Economics and Empire in the Roman World, 2025.
sex & gender in the ancient world
Biblical passages
Book 1:1-11
Book 2:2-22
Book 3:3-33
Book 4:4-44
Book 5:5-55
Book 6:6-66
Book 7:7-77
Book 8:8-88
Book 9:9-99
OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS
Gospel of Thomas 114
Galen's "On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body"
Supplemental Readings
Eskenazi & Weiss, eds. The Torah: A Women's Commentary, 2008.
Newsom, Ringe, & Lapsley, eds. Women's Bible Commentary, 3rd edition, 2012.
Gillian Clark, Women in Late Antiquity: Pagan and Christian Lifestyles, 1993.
Marilyn Skinner, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture, 2014.
Gregg Drinkwater & Joshua Lesser, eds. Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, 2009.
Bernadette Brooten, Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism, 1998.Dorothy Lee, The Ministry of Women in the New Testament: Reclaiming the Biblical Vision for Church Leadership, 2021.
Stephen Morris, When Brothers Dwell in Unity: Byzantine Christianity and Homosexuality, 2016.
The serpent, Satan, & Hell
Biblical passages
Book 1:1-11
Book 2:2-22
Book 3:3-33
Book 4:4-44
Book 5:5-55
Book 6:6-66
Book 7:7-77
Book 8:8-88
Book 9:9-99
OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS
Primary Text #1
Primary Text #2
Supplemental Readings (optional)
Author, Title, publication info
Author, Title, publication info
Collective Trauma & communal wisdom
Biblical passages
Book 1:1-11
Book 2:2-22
Book 3:3-33
Book 4:4-44
Book 5:5-55
Book 6:6-66
Book 7:7-77
Book 8:8-88
Book 9:9-99
OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS
Josephus
Primary Text #2
Supplemental Readings (optional)
David Carr, Holy Resilience: The Bible's Traumatic Origins, 2018.
Lindsey Danziger & Benjamin David, The Sacred Struggle: Jewish Responses to Trauma, 2025.
listening for God’s call
Biblical passages
Book 1:1-11
Book 2:2-22
Book 3:3-33
Book 4:4-44
Book 5:5-55
Book 6:6-66
Book 7:7-77
Book 8:8-88
Book 9:9-99
OTHER ANCIENT TEXTS
Primary Text #1
Primary Text #2
Supplemental Readings (optional)
Author, Title, publication info
Author, Title, publication info
