Illuminating Faith – Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures

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Introduction

This is a ‘value-added’ study series based on an excellent online resource from Professor Christine Hayes at Yale University: an engaging undergraduate lecture series providing a broad introduction to the Old Testament as a whole. As well as covering (albeit necessarily briefly) the content of the Old Testament, this course is particularly useful for introducing lay people to modern historical critical methods developed over the last two centuries for interpreting these texts .

The whole series and its associated resources can be found in its original form on the Yale site. The ‘Sessions’ tab on that page brings up the full list of lectures, and clicking on each brings up the video, an audio-only version, transcription text, and any other resources (occasional handouts, etc.) relating to that session.

This IF version uses the Yale videos and a version of the Yale transcript reformatted into an easily printable PDF with paragraph numbering for easy reference in conversation groups. The main supplementary material is gathered together below under each session. The full lecture series is quite long — 24 sessions! — and so is broken up in this IF version into several parts for use either consecutively or in shorter series with breaks in between.

For an introduction to the series and presenting it in your local context, download our introductory document:

Download Outline Document

Preparing for the discussions

Prior to each session, watch the lecture via the links below, or read the transcript. There is also an audio-only version of the lectures available on the course homepage under the ‘sessions’ tab — click on the session you want and the audio can be downloaded at the bottom of the session page.

A book companion to the series as a whole, which at least group leaders and perhaps group members might consider buying, is The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition. It is not exactly cheap – being around $AU65 new [July 2020]. As well as providing a non-Christian text of the Hebrew Bible, it has a great deal of comment in the margins of each page as well as introductory essays to each of the Old Testament books and scholarly articles on history, interpretation, and so forth. It is a book which will likely serve purchasers well for a long time. A look at the ‘Look Inside’ feature for the book on Amazon might be worthwhile, if you’re considering getting a copy. See here for a range of online sources for this book.

Also included among the additional resources below are links to The Bible Project’s introductions to each of the biblical books Professor Hayes considers. These come from rather a different theological and interpretative perspective than of Hayes but are a quick and useful overview of the biblical books.

The collection of lecture transcripts can be downloaded individually from the session details below, or as a zipped file here:

Download Complete Yale OT Lecture Transcripts

The Yale material is reproduced here according to the associated terms of use.

The study outlines and resources

[Part 1 – Introduction to the Study of the OT]

  • Part 1 Session 1 – Video 1; lecture transcript
  • Part 1 Session 2 – Video 2; lecture transcript
    • Bible: Gen 1-4
    • JSB: Introduction to Genesis (JSB pp. 8-11);
    • AND a very brief overview of the book of Genesis — the main book treated in this first selection from the lectures — can be found here (part one) and here (part two). This is presented from a theological perspective quite different from that of Hayes in her lectures, but the overview of the content of Genesis is useful.
  • Part 1 Session 3 – Video 3; lecture transcript
    • As for Session 2 above
  • Part 1 Session 4 – Video 4; lecture transcript
    • Bible: Genesis 5-11
    • JSB: Introduction to the Torah, pp1-7
  • Part 1 Session 5 – Video 5 ; lecture transcript
    • Bible: Genesis 5-11
    • JSB: Introduction to the Torah, pp1-7
  • Part 1 Session 6 – Video 6; lecture transcript
    • Bible: Genesis 12 – Exodus 4
    • JSB: Introduction to Exodus (JSB pp. 102-107); “Historical and Geographical Background to the Bible” (JSB pp. 2048-2052); “Inner-Biblical Interpretation” (JSB pp. 1829-1835)
  • Part 1 Session 7 – Video 7; lecture transcript
    • Bible: Genesis 12 – Exodus 4
    • JSB: Introduction to Exodus (JSB pp. 102-107); “Historical and Geographical Background to the Bible” (JSB pp. 2048-2052); “Inner-Biblical Interpretation” (JSB pp. 1829-1835)

[Part 2 – Introduction to the Study of the OT]

  • Part 2 Session 1 – Video 8; lecture transcript
  • Part 2 Session 2 – Video 9; lecture transcript
    • JBS
      • ‘Concepts of Purity in the Bible’ (JSB pp. 2041-2047)
  • Part 2 Session 3 – Video 10; lecture transcript
    • Bible
      • Legal texts: Leviticus 18-20, 24:10-23, 25, Numbers 35, Deuteronomy 15, 17, 19, 22, 25
        Narrative texts: Deuteronomy 1-14, 27-34
      • Bible Project on Deuteronomy
    • JSB
      • Introduction to Deuteronomy (JSB pp. 356-363; 2nd ed: 339-345)
      • ‘The Modern Study of the Bible’ (JSB pp. 2084-96; 2nd ed: 2166-2176)
  • Part 2 Session 4 – Video 11; lecture transcript
    • [Note, the Yale course specifies the following related materials, which are the same as for the 10th lecture]
    • Bible
      • Legal texts: Leviticus 18-20, 24:10-23, 25, Numbers 35, Deuteronomy 15, 17, 19, 22, 25
      • Narrative texts: Deuteronomy 1-14, 27-34
    • JSB
      • Introduction to Deuteronomy (JSB pp. 356-363; 2nd ed: 339-345))
      • ‘The Modern Study of the Bible’ (JSB pp. 2084-96; 2nd ed: 2166-2176)
  • Part 2 Session 5 – Video 12 ; lecture transcript
    • Bible
    • JSB
      • Introduction to Joshua (JSB pp. 462-464; 2nd ed: pp.439-441)
      • Introduction to Judges (JSB pp. 508-510) Introduction to the Prophets (JSB pp. 451-461; 2nd ed: 495-497)
      • ‘Early Nonrabbinic Interpretation’ (JSB pp. 1835-1844; 2nd ed: 1841-1849)
      • ‘Midrash and Midrashic Interpretation’ (JSB pp. 1863-1876; 2nd ed: 1879-1890 [‘Midrash and Jewish Interpretation]’)
  • Part 2 Session 6 – Video 13; lecture transcript
    • Bible
    • JSB
      • Introduction to Samuel (JSB pp. 558-61) 
      • Introduction to Kings (JSB pp. 668-71) 
      • ‘Historical and Geographical Background to the Bible’ (JSB pp. 2052-2055; 2nd ed: this essay appears in the 2nd ed across four sections, pp.2107-2143 [not clear which of these covers pp.2052-2055 in 1st edition])
  • Part 2 Session 7 – Video 14; lecture transcript
    • Bible
      • 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel
      • 1 Kings 3, 11-12, 16:29-19:21, 21-22; 2 Kings 8:25-10:36, 17-25
    • JSB
      • Introduction to Samuel (JSB pp. 558-61),
      • Introduction to Kings (JSB pp. 668-71),
      • ‘Historical and Geographical Background to the Bible’ (JSB pp. 2052-2055; 2nd ed, as for video/lecture 13)

[Part 3 – Introduction to the Study of the OT]

[Part 4 – Introduction to the Study of the OT]

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