Similarities with Hebrew and other Semitic languages are observed. Selections from Ugaritic texts are read. The usefulness of Ugaritic in Old Testament studies is noted. A comparison among Matthew, Mark, and Luke based on literary analysis. Their inter- relationship and the probable order of their appearance are discussed.
Attention is given to each one's unique theological themes.
An in-depth reading of the Sermon on the Mount in the Greek. Students will prepare a substantial paper on one aspect of the sermon's structured meaning. This course will describe and assess the status of recent developments in the interpretation of the Bible. Particular focus will fall on those hermeneutical issues which attend structuralism, reader-response criticism, narrative criticism, diachronic and synchronic methodologies. For each perspective, primary sources will be read, discussed, analyzed, and critiqued from the confessional Lutheran point of view.