Free online courseOld testament

Course Description

Build a deeper, clearer understanding of the Old Testament by learning how its texts took shape, what questions they ask, and why they have mattered for centuries. This free online course guides you through the Hebrew Bible as a library of literature, law, poetry, and prophecy, helping you read with greater confidence and nuance rather than relying only on assumptions or secondhand summaries.

You will explore the world of ancient Israel within the wider Ancient Near East, noticing what the biblical writers share with surrounding cultures and where they offer distinctive claims about God, covenant, and human responsibility. Along the way, you will learn how to recognize different genres and voices inside the text, how scholars identify seams, repetitions, and tensions, and how these features can illuminate the goals of the authors and editors instead of being treated as problems to ignore.

From the patriarchal narratives and the exodus traditions to law collections and the priestly focus on purity and holiness, you will see how stories and rituals shape community identity. You will also trace the Deuteronomistic perspective on leadership, nationhood, and catastrophe as the narrative moves through life in the land, the monarchy, and the trauma of exile. Prophetic texts will come into focus as more than predictions: they become moral critique, political theology, and powerful interpretation of history in times of crisis.

The course also attends to biblical responses to suffering and evil through wisdom and lament, and to the artistry of poetry in psalms and love poetry. Finally, it introduces restoration literature and apocalyptic imagination, showing how communities use memory, hope, and symbolic vision to endure upheaval and to reimagine the future. Integrated exercises reinforce key ideas so you can test your understanding as you go, making this course a practical starting point for personal study, faith-based learning, or general cultural literacy.