Course Resources Archive

In this module students explore significant questions about the relationship between biblical texts and political phenomena and perspectives. The module’s main focus is on selected prophetic material from the Old Testament and the Pauline corpus in the New, with some broader discussion of the Bible’s political role and potential. The module provides an advanced overview of the prophetic and Pauline material covered, exploring key textual, contextual, cultural, theological and interpretational issues, and engaging with important academic, historical and confessional perspectives. This provides the backdrop against which to consider the prophets and Paul as confronting and/or supporting the political, cultural, social and religious status quo in their situations, and the degree to which they can be seen as offering resources for doing the same in ours.

This module uses an extended examination of selected Old Testament Prophets and Pauline theology to explore the political aspects and implications of biblical texts. Key questions about the relationship between the Bible and political phenomena and perspectives are raised, with particular concern for matters of interpretation, agenda and power. The Prophets section focuses on particular books (e.g. Daniel and Isaiah), showing how they offer a number of models for understanding the relationship between religious belief and political power, including monarchy under the Torah, religious organization in exile, assimilation, and religious life under tyranny. The longer Paul section of the module provides an advanced overview of the context and content of his theology. Particular attention is given to the eschatological, Christological, ethical and communal aspects of his thought, and to various contemporary perspectives upon it, especially those which advocate or dispute emphasis of a political trajectory to Pauline theology. Key questions regarding, e.g., Paul’s views of women, slaves, socio-cultural values and structures and his imperial context are addressed. The character, construction of and tensions within Pauline communities are also examined. Paul’s expectation of Christological definition of and pneumatological empowering for those communities, alongside his own sense of identity and theological heritage, provides links back to the first part of the module and facilitates the consideration of broad questions about the Bible and politics.

A student passing this module should be able to:

1.    Demonstrate an advanced ability to interpret Pauline and prophetic texts in their original religious, historical and cultural contexts.

2.    Accurately describe and critically evaluate various academic and confessional approaches to understanding Paul and the Old Testament Prophets.

3.    Demonstrate a capacity for creative, systematic evaluation of the relationship between the Bible and political phenomena and perspectives, and an ability to reflect critically on scholarly and other approaches to this relationship.

4.      Demonstrate advanced skills in analysis, reflection, synthesis and evaluation of selected texts and materials studied on the module.

5.      Demonstrate applied skills in theological argument, expression and problem solving, employing the techniques of formal and informal methods of reasoning as appropriate.

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.