The Melanchthon Institute will offer a course on the cosmologies of the Old and New Testaments on Friday afternoon (6-9:00 p.m.) and Saturday (9:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.) at Christ the King Church. Cost for the event is $50 which will include an evening snack. A lunch break will allow participants to eat at one of the numerous restaurants in the Rice Village. To register, please contact the Institute or call 713-523-2864, ext 1021.
Competing concepts of the origin and structure of the universe as they emerged during the late Old Testament period served as the tacit frame of reference for everything in Scripture. Temple, law, purity, wisdom, morality, etc. need to be understood in terms of the overarching desire on the part of all ancient peoples, not just Judeans, to live their lives in harmony with the universe. In Judaism of the time this took the form of preserving a symmetry between heaven and earth. The Temple and sacrifice are oriented to this task; that is their preeminent function. They make sense in the context of ancient cosmology, and make little sense outside that frame of reference.
In this seminar Ray and Matthias will provide a general description of Second Temple Judaism in terms of its cosmological/theological presuppositions. The class will study numerous texts from the Old and New Testament. The discussion will reveal how basic biblical concepts, including temple, law, wisdom, kingship, etc. are part of the attempt to order the life of the covenant community according to God’s purposes.
The Rev. Dr. Ray Pickett is Associate Professor of New Testament and Associate Academic Dean at Lutheran Seminary Program of the Southwest (Austin). He earned the Master of Divinity degree from Wartburg Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity) and Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield (Sheffield, England), a leading center for narratalogical study of the Bible.
Dr. Matthias Henze is Watt J. and Lilly G. Jackson Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Rice University. Prof. Henze earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University. He is the husband of Pastor Karin Liebster, associate pastor at Christ the King Lutheran Church.