Welcome to the Chair of Old Testament Studies!
The task and aim of this subject is to introduce students to both classical introductory questions and textual exegesis of the Old Testament in order to enable them to deal with Old Testament literature appropriately. Particular attention is paid to the study of the history of Israel and the regional studies of Palestine, which are prerequisites for historical-critical textual exegesis.
Within exegesis, on the other hand, the focus is on working out the theologies underlying the texts by means of synchronic and diachronic approaches, which, for example in the area of the Pentateuch, differentiate between different layers or sources (e.g. between "non-priestly" and "priestly") depending on the state of research.
The theologies of the Old Testament developed during the course of study are brought into dialog with philosophical, systematic and practical subjects in various modules, such as the module “Doctrine of God” (Mag. Theol. M7). The contribution of the Chair of Old Testament Studies to the module "Doctrine of God" (Mag. Theol. M7) with the course title "Doctrine of God/ Old Testament" is made available in online format in the context of the Bavarian Virtual University (VHB).
In addition, the Chair offers courses and exercises in Semitic languages (Hebrew; Bible/Targum/Roman Aramaic; Syriac; Phoenician) of varying levels of difficulty to enable students to study the Hebrew Bible and its semantics in depth and intensively.
Regular excursions to Israel and Jordan take place to deepen our knowledge of Palestine and the history of Israel.