Thirdmill Online Courses

THE PENTATEUCH

Course description

The first five books of the Old Testament are commonly called the Pentateuch. They tell the story of the nation of Israel from creation to preparation for the conquest of the Promised Land. But is the Pentateuch simply the historical account of God’s chosen people, or is it something more? This course explores the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy, examining why they were written, what they meant to their original audience, and how we should respond to them today. This course is based on the lecture series, The Pentateuch, produced by Third Millennium Ministries and hosted by Dr. Scott Redd with contributions from a variety of professors.

NOTE: This course includes lessons from the courses The Primeval History and Father Abraham, as well as new lessons on the Pentateuch. If you have already studied The Primeval History and/or Father Abraham, you may wish to study only the lessons that you have not completed. If so, you should ask for your grades from the other courses to be applied to this course. (See the Syllabus for further explanation.)

Goals and Objectives

GOALS

In this course, we would like to accomplish the following:

1. We hope that you will make use of all the instructional elements of the course to learn why the books of the Pentateuch were written, what they meant to their original audience, and how we should respond to them today.

2. We hope you will grow in your faith, trusting in the grace of God and in His loving sovereign guidance.

3. We hope that you will apply the teachings of the Pentateuch to your own life, living more consistently by faith.

OBJECTIVES

When you have done the following, it will show that the goals are met:

1. Obtain satisfactory grades on the tests, demonstrating that you can identify the key information regarding the structure, content, original meaning and modern application of the books of the Pentateuch.

2. Answer the application questions in the study guides, showing how you have applied the teachings of the course to your own life, especially that you are living by faith, trusting in the grace of God and in His loving sovereign guidance.

Explanation of Assignments

The Multimedia Lessons

1. Study the lessons, watching the video, listening to the audio, or reading the text.
2. Complete the study guides for each lesson. These study guides will prepare you for the online quizzes and help you apply the teachings of the lesson to your own life. (For those students associated with a particular institution wishing to track the completion of the completion of the Study Guides, a drop box has been provided at the end of the course.)
3. Take the online quizzes on each section of the lessons. The quizzes may be taken as many times as you want, but you must wait five days between each attempt, and the official grade will be from the first attempt.
4. Optional: We recommend that you look through the glossaries and use the learning games to become familiar with special names and technical terms used in the lessons. 
5. Take the cumulative test for each complete lesson. You may take the test again as many times as you want for review, but you must wait five days between each attempt, and the official grade is from the first attempt.
6. When you have finished all the lessons on the multimedia lectures, take the final exam on the lectures.

Other Activities

1. Complete the supplementary lessons for each lesson. These lessons give you additional background information and provide other learning aids related to the lessons. You may repeat these lessons as many times as you want, and the official grade will be the highest score out of all the attempts.
2. Complete the questionnaires for the lessons to help assimilate the teachings and apply them to your own life. These are not quizzes. The answers are more subjective. The grade is for completing the assignment.
3. There is a final lesson based on additional readings. These are optional readings designed to supplement the main lesson materials. The student should do the reading, complete the study guides, and take the corresponding quizzes and cumulative test based on the reading. These are graded as extra credit. (For those students associated with a particular institution wishing to track the completion of the Reading Study Guides, a drop box has been provided at the end of the course.)

We recommend that you work on these reading assignments and quizzes during the entire course, instead of waiting until you finish all the lessons based on the video lectures. For each lesson, do the percentage of the work on them that corresponds to the number of lessons in the course. 

Optional Activities

Some institutions may require you to do one or more of the following optional assignments. If so, read the instructions in lesson 1 and follow the specific guidelines given in the instructions for each lesson.

1. The Written project
2. Essay Questions
3. Journal Questions 
4. Optional Additional Reading

Grades

The final grade will be calculated as follows:

1) The quizzes on the lectures are each worth 10 points.
2) Each cumulative test is worth 30 points.
3) Each supplementary lesson is worth 10 points.
4) Each questionnaire is worth 10 points.
5) The final exam on the lectures is worth 100 points.
6) Each quiz on the reading assignments is worth 10 points (extra credit).
7) The cumulative test on the additional reading is worth 30 points (extra credit).

The final grade of the course will be calculated by adding the corresponding percentages of all assignments and tests, making a total of 100% possible.

A total course score above 70% is considered passing.

Greek and Hebrew

Some lessons in our courses make reference to words in Greek or Hebrew. If you have not studied these languages, you might want to at least become familiar with the alphabets.

For the Greek alphabet, see:
https://www.billmounce.com/greekalphabet/greek-alphabet

For the Hebrew alphabet, see: 
http://hebrew.billmounce.com/BasicsBiblicalHebrew-01.pdf

Contributors to The Pentateuch

Dr. Steve Blakemore is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wesley Biblical Seminary.
Dr. Stephen J. Bramer is Department Chair and Professor of Bible Exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. Robert B. Chisholm, Jr. is Department Chair and Professor of Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. Don Collett is Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Trinity School for Ministry.
Dr. Dorian Coover-Cox is Associate Professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. Brandon D. Crowe is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary.
Prof. Thomas Egger is Assistant Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary.
Rev.Michael J. Glodo is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary's Orlando Campus.
Dr. Douglas Gropp is Professor of Old Testament at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas, Texas.
Rev. Dr. Cyprian K. Guchienda is Pastor to the Nations at Highlands Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas Texas.
Dr. Jim Hamilton is Associate Professor of Biblical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Preaching Pastor of Kenwood Baptist Church.
Dr. Gordon H. Johnston is Professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. Carol Kaminski is Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Dr. Riad Kassis is Regional Director for Overseas Council, an international training ministry for Christian leaders.
Dr. Craig Keener is the F.M. and Ada Thompson Chair of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Dr. David Lamb is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biblical Theological Seminary.
Dr. Erika Moore is Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Trinity School for Ministry.
Dr. John Oswalt is the Visiting Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.
Dr. Thomas Petter is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr. is President of Third Millennium Ministries and Adjunct Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary's Orlando Campus.
Rev. Dr. Paul R. Raabe is Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Seminary.
Dr. J. Scott Redd is Campus President of Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. and Assistant Professor of Old Testament.
Dr. Brian D. Russel is Professor of Biblical Studies and Dean of the School of Urban Ministry at Asbury Theological Seminary's Orlando Campus.
Dr. Timothy E. Saleska is Dean of Ministerial Formation and Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Seminary.
Dr. Douglas Stuart is Professor of Old Testament and Chair of Biblical Studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Dr. David Talley is Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Talbot School of Theology.
Rev. Dr. Michael Walker is Theologian-in-residence at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas.
Dr. Larry J. Waters is Professor of Bible Exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Dr. Michael D. Williams is Professor of Systematic Theology at Covenant Theological Seminary.