Course Syllabus
HE GAVE US PROPHETS
Course Description
Many Christians are intrigued by biblical predictions but at a loss when it comes to understanding them. Feeling overwhelmed by their complicated history and literature, we often disregard them altogether, but when we understand the prophets' motivations and methods, we are better equipped to discover the significance of their words for today. To that end, this course dispels common misunderstandings about the prophets, provides guidelines for interpreting prophecy, and gives the student confidence to begin studying prophetic literature. This course is based on the lecture series, He Gave Us Prophets, produced by Third Millennium Ministries and presented by Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr.
Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr.
Dr. Pratt is the president and founder of Third Millennium Ministries. He received his M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary and his Th.D. in Old Testament Studies from Harvard University. He formerly chaired the Old Testament department at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. Then he transitioned in 2006 from his teaching role at RTS to work full time with Third Millennium Ministries. Among his published books are: Every Thought Captive, Pray With Your Eyes Open, He Gave Us Stories, and Designed For Dignity.
Goals and Objectives
GOALS
In this course, we would like to accomplish the following:
1. We hope you will make use of all the elements of the course to learn about the background and purpose of the prophetical books of the Old Testament, as well as about the proper interpretation of prophetic literature in the Old Testament.
2. We hope you will develop greater interest and greater confidence in studying and teaching from the prophetical books of the Old Testament.
3. We hope you make changes in your life as a response to the teachings of this course, especially developing greater ability to interpret and apply the teachings of the prophetical books of the Old Testament.
OBJECTIVES
When you have done the following, it will show that the goals are met:
1. Obtain satisfactory grades on the tests, identifying the common causes of confusion in the study of prophecy, key information about the background and purpose of the prophetical books of the Old Testament, the nature of prophecy, and the proper guidelines for interpreting prophetic literature.
2. Complete the study guides and other assignments of the course, expressing your attitude toward the prophetical books of the Old Testament, and showing how you have applied the teachings of the course to your own life, especially that you have developed the ability to interpret and apply the teachings of the prophetical books of the Old Testament.
Thematic Outline of the Course
Lesson 1. Essential Hermeneutical Perspectives
Lesson 2: A Prophet's Job
Lesson 3. People of the Covenant
Lesson 4: Dynamics of the Covenant
Lesson 5. Historical Analysis of Prophecy
Lesson 6: Literary Analysis of the Prophets
Lesson 7. The Purpose of Predictions
Lesson 8: Unfolding Eschatology
Explanation of Assignments
If you have taken other Thirdmill courses, you will notice that this one is organized in a slightly different way. The video lectures for the lessons are shorter, with only about a half hour to watch, and they are not divided into sections. Because of this difference, the course is basically divided into four pairs of lessons (1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8). This means that some assignments that normally apply to all lessons will only be required for either just the odd numbered lessons or just the even numbered lessons. This will become clear as the student works through the lessons.
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 lesson. 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. These are found in every other lesson, lessons 2, 4, 6, and 8.
5. Take the cumulative test for each set of two lessons, found in lessons 2, 4, 6 and 8. 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 found in each odd numbered lesson, lessons 1, 3, 5, and 7. 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 found in each even numbered lesson, lessons 2, 4, 6, and 8. They are meant to help assimilate the teachings and apply them to your own life. They 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