SCRIPTURE AND THE MYSTERY OF ISRAEL

Catalog description

Among the “divinely revealed realities” to which the Old Testament refers ( DV § 11), the historical people of Israel itself constitutes a mysterium. By divine adoption, Israel possesses a corporate personhood and a unique identity and vocation, and according to the sensus spiritualis, they “signify” Christ and his Church. This course undertakes an in-depth study of key elements in the “divine pedagogy” by which God began to reveal himself and his plan of salvation in stages to Israel in preparation for the Incarnation (CCC § 53), including a selection of the following: Israel’s adoptive sonship and the revelation of God’s Fatherhood; the sacramentality of the Holy Land; Israel’s view(s) of the afterlife; sacrifice and prayer; Israel’s v iew of history; Israel and the nations; the faithful remnant; and the “knowledge of God.” The primary goal of the course is to equip the student to draw on the Old Testament as a vital theological source through an enhanced appreciation of its integral relation to the whole body of revealed truth.