Scripture and Forgiveness

Catalog description

The course explores the themes of forgiveness in the Old and New Testaments with a view to supplying the student with scriptural resources for thinking about and developing a theology of forgiveness. Rabbinic, Patristic and Catholic scholastic interpretations of biblical passages will be explored to compare and contrast Jewish and Christian, Catholic and Protestant approaches to understanding forgiveness. The scriptural passages to be explored will include: 1) The themes of divine mitigation of punishment in the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and the forgiveness motif in the stories of Jacob and Esau and Joseph and his Brothers; 2) Levitical atonement rituals; 3) Forgiveness motifs in the Psalms and the Wisdom books; 4) Forgiveness motifs in the Prophets, e.g. in the Book of Jonah; 5-7) Forgiveness in the Synoptic Gospels, e.g. the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ Parables, Jesus’ Practice of Forgiveness in his life and passion; 8) Forgiveness in the Epistles of Paul and James in the context of their theologies of justification by faith and works.