Land and Place

Upon successful completion of this unit, it is expected that students will be able to:

Undergraduate

1. Distinguish between the theologies of land in Deuteronomy and Leviticus. 
2. Describe a range of responses to the exile in the Old Testament. 
3. Articulate similarities and differences between prophetic theologies of hope. 
4. Discuss selected exegetical issues in relation to contemporary debates about ecology, migration, the spirituality of dispossession, or hope. 
5. Reflect on the tension between land promises and exile in the Old Testament. 

Postgraduate

1. Distinguish between the theologies of land in Deuteronomy and Leviticus.
2. Describe a range of responses to the exile in the Old Testament.
3. Critically evaluate similarities and differences between prophetic theologies of hope.
4. Discuss selected exegetical issues in relation to contemporary debates about ecology, migration, the spirituality of dispossession, or hope.
5. Reflect theologically on biblical texts and relate biblical studies to other theological disciplines in a research project at a postgraduate standard.  

Undergraduate

On Campus:

• One exegetical paper (1,500 words) (30%)
• One essay (2,500 words) (50%)
• One tutorial paper (1,000 words) (20%)

Online:

• One exegetical paper (1,500 words) (30%)
• One essay (2,500 words) (50%)
• Online tutorial participation (not fewer than 5 entries of approximately 200 words) (1,000 words) (20%)

Postgraduate

On Campus:

• One exegetical paper (3,000 words) (40%)
• One essay (3,000 words) (40%)
• One tutorial paper (1,000 words) (20%)

Online:

• One exegetical paper (3,000 words) (40%)
• One essay (3,000 words) (40%)
• Online tutorial participation (not fewer than 5 entries of approximately 200 words) (1,000 words) (20%)

• Brett, M.G. Decolonizing God: The Bible in the Tides of Empire. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2008.   
• Chapman, C.  Whose Promised Land? The Continuing Crisis over Israel and Palestine. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002. 
• Davis, E. Scripture, Culture, Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 
• Goonan, M.  A Community of Exiles: Exploring Australian Spirituality. Homebush: St Pauls Publications, 1996. 
• Habel, N. The Land is Mine: Six Biblical Land Ideologies. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995. 
• Halvorson-Taylor, M.  Enduring Exile: The Metaphorization of Exile in the Hebrew Bible. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2011. 
• Joerstad, M. The Hebrew Bible and Environmental Ethics: Humans, Nonhumans and the Living Landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 
• Kelle, B.E., et al. (eds). Interpreting Exile: Displacement and Deportation in Biblical and Modern Contexts. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011. 
• Smith, A.D. Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 
• Smith-Christopher, D.  A Biblical Theology of Exile. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002. 
• Weinfeld, M.  The Promise of the Land. Berkeley: University of California, 1992. 

Set texts recommended for purchase: Nil