Explore the rich and complex world of biblical creation stories.
Join Dr. Christine Mitchell in this 8-week online course. Chaos and Cosmos: Creation Texts of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) introduces participants to the creation texts of the Hebrew Bible from a variety of perspectives: comparative, myth and story, ecological readings, feminist and gendered readings, ancient and modern retellings.
Details
Tickets: $25
Sessions will be hosted on ZOOM and will be about 60 to 90 minutes each evening.
Each Session will be RECORDED just in case you miss one.
Participants should bring a Bible to each class: New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), New Jewish Publication Society Tanakh (JPS), Common English Bible (CEB), New International Version (NIV) are appropriate.
At the end of each class, Dr. Mitchell will provide a short reading for the next class. Participants who would like more background might consider purchasing Reading Genesis: Ten Methods.
Suggested readings are noted for each week. It’s not required reading, only suggested. This is a scholarly book that Dr. Mitchell has used as a textbook with students; participants may find it difficult if they haven’t taken any previous courses in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.
Schedule
January 15: Introducing Genesis 1-3 and Creation stories
January 22: Ancient Near Eastern creation stories
January 29: Myth and story: how does Genesis work?
February 5: Women, gender, and Genesis
February 12: Reading Genesis Ecologically
February 19: Ancient and modern readings and re-tellings of creation
February 26: Other biblical creation stories: Psalms, Proverbs, Job
March 5: Other biblical creation stories: Isaiah
About Dr. Christine Mitchell | PhD, Professor of Hebrew Bible, Knox College
Christine joined Knox College in 2022 as Academic Dean and Professor of Hebrew Bible.
Christine is a scholar of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), with particular interest in 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and the book of Judges. With degrees in Near Eastern Archaeology (BA, Wilfrid Laurier University), Religious Studies (MA, Carleton University), and Comparative Literary Studies (PhD, Carleton University), she brings interdisciplinary perspectives to the study of biblical texts, biblical worlds, and modern interpretation. She has particular interests in the biblical books mentioned above, as well as in the literature and history of the Persian and Hellenistic periods across the ancient eastern Mediterranean area. When working with modern interpretive methods, she is interested in feminist and gender studies, and especially in how settler-Canadians approach biblical studies in the era of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Christine is a United Church of Canada layperson, and previously served for nineteen years (2002-2021) as Professor of Hebrew Scriptures at St. Andrew’s College, Saskatoon, a theological school of the United Church. She is a past-President of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies and was the founding editor of the Advancing Studies in Religion series at McGill-Queen’s University Press. She has been a member of a number of editorial boards and is active in several scholarly societies.
Her personal website is christine-mitchell.ca, where you can find links to her publications.