MODULE 02 · Biblical foundations
A minister must be able to read the Old Testament as more than a collection of isolated predictions about the present. This module follows the shape of Israel's story, the setting of covenants, the poetry of worship, the literature of wisdom and the social criticism of the prophets. It teaches students to handle challenging passages without pretending ancient and modern contexts are identical.
Genesis opens with creation, rupture, families and God's dealings with the world. In the call of Abram, blessing is connected with a family and a wider human purpose. Trace the movement from Genesis 1–11 to Genesis 12 without assuming every detail describes modern political borders or biology. Notice the difference between narrating an an…
The Ten Commandments appear in a story of deliverance and a people learning how to live together. Examine how covenant, worship, rest, family, property and truth are related. A minister must not casually transplant every ancient legal penalty into contemporary civil policy. Distinguish descriptive ancient law, Christian moral reasoning an…
Prophetic rhetoric often joins criticism of worship practices with demands for justice and integrity. Amos speaks in the setting of ancient Israel's economic and religious life. Read the whole oracle and identify the conduct condemned before invoking it in a contemporary controversy. Do not treat one prophet as a slogan for a political pa…
Wisdom literature offers insights rather than automatic guarantees. Job explicitly exposes the inadequacy of friends who blame suffering on secret wrongdoing. Psalms of lament also give faithful people words for distress without resolving every why. Teach a listener that pain and hard questions do not by themselves indicate moral failure,…
These are substantive guided studies with more reading, questions and Scripture connections. Use them to extend the brief unit introductions in this module.
Knowledge check: Five questions, with an 80% pass threshold for this self-study checkpoint. The score does not certify ministry competence.
Written assignment: Use the practical tasks from this module to prepare an original portfolio document. A submission is marked as awaiting human review, not automatically approved.
Review the six published assessment dimensions · What would be needed for a verifiable program certificate?
