Pondering Scripture, Life, and Faith – Reading Genesis in 2022

You are invited to join the Rev’d Associate Professor Matthew Anstey for a weekly series of 90-minute online lectures on ten famous passages from the Book of Genesis. Each lecture will include a close reading of a text and a focus on one aspect of interpretation. There will be an opportunity for Q&A each week. They will be held via Zoom on Tuesday afternoons, 3:30 - 5:00pm (AEST).

The ten lectures are being offered as a supplementary program to the subject, The Pentateuch, offered by St Francis’ Theological College, Brisbane. Although there will be some assumed knowledge about the Old Testament and biblical interpretation, the lectures will be of value to everyone, presenting scholarly insights in accessible language.

To cover costs, each lecture costs $20, or $100 for access to all ten.

Matthew is an Anglican priest in the Adelaide Diocese (commencing at St Theodore’s, Toorak Gardens in September 2022). His academic expertise is Biblical Hebrew linguistics, but he also writes more broadly in Biblical Studies and Christian doctrine. He is a Research Fellow in the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University, and co-chairs the Biblical Hebrew Literature and Linguistics Unit of the Society of Biblical Literature (International). His current research includes a new translation of the Psalms for public worship.

Register through Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/pondering-scripture-life-and-faith-reading-genesis-in-2022-tickets-361441440077

Here is the list of topics: 

Date | Scripture | Lecture Title | Interpretative Focus

Lecture 1 | Genesis 1 – Creation I | “Let There Be Poetry” | Genre

Lecture 2 | Genesis 2 – Creation II | “God and Gardening” | Literary Form

Lecture 3 | Genesis 3 – Adam & Eve | “Where are you?” | Ideological Interpretation

Lecture 4 | Genesis 4 – Cain & Abel | “Blood in the Ground” | Narrative Theory I

Lecture 5 | Genesis 16 – Hagar & Abraham | “Questioning Faith” | Grammatical Analysis

Lecture 6 | Genesis 19 & Judges 19 – Dark Nights | “Broken Doors, Broken Bodies” | Intertextuality

Lecture 7 | Genesis 21 – Abraham & Isaac | “Bound and Unbound” | Theological Readings

Lecture 8 | Genesis 32 – Jacob & God | “Wrestling with God” | Reader-Response Theory

Lecture 9 | Genesis 34 – The Rape of Dinah | “Remembering” | Trauma Hermeneutics

Lecture 10 | Genesis 38 – Judah & Tamar | “She is righteous” | Narrative Theory II