A Theological History of Modern Israel
The following course DRAFT
is under development for completion by April 1, 2008.
Course Description:
Modern Jerusalem is seen by many to be a "cup of trembling" on the world stage.
Given the sovereignty of God, this course asks, "What is the relationship
between theology and the history of Israel?" Students will examine a range
of views discussed by Christian conservatives. Variations of dispensationalism,
premillennialism, and amillennialism will be discussed in light of scriptural
support and historical events. Following a review of the covenant God made with
Israel, and the methods God used in bringing the Assyrians and Babylonians to
serve his providence, students will look at the significance of 70 AD and the
resulting diaspora. The scope and sequence then follows the Jews as they are
scattered and gathered the world over. What has been the historical and theological
relationship between Jews and Christians? Why are Christians and Jews divided
over Zionism? Why does the UN spend the majority of its energy on Israel? How
has history brought about the current state of affairs in Israel? What are the
major religious expectations for the future of Israel? Although this course
is open to students from the 9th grade up, there is a screening test over Old
Testament history and basic world history. See http://historytour/israel for
the course syllabus. Teacher: Brent Nichols
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The scope and sequence is outlined in the following weeks
1. Class overview: logistics, warnings, encouragements
2. Geography: Mesopotamia to Egypt
3. Covenant. with Abraham, Moses
4. Discipline: Judges, Kings, Assyrians, Babylonians
5. Scattering Persians, Greeks, Maccabees, Romans
6. Destruction of the Temple, Fall of Masada, Diaspora
7. New Testament: Romans 9 -11, Hebrews...
8. Theological Variations: Dispensationalism and Amillennialism
9. Anti Semitism: positions on Israel and the Church
up through the Crusades
10. Zionism from 1492 to 1948
11. Interactions: Ottoman Empire, Islam, and Judaism
12. Nations Rage: Nazi Holocaust, British Mandate, USA,
USSR, Arabs
13. Restoration: Israel 1948 - 1967
14. Struggle: Israel 1967 to present
15. Eschatology: End Time Scenarios
16. History Review, International relations, Gaza, EU,
OPEC, UN, USA
Individualization
Students may choose a regular track or an honor's
track. The honor's track requires more rigorous research and
essay writing than the regular track. Essays in the regular track require
800 - 1000 words. Essays in the honors track require 1200 - 1600 words. |
Requirements
Cartography Project (due week 3)
The geography project requires students to draw a map to rubric standards. The
Honors option includes a PowerPoint presentation with multiple maps, one of
which must be hand drawn, to present a thematic history relating to Israel
Psalm (due week 6)
Write a poetic focus along the lines of a psalm that that relates the emotion
and theology of an event in Israel's history. The rubric requires footnotes
of the facts in the psalm. Honor's student may record a melody for their psalm
or enhance it with rhyming and/or metered phrases. For inspiration see Psalms:
68, 78, 105, 106, 107, 114, 135, 136.
Theological Essay (due week 9)
It would be unreasonable to discuss the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 without mentioning
possible interpretations of the words of Jesus. Likewise, it would be unreasonable
to discuss the events of 1948 and 1967 without noting their influence on Christian
(and Jewish) eschatology. To help deal with these eschatological subjects, students
will have the option of writing a theological thesis based essay in defense
of a position, or in simply comparing positions. Students could also choose
to explore the fulfillment of some Old Testament prophecy or the significance
of Romans 9 - 11. Extensive background material is online to cover Traditional
Dispensationalism (Israel is chosen land during millennial reign, with return
to temple worship and such) and Covenant Amillennialism (Israel is fully replaced
by the church in God’s plan, and has no special future). There are also
Moderate views of Progressive Dispensationalism and Historic Premillenialism.
Document Based Question (due week 12)
Student's will look at historical source documents in a self selected area of
research to learn the various viewpoints over an event of history related to
Israel. An essay will be written to analyze the sources within the context of
the authors, audiences, and purposes of the documents. [Honors Track select
8 documents, Regular Track select 5 documents.]
Political Essay (due week 15)
This essay will focus on the political ramifications of historical events that
students select from the past 2000 years of history.
[Each of the five above assignments are worth 30 points for 150, or a total
of 38% of the overall grade.]
15 Weekly Readings and Quizzes [10 points each for 150 points,
or a total of 38% of the overall grade.]
All the reading assignments are on line, or in your Bible. A weekly quiz holds
helps students be accountable to cover each week's readings. There is a final
semester exam.
12 Weekly Discussion Threads [4 points each week for 48 points,
or a total of 12% of the overall grade.]
Moderated topics are discussed in password protected forums.
1 Final Semester Exam [50 points, or a total of 12% of the
overall grade.]
This is an open notebook timed exam based on course lectures and readings.
Grades: 400 points possible
A = greater than 360 points
B = 320 - 359
C = 280 - 319
D = 240 - 279
A personal comment from the course
instructor
