The Old Testament
The Old Testament Studies explore the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in various aspects. It first pursues a historical, literary, and theological understanding of the constituting elements of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, Prophets, Historical books, Psalms and Wisdom literature etc. Learning the history and religion of ancient Israel and ancient near east constitutes an important element of the Old Testament studies, and for that we also study archaeology and near eastern languages, such as Akkadian and Ugaritic. Also essential is to read the Masoretic text and for that students learn biblical Hebrew and Aramaic together with text criticism in order to understand the development of the text. We study Old Testament Theology in order to address divergent and thorny contemporary issues through theological heritage of this ancient text. Further, a study of reception history of the Hebrew Scripture forms an important area of research insofar as the history of reception reveals insights regarding the nature of interpreting the text together with uncovering some hidden meaning potentials of the text. In order for these various pursuits, contemporary studies of the Old Testament is not limited to the traditional historical-critical endeavors but it explores much broader area of study, informed by modern critical theories, and attempt to discover new meanings relevant to our contemporary society.