Jehon Grist
Reading the Bible—The Four-Horned Altar: Searching for Its Meaning and Origin (Virtual on Zoom)
- Pacific Time Virtual Program
Second only to the Ark of the Covenant, the four-horned altar ranks as the most important ritual tool in ancient Israelite practice. While the God of Israel communicated his presence and law through the Ark and the tablets contained within it, the Israelites communicated their ritual commitment to God and his law through sacrifices on the altar.
How was the four-horned altar used in Israelite ritual practice? What was its spiritual and legal significance? And perhaps most intriguingly, what was its actual origin? Our class will explore the key Hebrew texts in the Bible to find some of the answers, then draw on recent archaeological discoveries to seek out the origin of the four-horned altar.
Prerequisite: While basic knowledge of Prayerbook/Biblical (or modern) Hebrew is helpful, students without that background will be able to share the learning since both the Hebrew text and an English Standard Version translation (with which we often disagree) will be on screen for every verse.
8 Sundays: 1/22, 1/29, 2/5, 2/12 (on video only), 2/26, 3/5, 3/12, 3/19
Texts, recommended articles and notes will be provided by the instructor. Full video recordings of each lesson will be distributed to course registrants. (Video links will not appear on this page.)
