Course Descriptions

ONLINE GEO 5/313 Geographical Voices in the Psalms - Credit Hours: 3

Semester normally offered:

Course Description

While the Psalms are for everyone, they are embedded in experiences of people who lived in a particular place—the land of ancient Israel—and at a particular time. The realities of that land, many of which can be experienced yet today, provided ready images for the psalmists who used them as voices to point to larger realities, those of God, us and the journey that binds us together.

Course Equivalencies

• Ancient Israel
• Bible
• Historical Geography

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, the student should be able to:

• identify, describe, and accurately relate to a map the various geographical terms and place names that occur in the Psalms;
• describe similarities and differences between the ways that the psalmists saw their natural environment and ways that Israel’s neighbors saw theirs;
• articulate specific ways that the psalmists used elements of their natural world to describe their own historical and life experiences, including their understanding of themselves and of God; and
• write a personal psalm using geographical aspects of the student’s own natural world.

Field Study