At the heart of the Reformation and at the center of Reformed Theological Seminary is the Word of God for the people of God. Our unwavering commitment to the Scripture, exemplified in the MDIV curriculum, is now extended and deepened as we offer a new MDIV emphasis in Biblical Exegesis. This emphasis will provide students with additional training in both the theoretical and the practical aspects of biblical interpretation for a more potent ministry.
For the biblical pastor, no other skill is more fundamental or practical than the ability to interpret and apply Scripture accurately. This is, in fact, the very heart of pastoral ministry. Such skill, however, is often marginalized in favor of cliché or managerial technique, masking our shameful inability to handle the Word of God correctly. From such a perspective, it is no exaggeration that Satan delights in many seminary curricula and pastoral job descriptions. Rather, “Biblical exegesis should be the intellectual enzyme that transforms the stupor of our worldly and futile affections into a deep and glad and living hope . . . [It is] the cognitive catalyst that triggers a combustion of divine joy in the human heart” (John Piper, Biblical Exegesis: Discovering the Meaning of Scriptural Texts, 4-5).
Within the MDIV curriculum, the Biblical Exegesis emphasis includes additional coursework in biblical theology and biblical hermeneutics, expanding the student’s framework for exegetical interpretation. Students in this emphasis will also take four additional exegesis courses, two in Old Testament and two in New Testament, where exegetical skills are developed by working in the biblical text together with the faculty.
To see the RTS Jackson MDIV curriculum with the Biblical Exegesis emphasis, click here and here. To learn more about the MDIV curriculum generally, click here.
For the biblical pastor, no other skill is more fundamental or practical than the ability to interpret and apply Scripture accurately. This is, in fact, the very heart of pastoral ministry. Such skill, however, is often marginalized in favor of cliché or managerial technique, masking our shameful inability to handle the Word of God correctly. From such a perspective, it is no exaggeration that Satan delights in many seminary curricula and pastoral job descriptions. Rather, “Biblical exegesis should be the intellectual enzyme that transforms the stupor of our worldly and futile affections into a deep and glad and living hope . . . [It is] the cognitive catalyst that triggers a combustion of divine joy in the human heart” (John Piper, Biblical Exegesis: Discovering the Meaning of Scriptural Texts, 4-5).
Within the MDIV curriculum, the Biblical Exegesis emphasis includes additional coursework in biblical theology and biblical hermeneutics, expanding the student’s framework for exegetical interpretation. Students in this emphasis will also take four additional exegesis courses, two in Old Testament and two in New Testament, where exegetical skills are developed by working in the biblical text together with the faculty.
To see the RTS Jackson MDIV curriculum with the Biblical Exegesis emphasis, click here and here. To learn more about the MDIV curriculum generally, click here.