Biblical Languages: Challenges for postgraduate supervision in Old and New Testament Studies

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Biblical Languages: Challenges for postgraduate supervision in Old and New Testament Studies
 
Creator Sutton, Lodewyk
 
Subject Old and New Testament; Supervision; Academic Teaching and Learning Old and New Testament Supervision; doctoral supervision; Biblical Hebrew and Greek; teaching and learning; postgraduate studies.
Description In South Africa and in many other countries in Africa and around the globe, the demand for more Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidates has increased. With such a demand, a number of challenges also arise. In the discipline of Theology, these challenges are becoming apparent in Old and New Testament Studies, where these fields are experiencing a declining number of students enrolling for biblical languages. This problem is enhanced as the current inherent requirement to study for a PhD in Old Testament is that one must have a knowledge of Biblical Hebrew (and Aramaic), and for New Testament, one needs Greek at an advanced level. Supervisors are challenged more and more to defend these requirements that are complicated by the developmental goals of institutions that require that the number of PhD candidates be increased. In this article, the challenges faced by PhD supervisors (and candidates) in respect of students wanting to enrol for PhDs in Old and New Testament without the necessary requirements are considered, and a case is made as to why it is essential that these students have a background in biblical languages. If students do not take the biblical languages as part of their (undergraduate) studies, immediate concerns for the future of Old and New Testament research and biblical translations (and ministry) are raised. The article concludes with possible suggestions for addressing some of these concerns.Contribution: This article makes an interdisciplinary contribution based on current challenges experienced in the education and supervision of postgraduate studies in the fields of Old Testament and New Testament and on the development and training of postgraduate supervisors in practical education as to contribute to the relevance and practice of theological education today and the future.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor University of the Free State CREST Training Course for Supervisors of Doctoral Candidates at African Universities, by Stellenbosch University
Date 2023-06-22
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Historical Inquiry - Comparative Study
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v79i2.8487
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 79, No 2 (2023); 7 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8487/25242 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8487/25243 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8487/25244 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8487/25245
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Lodewyk Sutton https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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