'Pathway to Pentateuch’

MADISON  Bishop Serratelli has decided to rewind salvation history back to the beginning in teaching his latest Scripture course by taking students on a dive deep into the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, which throughout, he said, depicts man’s “gradual upward movement to Jesus” as their Savior.

Students hung on every word of Bishop Serratelli’s on the night of Oct. 8 of the first lecture of his new Scripture course, “Pathway through the Pentateuch,” at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard here. In 10 lectures that will continue into 2020, the Bishop will teach this non-credit course with master’s degree level lectures, which include exciting details about the first five books of the Bible. The course is open to anyone. The next lecture will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m.

“Everything in the Bible leads to Christ. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus mentions stories and poems in the Old Testament, saying, ‘All those things testify to me,’ ” Bishop Serratelli told students that first night. He called the gradual unfolding of salvation history in the Old Testament “a witness of God’s revelation through Christ.” “God has a purpose for us and has willed Creation for a definite goal: to bring everything together as one under Christ,” he said in quoting the first chapter of Ephesians.

A former seminary professor, Bishop Serratelli suggested that students read the Pentateuch — the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy — understanding that they are not a homogenous work. Instead, different authors wrote them at different times and used different thinking and sources. Yet, these five historical and literary books — that stretch from the Creation to the ancient Jews entering the Promised Land — are “actually the Word of God” and “get at the truth” of faith. Also, the Bible records God’s intervention in the world — with Creation as his partner — through stories, poems and legends that were written down long after interpreters unlocked the meaning of these events through “the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,” Bishop Serratelli said.

Nevertheless, the ancient Jews understood that while God does intervene on behalf of the Creation that he loves, he does not force his will on the world. In these books, the response of mankind to God is “ambiguous” — sometimes faithful and other times rebellious. Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord, as did the people who built the Tower of Babel to reach heaven and were met by an angry God, who caused them not to understand each other by giving them different languages and scattering them across the earth, the Bishop said.

Yet these books depict some goodness, such as Noah obeying God in building the ark before the Great Flood. After a long stretch of “increased sin, violence and darkening of the human condition” in Genesis, “things get better” in the 12th chapter with the arrival of Abraham, a model of “faith, prayer and obedience” to God, Bishop Serratelli said.

In his first lecture, Bishop Serratelli connected the Tower of Babel story in the Old Testament with the story of Pentecost in Acts 2 in the New Testament. After receiving the Holy Spirit, disciples speak in different languages, after having heard “the mighty Word of God,” the Bishop said.

“It’s a new gift as a new community is being formed: the capacity to have ears to listen to God and a tongue to sing his praises,” Bishop Serratelli said. He assigned homework that night — to read Gen. 1-11 along with commentary — and suggested that students read the Bible with their “mind and heart.” In these books, “God is actually addressing you at this present moment,” he said.

“Pathway through the Pentateuch” marks the second course that Bishop Serratelli has taught this year. Earlier in 2019, he taught a course on the Parables, trading off lectures with Brian Honsberger, St. Paul’s director of programs and operations, in an experience that the Bishop said made him feel “back in my natural environment” as a professor. In the past, the Bishop taught courses for the diocesan Certificate in Catholic Evangelization program at St. Paul’s. From 1977 until 2002, he taught Sacred Scripture and biblical languages at Immaculate Conception Seminary and served as rector of St. Andrew’s College Seminary at Seton Hall University from 1997 to 2000. The Bishop earned a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1977.

“The Pentateuch is a good place to start. Study of it will guide students’ trajectory in reading the Bible in the future by learning about Creation and the theological understanding of God’s purpose for us, which is critical to understanding the Bible,” Honsberger said. “The Bishop has been a seminary professor and rector. He is a master teacher and catechist. He is expert in the biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek. This is a new level of substance that few people get to access. St. Paul’s wants to take advantage of the Bishop’s impending retirement and expertise in Scripture by inviting him to teach here more. We want him to become a regular,” he said.

One student that first night was Brian Beale of Our Lady of the Lake Parish, Sparta. He serves there as a Knight of Columbus, a catechist, a Cornerstone retreat member and a Bible study participant.

“I want to gain more insight as to how the Old Testament and the New Testament come together. Jesus quoted the Old Testa­ment,” said Beale, who noted that he has become “more interested” in reading the Bible and has been “growing in faith.” This is Beale’s first course with the Bishop. “He seems down to earth and approachable,” he said.

A $50 fee gives students access to the fall lectures, which continue on Oct. 22, Nov. 5 and Nov. 19, all on Tuesdays; and Monday, Dec. 16. Lectures will continue in the spring on Tuesdays on Feb. 4, 11, 18 and 25 and March 3, which will require students to register again. Lectures will be held from 7:30-9 p.m. An optional Mass at 7 p.m. in St. Paul’s chapel will precede each lecture.