Pricing options


Credit Course students are required to complete all the course assignments by the stated deadline. They will receive grades that are transferable to any BGST postgraduate programmes.


Audit students do not have to fulfil the assignment requirements. However, they are encouraged to do class exercises and assignments to get the maximum benefit from the courses. They will not receive grades that are transferable to BGST Postgraduate Programmes.

Course Description

In an increasingly chaotic world, where in the Bible can we most turn for guidance? The Torah of the Lord, often only considered as normative Biblical law, has much to offer in terms of wisdom, healing, and moral flourishing.


This course aims at understanding Torah as wisdom and evaluating how it responds to and addresses the fractured world from three perspectives of brokenness: fractured history, fractured self, and fractured relationships.

​We will traverse the Bible and other Jewish texts from the time of Jesus to learn what Torah as “learning” and “instruction” mean in the Biblical context and how we can apply such knowledge to our day-to-day experiences and personal spiritual formation. Starting from Israel’s exile, we’ll examine how Torah both illuminates and heals the experience of a broken community in Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Jewish composition 4 Ezra, which was written after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70AD. We then look at Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, and Numbers to understand the fractured self in relation to the law, turning also to poetry in the psalms that address trauma and bring healing through speech and moral development.


Lastly, we look at the New Testament engagement with Torah through the life of Jesus and how it offers an answer to broken relationships. Our goal is to learn what it means to embody Torah, letting ourselves and the world around us be changed by it.


[1.5 AU, Elective]



Closing Date for Registration:
24 Jan 2026

Register

  • Dates : 2026

    (Tuesdays)

    Jan: 27
    Feb: 03, 24
    Mar: 10, 17, 31

  • Timing:

    7:15-10.00pm

  • Location:

    Online via Zoom

Instructor(s)

Dr Christine Rosa de Freitas

Associate Lecturer

Dr Christine Rosa de Freitas is a PhD Candidate for Old Testament Theology at the University of Oxford. She has preaching and discipleship experience as a missionary for YWAM and has since then pursued Biblical Studies in the United States, Israel, and the UK. Her multicultural background gives her a special sensibility to the challenges of Christianity in diverse contexts. She is currently training to be an undergraduate lecturer and tutor at Oxford, having had previous teaching experience as an ESL teacher in Brazil and in Israel.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    General

    • Orientation Course & Library Access

    • Course Syllabus

    • Assignment Submission on IMS
  • 2

    Session 1 - Course Introduction: Torah as Wisdom

    • What will we cover?

    • Reading: Walton, The Lost World of the Torah

    • Reading: Blenkinsopp, Wisdom and Law in the Old Testament Ch. 4

    • Discussion 1

    • Discussion 2

    • PPT Session 1 Torah as Wisdom

  • 3

    Session 2 - Fractured History: Torah and Israel’s Exile

    • What will we cover?

    • Reading: Jones, Trauma and Grace

    • Reading: Najman, Past Renewals Ch. 7: Towards a Study of the Uses of the Concept of Wisdom in Ancient Judaism

    • Primary Text: Jubilees

    • Handout 2.1 - Broken Torah Principles and Exile

    • Handout 2.2 - 9/11's Emmaus Summary

    • PPT Session 2 Torah and Exile
  • 4

    Session 3 - Fractured Self: Developing through Torah

    • What will we cover?

    • Reading: Finsterbusch, “Yahweh’s Torah and the Praying ‘I’ in Psalm 119.”

    • Reading: Rosa de Freitas, "Pathways of Perfection"
  • 5

    Session 4 - Fractured Relationships I: New Testament and Torah

    • What will we cover?

    • Reading: Wright, The Law in Romans 2

    • Reading: Lancaster, Paul and Torah (Ch. 14)

    • Reading: Ska, “Torah, Paideia, and Sophia in Ben Sira”
  • 6

    Session 5 - Fractured Relationships II: Jesus and Torah Redemption

    • What will we cover?

    • Reading: Suggs, Wisdom, Christology, and Law in Matthew’s Gospel (Ch. 4)
  • 7

    Session 6 - Living by Torah Today

    • What will we cover?

    • Reading: Leiter, The Law of Christ (Chps. 14-15)

    • Reading: Bulka, More Torah Therapy

    • Reading: Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Ch. 3)
  • 8

    Assignment submission

    • Assignment formatting

  • 9

    Course Evaluation

    • Course evaluation