This session addresses the imago dei as well as gender, dominion, and God’s declaration of goodness. It also touches upon some of the basic discussions around the way a creation myth functions as a true, scriptural account of our beginnings in relation to evolution as a theory of origins.

This session addresses the emergence of sin and the content of the covenant with Noah: God will endure with what he has made despite the fully orbed impact of sin. It should also note the reestablishment of creation in God’s command to be fruitful and multiply.

This session enters into greater detail on the nature of what a covenant is, Abram’s background, God’s gracious (and somewhat mysterious) election of Abram, and the righteousness of Abram’s belief. It also expounds upon the radical specificity of God’s calling Abraham.

This session addresses the centrality of the covenant of circumcision, explaining its relationship to futurity, family, and, eventually, baptism. This session also explains the way God renames his chosen people.

This session describes the way God tests his people while also acknowledging the extraordinary strangeness of this text. It gives background to the importance of Isaac in relation to God’s promise to Abraham. Finally, it shows the connection between Isaac and the person of Christ, the way the story figures a God who does sacrifice his son for the sake of our life.

This session speaks to the continuation of the covenant through the patriarchs. The significance of the ladder and its relation to Jacob’s own calling and God’s promise—the heavens will be opened through this family. This session also gives some introduction and background on Jacob as a biblical figure.

This session explores the topic of “wrestling” with God and the renaming of Jacob—Israel—the name of God’s people. It also enters into some of the contextual material regarding Jacob’s flight from Esau and his dire circumstances. What could it mean that Jacob is renamed? What could it mean that Jacob wrestles God and lives with a limp?

This session discusses some of the contextual material on who Joseph is and how he came to be in Egypt. It addresses the way faithfulness can take strange forms—Joseph is in prison for doing what is right! What then might it look like to act faithfully in challenging conditions—prison and false accusation?

This session touch on the beauty of reconciliation and God’s providence. It speaks specifically to the way God’s covenant faithfulness brings about a reconciliation of the patriarchal legacy and the continued future of God’s promise despite the affliction of famine.

This session addresses the transition of the patriarchs to the 12 tribes, God’s creative carrying forth of the covenantal promise into the form of a people, a nation. It also enters into the topic of death and God’s providence, his ability to carry forth the plans of salvation even after our lives are over. It also notes who the tribes are and what they become.