This course will introduce you to the world of the Bible, the biblical stories of ancient Israel, and how to interpret the Bible critically within its literary, social, and historical contexts. Emphasis will be placed on interpreting the biblical stories through focusing on the social and literary role of the characters.
As with all humanities courses in a liberal arts curriculum, this course will teach you to read, think, and write more critically. This objective will be accomplished by carefully reading biblical texts, evaluating the content of the biblical texts, and writing and evaluating critical essays.
Specifically, the student will learn the critical thinking and skills to interpret the Bible within its literary, social, and historical contexts, and to make critically informed judgments about other people's interpretations of the Bible. This two-fold objective will be accomplished by:
- learning how to read the Bible by:
- practicing critical reading methods;
- constructing literary, social, and historical models;
- comparing the biblical literature to relevant literature of the ancient Near East;
- writing abstracts and essays through which the student argues an interpretation of a biblical text;
- reading and evaluating the interpretations of fellow students.
Alice Ogden Bellis. Helpmates, Harlots, Heroes: Women's Stories in the Hebrew Bible. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994.
Michael D. Coogan, ed. The Oxford History of the Biblical World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
The student must attend class and complete all twenty-seven lessons during the course of the semester. Each lesson will include reading assignments, written assignments, and questions for discussion in class. The daily written assignments will not be accepted if the student is absent from class.
The written assignments will consist of daily written exercises or thesis statements, argumentative essays, and critical evaluations of the essays of others. The written assignments will represent 87% of the final course grade. See the information on the Writing Assignments.
Class discussion provides the primary participation component of the course. The student should come to class prepared to discuss the reading assignments and the discussion questions. The student will provide a written assessment of her or his own participation. The course participation component will represent 13% of the final course grade. See further the information on the Course Participation.
Academic honesty is expected and required from every student. The essays and other written assignments must represent the student's own work. Discussion of the essay topics outside of class is encouraged, but each student is responsible for writing her or his own essay. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, plagiarizing or representing another's ideas as one's own. Academic misconduct will result in failure of the assignment, and may result in failure of the course. This course adheres to the University's policy on academic honest which appears in the Bulletin.
