Introduction to the Bible ½ credit.

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This semester course is an introduction to the composition, content, and interpretation of the Bible. The goal of the course is to give students a grasp of major biblical events and concepts, and to engage students in thoughtful reflection on the interpretation of the Bible today. Students will be exposed to the historical context of the Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament documents, the basics of the Historical-Critical method of modern biblical scholarship, and to substantial portions of major biblical texts. It is important to note that scholarly study of the Bible is not the same as devotional study, and that the basic assumptions of the Historical-Critical method may differ radically from those of an individual student's faith community.

TEXTS:

Christian E. Hauer and William A. Young, An Introduction to the Bible: A Journey into Three Worlds (Prentice-Hall) [We will use the most recent edition of this frequently revised text].

Students will also need a modern translation of the Bible which includes the Apocrypha/Deutero-canonicals and which they feel free to write in. If a student doesn't already have one, an example would be: The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, An Ecumenical Study Bible (Oxford: OUP, 1994). [This Bible will be stocked at the QM.]

PROPOSED SCHEDULE:

Allowing for some variation as the school year progresses, you should expect that we will spend about a week on each of the first fifteen chapters of Hauer and Young and the underlying biblical material, so that (for example), we will have some introduction to Chapter 1, "The Three Worlds of the Bible," in the latter part of the first day of class, and a reading assignment in that chapter for the next class meeting.

ASSIGNMENTS:

The first assignment is always to have read and thought about the material at hand before class starts. Do not come to class empty-headed.

A Class Notebook: the primary purpose of this assignment is to require you to think through your questions and ideas about the readings before we discuss them in class; a second function is to facilitate your review for exams. I will occasionally mention topics for the notebook, but you should make a point of writing responses to the questions at the end of each chapter in Hauer and Young.

Tests: we will have at least two tests over the course of the semester, focussing mostly on your comprehension of the larger themes and concepts of the reading (rather than on specific questions of dating, etc.). There will also be a final examination.

Papers: plan on two short exegetical papers, in which you demonstrate what you've learned by writing a commentary on a brief portion of scripture.