Religion 4001  .  Fall Semester, 2008  .  Professor Richard Elliott Friedman

Office Hours:   Tuesday & Thursday 9:45-10:45  .  Peabody Hall 211

 

Hebrew Bible / Old Testament

 

                  Lecture       Reading

 

8/19   1      Ancient Near Eastern Religion 

8/21   2      Israelite Religion   Genesis 1-11

8/26   3      The Patriarchs I    Genesis 12-23

8/28   4      Joseph         Genesis 24-50

9/2     5      Israel in Egypt      Exodus 1-15

9/4     6      Covenant     Exodus  16-40

9/9     7      Law   Leviticus

9/11   8      The Wilderness     Numbers

9/16   9      Moses         Deuteronomy 1-11

9/18   10      Torah Deuteronomy 12-34

9/23   11      The Land    Joshua

9/25   12      Judges & Priests    Judges

9/30   --       No Class

10/2   13      The Monarchy      1 Samuel

10/7   14      Midterm Examination

10/9   --       No Class     

10/14 15      David 2 Samuel

10/16 16      Solomon     1 Kings 1-11

10/21 17      The Kingdom of Israel    1 Kings 12-22; Atlas pp. 18, 26-27

10/23 18      The Kingdom of Judah   2 Kings;  Atlas pp.17-19,104-107,110

10/28 19      Exile and Return   Ezra; Nehemiah; Esther; Atlas pp. 37, 99-114

10/30 20      The Bible in Its World    Who Wrote the Bible?   pp. 13-69

11/4   21      J and E        Who Wrote the Bible?   pp. 70-149

11/6   22      D and P       Who Wrote the Bible?   pp. 150-245

11/11 23      Midterm Examination

11/13 24      Isaiah Isaiah 1-12; 40-55

11/18 25      Jeremiah      Jeremiah  1-8;  20;  28; 32-33;  36;  38-43

11/25          --       No Class

11/27 --       No Class

12/2   26      Poetry         Psalms 1; 23; 82;  89; 115; 132; 137;

12/4   27      Wisdom      Proverbs 3; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes

 

The nature, content, and problems of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, with attention given to historical data, literary forms, and ancient Near Eastern cultural backgrounds.

 

Undergraduate prerequisite: Junior or senior standing or permission of department.

 

Grading Policy:  Two Midterm Examinations count approximately twenty-five percent each.  A Final Examination counts approximately fifty percent.   Participation (quantity and quality) also count in the final grade evaluation.

 

All academic work must meet the standards contained in ÒA Culture of Honesty.Ó  All students are responsible to inform themselves about those standards before performing any academic work.

 

The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary.

 

Texts

 

Tanakh: A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text

Publisher: Jewish Publication Society of America

1st edition (Paperback, 1985)

 

Oxford Bible Atlas

Authors: Herbert May and John Day

Publisher: Oxford University Press

3rd edition

 

Who Wrote the Bible?

Author: Richard Elliott Friedman

Publisher: HarperCollins (San Francisco)

2nd edition (1997)