Syllabus for Religion 4003/6003: Ancient Israelite Religion

Tuesday and Thursday, 8-9:15am, Beth LaRocca-Pitts, Instructor

Contacting the professor: Dr. LaRocca-Pitts can be reached at mblp@charter.net. Office hours can be arranged by individual appointment. Please e-mail your request and an appointment will be set up.

Goals of the course:

To introduce students to concept of ancient Israelite Religion as separate from the Bible

To explore the various sources for our knowledge about Israelite Religion

To equip students for further research into the subject of Israelite Religion

Course Requirements:

10% Class participation and attendance

20% Mid-term exam, given in class on Thursday October 8^th

40% Research Paper (10-15 pages)

Prospectus due Tuesday, October 27^th. Completed paper due: Thursday, December 3^th

30% Final exam, TBA (exams begin December 10^th)

Please Note: All academic work must meet the standards contained in “A Culture of Honesty.” Students are responsible for informing themselves about those standards before performing any academic work. For  more information about academic honesty see: http://www.uga.edu/ovpi/honesty/acadhon.htm. Also, please be aware that the course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary.

On the mid-term and final examinations:

Objective tests such as mid-terms and exams are diagnostic in that they help us to know if you are absorbing the material you have been presented. Tests provide a different type of information about your acquisition of the material than can be assessed through reading a research paper. Studying for exams is also a good way of synthesizing the material and organizing it into blocks that will then have a better chance of sticking in your head. For this reason I always provide a study guide two weeks prior to exams so that you can prepare for them in advance. The process of preparation is another a way to learn the material.

On the Research Paper and prospectus:

A research paper on an issue related to the subject of the course will be required and due at the end of the term. A prospectus (an advanced plan of your project) is also required so that I can see what you plan to do before you do it. This will help me advise you of the possible pitfalls of particular projects. It will also give me the opportunity to suggest resources for your project that you might not find on your own. Further information will be forthcoming on how to write this paper, but one brief definition is this: this assighment is for a research paper which means that footnotes and bibliography are required. No more than 1 internet source is allowed per paper. There will be a library orientation offered on August 23^rd to help you find acceptable resources in the library.

On the Course Readings:

There are two books in addition to the bible listed as texts for the course. The sections of the course are divided up and readings for the beginning of each section are given. Please do the reading as soon as you can nearest the start of each section. This will help you follow the course material better. There are also biblical passages recommended for some sections. These will also be discussed in class.

Required Texts:

Richard Elliot Friedman, The Bible with Sources Revealed (Harper San Francisco; 2005)

ISBN-10: 006073065X; ISBN-13: 978-0060730659

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, (Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition; 2007)

ISBN-10: 0195288823 ISBN-13: 978-0195288827

Susan Niditch, Ancient Israelite Religion (Oxford University Press, USA; 1998)

ISBN-10: 0195091280 ISBN-13: 978-0195091281

Course Schedule

Tu 8/18: Orientation to the course

How do we know what we know about Ancient Israelite Religion?

Background Reading: Niditch Section 1: Religion and the Ancient Israelites, pages 3-33

And Friedman’s The Bible with Sources Revealed

Th 8/20: Popular Religion versus Scriptural religion: Archaeology in dialogue with the text

Tu 8/25 Popular Religion versus Scriptural religion continued

Th 8/27: Iconography and the language of the visual

Biblical Reading: Deuteronomy 4:15-20; Exodus 25-28, 32; 1 Kings 6-7; 1 Kings 12:25-30.

Tu 9/1: The Bible as Literary Artifact

Biblical Reading: Bring your bible ready to look at Genesis through Deuteronomy

Th 9/3: Same subjects, Different perspectives: Source Theory and its Ramifications

Biblical Reading: Genesis 28, 31, 35; Exodus 24; Deuteronomy 12

Tu 9/9 Class cancelled. Professor has prior commitment

Th 9/10 What about all the other people?

Background reading: Niditch Section 3: Where from? Where To?, pages 50-69

Pantheons and how they work

Biblical Reading: 1 Kings 11:1-8; Amos 5:25-27

Tu 9/15: Gods of other cultures that wind up in the bible

Biblical Reading: Judges 6, 1 Kings 11

Th 9/17: Demigods and Demons

Biblical Reading: Leviticus 16; Job 1

Tu 9/22: Classic Religious Texts of other cultures: Creation of the universe and humanity

Biblical Reading: Genesis 1-3

Th 9/24: Classic Religious Texts of other cultures: Creation of death and mortality

Biblical Reading: Genesis 6-9

Tu 9/29: Beliefs in the Afterlife

Biblical Reading: Ecclesiastes 9:1-6

Th 10/1: What’s so special about Israel?

Biblical Reading: Deuteronomy 32; Psalm 18

Creature Comforts: Earthly care and feeding of the Gods

Background reading: Niditch Section 5: The Ritual Dimension, pages 99-118

Tu 10/6: Offerings as Divine food

Biblical Reading: Genesis 8:20-22; Leviticus 17, 22

Th 10/8 In Class Midterm Exam

Tu 10/13Temples as God’s home

Biblical Reading: Exodus 33:7-11; 2 Samuel 7; 1 Kings 8

Th 10/15: Cultic statuary as God’s proxy

Biblical Reading: Isaiah 44:9-20

Tu 10/20: Worship as God’s entertainment

Biblical Reading: Psalm 92, 98, 100

Contacting the Divine

Background reading: Niditch Section 2: The Experiential, pages 34-49

Th 10/22: Crossing the divide: ANE Divination and OT Divination

Biblical Reading: Jonah 1; Exodus 28:30; Numbers 27:18-23; Deuteronomy 18:9-22

Withdrawal Deadline

Tu 10/27: Magic Versus Miracle

Biblical Reading: 2 Kings 2, 4:1-6:7

Temples as God’s home

Th 10/29 Soothsaying, and cults of the dead: Paper Prospectus Due

Biblical Reading: 1 Samuel 28

Tu 11/3 Priests and Prophets as diviners

Biblical Reading: Deuteronomy 13

Th 11/5 The Family as a paradigm for Israelite Religion

Background reading: Niditch Section 4: The Legal and Ethical Dimension, pages 70-98

Tu 11/10 God as “Father” and masculine traditions

Biblical Reading: Isaiah 6; Job 38-39; Psalm 68, 89

Th 11/12: Women’s traditions in Israelite religion

Biblical Reading: Exodus 15:1-21; Judges 11, 21; 1 Samuel 2:22-25

Tu 11/17: The rights of children or lack thereof

Biblical Reading: Genesis 22; Leviticus 20:1-5; Jeremiah 7:30-34

Th 11/19: The Slave and the Foreigner: Absorption of the outsider

Biblical Reading: Deuteronomy 7; Ruth, Nehemiah 13:23-31

Tu 11/24 & 11/26 No Class, Thanksgiving Holiday

Tu 12/1: The Family that Prays together….Cultic Centralization

Biblical Reading: 1 Samuel 9; 1 Kings 12:13-33

Th 12/3 From Israelite Religion to Early Judaism

Biblical Reading: Genesis 1; Deuteronomy 5-6

Paper due

12/10-16 Exam Period