Module Level
8 (Undergraduate)
Time Allowance
Lectures: 24 hours Tutorials: 3 hours
Assessment
Continuous Assessment: 30%; Essay 30%; End of semester examination: 40 %
Module Aims
To introduce students to the academic study of the Bible, to the critical issues which emerge in the study, interpretation and actualisation of Christian Scriptures.
Indicative Syllabus:
- How the Bible came to be: history and significance of the biblical canon
- The texts of the Bible: TaNaK, LXX, the Churches and their Bibles.
- The contexts of the Bible: historical, religious, cultural, liturgical
- Beginning the read the Bible: initial approaches to key biblical texts
- Genres: creation myth, saga, legal material, short story, wisdom saying, poetry, gospel, parable, letter
- Significant biblical figures and concepts: Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Jesus, Paul, covenant, call.
- Biblical narrative: character analysis.
Learning Outcomes
- — Briefly discuss the nature and outline the structure of both Old and New Testaments.
- — Describe historical and cultural aspects of the biblical world which impact upon interpretation of texts covered in class.
- — Define key biblical concepts: canon, covenant, call, salvation, Kingdom.
- — Situate significant biblical figures within the overall biblical story: Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, Paul.
- — Recognise the genre and key literary features of a range of biblical texts
- — Perform simple narrative character analysis
- — Interpret selected key texts theologically and with a view to their significance today