Assessment

Four Online fixed-time brief quizzes 20% + Extended Book Review (2000 words) 40% + Three short integration Essays (500 words each) 40%

Module Aims

Both believers and non-believers frequently perceive the Bible as central and foundational in both Christianity and Judaism. However, many thereby construe it as the be-all and end-all of Christian and Jewish belief, and all too often turn the Bible to ignoble ends, while failing to see its contours and limits. For its contemporary readers and hearers, this often results in an inability to grasp its authentic witness, and a failure to appreciate the variety and specificity of biblical texts. This course introduces the Jewish and Christian Scriptures within the contexts of their respective religious traditions, and in their literary, historical, and religious diversity, while providing an initial hermeneutical framework for their contemporary interpretation.

Indicative Syllabus

1. The Texts and its Worlds

2. The Bible as a Library

3. More than a Story: Taking Narrative Seriously

4. More than a Message: Parables and their Power

5. Genre and its Importance

6. “The Past is a Foreign Country”—the Bible as Witness to Other Worlds

7. Exodus—The only Story in the Bible

8. The Torāh—God’s Way of Living

9. Exodus Again—Isaiah as Another Exodus and Jesus as Another Moses

10. Jonah—The Horrible Prophet of a Patient, All-Embracing God

11. True Torāh or Torāh Upended? Saul of Tarsus

12. From Scrolls to Lections and Lectionaries—the Growth and Present Forms of the Bible

13. “How do you read?” Why do we read? —The Bible and Human Life

Learning Outcomes

• — LO1 (Knowledge): Explain some of the main literary genres to be found in the Bible (e.g., Narrative, prophecy, Law, Gospel, letter, parable), and demonstrate a historical awareness of the development of the Bible.
• — LO2 (Comprehension): Articulate the significance of certain illustrative texts in the Old and New Testaments and indicate how these texts are interpreted in Christian tradition.
• — LO3 (Application): Apply basic narrative and theological approaches to selected passages in the both the Old and New Testaments.
• — LO4 (Analysis): Through attentive reading, within the presented hermeneutical framework, and a judicious use of secondary sources, produce an initial theological interpretation of certain important biblical passages
• — LO5 (Synthesis): Provide a concise overview of a certain pivotal concerns in the theological, cultural and existential appropriation of the Bible, and present the results clearly in writing.
• — LO6 (Evaluation): Demonstrate some discernment regarding the essential role and contribution of the Bible in Christian theology, and Christian living.

Bibliography

• — Alter, R. The Art of Biblical Narrative. 2nd ed. New York: Basic Books, 2011. [Ebook]
• — Barton, J. The Bible: The Basics. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2019. [Ebook]
• — Barton, J. What is the Bible? 3rd ed. London: SPCK, 2009.
• — Boadt, L., Reading the Old Testament. 2nd ed. New York: Paulist, 2012.
• — Levine, A.-J. Short Stories by Jesus. New York: HarperOne, 2014.
• — Magonet, J. Bible Lives. London: SCM Press, 1992.
• — Wink, W. “Letting Parables Live” Christian Century (5.11.1980): 1062–64 (online)