| Week |
Day |
Date |
Topic |
Links and discussion |
| 1 |
T |
1/14/2020 |
Starting with the New Testament: A Timeline and overview
Topics:
- Suspending a habit: Read biblical writings without Christianity
- How Jewish were Christians: Three New Testament Texts that debate the Christian connection to the Jewish tradition and the Hebrew Bible
- Jewish history-writing as a response to national defeat
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Opening Lecture
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1/16/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Lecture Quiz (based on last class)
Activity
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| 2 |
T |
1/21/2020 |
Assignments due today
Discussion (reading due today)
- Read Ruth (NRSV)
- Read The Old Testament (TOT otherwise known as the rental textbook) 3-26
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Reading: Chapters 1 and 2; Ruth
Discussion
Reading: Book
of Ruth
Handouts and Context Links:
Other:
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| Part 1--Conquest: Grief, Betrayal, and Transcendental Homelessness |
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R |
1/23/2020 |
Assignments due today
Discussion (reading due today)
- Reading:
Deuteronomy 1-4,5-6 (shema), 7:1-6 (plus others in class);
- TOT 170-183
- Herem
Activity:
- Wiki Entries (work at computers based on Ruth and Deuteronomy)
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Deuteronomy: Extended discussion of Key Passages:
Sin, Abomination, and Other Stuff
Structure and age of Deuteronomy according to scholars (particularly Martin Noth, a German)
- Core (chapters 12-26, plus ratification and penalties (28:1-46)) composed 700s in time of Assyrian invasion in north (theoretically); part of prophetic reform movement
- Frame: 1-4:40. may be added in the time of Hezekiah and/ or Josiah
- More of frame: 31-34 added during exile to introduce Deuteronomistic history (Joshua thru Kings).
- Harmonization: chapters 5 (reiteration of decalogue, with variations) and 6-11 may have been added then or later.
- Priestly conclusion and re-editing: Passages that reflect exile (28:47-56; 30:1-10) In Post-exile period (before Nehemiah), this book was appended to the Torah/Pentateuch.
Four ways Deuteronomy diverges from worship expressed in Exodus and Leviticus (see R.E. Clements 1965):
- De-mystification of ark of the covenant. Symbol of divine presence (Exodus) vs. container for tablets (Deut).
- Centralization of worship: Exodus "In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you" vs. Deut. "You will seek the place which Yahweh your god shall choose to set his name there" in the tabernacle
- Theme of election of chosen people magnified
- Yahweh's bond with all of Canaan--natural or conditional?
Context: Deuteronomy
Film: Kingdom of David (Part 2) |
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| 3 |
T |
1/28/2020 |
Assignments due today
Discussion (reading due today): The Deuteronomic School
Activity
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Paper 1: Context
Jeremiah
Lamentations (in-class) and 2
Chroncles 36
Biblical Context
Context
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R |
1/30/2020 |
Assignments due today
Discussion (reading due today)
Consolation narratives
- TOT 288-297; 375-386 Ezekiel, prophecy
- Isaiah 40-55
- Ezekiel
1-11, 33,37 (NRSV)
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Film: Mysteries of the Bible--Prophets
Background
First Isaiah
- Harris 190-197
- 1st Isaiah 1-2, 6-7 (7:14 coming of savior)
- 14 (predicts fall of the Nations)
Context: 1st Isaiah
Reading--Consolation Narrative
Reading: Ezekiel (first scribe who recorded his own prophecy)
- Ezekiel (chs 1-11, 33,37)
Context and Handouts
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| Part 2--Return: The Second Temple and the Vassal State |
| 4 |
T |
2/4/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Lecture Quiz: Study your notes on prophecy
Discussion (reading due today)
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Context
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R |
2/6/2020 |
Wisdom as Goddess: Proverbs, Ruth,and the persistence of the Canaanite Goddess (online class)
Assignments due today
Discussion
Activity
- Create at least one entry on a themes Wiki page about Ezekiel, Proverbs, and/or the Enuma Elish. You can pick any theme.
- Proverbs 1.1-8:36; 31
- Question: What does this passage in 2 Kings tell us about the presence of the goddess in the time of King Josiah (the first to find/implement the laws of Deuteronomy)
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Reading:
Proverbs
Context: Asherah the goddess
Context:
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| 5 |
T |
2/11/2020 |
Youth, Age, and Death
Assignment due Today
Read Ecclesiastes. Do a Wiki entry.
Discussion (Reading due today)
Paper Activity: Translating the beginning and end of Ecclesiastes
- Tools:
- Other texts you might consider for the paper
- Proverbs 8 or 31
- Genesis 1
- Genesis 32-4
- Ruth 4
- 2 Kings 23
- Ezekiel 1
- Isaiah 14
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Reading: Ecclesiastes
Other handouts
Context
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R |
2/13/2020 |
Living among others
Assignments due today
- Lecture quiz: based on my discussion of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs
Discussion (reading due today)
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Reading: Esther
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| 6 |
T |
2/18/2020 |
Living Among Others, continued
Assignments due today
- Wiki: Respond to Jonah and Esther on one or more of the Wiki theme pages
- Paper 1 (Translation) due by midnight)
Discussion (reading due today)
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Reading: Jonah
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R |
2/20/2020 |
Job and the Meaning of Suffering
Assignments due today
- Lecture Quiz: Based on Jonah and Esther
- Discussion Essay (bring a short essay on this question: How does Job use metaphors to describe his suffering? Why? (use at least 10 examples)
Discussion (reading due today)
- Job 1-21 (concentrate on Job's chapters)
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Reading: Job
Job and Harris ch. 247-256
Context: Theodicy
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| 7 |
T |
2/25/2020 |
ADVISING DAY: NO CLASS |
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R |
2/27/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Lecture quiz: based on the first half of Job
Discussion (reading due today)
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| Part 3--Assembling and Rewriting the Past: Two Narratives of Origin |
| 8 |
T |
3/3/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Reading Quiz: Terms
to know on TOT 29-45; Genesis 1-11
- Wiki entry: based on JOB
Discussion (reading due today)
- Genesis 1-11 Friedman (note: we will be using the Friedman text for Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Leviticus)
- TOT 29-45
- Optional: Watch this lecture: Genesis 1-11 in the context of the Ancient near east (to about minute 38)
Activity
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Narrative one: The Peaceful Assimilation Model
Reading: Genesis 1-11
Important Themes / Words / Names
- Priestly Account: Genesis 1: Creation acc. to P
- Genesis
1: See, Say, Bless, make
- Adam or human; day,
Seven
- Light, Day, Lights, Stars, vs. Sun (Shemesh--name of Babylonian solar god)
- Genesis 2: Rest, Create, Soul, Serve, Keep (2:15); Eden
- Yahwist Account: Genesis 2:4 Creation according
to J?
- Adam and ground, clay (human)
- Male (he who has tip--from "remembrance") and female (she who is pierced) --here is a neat article about those words
- Man and Woman
- Eve (from "breathe")
- Genesis
2-3: Nude, Shrewd
- Know
- Genesis 4 Cain (possession or spear), Abel
- Genesis 5-6
- Sin, Abomination, and Other Stuff
For comparison: Psalms 14,74 (12-17),89 (8-13);
Proverbs 8.22-31
Handouts (context)
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R |
3/5/2020 |
Discussion (reading due today)
- Genesis 1-11 (NRSV) continued
- Lecture Quiz: Based on Genesis 1-11
Assignments due today:
Essay Quiz (choose 1): 300 words
- Apply one of the Themes in
Genesis to a story in the first 11 chapters of the Genesis.
- Compare the 'hymn to Wisdom" (Proverbs 8) to the first chapter of Genesis. Talk about what is different.
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| 9 |
T |
3/10/2020 |
SPRING BREAK: NO CLASS |
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R |
3/12/2020 |
SPRING BREAK: NO CLASS |
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| 10 |
T |
3/17/2020 |
EXTENDED SPRING BREAK |
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3/19/2020 |
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| 11 |
T |
3/24/2020 |
Assignments due today:
- Wiki: based on Genesis 1-25
- Lecture Quiz: based on Genesis 12-25
Discussion (reading due today)
- Genesis 12-25
- Abraham, Lot, and Sodom and Gomorra
- The four authors and their approach to covenant
- The "Binding of Isaac," martyrdom, and the Documentary Hypothesis
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Context
- The Covenant: Words and Themes
- Sodom and Gomorrah 18:16-19:38
- Abraham and monotheism
- Binding of Isaac
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R |
3/26/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Reading Quiz: What to study for quiz on TOT 55-90 and Genesis 25-36. This quiz will be available from March 26-28, all day, but you will only have 60 minutes to take it.
Discussion (reading due today)
- Genesis
25-36 (and see blessing in 49);
- Another translation of Jacob's encounter with God and with Esau
- TOT 55-90
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Genesis 25-36
Matriarchs of Genesis:
Jacob's Covenant
Film about Joseph (and a scene from The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat)
Slides
related to Hebrew Bible (from UPenn course) including
"Asiatic" migration to Egypt around the time
of the patriarchs
Alternate Creation
Myths:
- Excerpts from Gilgamesh, Marduk, Baal and Yaam
The Hebrew Goddess
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| 12 |
T |
3/31/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Paper 2 due tomorrow (4/1) at Midnight
Discussion (reading due today)
- Reading: Exodus 1-15, 18-20, 32-4
- TOT 90-138
- Appearance of God:
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Context
- Wright, Interpersonal Ethics of Covenant
- Wright: Biblical Law Codes and Procreationn
- my
handout
- J, E, and P in Exodus
- Unknown (deuteronomistic?) author: ten commandments (part 1)
- J: in Yahwist version, Moses climbs Mt Sinai; No Aaron; Miriam is unrelated priestess (sister is mentioned but not identified); ancient "Song of Miriam" (Exodus 15), 2nd version of commandments (34:14)
- E: In Elohist version, Moses climbs Mt. Horeb; Aaron and Miriam are siblings but no relation to Moses; stories of child sacrifice, special revelation of God's name (3:9-18); story of plagues (alternates with P); first story of tablets
- P: In Priestly version, Aaron and Moses are siblings; emphasis on covenant and God's constancy; story of plagues (alternates with E); long, horrible lists of blueprints for the tabernacle
- R: Redactor makes connections and harmonizes when necessary
- Supplementary hypothesis: Starts with P, favors gradual integration of a range of texts and documents
- Neodocumentary hypothesis
- another
translation of ch. 3
- About Pesach (Passover)
- Names of God: Tetragrammaton, El, and Elohim
- Songs
of Moses and Miriam (Exodus 15)
- Photos
of cherubim (click next to see rest of series)
- Calf
figurines from northern Israel
- Theophanies
- 3:1-16 (Elohist-Deuteronomist (?)
- 6:1-8 (Priestly)
- 19
- Plagues (7, 8 or 10)
- Laws:
- Wordplay
- Goddess links
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R |
4/2/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Reading Quiz: What to study for Quiz on TOT 138-150; 152-168 and Numbers and Leviticus. You will have from 4/2 - 4/4 (all day) to take the quiz, but you must complete it in 60 minutes.
Discussion (reading due today)
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Some takes on lgbtq and Leviticus
Three biblical law codes (each written independently of the rest of the pentateuch):
- Covenant Code (Exodus 20.22-23.33)
- Apodictic laws (general laws) and Case Law (Hammurabi: civic and criminal)
- Worship of Yahweh (20:22-26)
- 21 -22.17 Old Canaanite Laws (see "elohim" or "judges" 22.7-9). Case law: slavery, injury, property. Similarity to Hammurabi
- Note: no retributive justice for slaves
- misc humanitarian and religious (return lost animals belonging to the enemy)
- ritual calendar, festivals, sabbath
- Divine promises and curses
- Holiness Code (Lev 17-26) compiled by P (6th c); 6th century practices retrojected into Sinai sojurn
- Priestly school, but perhaps later (written by redactors?)
- Parallels language of Ezekiel
- Blessings and curses common as consequences of disobedience in near eastern treaties
- "holiness" (qodesh) = separateness: Do not follow Canaanite statues
- concentric circles of Holiness: Yahweh, then High Priest (only he can enter the temple), then levites, then Israelites (P and H include resident aliens), then nations. Also circles of place and time (sabbath, holy days, other time)
- 18-20: Note that the bible has frequent stories of prohibited sexual relationships, especially among Moses and the patriarchs
- laws about women equate them with property; daughter can be sold as a "slave-wife"
- Deuteronomic Code (Deut 12-26). Utopian view of past created to spur 8th or 7th c. reforms.
- Humanitarian revisions to Covenant Code: freeing slaves after six years, slaves must also observe the sabbath, exceptions against adultery law for women raped in the countryside, since their cries for help would go unheard
- Exalts all levites, not just line of Aaron (perhaps they were part of Deuteronomic school)
- Needy and protected class (Deuteronomy lays off priests by centralizing worship)
- Limitations of Monarchal power
- Concerns about false prophets
- Use of Assyrian treaty genre
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| 13 |
T |
4/7/2020 |
Lecture:
- The Deuteronomistic History: Joshua through Kings
- Lecture quiz based on above
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Summary of next bunch of books
Narrative Two: The Conquest Model or the Deuteronomistic History
Reading: Judges
Samuel/Kings
- Deuteronomistic theory
- Alternate theory of Organization: Family History plus National History plus Monarchic History; Joseph story and Judges story act as bridges between them
- In class:
- 1 Samuel 8, 9: Kingship
- 1 Samuel 15, 16: end of God's favor, selection of David
- 1 Samuel 24, 27, 31: David and Saul
- 1
Samuel 28 (necromancy, holy war)
- 2 Samuel 7:1-16 (covenant)
- 2 Samuel 11-12 (Bathsheba)
- Summary: Family troubles:
- 1 Kings 3 (succession)
- 1 Kings 12 (division)
- 1 Kings 17-22; 2 Kings 1:1-12 (Ahab, Jezebel, Elijah), 2 Kings 9 (Ahab and Jezebel)
- David Movie: Poet Warrior
- Archeological investigation into David story (movie)
- Solomon movie
- Kingdom of David (Part 2: 35)
Context and Discussion: Kingship narratives
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R |
4/9/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Reading Quiz: Names and Terms to know for Daniel quiz. You will have two days to take this quiz (through 4/9) but you must complete the quiz in 30 minutes.
- Daniel (1253-1278 HB), Apocryphal Additions to Daniel 189-201 AP, and
Discussion (reading due today)
Reading: Daniel plus 1
Maccabees chapter
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The Disappearance of God
Context and Handouts
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| 14 |
T |
4/14/2020 |
Assignments due today
Activity
- The World Between the Testaments: Lecture
- Discussion of paper 4 (Final)
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Lecture and Context
Pseudepigrapha and context
Hellenism:
Some other great films of this sort (not assigned for now):
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R |
4/16/2020 |
Watch Banned from the Bible (both parts)
Special Homework Assignment for next class (worth three quizzes)
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| 15 |
T |
4/21/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Lecture Quiz: World Between the Tesaments and Banned from
Discussion (reading due today) : Apocrypha and Pseudipgrapha
Reading: The Apocrypha
- Tobit OR
- Wisdom of Solomon 7-11 AND 4 Maccabees
- Wisdom, Matyrdom, and Women of Valor
Activity
- Intertestamental literature: Tobit, Widom of Solomon 4-7, 4 Maccabbees
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Paper 4 Info:
Activity
- Final Exam: Critical Thinking (link is to university's definition and rubric). The assignment is on Blackboard.
- Two drafts. One due by midnight at the latest (no exceptions) on December 3. You must do draft 1 to continue to draft 2.
- The second version will be due online at final exam time and should address all my suggestions and should be free of grammar errors. I expect you to seek assistance at WALC if you have major errors.
- NOTE: If you do not revise the first paper according to my suggestions, you will not be able to score above a C on the final exam.
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| Part 7--New Testament: Radical revisions of a tragic biography |
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R |
4/23/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Wiki (Two Entries) Tobit, Wisdom of Solomon 7-11, and 4 Macabees (choose 2)
- Paper 4 (first draft) due by tomorrow at midnight (NOTE: your revision is due by midnight on 5/7/2020)
Discussion (reading due today)
- Re
- Paul's Mystery cult and the World
- Thessalonians
- Romans 4-7
- James 2
- I-Corinthians
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aul Links
Good films: Kingdom of David Part 4
- Peter Paul & Revolution
- Reading: Thessalonians, plus Romans 4-7and I Corinithians
Terms
Context
I (and II) Corinthians
Film: From Jesus to Christ: the First Christians (part
II: Paul and the spread of Christianity--54:07) OR Christianity: the first 1000 years (with great accompanying web site)
OR Peter, Paul and the Christian Revolution and part 2
Film: Kingdom of David, part 4 (on campus) or via Youtube (off campus
All gospels
Context
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| 16 |
T |
4/28/2020 |
Assignments due today
- Film Quiz: From Jesus to Christ, the first Christians (sections on Matthew, Mark, and Luke
Discussion (reading due today)
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Context
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R |
4/30/2020 |
LAST CLASS:
Assignments due today
- Lecture Quiz: four gospels compared (based on last class)
Discussion (reading due today)
- Revising and correcting paper 4
- The fall of the second temple and the beginnings of Rabinnical Judaism (if we get to it)
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Gnosticism and the Gnostic gospels
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| FINAL EXAM TIMES |
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5/4/2020 |
BIBLE: 12-2:30 PM |
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R |
5/7/2020 |
POETRY WRITING: 8:30-11 AM |
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F |
5/8/2020 |
SHAKESPEARE: 12-2:30 PM |
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