- Introduction to the Bible

Catalog description

This course introduces students to the literary variety, historical circumstances, and cultural significances of the Bible. It treats the Bible as a collection of texts arising out of and used to make sense of the social worlds in which they were written. But a course about the Bible is never just about the Bible. As a foundational object and document for so many public social projects – including ones we might describe as “secular” – the Bible is much more than a religious book. It is an emblem of authority and power more generally, and the ways certain kinds of authorities (religious or otherwise), are often engaged less for their content than for what we imagine them to contain. So this course will regularly ask students to assess the fantasies and feelings that circulate around the Bible. Most significantly, students will practice ways to enter public conversations on the Bible, equipped with more nuanced historical and interpretive critical skills.