The Bible as Literature

Catalog description

The mission of this course is to approach the Hebrew Bible/Tanakh (a.k.a Old Testament) as a corpus of ancient compositions that can be treated as literary works—not solely as sacred texts with modern religious authority, nor solely as texts to be mined for historical information. When this is done, the student can encounter bright and vivid literary ecosystems replete with complex characters, rich plot lines, and harrowing ordeals. Over the course of the term, significant attention will be given to the messages and ideologies encoded in these stories, some of which addressed ancient socio-political conditions and others which sought to convey broader universal principles. Attention will also be given to the analysis of aesthetics, where we will take stock of the strategies of story-crafting: What narrative styles, details, and techniques were commonly used in the building of these narratives? What styles are not used at all? How do these compositional choices affect the reading experience? Finally, this course will give attention to what does—and does not— receive plot attention in these materials: What topics, themes, and character profiles take center stage? What voices might have been sidelined in antiquity, and how might such marginalizations affect character constructions within the world of the narrative? Finally, how does the reader's own social location affect the reading experience and interpretation? This course seeks to address these questions and more through a close reading of select biblical texts. Course meetings will involve reading these selections together and discussing the content at hand.