Ancient Israel in Its Historical Context.

Catalog description

This course focuses on the historical and cultural context in which ancient Israel arose and flourished from the early Iron Age (c. 1200 BCE) to the beginning of the Hellenistic period (323 BCE). In the first part of the course, after surveying the geography and political history of the ancient Near East from 2000-320 BCE, students critically examine the historical rise and existence of Israel in its larger geo-political context. Special consideration is given to understanding the relationship of archaeological, politico-historical, and biblical evidence. In the second part of the course students turn attention to "everyday life" in ancient Israel, that is, to various social and material elements of ancient Israelite culture (e.g., family structure, buildings, vocational activities, art and music, literacy, etc.) as reconstructed from archaeological and biblical evidence, and then apply their learning to various biblical topics and/or texts.