Classics 227: Introduction to Biblical Literature

This course introduces students to the study of the Bible as an academic discipline. We will engage with biblical texts as literary works and products of history, practicing close reading and paying attention to matters such as context, authorship, genre, and style to understand their rhetorical function and meaning. We will also engage with comparative literature and material culture from the wider ancient Near East to further our understanding of biblical texts. Students will be trained to read biblical literature with rigour and sophistication, and to think critically about various scholarly modes of interpretation and the meanings they produce.  

Given the breadth of the Bible, we will focus our efforts by examining the development and reception of a particularly important tradition in the Hebrew Bible – the covenant between God and the ancient Israelites. Through the reading of a selection of key biblical texts and related literature we will follow the narrative unfolding of the covenant between God and Israel. As we do so we will engage the related questions of the identity, sin, suffering, and salvation of God’s elected people.