Classics 227: Introduction to Biblical Literature

This course introduces students to the study of biblical literature as an academic discipline. Given the breadth of the Bible and the plethora of approaches one might employ to study the text, we will focus our efforts by examining a particularly important recurring motif in the Hebrew Bible – the covenant between God and the ancient Israelites. Through the reading of a selection of key biblical texts we will follow the narrative unfolding of the covenant between God and Israel, and as we do so we will engage the related questions of the sin, suffering, and salvation of God’s elected people.

Students will encounter a variety of hermeneutical approaches employed in modern biblical scholarship, including historical criticism, literary criticism, form criticism, and feminist criticism, and will be trained to read Scripture closely with rigour and sophistication, considering its historical background, reception, and interpretation.