Mar 29, 2024  
2018-2019 Course Catalog 
    
2018-2019 Course Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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REL 150 - Introduction to the Bible

Credits: 3
Lecture Hours: 3
Lab Hours: 0
Practicum Hours: 0
Work Experience: 0
Course Type: General
“This course introduces the practice of the contextual method of reading a text as applied to the biblical materials. It asks: What kind of material is this? Who wrote it? To whom they were writing in their own time? What were they trying to say to those people in that situation? The course is not devotional or applicational, but literary and historical.”
Competencies
  1. Analyze the history and structure of the Bible as a canonical text
    1. Summarize the history of Biblical texts from its beginnings in ancient Judaic oral tradition through its Christian formalization culminating in Athanasius’ pronouncement on Christian canonicity in 367 C.E.
    2. Recall scholarly methods and evidence for dating and locating Biblical texts
    3. Outline the archaeological and textual evidence for the canonization of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Mikra).
    4. Discuss the possible criteria for inclusion by early Jewish scholars, and later early Christian scholars, as well as some of the debates behind the selection of the canon.
    5. Identify the major divisions in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, including the Tanakh, Old Testament, and New Testament.
    6. Compare and contrast modern and contemporary editions of the Bible, such as the Catholic canon, Eastern Orthodox canon, the Gutenburg edition, Erasmus and Luther’s editions, the King James edition, the New International Version edition, the Church of Latter Day Saints, etc.
  2. Evaluate the development of Israelite religious thought, both within and outside of Biblical texts, and its relationship with Near Eastern and later Greco-Roman influences
    1. Review the development of key ideas in Judaism, such as the transition from henotheism to monotheism, sacred time, sacred space, covenant, myth, purity rites, prophets, revelation, faith, personalism, prophecy, providence, resurrection, messiah, apocalypse, sin, judgment, kashrut, sabbath etc.
    2. Demonstrate the textual evidence of Babylonian and Persian influence.
    3. Identify signs of tension with the Roman Empire in the New Testament.
    4. Analyze Revelation as an example of apocalyptic literature.
  3. Summarize the major themes, idea, plots, and characters from the Torah, the first part of the Hebrew Bible
    1. Outline the primordial narrative from Genesis, the Fall, and the Flood
    2. Discuss the multiple accounts of Creation and the Flood
    3. Review the patriarchy cycle of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph
    4. Explain the story of Moses, the Exodus, giving of the Torah
    5. Summarize the conquest of Canaan in Deuteronomy
  4. Outline the major themes, idea, plots, and characters of the institution and later dissolution of the ancient Jewish monarchies from the Nev’im, the second part of the Hebrew Bible
    1. Describe ages of judges, the institution of monarchy, division of the kingdom into the northern (Israel) and southern (Judah) kingdoms, and their fall.
    2. Relate the narrative of the Babylonian Exile and the Return from Exile.
  5. Review the major themes, ideas, plots, and characters in Hebrew poetry and wisdom literature from the Ketuvim, the last part of the Hebrew Bible
    1. Outline themes and ideas from a selection of Hebrew poetry, such as Psalms or the Song of Solomon.
    2. Recall motifs, ideas, plots and characters from a selection of the wisdom literature, such as the Proverbs, Job, or Ecclesiates.
    3. Describe themes, concepts, plots, and characters from a selection of the novellas, such as Esther, Jonah, or Ruth.
  6. Interpret the contexts and concerns of the Hebrew prophets
    1. Recall the issues of the Assyrian period prophets (8th Cent. BCE), including Amos and First Isaiah.
    2. Review the situation of the Babylonian period prophets (6th Cent. BCE), including Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
    3. Describe the concerns of the Exilic and Post-Exilic period prophets, including Third Isaiah, Haggai, and Zachariah
    4. Compare the alternative concepts of a Christian or Muslim prophet.
  7. Examine the major themes, idea, plots, and characters from the New Testament
    1. Describe the conditions for 1st Cent. Palestinian Jews under the Roman Empire both before and after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.
    2. Explain the historiographical issues concerning the life of Jesus.
    3. Compare the four gospels’ treatment of: 1) The messages of John the Baptist and Jesus, 2) The disciples and the early followers of Jesus, 3) Gentile and Jewish concerns, 4)Jesus’ final days, arrest, trial, and execution.
  8. Evaluate the textual and archaelogical evidence of a Jewish or Christian messiah
    1. Differentiate the accounts of Jesus as a Jewish prophet vs. a Jewish or Christian messiah.
    2. Judge the archaeological evidence for the possibility of a historical Jesus.
  9. Critique texts using the methodologies of source criticism, literary criticism, redaction criticism, form criticism, and historical-critical analysis.
    1. Separate the two accounts of Creation and the two accounts of the Flood (source criticism).
    2. Identify the themes of national origin, covenants, Promised Land, kingship, and justice (literary criticism).
    3. Compare the concerns, themes, and historical context of each gospel writer and Paul with each other.
    4. Analyze historical and contemporary interpretations of Biblical texts.



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