THRS 3000 - Introduction to the Hebrew Bible

5 credit hours
This course functions as a survey of the Hebrew Bible, the scripture that is central to Judaism. In other required theology courses, students have the opportunity to engage with the “Old Testament,” the first section of the biblical canon for all forms of Christianity. However, the goal of this particular course is to familiarize students with the existence, content, themes, and ideas of Jewish scripture, which exists independently and is different from Christian scripture. By surveying important texts from each of the three canonical parts of the Hebrew Bible (the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings), students engage with the vast diversity of literature contained in this corpus, the multiple (and even conflicting) theologies represented, the history of the text (both academically and in later Jewish interpretation), and various methods of exegesis. The Bible is remarkably relevant in our social, political, and cultural context, yet the text cannot speak for itself: it lives in the hands of its interpreters. For this and other reasons, it is necessary for informed members of societies shaped (at least in part) by biblical religious traditions to look carefully at the text, to see what it is actually saying, and to learn where and how the text is sometimes inaccessible. ST, WR

Prerequisite Course(s): UCOR 2100