Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel

Complete Tables of Contents

This file includes the table of contents of all issues of "Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel" 1-7 (2012-2018)

The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion and Culture, 2010

A syllabus for a year-long Introduction to the Bible course, created for my first comprehensive exam project.

2011

The following syllabus was used for an Introduction to the Hebrew Bible taught at Lawrence University in Fall 2011. The class met twice a week, for a session of 110 mins. with a break in the middle. The rationale of the course was twofold: first, to ensure that the students who complete the course have read most of the Hebrew Bible, and that anything that was not read for class is similar to sections read, and thus the students have tools to deal with it; second, to familiarize students with basic analytical terms for studying the Hebrew Bible, by dividing it into its seven genres of writing: narrative, law, historiography, prophecy, poetry, wisdom, and apocalypse. For these purposes the students read the primary texts with the Jewish Study Bible edition, and consulted Collins’s introduction. The final two classes introduced students to major questions of scholarship concerning material outside the Hebrew Bible: archaeology and postbiblical literature. Click link above to view file.

The following syllabus was used for an upper-level course on the Hebrew Bible at UC-Santa Barbara in the spring of 2017. The title (and level) suggested something other than an introduction, but since this is the only course in the catalog dedicated to the Hebrew Bible, I still had to assume little to no knowledge of biblical scholarship and the historical-critical method, and in many cases, even no familiarity with the Hebrew Bible at all. I decided that I will keep this in mind in my choice of texts, but at the same time change the focus from an introduction to aspects of " literature " and " religion " as the title anticipates.

Themelios , 2019

It is often said that “History is in the eye of beholder.” The reporting of history lends itself to subjectivity, ideological bents, and a narrow focus. In the last seventeen years, the European Seminar has wrestled with issues of historicity in ancient Israel. Their most recent contribution, The Hebrew Bible and History: Critical Readings, continues the Seminar’s work by providing a dialogue on writing a history of ancient Israel. The contributors span the theological spectrum so that their viewpoints provide a dialogue.

2014

This study considers the historical, cultural, and literary significance of some of the most important Ancient Near East (ANE) texts that illuminate the Hebrew Bible. Christopher B. Hays provides primary texts from the Ancient Near East with a comparison to literature of the Hebrew Bible to demonstrate how Israel's Scriptures not only draw from these ancient contexts but also reshape them in a unique way. Hays offers a brief introduction to comparative studies, then lays out examples from various literary genres that shed light on particular biblical texts. Texts about ANE law collections, treaties, theological histories, prophecies, ritual texts, oracles, prayers, hymns, laments, edicts, and instructions are compared to corresponding literature in the Pentateuch, Prophets, and Writings of the Hebrew Bible. The book includes summaries and reflection questions to help instructors and students identify key points for comparison. By considering the literary and historical context of other literature, students will come away with a better understanding of the historical, literary, and theological depth of the Hebrew Bible.