Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Yale "open course" - Introduction to the Old Testament

Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible)
Available in Video, Audio or Text
http://open.yale.edu/courses/religious_studies/introduction-to-the-old-testament-hebrew-bible/sessions/lecture02.html

This course examines the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) as an expression
of the religious life and thought of ancient Israel, and a
foundational document of Western civilization. A wide range of
methodologies, including source criticism and the historical-critical
school, tradition criticism, redaction criticism, and literary and
canonical approaches are applied to the study and interpretation of
the Bible. Special emphasis is placed on the Bible against the
backdrop of its historical and cultural setting in the

Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible)
Class Sessions
1. The Parts of the Whole
2. The Hebrew Bible in Its Ancient Near Eastern Setting: Biblical
Religion in Context
3. The Hebrew Bible in Its Ancient Near Eastern Setting: Genesis 1-4 in Context
4. Doublets and Contradictions, Seams and Sources: Genesis 5-11 and
the Historical-Critical Method
5. Critical Approaches to the Bible: Introduction to Genesis 12-50
6. Biblical Narrative: The Stories of the Patriarchs (Genesis 12-36)
7. Israel in Egypt: Moses and the Beginning of Yahwism (Genesis 37- Exodus 4)
8. Exodus: From Egypt to Sinai (Exodus 5-24, 32; Numbers)
9. The Priestly Legacy: Cult and Sacrifice, Purity and Holiness in
Leviticus and Numbers
10. Biblical Law: The Three Legal Corpora of JE (Exodus), P (Leviticus
and Numbers) and D (Deuteronomy)
11. On the Steps of Moab: Deuteronomy
12. The Deuteronomistic History: Life in the Land (Joshua and Judges)
13. The Deuteronomistic History: Prophets and Kings (1 and 2 Samuel)
14. The Deuteronomistic History: Response to Catastrophe (1 and 2 Kings)
15. Hebrew Prophecy: The Non-Literary Prophets
16. Literary Prophecy: Amos
17. Literary Prophecy: Hosea and Isaiah
18. Literary Prophecy: Micah, Zephaniah, Nahum and Habbakuk
19. Literary Prophecy: Perspectives on the Exile (Jeremiah, Ezekiel
and 2 Isaiah)
20. Responses to Suffering and Evil: Lamentations and Wisdom Literature
21. Biblical Poetry: Psalms and Song of Songs
22. The Restoration: 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah
23. Visions of the End: Daniel and Apocalyptic Literature
24. Alternative Visions: Esther, Ruth and Jonah

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What do you think, please, of Obadiah Shoher's interpretation of the story? (here: samsonblinded.org/blog/genesis-37.htm ) He takes the text literally to prove that the brothers played a practical joke on Yosef rather than intended to murder him or sell him into slavery. His argument seems fairly strong to me, but I'd like to hear other opinions.