Fall 2017/Pasadena
OT888/588
Allen
OT888/588: CRITICAL APPROACHES TO THE OLD TESTAMENT (6 Units: 385 hours/4 Units: 160 hours). Leslie C. Allen.
DESCRIPTION: This seminar, intended primarily for Ph.D. and Th.M. students and open to a limited number of master’s level students, bridges a gap between master’s level core courses and research work. It covers older academic perspectives relating to text, genres, sources and redaction, and more recent approaches, literary, rhetorical, and canonical types of criticism, tradition history, and reader response criticism.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon successful completion of this course, students will have demonstrated (1) critical reflection on the diverse vantage points from which the Old Testament needs to be read, and also (2) an understanding of the cultural background to these vantage points and (3) an ability to appreciate some contemporary concerns in the synchronic reading of the Old Testament.
COURSE FORMAT: This class meets once per week for a three-hour session, for a total of 33 hours for OT888 and 30 hours for OT588. Members of each group are expected to study beforehand the assigned readings given in the detained reading schedule and take a full part in discussion.
REQUIRED READING: A total of 3,318 pages (OT888)/1,485 pages (OT588) is required. Only some major items are cited here. A full listing of items is supplied in the course reading schedule for each week.
Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative. Basic Books, 1983. ISBN: 0-465-00427. Pub. Price $17.99 [62 pp. assigned]
Brevard S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture. Fortress, 1979 (paperback 2011). ISBN: 0-8006-9833-1. Pub. Price $39.00 [42 pp. assigned].
Serge Frolov, The Turn of the Cycle: I Samuel 1-8 in Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives. De Gruyter, 2004. ISBN: 3-11-018123-1. Pub. Price $196.00 [69 pp. assigned].
P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., Textual Criticism: Recovering the Text of the Hebrew Bible. Fortress, 1986. ISBN: 0-8006-0471-7. Pub. Price $14.00 [75 pp. assigned].
Steven L. McKenzie and Stephen R. Haynes, eds., To Each Its Own Meaning: An Introduction to Biblical Criticisms and Their Application. Revised ed. Westminster John Knox, 1999. ISBN: 0-664-25784-4. Pub. Price $32.00 [183 pp. (OT888); 158 pp. (OT588)].
Rolf Rendtorff, The Problem of the Process of Transmission in the Pentateuch. JSOT Press, 1990. ISBN: 1-8507575-229-5. Pub. Price $49.95 [30 pp. assigned].
James A. Sanders, Canon and Community: A Guide to Canonical Criticism. Fortress, 1984. ISBN: 0-8006-0468-7. Pub. Price $16.00 [78 pp. assigned]
Claus Westermann, Basic Forms of Prophetic Speech. Westminster/John Knox, 1991. ISBN: 0-7188-2842-9. Pub. Price $19.71 [53 pp. assigned]
Claus Westermann, Praise and Lament in the Psalms. T&T. Clark, 1981. ISBN: 0-8042-1729-0. Pub. Price $34.13 [55 pp. assigned]
Ernst Würthwein, The Text of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Biblia Hebraica. 3rd ed. Eerdmans, 2014. ISBN: 0-8028-6680-6. Pub. Price $30.00 [42 pp. assigned].
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
1. Attendance at classes [33 hours for OT888; 30 hours for OT588].
2. 3,318 pages (OT888) or 1,485 pages (OT588) of the required reading set out in the reading schedule [221 hours or 99 hours]. 3. Informed understanding and critiquing of the reading, demonstrated by participation in class discussion (50%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, and 3]. 4. For OT888: competent reading of 14 Hebrew texts, demonstrated by participation in class (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome # 2]. [61 hours]
5. For OT888: completion of a 7,500-word paper on one weekly topic of the course (30%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1 and 2 or #1 and 3] [70 hours]. 6. For OT588: completion of two 2,500-word papers, each on a weekly topic of the course, involving extra reading (25% each, total 50%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1 and 2 or #1 and 3] [15 hours each].
PREREQUISITES: For OT588: permission of the instructor.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Elective (OT588).
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.