Summer 2017/Pasadena
OT568
Altmann
OT568: FOOD, FAMINE, AND FEASTING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT (4 Units: 160 hours). Peter Altmann.
DESCRIPTION: Are we what we eat? Long viewed as secondary to more "spiritual" concerns, the practical and social matters of eating and drinking appear at decisive points in the texts of the Old (as well as the New) Testament. In this course we will investigate the dynamics surrounding the material, social, religious, political, and theological aspects of eating and drinking in the Old Testament. Through attention to these details in and behind the ancient texts, we will seek intersections between these biblical texts, church practices, and our current lives.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: As a result of successful participation in this course, students will demonstrate the ability (1) to articulate the central role of food and drink in worship of God; (2) to identify and interpret key OT texts concerning hospitality; (3) to develop an overall statement for God’s relationship with food and drink according to the Old Testament; (4) to recognize the perspectives of different OT texts on sacrifice and especially on the central feasts of Passover-Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Booths with regard to food and feasting; (5) to reflect on the confluence and divergence of the roles of eating and drinking in the Old Testament in comparison to one’s own cultural context; (6) to construct connections between the theologies of food and drink in the OT and the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper in the NT; and (7) to provide a close reading of a biblical text in its historical context(s) highlighting the dynamics of food/drink for the meaning of the text as a whole.
COURSE FORMAT: This is a hybrid course, meaning that it is a ten-week course with nine weeks of online instruction and one week of classroom instruction during week 1 of the quarter. The week of classroom instruction will include five hours daily of lecture, discussion, and an experiential element of shared meals. Classroom and online instruction will include lecture and discussion for a total of 40 instructional hours.
REQUIRED READING: 800 total pages required.
Select Bible texts in English (using the NRSV, TNIV, or CEB) [240 pages assigned]
MacDonald, Nathan. What Did Ancient Israelites Eat? Eerdmans, 2008. ISBN: 978-0802862983, Pub. Price $16.00. [100 pages assigned]
Wirzba, Norman. Faith and Food: A Theology of Eating. Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0521146241, Pub. Price $29.99. [110 pages assigned]
Selected readings on e-Reserve [350 pages]:
Altmann, Peter. “Feast and Famine: Lack as a Backdrop for Plenty,” in Feasting in the Archaeology and Texts of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2014), 149–78. [30 pp.]
Altmann, Peter. “Making the Meal Sacred in the Old Testament: Complexities and Possibilities for Christian Appropriation,” Sacrality and Materiality: Locating Intersections (ed. R. Kunz and R. Geselbrecht; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2015), 123-136. [14 pp.]
Altmann, Peter. “Sacred Meals and Feasts In the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and its Environment: A ‘Treasure Chest’ for Early Christian Reflection,” in The Eucharist – Its Origins and Contexts Sacred Meal, Communal Meal, Table Fellowship, and the Eucharist – Late Antiquity, Early Judaism and Early Christianity (ed. D. Hellholm and D. Sänger; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017) [20pp.]
Davis, Ellen, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, 21–65. [45 pp.]
Dietler, Michael. “Theorizing the Feast: Rituals of Consumption, Commensal Politics, and Power in African Contexts.” Pages 65–114 in Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics, and Power. Edited by B. Hayden. (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian, 2001).
Douglas, Mary, “Deciphering a Meal,” in Implicit Meanings (London: Routledge, 1975), 249–75. [26 pp.]
Firmage, Edwin B. “The Biblical Dietary Laws and the Concept of Holiness” in Studies in the Pentateuch (Leiden: Brill, 1990), 177-208. [32 pp.]
Hendel, Ronald. “Table and Altar: The Anthropology of Food in the Priestly Torah,” in To Break Every Yoke: Essays in Honor of Marvin L. Chaney. Edited by R. B. Coote and N. K. Gottwald. (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2007), 131-48. [18 pp.]
Houston, Walter J. “Towards an Integrated Reading of the Dietary Laws of Leviticus.” In The Book of Leviticus: Composition and Reception. Ed. R. Rendtorff and R. A. Kugler(Leiden: Brill, 2003), 142-161. [20 pp.]
MacDonald, Nathan “Mixed Menus: the Confusion of Food in Judges,” in Not Bread Alone: The Uses of Food in the Old Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 100–133.[33 pp.]
MacDonald, “You Are How You Eat: Food and Identity in the Post-exilic Period,” in Not Bread Alone: The Uses of Food in the Old Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 196–218.[22 pp.]
Meyers, Carol Menu: Royal Repasts and Social Class in Biblical Israel,” in Feasting in the Archaeology and Texts of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2014), 129–47. [19 pp.]
Hallo, W.W. Context of Scripture (Various excerpts). [20 pp.]
REQUIRED VIEWING:
Babette’s Feast, Ratatouille, Chocolat
RECOMMENDED READING:
Altmann, Peter and Janling Fu, ed. Feasting in the Archaeology and Texts of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East. Eisenbrauns, 2014. ISBN: 978-1575063232, Pub. Price: $47.50.
Borowski, Oded. Daily Life in Biblical Times. SBL Press, 2003. ISBN: 978-1589830424, Pub. Price: $15.95.
Davis, Ellen. Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-0521732239, Pub. Price: $30.99.
MacDonald, Nathan. Not Bread Alone: The Uses of Food in the Old Testament. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0199546527, Pub. Price: $140.00.
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
Class attendance. [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1–4]. [25 hours].
800 pages of required reading. [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1–5]. [56 hours].
Movies / YouTube lectures [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1–4]. [10 hours].
Group presentation (5%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #4]. [2 hours].
8 forum posts (250 words) and 8 responses (250 words) on the reading assignments and class participation (25%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1–4]. [15 hours].
Two 1500-word reflection papers on (a) personal story of food and drink and (b) comparing a movie’s presentation of eating & drinking with aspects of eating & drinking in a selected biblical text (30%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, 5]. [20 hours].
Final Exegetical-Theological Research Paper (2500 words) [2,500 words] (40%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #7]. [30 hours].
PREREQUISITES: OT500 and BI500. Please note: there will be an additional fee of $20 charged to your student account to cover the cost of a celebratory meal shared as part of the class experience on Friday of the intensive week.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Biblical elective in the 120 MDiv, 80 MAT, and 80 MATM Programs (Fall 2015). Biblical elective MATM and MAICS Programs (Winter 2010).
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.