Instructor: Celia Brewer Marshall
Macy 213
704-687-3378
acmssm@aol.com

Office Hours: MW 10:00-11:00

Texts:

The Bible as It Was, James Kugel, Belknap Press 1997
From Adam to Armageddon, J. Benton White and Walter Wilson, Wadsworth 2001
I recommend that you use the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible.

Course Description:

As an introduction to the history of biblical interpretation from the pre-canonical era to the present, this course will survey the ways in which passages from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament [OT and NT] have been interpreted over time.

Our survey will trace the history of interpretation from the early rabbinic [200 BCE-200 CE], patristic [150-400], medieval [1100-1300], Reformation [16^th century] and modern [20^th century on] periods. We will pay close attention to readings of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) and the Jewish tradition of midrash--a practice of filling in the narrative gaps where exegetes felt the biblical stories were ambiguous, unclear, or morally problematic. The biblical material will be evenly divided between Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.

The course is NOT a survey of biblical literature, nor is biblical literacy a prerequisite. While we will examine selected passages from both the Bible in some detail, our focus will be on the hermeneutical history of these passages. In so doing we will trace the origins of many of the explanations that have remained standard over the millennia and consider the ways early readings of the Bible affect today's popular understandings of scriptural texts.

Being there and being prepared: these are the important tasks. Attendance is required. You are allowed two absences without penalty. Subsequent absences, for whatever reason (and you need not tell me), will affect your grade to the tune of two points off your final average per absence. The only exception to this rule comes when the university notifies me of your absence on UNC-C letterhead. Perfect attendance earns you two points onto your final average. That’s right—an 88 final average becomes an A. Please check with me about scheduled and unavoidable conflicts.

Research Memos: You will write short memos over the course of the term. These memos will count 40% of your final grade. Memo rubric to follow. Late memos will be docked one letter grade for each class after the due date.

Study Questions: You will make an honest and earnest attempt to answer, in complete sentences, the study questions at the end of each assigned reading of a chapter in White and Wilson and discussion questions on the Kugel readings. These written homework responses will count 30% of your final grade. I will receive late work but the highest grade will be a C.

Mid-term Project: You will be assigned an interpreter to research using both library and web sources. Your five page report will include a brief biographical sketch of your interpreter, the hermeneutical principles this person utilizes, an example from this person’s interpretive work, and a bibliography using MLA form and four sources minimum, evenly divided between print and web sites. This report will count 10% of your final grade.

Final Project: Here you will work up a "chapter" in a book (yet to be written) entitled The Bible and Its Interpreters: Selected Passages. You will select a passage (your choice, but check with me) and show the history of the interpretation of that passage. You will include at least four interpreters with no more than half of your interpreters being from the 20^th (or 21^st) century. You may choose to present this project in either oral or written form.

Oral presentations will be made during the last week of class and the scheduled exam period. Time allowed: 5-8 minutes. A visual aid (hand-out, overhead slides, Power Point, art, film clip, poster) is required.

Written projects will be 5-8 pages long using standard research form. These papers are due by the exam period with no late papers accepted.

Rubric and suggestions will follow, but start thinking now of a passage you wish to explore. This final project will count 20% of your final grade.

By the end of the term, students will demonstrate:

Biblical literacy of selected books and passages in the OT and NT (via Study Questions)

Understanding of key terms, persons, methods in the history of biblical interpretation (via lectures, discussion, and Mid-term Project)

Skill in using research tools and applying them to this history of interpretation (via Memos)

Ability to critically evaluate sources in print, on the web, and in film (via Memos and class presentations)

Ability to present a particular biblical text in light of the hermeneutical history of that text (via Final Project)