RELG 125 - Old Testament Survey

Credit(s): 6 credits for students who began the program Prior to Fall 2019 / 3 credits for students who began the program in Spring 2019
This seminar surveys the Old Testament with special attention to the interconnections between Old Testament writings and the social and historical contexts that shaped them. Students in the seminar discuss the relationships between: literal meanings and spiritual complications; author’s intentions, religious-social needs and responses of audiences; origin of sources and methods of retention and transmission; and finally the interaction between the original form of literature and later author’s and editor’s reactions, interpretations. In addition, students identify the diverse literary types used in the Old Testament: parables, myths, songs, short stories, sermons, and biographies. The aim of the seminar is to enable students to acquire the interpretive skills to reconstruct the rich background in which the Old Testament was originally written.

Only open to students in the B.A. Liberal Arts and Sciences program.