RELI 200 \ HUMA 107

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Syllabus

PART I: THE BIBLE IN MEDIA HISTORY

January 13: Introduction

January 15: Hebrew Text - Christian Codex - Canonization
Readings:R.H. Pfeiffer: "Canon of the OT" (Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible): 498-511. Harry Y. Gamble: "Factors in the Formation of the Canon" (The New Testament Canon: Its Making and Meaning): 57-72. Bruce M. Metzger: "Important Witnesses to the Text of the New Testament - Codex Sinaiticus" (The Text of the New Testament): 42-46. Werner H. Kelber: "The Bible In the Book Tradition" (Medienwissen-schaft): 592 - 593.
Genesis 25:19 - 35:29: Jacob and Esau
Images: Slideshow | Thumbnails

January 20: Chirographic Production of Manuscripts
Readings: Denise A. Troll: "The Demands of Manuscript Technology" (Enos: Oral and Written Communication): 99 - 120.
Genesis 37 - 50: Joseph

January 22: Illuminated Manuscripts and Memorial Practices
Readings: Mary J. Carruthers: "Elementary Memory Designs" (The Book of Memory): 80 - 107. Kelber: "The Bible in the Book Tradition": 593 - 595.
I Samuel 1 - 15: Samuel and Saul
Images: Slideshow | Thumbnails

January 27: Gutenberg: The Machine-Made Book
Readings: Elizabeth L. Eisenstein: "Defining the Initial Shift; Some Features of Print Culture" (The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, I): 43 - 71.
Kelber: "The Bible in the Book Tradition": 595 - 597.
I Samuel 16 - 25: Saul and David
Images: Slideshow | Thumbnails

January 29: The Bible In the Gutenberg Galaxy:
The High-Tech of the 15th/16th Century
Readings: Mark U. Edwards: "Scripture as Printed Text" (Printing, Propaganda, and Martin
Luther): 109 - 130. Kelber: "The Bible in the Book Tradition": 597 - 598.
I Kings 1 - 11: David and Solomon

February 3: The Role of the Vernaculars: Septuagint, Vulgate, Luther, Tyn-dale, Geneva Bible, Douai, King James, RSV
Readings: Elizabeth Eisenstein: "Western Chris-
tendom Disrupted" (The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe): 158 - 170. Kelber: "The Bible in the Book Tradition": 598 - 599.
II Kings 22 - 25: Josiah's Reform and Captivity

February 5: Interfaces - crossreferencing - Intertextuality
Readings: Isa 53: 1-6 (Mat 8: 1 - 17); Ps 22: 1 - 18 (Mat 27: 33 - 50); Rom 1: 16 - 17 (Habakkuk 2: 4): Galatians 4: 21 - 31 (Gen 16: 15; 21: 1 - 19)

February 10: The Letter and the Spirit: The Bible in the Hermeneutical Tradition
Readings: David R. Olson: "Fixing a Text" (The Word on Paper): 144 - 159.
II Cor 3: 1 - 6

PART II: THE BIBLE AND THE ARTISTIC IMAGINATION

February 12: Creation and Fall
Paradise, Adam and Eve, Serpent, Sin, Expulsion
Readings: Gen 1 - 3
Images: Slideshow | Thumbnails

February 17: Christ: Birth, Baptism, Crossing of the Sea, Crucifixion, Deposition, Entombment, Resurrection
Readings: Luke 3:1 - 22; Mark 4: 35 - 41; 6: 45 - 52; Mat 26: 1 - 28:20
Images: Slideshow | Thumbnails

February 19: Mariology
Annunciation, Mother of the Lord, Queen of Heaven, Pieta, Madonna
Readings: Luke 1 - 2
Images: Slideshow | Thumbnails

February 24: Last Supper
Readings: Mat 26: 17 - 30; Mark 14: 17 - 25; Luke 22: 14 - 23; John 13: 1 - 30
Images: Slideshow | Thumbnails

February 26: Biblical Typology: The Altar of Nicolaus of Verdun (ca. 1181)
Readings: Hebrews 1 - 6
Images: Slideshow | Thumbnails

MARCH 1 - 5: MIDTERM RECESS

PART III: THE BIBLE AND WESTERN (SELF)CONSCIOUSNESS

March 9: Moses the Egyptian and Monotheism
Readings: Sigmund Freud: "If Moses was an Egyptian ..." (Moses and Monotheism): 16 - 35
Jan Assmann: "Sigmund Freud: The Return of the Repressed" (Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism): 147 - 167.
Ex 2 - 6:13; Deut. 5- 13

March 11: The Promised Land: The Power of
an Idea
Readings: Mircea Eliade: "Sacred Space and
Making the World Sacred" (The Sacred and the
Profane: The Nature of Religion): 20 - 65.
Gen 11:27 - 25:11: Abraham

March 16: Holiness - Pollution - Separation
Readings: Mary Douglas: "The Abominations of Leviticus" (Purity and Danger): 41 - 57.
Leviticus 11 - 15; Mark 7:1 - 23; Mat 8: 1 - 15

March 18: Apocalypticism: Scripture - Prophecy - violence
Readings: J. Phillip Arnold: "The Davidian Dilemma - To Obey God or Man?": (From the Ashes. Making Sense of Waco): 23 - 31.
Daniel 7 - 12; Revelation 5 - 22:7

March 23: Theodicy: The Suffering of the Righteous or the Failure of Distributive Justice
Readings: Richard B. Sewall: "The Book of Job" (The Vision of Tragedy): 9 - 24.
Job 1 - 42

March 25: Literary Representation of Reality: "Fraught with Background"
Readings: Erich Auerbach: "Odysseus' Scar" (Mimesis): 3 - 23.
Gen 22: 1 - 14: Binding of Isaac; I Sam 18: 12 - 19:24; 25; II Sam 3: 1 -21; 6; David and Michal

March 30: The Poetics of Biblical Narrative, Parable: Metaphoricity and Defamiliarization
Readings: Werner H. Kelber: "The Gospel as Written Parable" (The Oral and the Written Gospel): 58 - 61; 124 - 129.
The Gospel of Mark (see esp. 4: 1 - 20); Luke 14: 15 - 24; 15:11 -32; 16: 19 - 31

April 1: The Bible Against Tradition: Martin Luther and the Reformation
Readings: Martin Luther: "Commentary on Galatians" (Selections from his Writings): 109 - 115.
Paul's Letter to the Galatians

April 6: Proverbial Wisdom: The Aphoristic Approach to Life
Readings: James Williams: "The Aphoristic Wisdom of Order;" "The Aphoristic Wisdom of Counter-Order" (Those Who Ponder Proverbs): 35 - 42, 47 - 52.
Proverbs 10 - 15; Matthew 5 - 7

April 8: The Psalter: Poetry and Liturgy
Readings: Robert Alter: "Psalms" (The Literary Guide to the Bible): 244 - 261.
Psalms 1; 37; / 21; 72; 110; 132 / 24; 48; 84 / 146-150 / 6; 13; 22; 90 / 104; 78

April 13: Reading the Bible From Below and From the Margins: Feminism and Third World Readers
Readings: Mary Ann Tolbert: "Protestant Feminists and the Bible. On the Horns of a Dilemma" (Union Seminary Quarterly Review): 1 - 17. Leticia A. Guardiola-Saenz: "Borderless Women and Borderless Texts: A Cultural Reading of Matthew 15: 21 - 28" (Semeia): 69 - 81.
Song of Solomon 1 - 8; Mat 1: 1 - 25; Luke 7:36 - 50; Galatians 3:27 - 28; I Cor 12: 12-13; 14: 34 - 35; Romans 1:16; Colossians 3:18 - 4:1; I Peter 2: 11 - 3:7; Mat 15: 21 - 28

April 15: The Abolition: Biblical Uses For and Against Slavery
Readings: Thornton Stringfellow: "A Scriptural View of Slavery" (Slavery Defended: the View of the Old South): 86 - 98. Richard A. Horsley: "Paul and Slavery: A Critical Alternative to Recent Readings" (Semeia): 153 - 200. Martin Luther King: "I See the Promised Land" - Dr. King's last sermon delivered on the eve of his assassination (A Testament of Hope): 279 - 286.
Philemon; I Cor 7: 20-21; Ephesians 6:5 - 9; Colossians 3: 22; 4:1; I Peter 2: 18 - 25; I Timothy 6: 20 - 21

April 20: Demythologizing and Culture Criticism
Readings: Schneidau: "In Praise of Alienation" (Sacred Discontent): 1 - 15.
Amos 1 - 9; Isaiah 1 - 5, 28 - 29; Jeremiah 1 - 10, 23

April 22: Final Discussion -- Summation of Course

Last updated: January 12, 2004
Maintained by: Werner H. Kelber