(History/Religious
Studies 271C: Topics in Jewish History)
Winter 2007
Professor Penny S. Gold
In
this course we will study the content, context, and interpretive
history of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), focusing on a small number
of books within the enormous corpus of the Bible. Our approach to
the Bible will be a historical one, which in this case refers to two
things. First, we will be looking at the Bible in its historical
context, as a text written in a particular time and place, by and for
people with particular interests. Second, we will be looking at
the history of the Bible, at the historical development of the
interpretation and use of the Bible over the centuries. How have
later cultures understood and used this text? These different
interpretations will, in turn, be placed historically, so that we can
understand the reasons for the great range and diversity in how one
makes sense of the Bible.