ENGL 3280 - [The Bible as Literature]

(crosslisted) RELST 3281
(HB) (LA-AS)

Fall. Next Offered: 2019-2020. 4 credits. Student option grading.

S. Zacher.

A knowledge of the Bible’s images, stories and themes is crucial to understanding not only the art and literature of many cultures, but also ancient and contemporary world politics. It is the world’s most widely read book and a sacred text of three great religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. This course will offer students an introduction to the Bible’s major historical, anthropological and literary contexts. Students will learn about the Bible’s literary divisions and its main stories and characters as well as its ideas about faith, salvation, history and the end of time. We will use the New Oxford Annotated Bible for all course work.