Spring 2019  |  JWST 3115 Section 001: Midrash: Reading and Retelling the Hebrew Bible (68492)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person Term Based
Meets With:
CNES 3115 Section 001
JWST 5115 Section 001
RELS 3115 Section 001
RELS 5115 Section 001
CNES 5115 Section 001
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
01/22/2019 - 05/06/2019
Wed 05:30PM - 08:00PM
UMTC, East Bank
Nicholson Hall 125
Enrollment Status:
Open (6 of 11 seats filled)
Course Catalog Description:
How did the Jews of the first seven centuries of the common era read and understand the Hebrew Bible? What were the problems they faced -- interpretive, historical, theological -- in trying to apply their holy scriptures? This course explores key issues that led to the development of a new form of Judaism in late antiquity, rabbinic Judaism, and its methods of scriptural interpretation. The course's study will focus on the forms and practices of rabbinic scriptural interpretation (midrash) as it developed in Roman Palestine and Sasanian Babylonia, focusing on key narrative and legal passages in the Five Books of Moses (Torah). A main focus of the course will be on the ways the rabbis adapted the Hebrew Bible to express their own core concerns.
Class Description:
Mishnah and Midrash represent the earliest forms of Rabbinic literature. Mishnah refers to the early 3rd century C.E. compendium of Rabbinic legal traditions, while Midrash indicates the various collections of Rabbinic interpretation of the Bible that were compiled in the following centuries. These texts reflect early Rabbinic models of biblical interpretation, law, and theology. At the same time, Mishnah and Midrash, like Rabbinic Judaism in general, are heavily indebted to earlier expressions of Judaism that existed in the Second Temple period (539 B.C.E. - 70 C.E.). This course explores Mishnah, Midrash, and early Rabbinic Judaism in dialogue with Second Temple period Judaism and its literature (such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, and Philo). Each week, we examine a particular theme and track its development from Second Temple literature into Rabbinic Judaism. These topics are structured around the two central elements of Mishnah and Midrash: (1) Biblical Interpretation and (2) Law and Theology. For the former, we treat issues such as closing the canon of the Bible, text and interpretation, religious and interpretative authority, rewriting the Bible, and allegorical interpretation of the Bible. For the latter, we discuss models of the divine, sectarianism and Judaism, sacrifice and liturgy, prophecy and revelation, and messianism and eschatology. All texts will be read in translation.
Grading:
20% Midterm Exam
25% Final Exam
25% Reports/Papers
20% In-class Presentations
10% Class Participation
Exam Format:
Identification, Short and Long Essay
Class Format:
15% Lecture
75% Discussion
10% Other Style Student presentation
Workload:
50-75 Pages Reading Per Week
15-20 Pages Writing Per Term
2 Exam(s)
1 Paper(s)
Other Workload: 1 Presentation. Students are expected to come to class having prepared all assigned reading and actively participate in classroom discussion.
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/68492/1193
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
21 May 2007

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