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1 Selected Reading of the Hebrew Bible SELECTED READING OF THE HEBREW BIBLE: DEUTERONOMISTIC LITERATURE 2016-2017 First Term Fri 7:00pm-9:15pm WMY 502 Course Code: THEO5210 Title in English: Selected Reading of the Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomistic Literature Title in Chinese: 希伯來聖經選讀：申命記式文學 Course Description: This course covers the major scholarship pertaining to the so-called Deuteronomistic History (DH), a perceived coherent literary unit that encompasses the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Kings, and Samuel. It provides an overview of the major models on the literary production of the DH as put forth by the historical-critical scholars throughout the 19th to 21st century and examines the literary structure, central themes, and textual issues of these books by positing them within the literary culture of the ancient times. It traces the development of the current debates on the DH that both challenge various suppositions in the original formulation of the theory and yet continue to assert the validity of the overall thesis. Learning Outcomes: After completing this course, students should be able to: • Describe and compare the original and various modified theories of the DH • Appreciate the contributions that the historical critics have made to elucidate the relations between Deuteronomy and the Former Prophets. • Deepen their awareness of the intellectual milieu in which this scholarly construct has originated and problematize the anachronistic elements of the original thesis • Demonstrate a familiarity of the current approaches to the reading of the DH Learning Activities: The course consists mainly of lectures, interwoven with class discussion, independent reading, class presentation, and research activities. The time allocation (per week) of the learning activities is as follows: Lecture Class Discussion Group Presentation Reading and Written Research Assignments In class Out of In class Out of In class Out of In class Out of In class Out of Class Class Class Class Class 2 hrs 0.25 hr 0.25 hr 0.25 hr 3 hrs 2.5 hrs M M M M/O M M: Mandatory activity in the course O: Optional activity Assessment Scheme: Task nature Purpose Learning Outcomes Group To facilitate the students’ critical Students are to work in groups of 3 to 4. Presentation review of the reading materials and Each group will have 15 minutes in class (20%) the exchanges of ideas among them. to present one of the assigned topics Additional 15 marked with an asterisk in the course minutes will be schedule. Each group is required to give a added to the summary of the week’s reading weeks marked materials, highlight the issues at stake, 1 with an asterisk and conclude with their position(s) to the for the purpose debate. At the end of the presentation, of presentation. each group is to submit a report of no more than 2 pages. Reading Report To facilitate the students to critically 1. Write a book review of no less than (20%) synthesize and analyze the course 2000 words of one of the three books reading materials and to engage the listed and engage the course reading Due on content dialogically with one of the materials in the review. Nov 4 (F) following books: 2. Summarize the author’s approach, 1. Person, Raymond F. The interpretive framework, thesis, and Deuteronomic School: History, main arguments. Social Setting, and Literature. 3. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses Studies in Biblical Literature. of the approach and his/her main Atlanta: Society of Biblical arguments. Literature, 2002. 2. Kim, Uriah Y. Decolonizing Josiah: Toward a Postcolonial Reading of the Deuteronomistic History. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2005. 3. Stone, Ken. Sex, Honor, and Power in the Deuteronomistic History. JSOTSup 234. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996. Class To encourage learning collaboration 1. Consolidate the students’ Participation and flow of ideas among the students understanding of the reading (10%) in class. materials. 2. Develop critical attitude toward the reading materials. 3. Deepen students’ awareness of how an interpreter’s social locations, including their own, and presuppositions affect the process of reading. Term Paper To evaluate the students’ ability to Write a term paper of 4000-5000 (50%) critically engage current scholarship in (undergraduate level) or 5000-6000 the criticism of the Deuteronomy- words (graduate level) on one of the Abstract due on Kings and to analyze and critique following topics: Nov 11 (F) different theories’ strengths and 1. A critique of Martin Noth’s theory of weaknesses and to incorporate the the DH or one of its modified models Paper due on learned ideas from various models of 2. A comparison of two different models Dec 9 (F) the DH in an exegesis of a text from of the DH Deuteronomy-Kings. 3. An (re)assessment of a textual issue in Deuteronomy-Kings 4. A critical exegesis of a passage, a theme or a motif from Deuteronomy- Kings with a contextual or theological perspective 2 Recommended Learning Resources: Books: Cross, Frank Moore. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973. Crüsemann, Frank. The Torah: Theology and Social History of Old Testament. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1996. Kim, Uriah Y. Decolonizing Josiah: Toward a Postcolonial Reading of the Deuteronomistic History. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2005. Nielsen, Flemming A. J. The Tragedy in History: Herodotus and the Deuteronomistic History. JSOTSup 251. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997. Noth, Martin. The Deuteronomistic History. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981. (Required) Person, Raymond F. The Deuteronomic School: History, Social Setting, and Literature. Studies in Biblical Literature. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002. Stone, Ken. Sex, Honor, and Power in the Deuteronomistic History. JSOTSup 234. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996. Weinfeld, Moshe. Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1972. Essays and Articles: Auld, Graeme A. “The Deuteronomists and the Former Prophets, or What Makes the Former Prophets Deuteronomistic?” Pages 116-126 in Those Elusive Deuteronomists: The Phenomenon of Pan- Deuteronomism. Edited by Linda S. Schearing and Steven L. McKenzie. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1999. Blenkinsopp, Joseph “Deuteronomistic Contribution to the Narrative in Genesis-Numbers: A Test Case.” Pages 84-115 in Those Elusive Deuteronmists. Campbell, Antony F. “Martin Noth and the Deuteronomistic History.” Pages 31-63 in The History of Israel’s Traditions: The Heritage of Martin Noth. Edited by Steven L. McKenzie and M. Patrick Graham. JSOTSup 182. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994. Coggins, Richard J. "What Does "Deuteronomistic" Mean?" Pages 22-35 in Those Elusive Deuteronomists. Davies, Philip R. “Josiah and the Law Book.” Pages 65-77 in in Good Kings and Bad Kings. Edited by Lester L. Grabbe. New York: T&T Clark, 2005. Dietrich, Walter. “History and Law: Deuteronomistic Historiography and Deuteronomic Law Exemplified in the Passage from the Period of the Judges to the Monarchical Period.” Pages 315- 342 in Israel Constructs Its History: Deuteronomistic Historiography in Recent Research. Edited by Albert de Pury, Thomas Römer, and Jean-Daniel Macchi. JSOTSup 306. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic, 2000. Exum, J. Cheryl. “The Centre Cannot Hold: Thematic and Textual Instabilities in Judges.” Pages 578- 600 in Reconsidering Israel and Judah: Recent Studies on the Deuteronomistic History. Edited by Gordon J. McConville. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2000. Frisch, Amos. “Comparison with David as a Means of Evaluating Characters in the Book of Kings.” The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 11 (2011): 2 -20. [www.jhsonline.org] Freeman, Michael. “Religion, Nationalism and Genocide: Ancient Judaism Revisited.” European Journal of Sociology 35 (1994): 259-282. Glassner, Jean-Jacques. “Historical Times in Mesopotamia.” Pages 189-211 in Israel Constructs Its History. Halpern, Baruch. "The State of Israelite History.” Pages 540-65 in Reconsidering Israel and Judah. Knight, Douglas A. "Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomists." Pages 61-79 in Old Testament 3 Interpretation: Past, Present, and Future: Essays in Honour of Gene M. Tucker. Edited by James Luther Mays, David L. Petersen, and Kent Harold Richards. Nashville: Abingdon, 1995. Knight, Douglas A. “‘Whose Agony? Whose Ecstasy?’: The Politics of Deuteronomic Law.” Pages 97- 112 in Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Right?: Studies on the Nature of God in Tribute to James L. Crenshaw. Edited by David Penchansky and Paul L. Redditt. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2000. Knoppers, Gary N. "Is There a Future for the Deuteronomistic History?" Pages 119-134 in The Future of the Deuteronomistic History. Edited by Thomas Römer. Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium. Louvai: Peeters, 2000. Lemche, Niels Peter. “The Old Testament—A Hellenistic Book?” Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 7 (1993): 163-193. Lipschits, Oded. “On Cash-Boxes and Finding or Not Finding Books: Jehoash’s and Josiah’s Decisions to Repair the Temple.” Pages 239-254 in Essays on Ancient Israel in Its Near Eastern Context: A Tribute to Nadav Naaman. Edited by Yaira Amit and Nadav Naaman. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2006. Lohfink, Norbert. "Was There a Deuteronomistic Movement?" Pages 36-66 in Those Elusive Deuteronomists. Mayes, A. D. H. "Deuteronomistic Ideology and the Theology of the Old Testament." Pages 456-80 in Israel Constructs Its History. McBride, Samuel Dean.
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