REL 201 The Hebrew Bible as Literature (Not offered 1999-2000)
"The Bible as literature"-What does this title mean? Are we to understand that the Bible is not literature but that it can be read like literature? Or that the Bible is, in fact, the same as literature ("the greatest story ever told"), indeed that it is literature? On the one hand, if the Bible can be read as literature, if it is like literature, what appears to be implied is that the Bible is not identical with literature. On the other hand, and equally plausible, if "the Bible as literature" means that the Bible is literature, then what can be so different about a literary reading of the Bible? We will see that much hangs on how we read the word "as" (but also on how we read the terms-Bible, literature-thus placed in relation), indeed, that much hangs on how we read. This course will be about reading, then, about reading the Bible: How to read, but also what-which Bible, which dimension of the Bible-to read? We will address these questions by energetically engaging with recent literary discussions of the Bible while closely reading two books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, 1 and 2 Samuel). We will gain a sense of the range of interpretations and approaches available to readers of the Biblical texts while attending to difference: the difference between versions and interpretations, but also sexual difference, in the Bible and in its readings. The major transformative impact of feminist readings on Biblical scholarship alone would amply justify this choice, but we will see that the very practice of reading these complex texts leads us to ask about reading's gendered-dimension. Class format: lecture and discussion. Requirements: full attendance and participation, class presentations, written comments on weekly readings, two papers (10-15 pages). Open to all classes without prerequisite. (This course is part of the Jewish Studies cluster.)