Course Details

RS 580 Overview

This course introduces students to the Wisdom Literature and Psalms of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible as products of their original historical and religious setting, as well as foundational documents for Judaism and Christianity. Using historical-critical and comparative methodologies, the various texts and their representative traditions are studied as interpretive responses to the life situations of Jews in the ancient world and normative forming texts of respective religions thereafter (Judaism and Christianity). While many faith communities understand these writings as a source of divine guidance, the primary focus of this course is the academic study of the text as it was intended for its original audience by the original author.