| source Harvard (X) |
level |
department Ancient Near East (X) |
A close critical reading and interpretation of works thought to derive from the Wisdom tradition of ancient Israel, through the Second Temple period. The workings of the world and the ways of God as they appear in works such as Proverbs, Job, Qohelet, Ben Sira, some Psalms, the Wisdom of Solomon, Fourth Maccabees, and Pseudo-Phocylides as well as narratives such as the Joseph story, Esther, and Daniel. Egyptian and Mesopotamian antecedents and parallels briefly considered. Emphasis on matters of worldview and literary form.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
A chronological survey of the archaeology of the Levant in which material culture provides a window on human evolution, society, economy, and religion from the Lower Palaeolithic to Hellenistic times. Special topics include the earliest colonization of Homo erectus, the origin of modern humans, the emergence of farming and pastoral societies, the formation and dissolution of Bronze Age city-states, and the rise and fall of Iron Age kingdoms such as Israel, Moab, and Edom.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
An introduction to the ancient city of Babylon, including both its history as a seat of political power and its legacy in the Western tradition. Topics include the physical layout of the city, daily life in Babylonian society, what we know about such landmarks as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Tower of Babel, and Babylonian contributions to literature, religion, law, and astronomy. Also covered are the city's use as a symbol of wickedness in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the future of the site, and the broader cultural heritage of ancient Iraq. The course integrates archaeological, art historical, and textual data from the Near East and beyond to explore these issues.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
Archaeology and texts, such as the Bible, used to reconstruct aspects of social, economic, and religious life (from courtier to commoner) in ancient Israel during the Iron Age.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
A close critical reading in English of the book of Genesis with an eye both to the storytellers' techniques and to the moral and theological dimensions of the text. Emphasis will be given to literary and religious rather than historical and editorial issues.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
Topic for 2009-10: To be announced.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
Conceptions of history and the practice of historical writing in the ancient Near East. Discussions based on a comparative study of texts from a variety of cultural traditions, such as the Hittites, Mesopotamia, ancient Israel/ Hebrew Bible, and Second Temple Judaism, together with classical Greece.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
The civilization and cultural traditions of the peoples of Syria-Palestine from the third millennium to the time of Alexander the Great.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
The study of ancient Israelite religion and culture in comparative historical context. Topics examined include conceptions of divinity, prophecy, law, kingship, and cult. Through such topics the aim is to see how Israel related to other cultures of the ancient Near East and, thus, of what value the study of the other cultures has in understanding the character of Israelite religion itself.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
Surveys Hebrew biblical scholarship since the Renaissance, focusing on particular scholars and their representative and seminal works. The central theme is the emergence of and reactions to a historical-critical understanding of the Bible.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
An introduction to the major civilizations of the ancient Near East, focusing on the periods prior to the coming of Alexander the Great to the region, and on such topics as the rise and fall of states and empires, the ways in which the ancients understood and wrote history, and religious beliefs and practices both as these define a common ancient Near Eastern world and differentiate the particular cultures within it.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
A survey of the sources, data, and principal concerns. A selection of texts are read in translation.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
A critical introduction to the literature and theology of the Hebrew Bible, considered in light ofthe historical contexts of its formation and the interpretive contexts of its reception withinJudaism and Christianity. The course, the first part of a divisible, year-long sequence, will focuson the major biblical narrative traditions, the Pentateuch and Former Prophets.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
A critical introduction to the literature and theology of the Hebrew Bible, considered in light ofthe historical contexts of its formation and the interpretive contexts of its reception withinJudaism and Christianity. The course, the second part of a divisible, year-long sequence, willfocus on the Latter Prophets and the Writings.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
An examination of what law was and how it operated in ancient Israel through its primary expression in the Hebrew Bible. Attention to the wider contexts of law in the ancient Near East, especially Mesopotamia, in which Biblical law originated, and to the legacy of Biblical law in the subsequent traditions of early Judaism.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
An exploration of the nature and function of myth in the context of the ancient Near East. The course focuses on selected mythic texts from various Near Eastern cultures and consider them in the light of general approaches to myth developed in Western scholarship. Particular attention is given to the issue of myth in the Hebrew Bible.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
Topic for 2006-07: To be announced.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
A study of the phenomenon and history of Israelite prophecy, as recorded in the Hebrew Bible, in the light of prophecy elsewhere in the ancient Near East and in other cultures. Pertinent sociological, literary, and religious issues explored.
Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page
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Score: 10.542637 Details | Listing | Web page