Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible serves as scripture in Judaism (Tanakh) and Christianity (Old Testament) and as such is a formative religious text for these traditions. This course examines the religion and texts of the Hebrew Bible in the context of the history of Ancient Israel and its wider ancient Near Eastern setting, including attention to archaeology, inscriptions, and the experience of subjugation under successive empires (Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic). Among the topics discussed are the rise of monotheism, the problem of theodicy, and early Jewish political theology.