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Instructor: Bob Canary, CART 226
["Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness. / For we all make many mistakes."--James 3.1-2a -- "Anyone who claims to know something lacks the necessary knowledge"--1 Corinthians 8.2] | 
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TEXT: The Harper Collins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Edition (student paperback edition) -- There are many translations of the Bible and most have their strengths. Students should feel free to bring alternative translations to class, but it will help our discussion if we are all quite literally on the same page and reading the same introductory material. That means I very much want you to buy this book and bring it to class with you. You will, in fact, be responsible for the introductory material on all of the books from which we are reading selections and from others as indicated below. You may already own another translation, but owning another will not do you any harm, and this one does include the Apocrypha, which not all Protestant bibles do. Part of the problem with the way people use the Bible is selective reading, so it pains me that I can't simply assign you to read the whole thing, but I don't think that's realistic. I've cut it down to about 55%. Read as much more as you can.
STRUCTURE OF COURSE: The course is divided into four main sections:
Jan 28: Genesis 3-50
Jan 30: Exodus 1-34
Feb 1: Leviticus intro, 18-19, Numbers intro, 12-25,
Deuteronymy intro, 5
Feb 4: Joshua 1-10, Judges
Feb 6: 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel 1-10
Feb 8: 2 Samuel 11-24, 1 Kings 1-11
Feb. 11: SNOW DAY
Feb 13: EXAM
Feb. 18: Job
Feb. 20: Psalms
Feb. 22: The Song of Solomon
Feb. 25: Ruth
Feb. 27: Jonah
Feb. 29: Judith
March 3: Esther (Greek version)
March 5: Susanna, Bel and the Dragon
March 7: EXAM
March 10: Proverbs intro, 23-31; Ecclesiastes
March 12: Wisdom of Solomon 1-4, Ecclesiasticus
(Wiscom of Ben Sirach) 1
March 14: The Letter of James
March 17, 19, 21: vacation
March 24: Isaiah 1-39
March 26: Isaiah 40-66
March 28: Jeremiah 1-7, Hosea, Amos
March 31: Ezekiel 1,37, Daniel, Malachi
April 2: 2 Esdras 3-7, Revelation of John
April 4: Revelation of John (cont.)
April 7: EXAM
April 9: Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2
April 11: Mark 1, 6; Matthew 3-4, 11; Luke
3-4, 7; John 1-3
April 14: Mark 11-16, Matthew 21-28
April 16: Luke 19-24, John 12-21
April 18: Mark 2-10
April 21: Matthew 5-20
April 23: Luke 5-18
April 25: John 4-11
April 28: Acts
April 30: Pauline chronology (after Acts)
May 2: Romans
May 5: 1 Corinthians
May 7: 2 Corinthians
May 9: 1 Timothy
May 12: FINAL EXAM, 8 AM - 10 AM
GRADING: My main goal in the course (as in courses with less controversial works) is to have you read the material carefully enough that a good bit of it will stick with you for future use; I don't want you to spend time worrying whether you need to agree with me on matters of interpretation. Our text is rather conservative by the standards of mainstream contemporary biblical scholarship, but some of you may hold faith-commitments which contradict its conclusions. And I will be talking some about more radical approaches to both the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament. I will want you to demonstrate awareness of such material, but you don't have to fake agreement. All this means that there will be objective examinations, and the course grade will be based primarily on these. ["If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, O Lord, who could stand?"--Psalm 130.2]
[Posted March 9 , 2008]