Introduction to the Bible : Old Testament

Teacher(s)

Richelle Matthieu;

Language

French

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required, but adequate preparation may consist in (re) reading the Pentateuch or/and Josh'''2Kings in the order of its presentation.

Main themes

This course is divided into two parts, or rather, solicits alternately two complementary approaches: 1) exposure of prolegomena and provision of some 'keys' to enter into the Old Testament; 2) reading of texts (of bigger collections/sets rather than precise pericopes) of the Old Testament.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	- to situate the essential benchmarks of the Old Testament within its geographical and historical framework;
2	- to describe the background of the narrative books of the Old Testament;
3	- to describe the major characteristics of the prophetic and wisdom literature of the Old Testament.

Content

This course does not aim to present each of the (numerous) books that compose the Old Testament ; it would be fastidious and could not be done well in the time given. Rather, this course deals with the main sections of this corpus, while taking a few representative biblical books as illustrations, and it explains how the Old Testament emerged. In addition, this course trains students to be able to find for themselves information on a given book of the Old Testament, to filter and assimilate knowledge to the point that they are able to make a presentation of this book to the general public.

Teaching methods

For this introductory course on an often unfamiliar subject, the teaching method is based on a combination of teacher presentations and active pedagogy; it alternates as follows:

• in-class presentations by the teacher, illustrated by slides;
• question and answer sessions in class;
• small assignments to be done at home during the course of the four-month period to familiarize oneself actively with the subject;
• a more substantial assignment to be handed in at the end of the term, which will be an opportunity to actively and synthetically implement the various dimensions encountered during the term.

Rather than storing up knowledge, the idea is that each student will acquire the skills to be able to present a book of the Old Testament in the form of a Wikipedia-type entry.

Evaluation methods

Continuous assessment based on written assignments: 

1. Summaries of biblical texts to upload on Moodle during the term. [20% of final grade]
2. Writing an article ("encyclopedia article") about a book of the Old Testament, to be uploaded on Moodle at the end of the term. [80% of final grade]

These two types of assessment contribute to an educationally coherent training for mastery of learning outcomes, according to the following table (pedagogical alignment):

learning outcome/assignement	summaries	article
to situate the essential benchmarks of the Old Testament within its geographical and historical framework	X	X
to describe the background of the narrative books of the Old Testament	X	X
to describe the major characteristics of the prophetic and wisdom literature of the Old Testament.		X

Attendance to this course is required. In accordance with article 72 of the General Regulations for Studies and Examinations, the professor responsible for the course may propose to the jury that it refuse to register a student who has not attended at least 80% of the courses during the January/June or September session.
The evaluation process will be the same in Q3 (that is, in September) as in Q1. The same assignements will have to be submitted on Moodle.

Other information

It is highly recommanded to acquire a French translation of the Bible, and obligatory to read such a translation for some texts. Here are three good translations: TOB (Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible), BJ (Bible de Jérusalem) and NBS (Nouvelle Bible Segond). The ideal would be to acquire a « study version » of one of these Bibles, although this is not compulsory. In English, the JPS Study Bible is excellent.

Bibliography

Th. Römer, L’Ancien Testament, Que sais-je ?, Paris, PUF, 2019.
J.-D. Macchi, La Bible à l'épreuve des sciences humaines, Genève, Labor et Fides, 2022.

Faculty or entity

TEBI