E A S T T E X A S B A P T I S T U N I V E R S I T Y
SYLLABUS FOR THE SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION
RELIGION (RLGN) 1320 01
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT
(Fall 2015; 11:00 MWF)
Professor: Rick Johnson, Ph.D.
Office: SCRB 206
Phone: (903) 923-2183
Office Hours: MW 9:00-10:00; 2:00-3:00; TR 9:00-9:30; 11:00-12:00; 1:00-2:00; F 9:00-10:00
E-mail:
I. COURSE DESCRIPTION: an introduction to the background, history, literature, and religion of the Hebrew people as revealed in the Old Testament and related literature. Special consideration will be given to the theological message of the Old Testament text.
II. COURSE TEXTBOOKS:
· English Bible (any modern translation, not a paraphrase)
· Tullock, John H. The Old Testament Story. 9th ed. Revised by Mark McEntire. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2012. ISBN 978-0205-18528-3
(This ISBN number includes the MySearchLab.com access code.)
You may also choose to acquire the ebook format of this book.
ISBN 13:978-0-205-09783-8
ISBN 10:0-205-09783-9
III. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
· The student will demonstrate familiarity with the historical, theological, literary, cultural, geographical, and social background of the Old Testament.
· The student will display understanding of the chronological framework of the Old Testament and the process of its canonization.
· The student will exhibit comprehension of the content, purpose, themes, authorship, structure, and message of selected books of the Old Testament.
· The student will be able to identify the major characters, locations, concepts, and events in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East.
IV. COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
· Students should overview the pertinent biblical material and read the assigned pages in the textbook prior to each class session.
· Students are asked to complete the on-line evaluation of the course. For completing the survey before the final, three points will be added to the final test grade.
· Students will complete six tests. Each one will be comprehensive. The sixth test (the final exam) will be longer than the others. Questions will come from the textbook by Tullock and McEntire (about 35%-50%), the biblical material, class discussions and activities, and lectures. Bring a Scantron sheet to each test. Students who are absent on the scheduled test day due to a school related activity must schedule to take the test early. A student who is absent due to what the professor determines to be an unavoidable emergency may be allowed to take the original examination. It is the student's responsibility to arrange with the professor a date for the makeup exam. No make-up exams can be taken after the last regularly scheduled class before the final examination. Examinations missed and not rescheduled will receive a grade of “0."
1. Make-up examinations will be given ONLY on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month. (Dates: Sept. 7 and 21; Oct. 5 and 19; Nov. 2 and 16; and Dec. 7)
2. Make-up examinations will be given in SCRB 207 at 3:00 p.m.
3. Students must get approval from the professor(s) to take the make-up examination.
4. Professors will give Mrs. Cox the examination with the student’s name written on it along with the date the student is to take the exam.
5. The scheduling of the make-up examinations are the responsibility of the professor, not Mrs. Cox, for she cannot make the determination as to whether or not the student’s reason for missing the exam is approved by the professor.
NOTE: The final exam will require the student to list the books of the Old Testament in order as they appear in the Protestant Bible.
· Brief writing assignments or study exercises may be given at various times during the course.
· Questions from reading. On any day when a section of the Old Testament is assigned, students may turn in questions from the assigned passage. If the question qualifies as thoughtful, the student will be awarded one extra point on the next major test. A thoughtful question may be one that asks about the meaning or ethics of something in the passage. It may ask about the relationship of something in one passage to something in another passage. It may ask about the significance something has for contemporary believers. It is not one that merely asks about some factual information, such as “Who was David’s father?” or “How many Philistines did Samson kill?” The days and passages are noted in the schedule below. The questions must be submitted in writing at the beginning of the class. The limit for extra points on thought questions is four points per major test.
· Students are to be aware of the school's policy of Academic Integrity. Academic integrity is one of the most important values maintained by East Texas Baptist University. Violations of academic policies are considered serious breaches of both personal integrity and ETBU's student code of conduct. The Policy and Procedures Manual of the University states, “Students enrolled at East Texas Baptist University are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity, avoiding all forms of cheating, illicit possession of examinations or examination materials, unwarranted access to instructor’s solutions’ manuals, plagiarism, forgery, collusion and submissions of the same assignment to multiple courses.” Plagiarism is defined as the act of appropriating or giving out as one's own the literary or artistic work of another. If material is quoted without being put in quotation marks or without a footnote or endnote, it is plagiarism. If ideas are used without citing the source, it is plagiarism. Cheating is defined as falsifying work, copying the work of another person, allowing another to copy your work, and/or the use of unauthorized helps. Any student who is found guilty of breaking the University’s policy of academic integrity (i.e., cheating, plagiarism, etc.) forfeits any chance of receiving credit and has earned an F for the course.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Session Date Topic Reading Assignment
1 8/24/15 Course Introduction and Syllabus Review
2 8/26/15 The Old Testament canon Tullock, 1-10
3 8/28/15 Views of the authority of the Old Testament Tullock, 10-36
4 8/31/15 The Pentateuch: Genesis 1-2 Tullock, 37-45
5 9/02/15 continued
6 9/04/15 Genesis 3-5 Tullock, 45-47
7 9/07/15 continued
8 9/09/15 Genesis 6-11
9 9/11/15 Examination #1
10 9/14/15 Genesis 12-25 Tullock, 47-60
11 9/16/15 continued
12 9/18/15 Exodus 1-12 Tullock, 61-80
13 9/21/15 Exodus 13-20
14 9/23/15 continued
15 9/25/15 Leviticus 1-4, 11, 16 Tullock, 80-85
16 9/28/15 continued
17 9/30/15 Examination #2
18 10/02/15 Numbers 10-13, 16, Deuteronomy 5-6, 12 Tullock, 85-94
19 10/0515 Joshua 1-10, 24 Tullock, 95-104
20 10/07/15 continued
21 10/09/15 Judges 1-8, 13-21 Tullock, 104-16
22 10/12/15 continued
23 10/14/15 continued
10/16/15 FALL BREAK
24 10/19/15 Ruth Tullock, 337-40
25 10/21/15 Examination #3
26 10/23/15 The United Monarchy: 1 Samuel Tullock, 117-33
27 10/26/15 continued
28 10/28/15 continued
29 10/30/15 The United Monarchy: 2 Samuel Tullock, 134-44
30 11/02/15 continued
31 11/04/15 The United Monarchy: 1 Kings 1-11 Tullock, 145-55
32 11/06/15 Examination #4
33 11/09/15 The Divided Monaarchy: 1 Kings 12-19 Tullock, 155-77
34 11/11/15 The End of Judah: 2 Kings 18-25 Tullock, 177-86
35 11/13/15 Pre-exilic Prophets: Amos, Hosea, Joel Tullock, 208-20, 269-89
Isaiah 1-39, Micah, Obadiah, Jonah
36 11/16/15 Pre-exilic Prophets: Jeremiah, Zephaniah Tullock, 234-52, 289-92
Nahum, Habakkuk
37 11/18/15 Exile and After Tullock, 187-207, 221-33, 252-68, 292-99
Ezekiel , Isaiah 40-66, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
38 11/20/15 Examination #5
39 11/30/15 Psalms 2, 8, 22, 45, 110 Tullock, 324-33
40 12/02/15 Psalms 14, 15, 24, 44, 93, 95-99
41 12/04/15 Wisdom: Proverbs 1-9, Job 1-7, 38-42 Tullock, 300-20
Ecclesiastes 1-3
42 12/07/15 The Song of Songs, Esther Tullock, 320-24, 334-37, 340-45
43 12/09/15 Daniel Tullock, 345-51
44 12/11/15 continued
45 12/14/15 Examination #6 (Monday, 10:30-12:20)
V. COURSE ATTENDANCE AND ABSENCES:
Students are expected to attend all class sessions. Please be in class and be on time. According to school policy, to be eligible to earn credit in a course, the student must attend at least 75% of all class meetings. An automatic failing grade will be given if a student does not meet that minimum requirement.
NOTE: THE LAST DAY TO WITHDRAW FROM A COURSE IS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13.
Class attendance means being present and paying attention to the course activities, whether that is lecture, discussion, audio-visual presentation, or outside assignment. The following are activities that may not be pursued in class: sleeping, especially of the snoring variety, reading material not associated with this class (that includes textbooks for other classes, email, and text messages), playing games, private conversations with other class members, or private conversations with people outside class through the wonderful new world of electronics. If it is necessary to engage in any of these tasks, please excuse yourself from the classroom.
Three late appearances count as one absence. Early departure from class counts the same as a late appearance. If a student is more than fifteen minutes late for a class period of fifty minutes or more than twenty-two minutes late for a class period of one hour and twenty minutes, it will be counted as one absence.
Please turn off all electronic equipment that makes a sound during class (e.g., cell phones, PDA alarms, and beepers).
Students who must leave early are asked to give notification to the professor in advance.
Constant tardiness as well as constant early departures will incur a semester grade percentage reduction of five (5)-ten (10) percent, at the discretion of the professor.
VI. COURSE GRADING:
· Tests 16.6% each
· Evaluation of Professor 0% (3 bonus points on final test score)
· Grading Scale
¨ 90%-100% = A
¨ 80%-89% = B
¨ 70%-79% = C
¨ 60%-69% = D
¨ 59% and below = F
VII. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Students with a disability may request appropriate accommodations for this course by contacting the Office of Academic Success and Graduate Services, located in the Marshall Hall 301. If accommodations are approved by the Disability Accommodations Committee, the Office of Academic Success and Graduate Services, at the student’s request and upon receipt of a signed consent form, will notify the professor of the approved accommodations. The student will then meet with her/his instructor to discuss the accommodation(s). If a student’s request for accommodation(s) should change, it is expected that the student will complete and submit an update form in a timely manner. All proctored exams for students receiving accommodations will be given in the Mamye Jarrett Library, under the direction of the ACE office. The five individual testing rooms are equipped for recording video and audio, so the student can be monitored by the testing coordinator and faculty can review the video for up to forty-eight hours after the test is given. Tests will be delivered to the testing coordinator two class days prior to the test date. It is the student’s responsibility to schedule the test date one week prior to the test and time using the ACE website (www.etbu.edu/ace). Exams will be given on the same day as the scheduled test as determined by the course schedule. A student must provide her/his own scantron/green book.
IX. FOOD AND DRINK POLICY
The University endeavors to provide the best facilities possible for classes. Food and drink are prohibited in classrooms, labs, computer labs, and the library. Since food and drink are not essential to the educational process, students are asked to refrain from bringing food and drink into the classrooms. Water in approved containers is acceptable. Approved water containers include squeeze bottles with tops and hard plastic cups with a screw on lid. Paper cups with tops or drink cans are not approved.
X. SUGGESTED READING:
Aharoni, Yohanan. The Archaeology of the Land of Israel. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1982.
Albertz, Rainer. A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period. 2 vols. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994.
Albright, William F. The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra. New York: Harper & Row, 1963.
Allen, Ronald Barclay. Lord of Song: The Messiah Revealed in the Psalms. Portland, OR: Multnomah Press, 1985.
Anderson, Bernhard W., and Walter Harrelson. Israel's Prophetic Heritage. New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1962.
Aune, D. E. Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1983.
Balentine, Samuel E. Prayer in the Hebrew Bible: The Drama of Divine-Human Dialogue. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.
Barton, John. Oracles of God: Perceptions of Ancient Prophecy in Israel after the Exile. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Becker, Joachim. Messianic Expectation in the Old Testament. Translated by David E. Green. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.
Bellinger, W. H., Jr. Psalms: Reading and Studying the Book of Praises. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1990.
Bimson, John J. Redating the Exodus and Conquest. Sheffield, England: JSOT Press, 1978.
Birch, Bruce C. The Rise of the Israelite Monarchy: The Growth and Development of I Samuel 7-15. SBL Dissertation Series, no. 27. Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press for the Society of Biblical Literature, 1976.
Blenkinsopp, Joseph. A History of Prophecy in Israel: From the Settlement in the Land to the Hellenistic Period. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983.
______. The Pentateuch: An Introduction to the First Five Books of the Bible. The Anchor Bible Reference Library. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
______. Wisdom and Law in the Old Testament: The Ordering of Life in Israel and Early Judaism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Bright, John. The Authority of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1975.
Bruce, F. F. The Books and the Parchments: How We Got Our English Bible. Rev. ed. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1984.
Brueggemann, Walter. The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984.
______. The Prophetic Imagination. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978.
______. The Psalms and the Life of Faith. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995.
Cerny. L. The Day of Yahweh and Some Relevant Problems. Prague, 1948.