ENGL 277 - The Bible As Literature

Credits: 5
LEC hours per week: 5
The Literature of the Bible is a five-credit course designed to introduce both beginning and experienced readers of the Bible to the artistry of its stories and poetry. Neither a religious nor historical approach is applied towards the biblical text; instead, the Bible is approached from a literary standpoint. Formerly: LIT 277.
Course Outcomes:

Competently employ literary terminology and apply it to analysis of the Bible’s themes and literary devices.
Identify important Biblical figures and the stories attached to them, and recognize the contents of several traditionally important books within the Bible.
Recognize the broad array of genres present in the Bible, including poetry, narrative, history, and rhetoric.
Examine the varied cultures from which the Bible emerged and the history of its physical/textual composition.
Assess the relationship between the Bible and its themes to its contextual times, places, and historical and political events.
Identify the diversity of voices, styles, ideologies, and experiences revealed in the Bible, as well as appraise the contributions of previously overlooked perspectives.
Interpret and analyze the Bible critically by presenting and clarifying opinions and responses to reading through use of textual evidence and other rhetorical devices.

Course Topics:

Biblical poetry.
Biblical narrative.
Elements of literature.
Biblical allusions in literature.
Biblical subject matter and themes in literature.
Myth.
Cultural values.
Literary analysis.
Biblical history.
Makeup and history of the Bible.
Biblical peoples and cultures.

Course Attribute(s): Humanities