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  • From: Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Goals for an OT Intro course:
  • Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 12:31:46 -0400


At 12:00 PM 8/23/2002 -0400, Lisbeth S. Fried wrote:
>
>
>> That's why I'd
>> personally try to zero in on one or two major objectives, and
>> that might make
>> it easier to pick a textbook.
>> Trevor Peterson
>> CUA/Semitics
>
>My objectives are twofold:
>1) I want them to learn how to read what is
>written, and not what they THINK is written,
>i.e., to read critically.
>and
>2) to see the Hebrew Bible as a product of the
>ancient Near East.
>
>I'm planning on reading the Bible and supplementing
>it with Matthew and Benjamin's _Old Testament Parallels_.
>But it might be good for them to have a textbook as well.
>I was thinking of Miller and Hayes, but it's old now, the one
>I have, anyway.
>Liz
>
Hi Liz,

I've had the same problems with my OT intro, which I first taught last fall
and am now starting the third time around. The textbook which has been used
here for several years has been B.W. Anderson, Understanding the Old
Testament, abridged 4th ed. 1998. It's okay, but his approach to a lot of
the material is different from my own. He has very little on law, meaning
that he devotes very little space to Num-Deut. His geographical and
historical introductions are very shallow and out-dated, so I basically
ignore them. Since he assumes that J and E (which he explains as the
"Judah" source and the "Ephraim" source) were put together during the
United Monarchy, he basically starts with Exodus, Deut., Joshua-Judges and
Sam., and then backtracks to Genesis (I have my students read in "biblical"
order). He's fairly up-to-date on the historical issues of the settlement,
but not a word on the United Monarchy debate and its significance for the
"classic" documentary hypothesis. And his selections from the Prophets and
the Writings are rather "Christian" (although he does not interpret them in
light of the NT). He has nothing on the Song of Songs and his last chapter,
called "The Unfinished Story", is meant to "connect" to the NT.

So I use the book selectively, supplement with articles, and cover a lot of
subjects on my own.

I do like Frank Frick's A Journey Through the Hebrew Scriptures, which I
understand has come out in a new edition, though I haven't gone through it
yet.

I use Matthews and Benjamin on occasion, but it also leaves a lot to be
desired.

Actually, what I have found most interesting about teaching OT to students
of predominately Christian background (don't forget, I'm in Tennessee), is
getting them to stop reading the NT into everything. It has taken me a
while to get them to understand, that they may believe that God intended
Isaiah of Malachi to mean Jesus, but they didn't know it at the time!

Good luck!

Yigal



Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.




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