REQUIRED READING for 5/8/14: Frank Moore Cross, '...Structure of the Deuteronomistic History'

Click here for a pdf version of the article...

Click here (Wikipedia) for a biographical overview...

REQUIRED READING: Martin Noth, 'The Deuteronomistic History'

Click here for a pdf version of the book excerpt...

REQUIRED READING for 4/29/14: Gerhard von Rad, 'The Form Critical Problem of the Hexateuch'

Click here for a pdf version of the article...

Click here (Wikipedia) for biographical overview...

The Oldest Surviving Epic

Click here for the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian story involving a hero's futile quest for immortality...

Recommended Reading for 4/22/14: Thomas Römer, 'The Elusive Yahwist'

click here for a pdf version of the article...

REQUIRED READING for 4/17/14: Mary Douglas, 'Balaam's Place in the Book of Numbers'

Click here for a pdf version of the article...

REQUIRED READING for 4/15/14: Brevard Childs, 'Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture'

Click here for a pdf version of the book excerpts...

Click here (Wikipedia) for a biographical overview...

REQUIRED READING for 3/25/14: Mary Douglas, 'The Abominations of Leviticus'

Click here for a pdf version of the article...

Click here for an interactive summary of Douglas' theory...

Click here (Wikipedia) for a biographic overview...

Renaissance Pentateuch

Click here (HaAretz) to read about a the pending auction of a venerable Torah...

REQUIRED READING for 3/6/14: Martin Noth, 'A History of Pentateuchal Traditions'

Click here for a pdf version of the article...

REQUIRED READING for 2/25/14: Albrecht Alt, 'The Origins of Israelite Law'

Click here for a pdf version of the article...
(a complex argument, so just skim it!)

Abraham's Elusive Camels

Click here (NYTimes) to read about a new scientific study which casts further doubt upon one aspect involving the historicity of the patriarchal stories in Genesis...

Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis (optional reading)

Click here for a pdf excerpt from The Composition of the Pentateuch (2012), by Yale scholar Joel Baden, who argues on behalf of retaining the classic JEDP source hypothesis...

REQUIRED READING for 2/11/14: W. F. Albright, 'Abram the Hebrew'

Click here for a pdf version of the article…

Click here (Wikipedia) for a biographical overview...

The Odyssey versus The Bible (optional reading)

Click here to read a classic literary critical essay about the distinctive styles of Homer's Odyssey and the Bible's Genesis regarding mimesis: the representation of reality in literature...

REQUIRED READING for 2/6/14: Albrecht Alt, 'The God of the Fathers'

Click here for a pdf version of the article…
(a complex argument, so just skim it!)

Click here (Wikipedia) for a biographical overview...

REQUIRED READING for 2/4/14: Hermann Gunkel, 'The Legends of Genesis'

Click here for a pdf version of the full text…

Click here (Wikipedia) for a biographical overview...

REQUIRED READING for 1/30/14: Julius Wellhausen, 'Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel'

Click here for a pdf version of the full text…

Click here (Wikipedia) for a biographical overview...

Richard Elliott Friedman

Click here (REF's website) to learn lots more about the author of one of our textbooks...

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Click here (LeonLevyLibrary) for online access to several of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including texts from Genesis and Leviticus...