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BBST 747 - Formerly BIBST 747 - Struggling with Justice Alongside the Bible (3)
This course will examine texts throughout the Bible that provide systems for procedural and distributive justice, retributive responses to lack of justice, and hoped for restoration of the community through acts of reconciliation in response to violence. Beyond the Biblical text the course will examine the contemporary works of restorative justice, truth and reconciliation commissions, Jubilee and debt reduction and other forms of attempts to use the Bible in relationship to contemporary justice issues.
Same as: BBST - Formerly BIBST+191
BBST 750 - Formerly BIBST 750 - Proverbs in the Bible and African Literature (3)
No description is available for this course. Same as: BBST - Formerly BIBST+158
BBST 754 - Formerly BIBST 754 - The Bible and the Holocaust (3)
This course explores post-holocaust interpretations of the Bible in commentary, art, and literature as well as how the Bible has been employed in genocidal rhetoric.
BBST 755 - Formerly BIBST 755 - Early Christianity Travel Seminar (3)
In this seminar for doctoral students, we will study the material culture and history of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine antiquity, culminating in a 15-day trip to Greece and Turkey. We will visit archaeological sites, museums, and churches and discuss the physical spaces, visual representations, and everyday materiality of the ancient Mediterranean. Course topics include: the built and visual culture of empire, imperial and local religion, the construction of sacred space, religious pilgrimage, asceticism, martyr cults, healing shrines, domestic life, and the theory and politics of archaeology.
BBST 756 - Formerly BIBST 756 - The Exodus Tradition (3)
Through the lens of cultural memory, ethnic identity, and migration studies, the course examines the biblical narrative of Exodus and its re-uses in biblical and extra-biblical texts. Significant focus shall be on portions of the narrative that touch on issues pertinent to the life of a multiethnic community. There will be close readings and exegesis of portions of the exodus narrative, some history of interpretation, and discussions on the literary and social construction of identity in the narrative."
BBST 757 - Formerly BIBST 757 - Lit.of the Hebrew Bible: A Teaching & Learning Practicum (3)
This practicum, to be conducted in conjunction with Biblical Studies 101, is designed exclusively for GDR students in Biblical Studies who are in their second year of course work. The GDR students will attend all meetings of BibSt 101 (approximately 3 hrs, 45 minutes each week) and also meet for an additional hour weekly with the instructor to discuss both the course content and strategies for teaching the subject matter. The students will also have an orientation session prior to the beginning of the semester, as well as a processing session after grades are turned in. Students will do all the assigned reading for the course (on average 50 pages per class session, or approximately 150 pages per week), as well as any collaborative reading needed to fill gaps in their own knowledge (see the description of the annotated bibliography below). The course goals are two: 1) to help students develop their teaching skills; and 2) to provide a structured experience for students to deepen their

Biblical Studies

BBST 680 - Formerly BIBST 180 - Gender and Sexuality in the Bible (3)
Study of gender and sexuality in selected texts from the Hebrew Bible and/or New Testaments. Engages with the interdisciplinary field of gender studies, including such areas as feminist theory and criticism, masculinity studies, lesbian and gay studies, and the history of sexuality. Special attention is given to such topics as gendered representations of God, male and female roles and relationships, and homoeroticism.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 718 - Formerly BIBST 718 - The Bible After Postmodernism (3)
Explores the outer limits of contemporary biblical scholarship through immersion in some of the more innovative and challenging developments in the neighboring field of literacy studies, a field that, more than any other, has shown what postmodernism might mean in academic terms and through attempting, creatively and imaginatively, to bring these developments into dialogue with biblical studies.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: (BBST - Formerly BBST - Formerly BIBST+101 or BBST - Formerly BBST - Formerly BIBST+111)
BBST 719 - Formerly BIBST 719 - Methods of Biblical Interpretation (3)
An advanced introduction to some of the principal methodologies that have been employed in the critical study of biblical literature, especially biblical narrative, ranging from traditional methodologies, such as source criticism, form criticism and redaction criticism, to new methodologies, such as feminist criticism and poststructuralist criticism.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 725 - Formerly BIBST 725 - Late Ancient Judaism (3)
This course will cover the history of Judaism from the Maccabean revolt through Late Antiquity, with emphasis on historiographic issues, e.g., strategies of periodizations, the usefulness of concepts such as "sectarianism" or "hellenization," the emergence of Rabbinism, and the "parting of the ways" between Christianity and Judaism.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: (BBST - Formerly BBST - Formerly BIBST+101 or BBST - Formerly BBST - Formerly BIBST+111) Same as: CMFE - Formerly COMFE+790
BBST 727 - Formerly BIBST 727 - The Bible and the Body (3)
Examines biblical understandings and depictions of bodies, both human and divine, and explores how these representations have shaped, and might shape differently, theological and ethical responses to embodied existence. Special attention is given to such topics as gender, sexuality, violence, disease, infertility, physical challenge, and the problems involved in representing the body of God.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: (BBST - Formerly BBST - Formerly BIBST+101 or BBST - Formerly BBST - Formerly BIBST+111)
BBST 737 - Formerly BIBST 737 - The Bible, Colonialism, and Postcolonialism (3)
Using the resources of postcolonial studies, this course will examine selected texts from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament in relation to the perennial theme of empire, and the complex patterns of resistance and collusion that empire invariably elicits.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: (BBST 501 - Formerly BIBST 101 - or BIBST+111)

Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel

BBST 665 - Formerly BIBST 165 - Topics in Hebrew Bible (3)
Studies in the theological themes and paradigms of the Old Testament and in issues involved in theological interpretation. Subjects vary.
Course may be repeated. Prerequisite: BBST - Formerly BIBST+101
BBST 667 - Formerly BIBST 167 - Archaeological Perspectives on Religion in Ancient Israel (3)
Study of the religious practices in Palestine, as presented by architecture, artifacts, and texts. Emphasis is on the archaeological evidence primary to understanding the variety and actuality of religion and cult in ancient Israel.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 701 - Formerly BIBST 701 - Critical Problems in the Study of the Old Testament (3)
A study of critical issues in contemporary research. Topics vary.
Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 705 - Formerly BIBST 705 - Hebrew Syntax (3)
Reading knowledge of Hebrew presupposed. Offered in alternate years.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 711 - Formerly BIBST 711 - Hebrew Prophets (3)
A study of the authority, role, and message of the Hebrew prophets. Topics vary.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 712 - Formerly BIBST 712 - Kings, Priests, Families, Women: Official and Popular Religion in Ancient Israel (3)
Taken together, Biblical, archaeological, and inscriptional sources allow us to study the full range of religious practice in ancient Israel. This practice includes both that officially supported by the court (Yahweh, Baal, and, probably, Asherah) and the temple priesthoods (Yahweh and Baal), and the popular practices engaged in by all, especially those focused on the family and the particular practices of women.
Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 726 - Formerly BIBST 726 - Gender, Difference, and Election in Israel's Primary Story (3)
Re-examination of the primary story of Israel with attention to the concerns of "others" (women, children, aliens, slaves, the physically challenged, et al.), and exploration of how such a shift in emphasis might invite revisions of commonly held notions of covenant, salvation history, and election.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: BBST - Formerly BIBST+101
BBST 728 - Formerly BIBST 728 - The Books of Samuel and the Politics of Representation (3)
A study of how the stories of Samuel, Saul, and David are told in the books of Samuel, with attention to the possible political and theological drives that may have shaped their narration in the Bible, and their subsequent representations in Western literature and art.
BBST 734 - Formerly BIBST 734 - Topics in Biblical Theology (3)
The topic of this course changes and is announced at registration.
May be repeated for credit. Offering to be determined.
BBST 735 - Formerly BIBST 735 - Judging Judges (3)
Study of what has been a troubling book for many christians, primarily on account of its violence and God's seeming sanction of, even participation in, that violence. Special attention is given to the book's narrative complexity and moral ambiguity; the ways in which its images continue to permeate contemporary society; and the problem posed by its existence in the biblical canon.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Same as: BBST - Formerly BIBST+184
BBST 739 - Formerly BIBST 739 - Religions of the Ancient Near East (3)
Study of the religions of Mesopotamia (Sumeria, Babylonia, Assyria), Egypt, Anatolia, and Syria-Palestine (Canaan, Aram) through analysis of literature and archaeological remains. Special attention is given to general religious questions and to the interrelationship of Isreal and other ancient Near Eastern cultures.
Same as: BBST - Formerly BIBST+169
BBST 742 - Formerly BIBST 742 - Hebrew Bible Exegesis (2-3)
An introduction to exegesis and interpretation of related texts: focus varies.
Course may be repeated. Same as: BBST - Formerly BIBST+103
BIBST 745 - The Literature of the Persian Period (3)
This course will examine the literature in the Bible that is formed in the Persian period (539-333 B.C.E.)as the post-exilic community is established and the temple rebuilt. Reading will include Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles, and several post exilic prophets as we look at diverse religious responses in the period.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: Prerequisite: BBST - Formerly BIBST+101

New Testament and Early Christianity

BBST 759 - Formerly BIBST 189 - The Historical Jesus Quest(ion) (3)
A study of the problems of the historical Jesus;, representative lives of Jesus, and the evaluation of synoptic material as a source for historical knowledge of Jesus, as well as the methods, theoretical underpinnings, and ethical-theological interests of the modern quest for Jesus.
Prerequisite: BBST - Formerly BIBST+111
BBST 702 - Formerly BIBST 702 - Advanced New Testament Seminar (3)
No description is available for this course. Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 703 - Formerly BIBST 703 - Readings in Hellenistic Texts: Ancient Novels--Jewish, Christian, Pagan (3)
A study of the historical emergence of the novel in the pluralistic cultural context of ancient Mediterranean peoples, double colonized by the culture of hellenism and the empire of Rome. Considering the effects of linguistic stylization and hybridization, irony and appropriation, the course tracks the novel's tendency to disrupt stable boundaries between places, times, and literary genres and explores how perceptions of difference--measured across ethnicity, class, gender, cultic affiliation--are sharpened even as identity is made more complex, malleable, and permeable.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 706 - Formerly BIBST 706 - Greco-Roman Literature (3)
Knowledge of Greek required.
BBST 715 - Formerly BIBST 715 - The Synoptic Gospels (3)
Form-critical and redaction-critical investigations of the Synoptic Gospels and their sources. Topics vary.
Course may be repeated. Same as: BBST - Formerly BIBST+175
BBST 716 - Formerly BIBST 716 - Studies in Pauline Literature (3)
Exegetical investigations of problems in the interpretation of the Pauline writings. Topics vary.
Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 717 - Formerly BIBST 717 - Studies in Johannine Literture (3)
Exegetical investigation of the Fourth Gospel and Johannine Epistles. Topics vary. Course may be repeated.
Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 731 - Formerly BIBST 731 - Unveiling Revelation (3)
Brings the book of Revelation into dialogue with a variety of critical discourses, notably historical criticism, gender studies, postcolonial studies, and ecocriticism.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 736 - Formerly BIBST 736 - Feminist Interpretations of the Gospels (3)
Surveys critical readings of the biblical texts proposed by feminist biblical scholars from around the world, paying special attention to the methodology they use, the role of their social location and ideological agendas, and the challenge they post to traditional readings of the Bible.
BBST 738 - Formerly BIBST 738 - Earliest Christianities (3)
This course explores the diversity of early Christian beginnings primarily through the writings of early Christians beyond the New Testament canon. Attention is given to diverse interpretations of Jesus and Judaism, the emergence of church structures and rituals, and the construction of the categories "orthodoxy" and "heresy" in the context of the struggle for authority and identity in the Roman Empire as well as at the intersections between historiography and contemporary religious and political debates.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
BBST 743 - Formerly BIBST 743 - New Testament Writings (3)
Exegetical study of the Greek text of selected New Testament writings. Selections vary. Course may be repeated.
Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration. Same as: BBST - Formerly BIBST+113
BBST 746 - Formerly BIBST 746 - The New Testament through Non- Western Eyes (3)
A seminar on global hermeneutics and the Bible, via the study and critique of particular interpretations of the New Testament coming from African, Asian, and Latin American perspectives. Attention will be given to critical approaches, issues of identity, colonialism and resistance, and the ideological contrasts with the Western world.
Prerequisite: Prerequisite: BBST - Formerly BIBST+111
CHST 739 - Formerly CHIST 739 - Martyrdom and Asceticism in the Early Church (3)
An examination of martyrdom and asceticism, particularly at their points of intersection and overlap, that focuses on the production of the self as sufferer in ancient Christian martyrology and hagiography, with reference also to Jewish and pagan literatures.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: CHST - Formerly CHST - Formerly CHIST+202 Same as: CHST - Formerly CHST - Formerly CHIST+294
CHST 751 - Formerly CHIST 751 - Empire, Race, and Place: Theorizing Religious Identity in Context (3)
A cross-disciplinary doctoral seminar examining the formation and contestation of religious and ethnic identities in the context of empire. The questions pursued are broadly theoretical and the readings are interdisciplinary, including postcolonial theory, materialist analysis, critical race theory, and critical geography.
Signature of the Instructor required for registration.

Cross-Disciplinary Method and Theory

ENGLG 826 - Literary Criticism (3)
Topics include contemporary criticism, feminist criticism, and history of literary criticism. Offering to be determined.
Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration. Offering to be determined.
HISTG 800 - Historiography (3)
Concentrating on European and American intellectual historiography, this deals with the main trends and methods in modern intellectual history as the development of intellectual history from the 19th century to the present. Students are expected to read extensively in major works by intellectual cultural historians and give written and oral reports on their reading.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Offered first semester annually
RLSC 705 - Formerly RLSOC 705 - Introduction to Sociological Method (3)
A critique of a series of studies to understand the fundamental components of the the research process. Looks at studies that illustrate how one develops an appropriate question for study, how one selects a viable method for data collection and for obtaining a sample, and options for data analysis. Intended to give students a framework for evaluating social science research, as well as for guiding the analysis of empirical studies related to a subject that each student may want to pursue for a dissertation.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
RLSC 729 - Formerly RLSOC 729 - Feminist Sociology of Religion (3)
An exploration of ways in which a feminist perspective is emerging today in the social-scientific study of religions and the ways in which it might challenge and enrich assumptions about religion. Examines theoretical essays and field-research materials expressing that standpoint within the socio-biology of religions, as well as contibutions emerging from such areas as feminist theologies. The seminar's approach and method attempt to embody traits central to the feminist perspective itself.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
RLSC 771 - Formerly RLSOC 771 - Major Thinkers & Major Themes in the Soc. & Anth. of Rel. (3)
A seminar focusing on one particular thinker or one important theme in the history of the social scientific study of religion. Required for sociology of religion concentration.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
RLSC 779 - Formerly RLSOC 779 - Classical Theories in the Sociology of Religion (3)
An introduction to some of the main theories and theorists in the sociological study of religion, developed in the North Atlantic urban centers from the last half of the 19th century to the first decades of the 20th century. Karl Marx's (and his colleague and often co-author, Friedrich Engels'), Max Weber's, and Emile Durkheim's contributions to the sociology of religion are often the focus of this course.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Offered fall semester in alternate years
RLSC 781 - Formerly RLSOC 781 - Contemporary Theories in the Sociology of Religion (3)
This course aims to provide students with the background necessary to understand, a) the emergence of new sociological theories of religion in the North Atlantic countries after World War II; b) the links between these theories and the so-called classical theories in the sociology of religion; c) the connections between these theories and the larger field of the social-scientific study of religion; and d) the scope and limits of such theories for the analysis of religious phenomenon.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
WMST 710 - Formerly WMSTG 710 - Theory and Methodology in Women's Studies (3)
An interdisciplinary course focused on contemporary feminist theory. The objectives of the course are first, to explore the broad range of theories that make up the body of contemporary scholarship referred to as "feminist theory"; second, to examine feminist critiques and innovations in methodologies in many fields; and third, to consider some of the fundamental questions these theories raise about the origins of gender difference, the nature and origins of patriarchy, the intersections between gender, race, class, sexuality, and nationality as categories of analysis and bases of oppression or empowerment.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Same as WMST+112 (see CLA catalog for description). Same as WMST+112 (see CLA catalog for description).
WMST 711 - Formerly WMSTG 711 - History of Feminist Thought (3)
An interdisciplinary course that explores the development of feminist theories principally in the United States and Europe from Mary Wollstonecraft through "the Second Wave. The course examines the work of such theorists as Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anna Julia Cooper, Emma Goldman, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Mary Church Terrell, Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, as well as feminism's evolving conversations with liberalism, Marxism, and psychoanalysis and its dialogues with the anti-slavery/civil rights movements and the gay/lesbian rights movements.
Signature of instructor required for registration. Same as WMST+111 (see CLA catalog for course description). Same as WMST+111 (see CLA catalog for course description).

Tutorial and Dissertation Year Courses

BBST 999 - Formerly BIBST 999 - Dissertation Research II (9)
No description is available for this course. Prerequisite: BBST - Formerly BIBST+998 Offered in fall and spring semesters annually.