The Bible as History

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course will examine the section of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament known in the Christian canon as the “historical books,” those found from Joshua to Esther. We will begin by familiarizing ourselves with the texts on a literary level, doing a close reading of the texts with an eye towards identifying and appreciating their story-telling techniques. We will then ask how these purportedly historic texts function as historiography (“history writing”). To what extent are they historically reliable? Was that ever their intention to begin with? How do they compare to other examples of historiography from the ancient world?