Bible As Literature course description - Summer II 2009

Dr. Mimosa Stephenson has given me the following description of the Bible as Literature course she will be teaching in the Summer II session: ENGL 6303.

English 6303 presents a literary rather than religious approach to the Bible and considers “literary truth,” truth to human nature, rather than historical truth. Students will consider form—structure, literary devices, and rhetoric—and look for recurring characters, themes, and patterns in this pastoral book. Special attention will be paid to stories and passages that appear repeatedly in literature of the Western World as Western authors, until recently, have assumed their readers to have a basic knowledge of biblical literature. Students who come to the course with some knowledge of the Bible in their backgrounds will find the reading and study easier, but even those who have read little or none of the Bible should be able to read it, especially if they are comfortable reading Shakespeare, who was still writing plays in 1611 when the King James Version, the standard version for literary study, was translated. The translators deliberately used simple language that could be read by common people. Any copy in that translation will serve as the text for the course. We will read as much as seems reasonable during a summer session. The bookstore will carry an inexpensive copy, but students may purchase one at any bookstore. For their research students will draw topics “from a hat” that are symbolic motifs running throughout the Bible as the time is too short to read the book and then choose a topic.