Department of Comparative Literature
Fall 2006
COAS-E 103 (Class # 22769)  Who Wrote the Bible?
Prof. Marks 4:40-5:30    TR
Discussion sections (students should register for one section only):
		F 10:10-11:00;   F 11:15-12:05


ore than any other work of literature, sacred or profane, the Bible
forces us to confront the problem of authorship.  Who wrote the
Bible?  Was it Moses?  Was it God?  Was it a prophet or a priest in
the time of King David, or a college of scribes in exile in
Babylonia?  Or do readers themselves complete the writing of the
texts they read? Traditional religious answers to the question of
authorship have attempted to defend the Bible's unity.  Modern
critical answers, by contrast, stress the composite nature of even
the smallest units (individual psalms, brief narrative episodes,
points of law). What does it mean in the age of relativity to
entertain multiple, or even conflicting, viewpoints?
	The course has three principal aims: to explore the
diversity of biblical writing, to introduce students to the
excitement of literary analysis through exercises in close reading,
and to test the role of the reader in the "construction" of literary
meaning.  Lectures and discussion sections will take up such topics
as mythic origins, the relation of history-likeness to history, and
the role of women in biblical narrative. Our readings will be drawn
from many parts of the Bible--particularly from the narrative
sections of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)--augmented by brief
selections from ancient Near Eastern and Hellenistic literature and
from the history of biblical interpretation.  Theological questions
will be treated from a secular and critical perspective, but with
respect for individual beliefs and for the diverse traditions of
religious instruction.
	In addition to midterm and final exams, students will be
required to write short weekly response papers (1-2 pages) on set
themes and to master the basics
of library research.