10902 Prophecy in the Bible 1

Credits: 6 advanced credits in Bible

Prerequisites: 36 credits, including Introduction to Biblical Literature and or an additional course in Bible. Students must also fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.

Recommended: One of the following: History of Israel during the First Temple Period, The Rise of the Monarchy in Israel: Studies in the Book of Samuel, The Book of Genesis

Author: Zeev Weisman

The course acquaints the student with the prophetic literature, its genres, message and development into authoritative and canonic literature. The literary development of prophecy is traced from the individual oral message to literary collections. The social and religious phenomenon of the Israelite prophecy is examined in relation to divination and prophecy in the ancient Near East.

Topics: The prophetic experience and inspiration; Prophesy as divine message – national and universal aims; The prophetic message – rhetorical means and literary genres; Prophetic literature – content, genre and goal; Nationalism vs. universality; History vs. eschatology; A comparison with prophecy in the ancient Near East; The prophets and the cult; Prophecy and historiography; Prophecy and apocalyptic; The decline of classical prophecy and the formulation of the prophetic canon.

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1Students may write a seminar paper in this course, although it is not required.

There is some overlap in the content of this and other courses. For details, see Overlapping Courses.