Syllabus for REL265
The Prophetic Element in Biblical Literature
 

Micheal W. Palmer
Office: 210 Joyner
Office Hours:

Home phone: 933-0259 (Chapel Hill)
Campus phone: 760-8559 (I do not check messages at this phone on the weekend.)
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You may send me email at any time regarding your participation in this class. If you send it after 3:30pm, though, you may not get a response till the following business day. Notice that there must be a "-" between "greek" and "language" in the address listed above.

Feel free to contact me by telephone at home any time before 10:00pm Monday through Saturday. My home phone may be a long-distance call for some students. Still, it is the best way to contact me in a hurry outside of office hours. Leaving messages for me at my office is not a good idea.

Table of Contents

Nature of the Course
Goals
Textbooks
Course Requirements
    Attendance
    Preparation
    Exams
    Final Exam
Calculation of Grades
Course Schedule (http://greek-language.com/prophets/schedule/fall04.html)

I. Nature of the Course

Religion 265, the Prophetic Element in Biblical Tradition, is a study of the prophetic books of the Old Testament with attention to their contemporary value. We will look at these books in light of their ancient Hebrew context as well as their use in modern communities of faith. The final segment of the class this semester will also look at Jesus of Nazareth in light of the Hebrew prophetic tradition.


II. Goals

I have two types of goals for this class. First, there are goals concerning the information you will learn and the skills you will gain or sharpen (content goals). Second, there are goals concerning the way in which you will learn that information and sharpen those skills (process goals).

A.    Content Goals
By the end of this term you should be able to
    1. Discuss the Exodus narrative as "prophetic" literature
    2. Define the major critical issues facing the interpretation of the Former and Latter Prophets
    3. Identify the major themes that dominate the Latter Prophets
    4. Place each of the Latter Prophets in its appropriate historical context
    5. Discuss the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth in light of the Hebrew prophetic tradition

B.    Process Goals
While the format for class will often include some lecture, we will also take time to talk about the issues that the prophetic books raise for you personally, for others you know, and for our culture(s). In order for us to do so meaningfully, we must maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect, and we must be appropriately prepared for class. For this reason I have the following goals for our learning process:

We should always

    1. refrain from making comments which could offend or intimidate anyone else in the class
    2. feel free to express opinions which seem relevant to the class material even if those opinions may seem unpopular
    3. support our views with appropriate arguments showing adequate preparation for class.
In view of these goals, I will attempt to maintain an atmosphere of openness where your views may be expressed without fear of reprisal or peer pressure and where you are encouraged to express those views intelligently with appropriate support.

At the same time, if our discussions are to be productive, they must go beyond simply stating our opinions (as though all opinions have the same value). For this reason it is appropriate for you to challenge any view expressed in class and ask that the proponent of that view offer appropriate support for her reasoning.


III.    Required Textbooks

You will use five books in this class. You will need to purchase copies of at least three of them, but you may not need to purchase copies of all five.

First, you will need a copy of the Bible in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). While I encourage you to also look at other translations, this one will form the basis of our class discussions. You will sometimes be asked to read aloud from the Bible in class, and I will expect you to have a copy of the NRSV.

Readings will also be assigned from Barry Bandstra's Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999), but you may not need to purchase this book. The relevant sections are available online. Some students may prefer to own a paper copy. If you wish to purchase your own copy, you can order it from Amazon.com. I have not requested that the campus bookstore stock this item.

You will need to purchase the following books:

Walter Brueggeman, The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd edition. Mineapolis: Fortress Press, 2001.
Renita Weems, Battered Love: Marriage, Sex, and Violence in the Hebrew Prophets. Mineapolis: Fortress Press, 1995.
Phylis Trible, Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), will be on reserve in the library.


IV. Course Requirements

A. Attendance and Preparation(0 to -70 points)
 
1.    Attendance
You are allowed a maximum of six (6) unexcusedabsences. For each unexcused absence after six, two points will be deducted from your final grade average.

An excused absence is defined as one for which you have provided documentation showing that it was not within your power to avoid the absence. A few examples are

documentation showing that you visited a doctor or were told by your doctor not to attend class
documentation showing that the college required you to attend an event which conflicts with this class
documentation showing that you have had a death in the family

Any absence for which no appropriate documentation is provided will be considered unexcused.
2.    Daily  Preparation (50 points)
You are expected to spend an average of two (2) hours outside class in preparation for each hour in class. This preparation will include the assigned readings and review of class notes plus preparation for the written assignments discussed below. Daily reading assignments, listed in the tentative course schedule, are to be read beforethe day of the related discussion. All readings assigned from the biblical text should be read in the New Revised Standard Version(NRSV). Where possible, you may want to compare this version to at least one other translation which uses currentEnglish.

You will sometimes participate in group discussions which will require you to draw conclusions based on one of the assigned readings. If you are unprepared, your classmates will know it. If in the judgment of the professor you are unprepared for class, you will receive a negative preparation mark which will affect your grade in the same way as an unexcused absence. 

At any time, the instructor may ask you to write in class on the topic of the previous day's reading assignment. These written assignments will be graded very simply. Each one will be marked "prepared" or "unprepared," based on the instructor's impression of how well you are prepared for class. At the end of the semester, you will be allowed to drop two "unprepared" grades, and the remaining grades will be used to calculate the percentage of days that you were prepared for class. That percentage will be multiplied by 50 to calculate you preparation grade.

B.    One-hour Exams (200 points)
You will take two one-hour examinations, each having a value of one hundred (100) points. The second exam will cover only subjects studied since the first exam (i.e. it will notbe comprehensive).

The dates for these exams are listed in the tentative course schedule.

Under special circumstances you may schedule a make-up exam. Arrangements for a make-up exam must be made before the date of the scheduled exam. Failure to make arrangements in advance may result in you not being allowed to make up the exam. In the event of an emergency the day of the exam which prevents you from contacting the professor before the exam, however, you must make arrangements for a makeup exam within 24 hours after the exam.
 

C.    Final Exam (100 points)
The final exam, with a value of 100 points, will cover material studied since exam two, but will also include a comprehensive componentdesigned to encourage you to integrate what you have learned in the course. You will receive further information about this comprehensive component in the weeks preceding the final exam.
 

V. Calculation of Grades

The credit available in this class is distributed as follows:
 
 
Graded Assignment
Total Possible Score
Daily Preparation Score
 50
Exam One 100 points
Exam Two 100 points
Final Exam 100 points
Possible Deductions for Attendance and Preparation (-70 points)
Total 350 points

The total number of points earned for the semester may be adjusted downward by as much as 70 points on the basis of  attendance and preparation for class (two points per unexcused absence after the first six or per day of failure to prepare for class).

At the end of the term, your grade will be calculated using the following scale:
 
 
Points Earned % of Points Possible
Letter Grade
315-350 90-100%
A
280-314 80-89%
B
245-279 70-79%
C
210-244 60-69%
D
Less than 210 Less than 60%
F

VI.    Statement of Honor

You are expected to take the pledge associated with the Meredith College Statement of Honor in order to participate in this class. All users of this site, whether affiliated with Meredith College or not, are expected to abide by the general guidelines of that same statement of honor. If you are not familiar with Meredith College's system of honor, please take the time to read about it now. Click here to see an online discussion of the honor system.