Riverside Community College District
Integrated Course Outline of Record

Humanities 23

1. Read, analyze, and critically discuss college-level literary texts, recognizing key ideas and literary elements.
   


2. Support oral and written arguments about literary works with effectively integrated, relevant, and sufficient evidence drawn (as appropriate) from texts.
   


3. Compose developed, unified, coherent, stylistically fluent essays that demonstrate an ability to critically reflect on the texts and issues addressed in the class.
   

Recognize and identify patterns of Hebrew and Greek literary forms, styles, themes, and genres in the Bible.

Analyze and interpret literary and religious ideas which prevailed during Hebrew Bible and New Testament times.

Compare and contrast specific literary genres and stylistic devices by examining the artistic, historical, religious, and cultural trends embodied in the literature.

Apply college-level methods of literary analysis in reading and writing about biblical literature.

Synthesize knowledge of specific biblical literary forms with a sense of religious/intellectual history and the development of ideas.

Demonstrate critical thinking and writing skills through the process of constructing unified, coherent, and stylistically fluent written responses to, analyses of, and arguments about biblical literature.

• Lectures and discussions on biblical literary genres, including critical methods of biblical analysis, in order for students to understand the various forms of narrative style in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.
• Guest writers/lecturers invited to class to discuss topics related to biblical studies and biblical literature.
• Presentation, discussion, and detailed examination of poetic and prose forms in the Hebrew Bible and New Testamenat.
• Showing films, videos, slides, distributing handouts, and/or using electronic or computer-based media in order to reinforce understanding of concepts related to the various historical, cultural, literary, and anthropological approaches  to biblical literature.
• Cooperative/collaborative learning tasks and activities designed to assist students in applying concepts used in biblical analysis and synthesizing ideas about the Bible and western culture.
• Assignment of primary texts complex enough to facilitate the development of critical thinking and reading skills.
• Assignment of secondary criticism that supports the understanding of the primary texts and models the interpretive and analytical skills being covered in the class.
• Individual conferences in order to evaluate and advise students on course content and strategies for improving their thinking, reading, and writing skills.
• Computer-assisted and/or web-enhanced instruction which reinforces the course content.

• The writing of a minimum of 3000 words of formal interpretive/analytical prose designed to demonstrate students’ ability to employ college-level methods of analysis to interpret biblical literature and demonstrate critical thinking and writing skills. These can be assigned as in-class or take-home essays.
• Individual and group assignments designed to demonstrate successful understanding and application of basic concepts and definitions in the field of biblical studies, as well as students’ ability to recognize the distinctive features of biblical texts and to employ college-level methods of literary analysis to interpret this primarily traditional literature.
• Questions on historical and literary topics and content designed to evaluate students’ understanding of the key approaches to biblical analysis.
• Quizzes/examinations designed to assess students’ ability to recall, critically analyze and apply key concepts and course content.
• Active participation as required by instructor to ensure progress both in mastering the course content and to ensure participation in collaborative learning project.
• Final examination designed to synthesize the topics of the class, measure students’ comprehension of the material, and demonstrate achievement of student learning outcomes.

• Alter, Robert. The Art of Biblical Narrative. N.Y.: Basic Books, 1982.
• any. The Art of Biblical Poetry. N.Y.: Basic Books, 1985.
• Frye, Northrop. The Great Code: The Bible and Literature. N.Y. and London: HBJ, 1982.
• Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. N.Y.: Random House, 1979.
• Robinson, James M.. The Nag Hammadi Library in English. any: Harper Collins, 1990.
• Coogan, Michael D.. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. 3 ed. any: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Ehrman, Bart. Lost Scriptures. any: Oxford University Press, 2005.
• Gabel, John B., Charles B. Wheeler, and Anthony D. York. The Bible as Literature: An Introduction. 5 ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2004.
• Harris, Stephan L. . Understanding the Bible. 6 ed. any: McGraw-Hill, 2003.