This MOOC on The Bible as Literature (The Old Testament) will enable students to read excerpts from the Old Testament of the Bible with understanding and appreciation. The Bible is a book-making book and literature which provokes literature. English and American literature do not exist without the Bible. “A student,” says Northrop Frye, “who doesn’t know what is in the Bible doesn’t know what is going on in English literature.” This MOOC on reading the Bible as literature will explain key words and sentences, interpret main characters and events, illustrate literary affiliations, shed light on the charm of biblical literature, and bring to light the true meaning of life as presented in the Bible.
The course consists of 125 short video lectures on the ten weekly topics: The Bible as Literature, The Creation of the World, Life in Paradise, The Fall, The Flood, Biblical Epic, Biblical Poetry, Biblical Story, Hero Story, and Biblical Tragedy. Starting with introductions to the course in the first week from such perspectives as the Bible as cultural influence, as a literary work, a literary anthology, a story, a literary text, a literary style, literary archetypes and a literary course,this MOOC then attempts to focus on one particular archetypal story in Genesis from the second to the fifth week of the course before exploring a more general overview of major genres of literature in the last four weeks of the course, revealing some hidden meanings and neglections between form and content in the Bible, thus explaining some prototypical yet essential features of literature in the Bible.
We also expect to find the usual literary qualities of delight and wisdom in the Bible. The Bible was not written primarily for entertainment, yet it exhibits almost all the usual literary techniques and features that constitute the entertaining side of literature. The wisdom embodied in the Bible provides endless intellectual inspiration to the biblical readers in all places at all times. Like reading any literary classic, reading the Bible as literature may be difficult, but readers inevitably find it intensely rewarding.
