HONORS 279V

IDEAS OF GOD IN LITERATURE AND SCRIPTURE

 

SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS

 

WEEK I: Thursday 8/30/07    Introduction, themes of the class. 

 

WEEK II:  (September 4, 6)

 

TUESDAY  9/4 Read Asimov, ÒThe Last Question,Ó and "Reason" – on electronic reserve.  Also read in Bible, Genesis, chapters 1-3, Exodus 3: 1-15; Micah 4: 1-4 and Isaiah chapter 61.  Also read in New Testament of the Bible, John, chapter 1, verses 1-14.  Read  Surah 1 of the Qu'ran (in Approaching the Qu'ran,  pp. 42-3), (remember that since the QuÕran is a prophetic book, the ÒIÓ or ÒWeÓ in the text is usually the voice of God   (Allah).   

 

After you read each of these passages, and before going on to the next, make a note of the qualities of "God" that we see in each passage.  What ideas of God seems to you most striking in these texts?  What seems familiar?  What seems new? What appeals? What doesnÕt?

 

Thursday  In Borg, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, read Chapters 2 -3(pp. 21-53).  How would you summarize BorgÕs view of the Bible as ÒScriptureÓ? 

 

In the Bible, read the introduction to the book of Psalms, and then read Psalms 8, 19,22,23,[27]37, 46,51, 63:1-8,  68, 74, 82, 94,  103,  121, 139, 148. Also read excerpt from Al-Halveti, ÒThe Most Beautiful NamesÓ on electronic reserve.   Notice how the writers of these texts address God:  what is suggested here about the ways that people experience God.  What images stay with you? What are some of the words about God that most strike you, appeal to you, trouble you?  What seems familiar, what surprising in these texts? Journal # 1DUE

 

WEEK III:  Tuesday 9/11, 9/13)

 

I Tuesday: NO CLASS:

 

II  Thursday  Read in Borg, Chapter 4, ÔReading the Creation Story again and 5 ÒReading the Pentateuch Again.Ó(pp.57-109).     Then read the following passages about God in the early story of the people of Israel.   In the Bible, read Genesis, chapters 1-3, 12-35 and 37-50. What are the qualities of "God" as a character in these stories?  How does God interact with people?  What idea of God emerges from this part of Hebrew Scripture?  What is your reaction to the people?  (JOURNAL #2 DUE)

 

Week IV:

 

Tuesday 9/18 :

In the Bible, read Exodus 1-20, 2Chronicles 36:15-23

As you read the story in Exodus, notice the patterns of repetition, both of themes and of phrases.  What is the effect of these? ALSO READ.  Deuteronomy 26-30: a sampling of the detail of the law, developed in the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy and Leviticus. What idea of God comes through here?  How do you react to this?

 

Look at the relationship between Abraham and God, Joseph and God. Moses and God, and the relationship between the people and God, especially once the people of Israel are in the wilderness.    What view of God is put forward in Chapters 11 and 12?   How is God portrayed in the songs of Moses and Miriam, in Exodus 15?   How do the people behave once they have left Egypt?  What in your view, is the point of the stories about the manna and the quail in Chapters 16-17?

What surprises, inspires, troubles, confuses you in these stories?

 

Thursday 9/20: Scripture in Context: Paper #1 due today 

Looking at the Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions Come to class with a list of the ÒTop 5 most interesting things IÕve learned about this religious tradition.Ó  Group work and class Presentations on three major religious traditions – discussion of sample passages from Scriptures  

 

WEEK V

Tuesday 9/25:   Read Marcus Borg, ÒReading the Prophets AgainÓ, pp. 111-144.

 

Read in 2Samuel , chapters 5-7, a sampling of the Bible's portrayal of David, the revered king of the Hebrew people.  What do you think of David?  What does the text tell us about the relationship between David and God?   How does this compare to other relationships between God and leaders of Israel   What is your reaction to the portrayal of God here? 

 

In addition to the passages from the prophets quoted in Borg, READ in the Bible Isaiah,chapters 6 and 7, and Isaiah  chapters 40, 42 , 55. 

 

Finally, READ the book of Jonah (It is only 3 chapters long):  What do you make of teh relationship between God and Jonah in this story?  What do you think is the point? 

 

Thursday 9/27:  Read Borg on IsraaelÕs Wisdom tradition, pp. 145-182  and read the book of Job, focusing especially on Chapters 1-7 and 38-42.   What parts of this text are particularly striking to you as poetry?  What attracts or troubles you about the view of the relationship between humanity and God in this book?  How does having some background on the book of Job in the context of the Wisdom tradition help with your reading?  Journal #3 DUE

 

Week VI:  10/2 and 10/4: 

 

Tuesday 10/2: Readings from the New Testament:  Christian ideas about God reflected in the stories and character of Jesus in the gospels.   Read the entire gospel of Mark (Try to do it in one or at most 2 sittings: it takes about 2 hours to read the whole thing carefully).  .   How do people in the story seem to see Jesus?  What language does he use to talk about himself?  What does the narrator tell us about Jesus' identity in Mark?   Read from the Christian point of view, which asserts an identity between Jesus and God, what idea of God emerges from this book?

 

Thursday 10/4: More on new testament and Christian theology and spirituality: READ Borg, ÒReading the Gospels Again,Ó pp. 185-225.  Read, in New Testament, Matthew, chapters 1-5; 25-28; Luke 1-4; 24-25; John, chapters 3; 15-17; 20-21.  What do Matthew, Luke and John ADD to the story as told in Mark.  What differences in emphasis do you detect among these different gospel passages?   Also read Acts 1-2 and 7-10.   Other New Testament writings:  Acts 1-2 and 7-10.  In what way(s) can the stories of Stephen and Peter in Acts be seen as midrash? Read Philippians 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12-13; Romans 8.      JOURNAL #5 DUE

WEEK VII  10/9 and 10/11

 

Tuesday 10/9:  Interpretation in Jewish Tradition: The idea of midrash.  Read article by Norma Rosen from Out of  the Garden and Neusner, Invitation to Midrash, pp. 263-279 on electronic reserve.  Also reread the stories from Genesis to which these articles refer.  What is your understanding of midrash from these readings?  Info on paper #2 assignment.  Also look at  In James Weldon Johnson, GodÕs Trombones,READ ÒThe CreationÓ, ÒLet My People GoÓ and ÒNoah Built the Ark.

 

Thursday: Introducing the QuÕran: In Sells, read on pp. 1-28, and the following Sura's with commentary:  Sura 1 ("The Opening"), pp. 42-3; Sura 82 ("The Tearing"), pp. 84-5;  Sura 97 ("Destiny, Al-qadr"), pp. 100-103;  Sura 99 ("The Quaking"), pp. 108-109; and Sura 101 ("The Calamity"), pp. 112-113.  After you have read these commentaries, LISTEN to the CD provided in Sells, Approaching the Qu'ran, following, as you listen, the transliteration and commentary on pp. 145-180.   What kind of text is the Qu'ran, in your experience of reading and listening.?

 

Week VIII:  10/16 and 10/18

 

Tuesday 10/16:   Guest Speaker:  Dr. Imad-ad Dean Ahmad  In preparation for discussion today,  read  passages from the qu'ran and commentary in Sells, pp. 65-133, and also in Wheeler, Prophets in the QuÕran,  pp. 2-14 and pp. 83-108, on Abraham   JOURNAL #6 DUE 

 

Thursday 10/18: Guest Speaker:  Rabbi Jack Moline More on midrash  READ in Lawrence Kushner, Surely God Was in this Place,  pp. 11-43 on electronic reserve..

 

Week IX:  10/23 and 10/25

Tuesday  10/23

Intro to Milton and  Paradise Lost.  Read Paradise Lost, books I and II,  focusing on the sections listed on study guide.    Use first part of Study Guide (posted on blackboard under Òcourse documentsÓ) to guide your response.  

 

Thursday 10/25 Read Paradise Lost Book III, through line 415.  And read the ÒargumentsÓ at the beginning of each part of the story.  How do you respond to these portrayals of Satan, of God and of the "Son."?  What theological issues seem important to Milton?  What are the implications (positive and negative, in your view) of seeing the relationship between God and humanity in the way that Milton does?   Use Study Sheet as your guide (posted on Blackboard under ÒCourse DocumentsÓ) to prepare for class discussion (Paper #2 (midrash) due today)

 

Week X  10/30 and 11/1

Tuesday 10/30:   Read Paradise Lost, IV (114-136 (to line 775), Book IX (pp. 233-66) and Book XII, (pp. 333-343).  Also read "arguments" of the intervening books.  Use Study sheet as your guide to prepare for class discussion. 

 

Thursday 11/1:Ó Continuing work from Tuesday Journal #7 DUE (no grace days on Milton journal)

 

Week XI (11/6,11/8)

 

Tuesday Wrap-up of Milton: Reread/go over/journal on passages from Milton assigned.  Other interpretations and midrashim on the story told in Milton..On electronic reserve, read Elaine Pagels, passage from Adam, Eve and the Serpent..  Also Read Lucille CliftonÕs series of poems entitled ÒBrothersÓ –on electronic reserve-- and other poems about Lucifer on handout. Also  Kathleen Henderson Staudt, ÒIn the Cool of the Evening,Ó in Annunciations:  Poems out of Scripture.  What appeals to you and what challenges you in these readings of the story from Genesis?   What perspective do they give you on Milton

 

 

Thursday Read Read Act I of Wiesel's play The Trial of God.  What ideas about God and justice are at issue here?  Which scenes of the play seem particularly compelling or disturbing to you?  Which characters seem to speak with more or less authority? Journal #8 due

 

 

Week XII: 11/13, 11/15

 

Tuesday  Finish The Trial of God.  Choose a scene that you find compelling, or a character.  Also read Wiesel, "The Solitude of God." – on electronic reserve. What connections can you make between these texts.

 

Thursday: Poems of Rumi – the Sufi tradition.  In Bly, read poems of Rumi on pp. 155-177 and other poems of Rumi scattered throughout the volume.  What is your sense of this poetÕs voice? What view of the human-divine relationship comes through in these poems?  JOURNAL #9 DUE

 

Week XIII:  11/20 Poetic images of God across traditions: In The Soul is Here for its Own Joy, read poems in Part V: "God in the Feminine", pp. 103-129, and choose 2 poems that seem particularly fresh or interesting to you -- or shocking, if you prefer - in their way of imagining the Divine.

 

Week XIV:

Tuesday 11/27 Poetic images of God across traditions: more poems in Bly.   Begin reading Endo, Deep River

 

Thursday 11/29 Introduction to Endo, Deep River  . Read pp. 1-68 (Chapters 1-4) and prepare questions for ÒDay IÓ on study guide, posted in ÒCourse DocumentsÓ section of Blackboard Site.   (Paper #3 due today)

 

Week XV 12/4, 12/6:

 

Tuesday 12/4  Endo, Deep River   Read pp. 69-147 (Chapters 5-8)  and prepare questions for ÒDay IIÓ on study guide, posted in ÒCourse DocumentsÓ section of Blackboard site

 

Thursday 12/6  Endo Deep River. Read pp. 148-216 (Chapters 9-13) and prepare questions for ÒDay IIIÓ on study guide, posted in ÒCourse DocumentsÓ section of the Blackboard site. )    (journal #10 due)

 

Week XVI 12/11

 

Tuesday  12/11: Finishing discussion of Endo.  Last day of class: wrapup, exam review.

 

 

FINAL EXAM is Thursday 12/13 8-10 AM in our regular classroom.