Have you always wanted to understand the Poetry of the Bible?

While some study Shakespeare and Hemingway, we can find ancient literature written in beautiful words in the Bible.

The Bible has several books written in the ancient literary styles of over 4,000 years ago: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.

Throughout the course of the class we will examine these 5 Old Testament Poetic books, spending time on the main themes of each book and how to interpret them as biblical literature rather than as narratives or prophecy. This class will help students be able to interpret these books in a meaningful and personally significant way.

We will study each of these 5 books in greater detail with content-loaded pre-recorded lectures, worksheets based on the lectures, and assignments after each class. There will be one midterm to cover the first six classes, and a final exam to cover the last 4 weeks. A choice of final presentation of a research project will be submitted towards the end of the course to practice all of the tools learned in the class on a chosen passage of poetry from the Bible.

If you love English Literature, you will enjoy this journey into ancient Biblical Literature as well!

Schedule:

Class 1: Introduction to the Poetic Books

Class 2: First Look at Job Part 1

Class 3: Detailed Look Job Part 2

Class 4: Ecclesiastes

Class 5: First Look at Proverbs Part 1

Class 6: Detailed Look at Proverbs Part 2

Class 7: Open-Book Midterm Exam

Class 8: First Look at Psalms Part 1

Class 9: Detailed Look at Psalms Part 2

Class 10: Song of Songs

Class 11: Research Project of your choice

Class 12: Open-Book Final Exam