Unit 1
Approaches to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Learning Objectives

After completing Unit 1 you should be able to

1. define the basic concepts and terminology of Hebrew Bible studies.
2. describe the relationships among the groups of texts in the Hebrew Scriptures.
3. discuss various critical methods used to analyze and interpret the Scriptures.

Introduction

In this course we will study the Hebrew Bible, which is also known as the Old Testament. The Hebrew Bible is one of the foundational documents of Western civilization. It is difficult to imagine what Western culture would have looked like without the Hebrew Bible. Few other works, ancient or modern, have enjoyed such a deep and abiding influence. In addition to its tremendous cultural importance, the Hebrew Bible has been a source of religious reflection and expression for both the Jewish and the Christian communities for around two millennia.

The terms “Hebrew Bible” and “Old Testament” refer to the same book. “Hebrew Bible” is the term that the Jewish community often uses and “Old Testament” is the Christian term. We will discuss the nuances of these terms in more detail later in this unit. The Christian and Jewish religious traditions have been using and interpreting the Hebrew Bible for centuries. For each of these traditions, interpretation has been both a work of love and a great intellectual challenge. The interpretation of the Hebrew Bible has been an important and task for both traditions and, for many centuries, becoming an informed and capable interpreter of the Hebrew Bible was viewed as one of the greatest skills that a person could acquire. Since Jews and Christians deeply valued these efforts to interpret the Hebrew Bible, traditions formed around the different schools of thought and these traditions were preserved over the centuries.

In this course, we will not deal directly with the interpretive traditions. Instead, we will try to understand what the Hebrew Bible meant to ancient readers before the interpretive traditions took shape. Learning about the ancient meaning of the Hebrew Bible is a journey into a fascinating ancient world that was very different from our own.

The first half of this unit will begin our exploration of the Hebrew Bible by introducing the key ideas and terms that have been used by generations of scholars who have studied it. The second half discusses various approaches to studying the Hebrew Bible and other ancient sacred texts. The glossary at the end of the unit provides definitions for all of the important terms. You may use this glossary as you read the assigned readings, as you do the study questions and course assignments and as you prepare for the final examination.

The textbook for this course, The Hebrew Bible today, exemplifies the plurality of approaches currently used to study the Hebrew Bible. Unlike textbooks that put forward a more or less unified point of view and advocate a single approach, our textbook is a collection of different approaches represented by various scholars and schools of thought. Admittedly, in learning about the Hebrew Bible this way, we encounter a contemporary instance of the well-worn proverb, “where there are two rabbis, there are three opinions.” After more than two millennia of study, biblical scholarship is still full of debate and controversy. No single point of view commands assent from every scholar, and new perspectives emerge daily as new archaeological data comes to light and new methods of analysis are applied. This diversity is visible in our textbook and will compel us to compare and contrast approaches as we proceed through the course. However, a textbook that provides a single, consistent treatment of the Hebrew Bible might leave us with the impression that all of the questions have been answered, and that nothing remains to be done. Nothing could be farther from the truth, and we will avoid giving that erroneous impression.

Units 1 and 2 are somewhat different from the rest of the course. Since the textbook does not introduce the discipline of Hebrew Bible Studies, Units 1 and 2 provide that introduction. In Unit 1, we will acquaint ourselves with the “lay of the land.” We will learn what the object of our study is, how it is viewed by different religious and scholarly communities (Part 1) and how it is studied in academic settings (Part 2). The glossary at the end of the unit provides definitions of all of the terms introduced in the unit that are important to know for future reference. Remember that this course does not assume that you have any previous acquaintance with the terms, concepts and methods discussed in this unit. If you have any questions about their meaning or relevance after reading this unit, be sure to discuss them with your tutor. The assigned reading for Part One of this unit introduces the textbook. In Part Two, you will read about the discipline of textual criticism.