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Approaches to Biblical Studies

Module description

This module will enable you to engage critically with the social and cultural contexts shaping the composition, reception, and scholarly study of biblical texts. Focusing on a selected work in the Hebrew Bible or New Testament, you will use a range of methodological strategies to (1) analyse the cultural contours of a text within and across its biblical context; (2) explore the ‘afterlives’ of a biblical text and/or its motifs in either an ancient or modern setting, and (3) engage with wider debates about the ways in which contemporary academia should engage with the Bible.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• equip you with the intellectual tools to carry out a sustained and rigorous analysis of a biblical text
• enable you to engage critically with current interdisciplinary approaches to biblical literature
• encourage you to pay attention to the social and cultural conditions underlying interpretative strategies, ancient and modern
• provide you with the opportunity to explore your own areas of interest in Biblical Studies in conjunction with a supervisor

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Engage with recent academic approaches to biblical studies
• 2. Critically assess, in depth, one biblical text’s features, contexts, or later reception, OR one methodology associated with academic study of the Bible

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Critically evaluate how approaches to the interpretation of religious texts have developed within the academy
• 4. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the interdisciplinary dimensions of contemporary biblical studies

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Develop a project that engages with contemporary scholarship
• 6. Shape detailed information into a clear written account
• 7. Show significant originality and rigour in argument
• 8. Demonstrate independent and critical research skills
• 9. Convey ideas to your peers through oral and/or written discussion

Syllabus plan

The module will fall into three main parts:

1. Close reading, analysis and discussion of a selected biblical text
2. Exploring examples of the afterlives and interpretation of a biblical text and/or its motifs
3. Directed individual research with a supervisor  

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• David E. Aune, The Blackwell Companion to the New Testament (Wiley Blackwell, 2010)
• John Barton, A History of the Bible: A Book and Its Faiths (Allen Lane, 2019)
• Stephen D. Moore and Yvonne Sherwood, The Invention of the Biblical Scholar: A Critical Manifesto (Fortress Press, 2011)
• Susan Niditch (ed.), The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel (Wiley Blackwell, 2016) 

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4512 

Key words search

Bible, Theology, religion, reception, interpretation, culture