L&S Curricular Connections

“Biblical Controversies” explores the continually evolving-and presently fermenting and often contentious-relationship between biblical studies and archaeology. The course begins with a scholarly overview of the biblical texts themselves, asking such questions as: “Who wrote the Bible?”; “When and how and why was the Bible written down?”; “Is the Bible a literary work?”; “Is the Bible an historical work?” It next investigates the character of the archaeological and historical records that scholars believe relate to the biblical texts, as well as the interpretive tools (and biases) archaeologists and historians use to decipher and correlate those records. It concludes by examining specific topics of current debate, including issues relating to how modern politics, personal beliefs, and scholarly personalities shape present controversies.