June 2 – 2 Samuel

(David and Absolom, by Marc Chagall) First, and this is not a homework question, but it is something you will need to pay attention to in your reading, the first few chapters of 2 Samuel are rather confusing: basically David is working to consolidate the kingdom, which is divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel […]

June 1 – 1 Samuel

Here are some homework questions for 1 Samuel (do all the questions for your homework). Enjoy this book–it’s the beginning of an incredible story. Remember that Alter has a great section on the two different introductions we have to David: reread that carefully from The Art of Biblical Narrative (pp. 147-53). 1. In a Jewish […]

The Birth of Modern Israel

Jerusalem, Temple Mount / Dome of the Rock The links below will lead you two truly excellent NPR series of a few years ago on the history and the birth of modern Israel. It is very interesting to listen to these series in the context of the nation-building texts we are reading. If you get […]

May 28 – Judges

1. There’s a very memorable story in Chapter 4 of Judges involving two women, and one in particular: Jael. Is she a hero in the text? What do you think? 2. Specifically about Judges 11: what are the Biblical echoes or repetitions you detect in this story? What do you do with them? And what […]

May 26 – Exodus and Joshua

My apologies for being slow to get these questions posted. 1. What do you think of Moses as a leader? Why does God choose him? 2. How do you read all those plagues in Egypt–what is the literary function of that part of the story do you think? 3. Exodus introduces us to a new […]

Homework details

Just a clarification of what I was groping toward on Monday evening: Your homework assignments can come to me as electronic Word documents, sent to my email address: Lisa.Schnell@uvm.edu Each homework assignment should be 500-1000 words long. No need to write formally, but please make sure that your prose is coherent and has a point […]

E-reserve reading is now on the blog

I’ve put all the e-reserve reading for this half of the course (two readings on Judges, one on 2 Samuel and one on Kings) on the blog. You can find them all as downloadable pdf documents under the “readings” heading. Although you will now not need to go to the library website to find these […]

E-reserve reading for June 4 (Kings)

Here is the chapter from Regina Schwartz’s Curse of Cain for June 4. Please note: you are required to read only pages 39-55. The Curse of Cain: Possessing the Land

E-reserve reading for June 2 (2 Samuel)

Here is a downloadable pdf file of Chapter 11 of Alter’s translation of 2 Samuel: David Story – Chapter 11

E-reserve reading for May 28 (Judges)

Here are the supplementary readings for Judges–click on the link and it will take you to a pdf document: Frymer-Kensky, Father-Right Awry Frymer-Kensky, The Bad Old Days