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Course Number, Title, and Credits

CH 420The Intertestamental Period

Academic Level of Course

           Undergraduate Division Doctorate (100 - 499)

Expected Time Required To Complete Course

Fourteen weeks minimum.

Description of Course

The study of the political, social, economic, and religious events and developments in the Mediterranean world occurring with the rise of the Persian Empire and the ascendancy of Alexander the Great until the close of the apostolic period with particular focus on the influences and change in Israel and Judaism and preparation for the coming of the Messiah.

Course Learning Objectives (In general terms, what the student should know at the end of the course)

The state of the Mediterranean world on the eve of the expeditions of Alexander the Great with particular focus on Israel.

The political, social, economic, cultural, and religious history of Hellenistic influences in the Mediterranean world;

The influences and changes brought about in Israel and Judaism;

The literary and religious developments within Judaism and the larger Mediterranean world;

The political and religious motivations and struggles within Israel and Judaism.

The state of the Mediterranean world with emphasis on Israel and Judaism and their relationship to it at the time of the birth of Christ.

A comprehensive understanding of the overall effect of Hellenism on the Mediterranean world and its meaning for Judaism and Christianity.

Course Textbooks ( minimum of 5 books for doctoral graduate study)

James C. VanderKam, An Introduction to Early Judaism

Michael Grant, The Jews in the Roman World

W.W. Tarn, Hellenistic Civilization

F. W. Walbank, Hellenistic World, Revised Edition

Victor Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews

Martin Hengel, Jew, Greeks, and Barbarians: Aspects of the Hellenization of Judaism in the Pre-Christian Era

Michael O. Wise, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation

Internet Resources (research on topics available from internet resources is recommended)

Books of the Apocrypha

Books of the Pseudipgrapha

Course Assignments (specific activities the student must do to complete the course and accomplish the course objectives)

The student will read each course textbook with only specific assignments from Wise, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation

Read Grant as a background source. The student may read the book entirely at the beginning of the course or may read the book throughout the progress of the course.

Read the following books in the listed order:

Tarn

Walbank

Tcherikover

Hengel

VanderKam

The student will read in Wise and the apocrypha and pseudipigrapha as reference assignments by the student’s professor.

The student will write a series of papers covering the following topics. The topics are broad in scope to allow the student to express his/her sense of relative importance of aspects of the period.  The details of the assignment will be provided by the professor:

            the historical, political, social and cultural world of the Jewish     Hellenistic/Intertestamental Period;

            the religious developments within Judaism during the Intertestamental             Period;

            the literary developments within Judaism during the Intertestamental    Period;

            the factors of the intertestamental period contributing to the preparation of      the coming of the Messiah;

            The Hellenistic Period: its origin, effects, and meaning in ancient history.

These papers should be a minimum of 15 pages each. Research resources for these papers are the assigned textbooks, available libraries, and internet sources.

All other assignments required by the course professor.

The student will complete a mid term examination and a final examination

Course Grade based on reading, assignments, reports, and tests