THEL311 - Advanced Hebrew Beyond the Bible

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

THEL211 Intermediate Biblical Hebrew C OR THEL212 Intermediate Biblical Hebrew D

Teaching organisation

This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, or the equivalent of 10 hours per week for 15 weeks. The total includes formally structured learning activities such as lectures, language seminars and online learning. The remaining hours typically involve individual reading of texts, preparation for class, analysis of advanced grammar, complex vocabulary, and new scripts, research, and the preparation of tasks for assessment. 

Unit rationale, description and aim

Building on the skills acquired in the intermediate level units Biblical Hebrew C and D, and in conjunction with THEL310 Advanced Biblical Hebrew, this unit investigates ancient Hebrew texts from outside the Bible. These texts include inscriptions from the pre-exilic period, both from Israel and its near neighbours (e.g., Moab), and literary texts primarily from the Qumran (Dead Sea) Scrolls. The emphasis will be on reading these ancient Hebrew texts in their historical contexts, and in relation to compositions now found in the canonical Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament. The unit enables students to engage with scholarly discussions of the historical, social, and religious context of the extra-biblical evidence on the basis of detailed original language study of texts. 

The Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament provides more than 80% of the total corpus of Hebrew before the Christian era. Ancient Hebrew sources outside the Bible are therefore especially valuable. This unit studies how an acquaintance with extra-biblical sources allows deeper understanding of the linguistic, historical and social context of the Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament. It aims to equip students to read Hebrew texts from outside of the Bible, and to understand them in their social, theological and historical contexts.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Content

Topics will include:

• Advanced level Hebrew grammar;
• Translation of extra-biblical texts across a range of different genres;
• The script of sources outside the Bible;
• The historical, social and theological context of the texts studied;
• The contribution of extra-biblical sources for understanding the Bible in its ancient context.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

The unit is normally offered in Online Scheduled mode. Students learn through formally structured and sequenced learning activities that support the achievement of the learning outcomes through highly interactive language learning and textual analysis. Students are asked to critically reflect, analyse, and integrate new information with existing knowledge, draw meaningful new connections, and then apply what they have learned. Collaborative and peer learning is also emphasized.

These face-to-face activities enable students to acquire and assimilate knowledge of the language, social, and historical background of sources outside the Bible, through modern interpretative approaches, through the presence and articulation of the lecturer and tutors. Students will be guided to develop the academic skills needed for advanced level study of the ancient texts in their original language. Students will be provided with opportunities for the development of practical skills in applying linguistic knowledge to highly complex research problems, as well as technologies and strategies needed for successful academic research on the world of the Bible, including one or more of the following: flexible learning, academic writing, and academic honesty. 

THEL311 emphasises students as active, adult learners. Students are recognised as adult learners who engage best when what they are learning is relevant to them and gives them the opportunity to be responsible for their own learning. In many ways, the student is the one who drives the learning forward. Active participation in this unit is essential and is at the core of its learning strategy. Learning is designed to be an engaging and supportive experience, which helps students to develop critical thinking and reflection skills. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are required to attempt all assessment tasks and achieve an overall grade of Pass (50% or higher).

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome.

The unit’s main focus is on establishing advanced level skills in translation across a range of genres of extra-biblical literature so that students can use these skills to interpret texts in context, enabling them to evaluate and defend sophisticated academic arguments about the texts’ interpretation.

The first assessment task examines how well students can understand and translate complex extra-biblical Hebrew grammatical forms in new forms of script. It thus enables assessment of students’ ability to demonstrate advanced knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, syntax, and new writing systems.

The second assessment task asks students to research and evaluate data from primary sources and their interpretation in secondary sources in order to defend an argument regarding the interpretation of the extra-biblical sources. It assesses the students’ ability to apply advanced linguistic skills to the analysis of research problems in extra-biblical texts.

The third assessment task examines translation ability, i.e., the ability to apply advanced knowledge of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary to the interpretation of the texts, and the students’ ability to analyse significant features of texts across a range of genres.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

George Athas and Ian Young, Elementary Biblical Hebrew, 5th edn (Sydney: Ancient Vessel Press, 2016).

Sidnie White Crawford and Cecilia Wassen (ed.), The Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and the Concept of a Library, STDJ 116 (Leiden: Brill, 2016).

F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp et al., Hebrew Inscriptions: Texts from the Biblical Period of the Monarchy with Concordance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005).

Timothy H. Lim, The Earliest Commentary on the Prophecy of Habakkuk, Oxford Commentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020).

Ken M. Penner, The Verbal System of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Tense, Aspect, and Modality in Qumran Hebrew Texts, SSN 64 (Leiden: Brill, 2015).

Christopher A. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel: Epigraphic Evidence from the Iron Age, SBLABS 11 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2010).

Matthew James Suriano, “The Historicality of the King: An Exercise in Reading Royal Inscriptions from the Ancient Levant,” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 1 (2014): 95–118.

Ian Young, Robert Rezetko and Martin Ehrensvärd, Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts, 2 vols.; Bible World (London: Equinox, 2008).