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Welcome to the Web site for An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible: A Thematic Approach!

This Web site will help professors and teachers use this textbook more effectively in their teaching. The site contains sample syllabi, notes for teaching ideas for each chapter, quizzes for each chapter, and several exams and assignments. Each of these pieces has been tested by the authors in their own classrooms.

These resources represent a range of approaches to the use of An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible in the classroom. For instance, some of the syllabi assume meeting three days per week, but others presume an online course. Feel free to look at them all, get ideas for your own use, and adapt them as you need for your setting. The teaching notes should give you suggestions that spur your own thinking. The quizzes, exams, and assignments can also start you constructing your own. Not every assignment, exam, or quiz fits into every syllabus, but all of them give you starting points for the work of teaching the class.

An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible

This pedagogically astute introduction to the Hebrew Bible is designed specifically for undergraduates. It begins with the most basic questions: from where and when did the Hebrew Bible originate, how was it written, and how did people read it? And in focusing on the fundamental question of the canon—who are we?—it first gives much attention to the issue of identity. Then it explores how the ancient Israelites organized themselves in terms of power and state, and finally, delineates the larger questions of God and ideology within the canon. The resulting study is in line with other examinations of ancient literature and culture but gives more attention to the religious function of the Hebrew Bible. Through art, photography, literature, and popular culture, this text vibrantly presents the concepts of the Hebrew Bible and offers a companion Web site with syllabi, assignments, tests, and other aids for teachers.