Course Catalogue

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This course will focus on two key questions. First, how has the Judeo-Christian Bible influenced modern and contemporary literature, art and film? Second, how can the Bible be read as literature, and what does this mean for its status as a sacred text?

1x2hr seminar per week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus.

This is one of the Honours options in TRS and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into Theology and Religious Studies, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

TRS4013 TRS : The Bible, Literature And Culture

TRS3025 Bible, Literature & Culture Non Honours

None

The standard assessments for this course are:

■ Essay (2,000 words) - 50%

■ Essay (1500 words) - 40%

■ Presentation of 5 minutes - 10%

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ There is no alternative to the essays, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions)

■ Recorded presentation as an alternative to the presentation

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.

This course will provide the opportunity to:

■ explore various aspects of biblical and literary texts and their relationships in light of historical criticism and modern literary theory;

■ assess critically approaches to the Bible as literature;

■ explore the relationship between cultural analysis and biblical interpretation.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ offer a critical and theoretical understanding of how biblical texts have functioned and continue to function within confessing communities;

■ analyse the assumptions and methods of both historical criticism and modern literary approaches to biblical texts;

■ analyse the role that specific passages have played within the Jewish and Christian faiths;

■ Identify and reflect upon the continuing influence of biblical texts in poetry, literature, film, art, and wider culture;

■ present complex arguments in written and oral form.