Na'ama Pat-El

This class aims to introduce students to the modern study of the Old Testament. The class will focus on the study of the history, literature, religion, and the Ancient Near Eastern background of the Old Testament.  The final goal is to equip students for more advanced classes and research.

This class will cover the basic grammar of Akkadian, the language of the great Mesopotamian Empires. 

This class aims to introduce students to the modern study of the Old Testament. The class will focus on the study of the history, literature, religion, and the Ancient Near Eastern background of the Old Testament.  The final goal is to equip students for more advanced classes and research.

Students read and discuss Hebrew language materials related to the subject matter of another designated course.

Students read and discuss Hebrew language materials related to the subject matter of another designated course.

This course is a lecture-based survey course aimed to introduce students to major themes in Middle Eastern Studies. This year, the course covers four themes. During two of the weekly meetings, various members of the faculty will offer lectures relating to one of these themes, concentrating on their period, geographical area, and field of research. The third meeting of the week will be dedicated to discussing the lectures comparatively, in view of both distinct features and overarching threads.

Texts

Texts will be posted on Blackboard

Grading Policy

Class attendance, participation and preparation: 20%

Postings on the website: 20%

Reports:  60%

Please contact the graduate coordinator for more information.

Please contact the graduate coordinator for more information.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

Please check back for updates.

This course is a lecture-based survey course aimed to introduce students to major themes in Middle Eastern Studies. This year, the course covers four themes. During two of the weekly meetings, various members of the faculty will offer lectures relating to one of these themes, concentrating on their period, geographical area, and field of research. The third meeting of the week will be dedicated to discussing the lectures comparatively, in view of both distinct features and overarching threads.

Texts

Texts will be posted on Blackboard

Grading Policy

Class attendance, participation and preparation: 20%

Postings on the website: 20%

Reports:  60%

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

Coming soon.

The course introduces students to the variety of prophetic types in the Old Testament, their development through history and their parallels in Near Eastern Literature.

Texts

Bible Petersen, D. L. (2002). The Prophetic Literature: an introduction. Louisville, KY, Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0664254537

Grading

20% Class attendance, participation and preparation. 20% 2 review papers. 30% Midterm. 30% Final exam.

This class aims to introduce students to the modern study of the Hebrew Bible. The class will focus on the study of the Bible's history and literature and will explore the main methodologies used in its study. The final goal is to equip students for more advanced classes and research on the Hebrew Bible.

Texts/Readings

English Bible. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version With the Apocrypha, Oxford University Press. OR: HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Harper One. Textbook:Coogan, M. D. (2011). The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. 2nd Edition. New York, Oxford University Press.

Grading Policy

25% Class attendance, participation and preparation

25% Quizzes

25% Midterm

25% Final exam

A survey of the Semitic languages and a review of the basic features of their phonology, morphology, and syntax.

Texts

Campbell, Lyle. 2003. Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT. Huehnergard, John. 2011. Comparative and Historical Semitic Grammar: An Introduction. Unpublished manuscript. Pdf on course website. Rubin, Aaron D. 2010. A Brief Introduction to the Semitic Languages. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias. Huehnergard, John. 2004. Afro-Asiatic and Semitic. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s An­cient Languages, ed. Roger D. Woodard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 138–59. Reprinted in The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia, ed. Roger D. Woodard. Cam­bridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 225–46. Pdf on course website. Huehnergard, John. 2009. Trees and Waves: On the Classification of the Semitic Languages. Unpub­lished manuscript. Pdf on course website.

Grading Policy

Midterm exam: 25%

Final paper: 30%

Assignments (transliteration; consonants; reconstruction; lexicon): 25%

Class participation: 20%

Course Description

In a series of four courses, all Hebrew Bible/Ancient Near East graduate students will read the Hebrew Bible in its entirety, in Hebrew (and the small amount of Aramaic that also appears).  This schedule amounts to approximately 30 pages of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia each week.  In addition, each professor will stress some element of Biblical Hebrew or the Hebrew Bible, e.g.,  historical grammar or syntax. Conducted in English. 

The course introduces students to the variety of prophetic types in the Old Testament, their development through history and their parallels in Near Eastern Literature.

Texts

Bible Petersen, D. L. (2002). The Prophetic Literature: an introduction. Louisville, KY, Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0664254537

Grading

20% Class attendance, participation and preparation. 20% 2 review papers. 30% Midterm. 30% Final exam.

This course is a lecture-based survey course aimed to introduce students to major themes in Middle Eastern Studies. This year, the course covers four themes: "the self and other", "language and identity", "construction of leadership and authority" and "immigration and its aftermath". During two of the weekly meetings, various members of the faculty will offer lectures relating to one of these themes, concentrating on their period, geographical area and field of research. The third meeting of the week will be dedicated to discussing the lectures comparatively, in view of both distinct features and overarching threads.

Texts

Texts will be posted on Blackboard

Grading

Class attendance, participation and preparation: 20%

Postings on the website: 20%

Midterm exam: 20%

Final exam: 40%

Taught in English. Syriac is a Late Antique dialect of Aramaic, which is still used today in the Syriac orthodox church. It was once spoken over much of the middle east. Texts in this language are essential to the study of early Christianity on the region. This course covers the essentials of grammar needed for reading Ugaritic texts and concludes by reading texts from several genres. Prerequisites: familiarity with another Semitic language.Texts

Course book: J. F. Coakley, Robinson's Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar, OUP.

Grading

Participation, preparation and assignments 40%Mid Term 30%Final 30%

In a series of four courses, all Hebrew Bible/Ancient Near East graduate students will read the Hebrew Bible in its entirety, in Hebrew (and the small amount of Aramaic that also appears). This schedule amounts to approximately 30 pages of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia each week. In addition, each professor will stress some element of Biblical Hebrew or the Hebrew Bible, e.g., historical grammar or syntax. Conducted in English.Prerequisite: Three years of Biblical Hebrew.

Texts

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.

Grading

Class participation 50%

Research paper 50%

This class aims to introduce students to the modern study of the Hebrew Bible. The class will focus on the study of the Bible's history and literature and will explore the main methodologies used in its study. The final goal is to equip students for more advanced classes and research on the Hebrew Bible.

Texts

English Bible. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version With the Apocrypha, Oxford University Press. OR: HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Harper One. Textbook:Coogan, M. D. (2011). The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. 2nd Edition. New York, Oxford University Press.

Grading

25% Class attendance, participation and preparation

25% Quizzes

25% Midterm

25% Final exam

This course is a lecture-based survey course aimed to introduce students to major themes in Middle Eastern Studies. This year, the course covers four themes: "the self and other", "language and identity", "construction of leadership and authority" and "immigration and its aftermath". During two of the weekly meetings, various members of the faculty will offer lectures relating to one of these themes, concentrating on their period, geographical area and field of research. The third meeting of the week will be dedicated to discussing the lectures comparatively, in view of both distinct features and overarching threads.

Texts

Texts will be posted on Blackboard

Grading

Class attendance, participation and preparation: 20%

Postings on the website: 20%

Midterm exam: 20%

Final exam: 40%

A survey of the Semitic languages and a review of the basic features of their phonology, morphology, and syntax.Prerequisite: Knowledge of two Semitic languages, or permission from instructor.

Texts

Campbell, Lyle. 2003. Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT.Huehnergard, John. 2011. Comparative and Historical Semitic Grammar: An Introduction. Unpublished manuscript. Pdf on course website.Rubin, Aaron D. 2010. A Brief Introduction to the Semitic Languages. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias.Huehnergard, John. 2004. Afro-Asiatic and Semitic. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s An­cient Languages, ed. Roger D. Woodard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 138–59. Reprinted in The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia, ed. Roger D. Woodard. Cam­bridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 225–46. Pdf on course website.Huehnergard, John. 2009. Trees and Waves: On the Classification of the Semitic Languages. Unpub­lished manuscript. Pdf on course website.

Grading

Midterm exam: 25%Final exam: 30%Assignments (transliteration; consonants; reconstruction; lexicon): 25%Class participation: 20%

This course aims to familiarize the students with the general content of the prophetic corpus of the Hebrew Bible and relevant Near Eastern material. Attention will be given to the different types of prophecy portrayed in the Bible, the social and historical background of the prophet, and the development and maintenance of the prophetic literature. During the semester students will read large portions of the prophetic books and major themes will be discussed in class.

Texts

BiblePetersen, The Prophetic Literature

Grading

Class participation and preparation 30%; presentations 20%; midterm 20%; final 30%

To be provided by instructor.

In a series of four courses, all Hebrew Bible/Ancient Near East graduate students will read the Hebrew Bible in its entirety, in Hebrew (and the small amount of Aramaic that also appears).  This schedule amounts to approximately 30 pages of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia each week.  In addition, each professor will stress some element of Biblical Hebrew or the Hebrew Bible, e.g.,  historical grammar or syntax.

Texts

To be provided by instructor. 

Grading

To be provided by instructor. 

The Hebrew bible (the Old Testament) is a foundation text of Western culture and was subject to many interpretations for over 2000 years. The goal of the course is to look at the Bible as a text and investigate its meaning in the context of its historical and cultural setting in the Ancient Near East. The course examines the Bible through a wide range of approaches, including source criticism and the historical-critical school. Special emphasis is placed on the Bible against the backdrop of its historical and cultural setting in the Ancient Near East.

Texts

Coogan: The Old Testament

Coogan: The New Oxford Annotated Bible

Grading

To be provided by instructor. 

Course Description:

In a series of four courses, all Hebrew Bible/Ancient Near East graduate students will read the Hebrew Bible in its entirety, in Hebrew (and the small amount of Aramaic that also appears).  This schedule amounts to approximately 30 pages of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia each week.  In addition, each professor will stress some element of Biblical Hebrew or the Hebrew Bible, e.g.,  historical grammar or syntax.

Requirements:

Class participation:  50%

Research paper:  50%

Possible Texts:

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia

Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon

Joüon-Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew

Bauer-Leander, Historische Grammatik der Hebräischen Sprache des Alten Testaments

Waltke-O'Connor, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

Armstrong-Busby-Carr, A Reader's Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

The goal of this course is to equip the intermediate student of Biblical Hebrew to become a more independent and proficient reader of the biblical text. Students will read, listen to, discuss, and write about the Hebrew Bible in its original language. Class time will be spent activating Hebrew vocabulary and grammar by reading and discussing biblical narrative prose and poetic texts. Students will learn and practice how to use the major lexicons and reference grammars of Biblical Hebrew. Preparation for class will include reading, listening, and homework exercises.

Please contact the graduate coordinator for more information.

The goal of this course is to equip the intermediate student of Biblical Hebrew to become a more independent and proficient reader of the biblical text. Students will read, listen to, discuss, and write about the Hebrew Bible in its original language. Class time will be spent activating Hebrew vocabulary and grammar by reading and discussing biblical narrative prose and poetic texts. Students will learn and practice how to use the major lexicons and reference grammars of Biblical Hebrew. Preparation for class will include reading, listening, and homework exercises.