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List of students: see bottom of this page!
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Religions of the Hebrew Bible (REL 312) is an introductory survey class, requiring no prior knowledge of the Bible. In this class, students will examine selected texts from the Hebrew Bible, using tools of critical biblical scholarship, such as biblical archaeology, literary analysis, source criticism, feminist theory, socio-historical criticism. Students will be exposed to Mesopotamian myths and archaeological data that form the background to the composition of the Bible. With collaborative assignments on Wikipedia, students will cultivate key skills in unbiased writing about controversial religious scriptures (i.e., primary sources) as well as scholarly debates (i.e., secondary sources).
This Miami Plan course fulfills requirement for thematic sequences in Comparative Religion and Jewish Studies, by introducing students to a critical reading of the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament), a primary source for shaping the destiny of the Jewish people, Christianity, and Western culture
This course introduces students to the historical-critical study of the Hebrew Bible.
During this course, students will gain in-depth knowledge of the religions of the Hebrew Bible. Their understanding will span the themes, key concepts, sociopolitical chronology, and genres of Hebrew Bible literature. Much of the coursework will center on Coogan's textbook and selected Biblical passages for gaining knowledge of Biblical religions and texts. Besides the WP assignments, students will write a brief argumentative paper (aka Wikipedia:Original research), with reasons and evidence to advance their own scholarly claim. Accordingly, 40% or more of the course time and assessment may have limited (passive) or no intersection with Wikipedia.
Besides this discipline-specific knowledge, the course will enable students to make progress on 4 key competencies of a liberal arts education. (For background, see AACU rubrics for learning outcomes. Here are course objectives for each learning outcome:
Relation of assignments to learning outcomes. Assignments in Wikipedia will support each of the 4 major learning outcomes, above. With its emphasis on a neutral point-of-view, Wikipedia can inform and reinforce students growth in their academic and professional approach. Since so many of us have religious or anti-religious biases about the Bible, one of the key learning outcomes is for students to consistently read, analyze, and discuss Biblical texts from an academic, neutral point of view ( NPOV). It is hoped that student engagement with Wikipedia will improve their development of a neutral eye when reading and, when writing or discussing Biblical material, a neutral voice. Whether students "merely" add needed citations, improve stubs with a few sentences, or write substantive article sections, it will be instructive for us to discuss Wikipedia principles and critique their implementation in Bible-related articles and editorial debates.
Building upon pedagogy developed at the Wikipedia:Education program, REL 314 students will work gradually through assignments that methodically develop and challenge their reading, critical thinking, writing, and interactional competencies. These assignments include:
This baseline exercise assumes no prior knowledge about the study of the Hebrew Bible. The student's essay will be compared to the final essay, which has the same prompt. See the specific instructions here. The benchmark and final essays share the same prompt:
Write a brief argumentative essay about two of the
best known document collections in Western society:
the Hebrew Bible and Wikipedia.
Students will be trained through Wikipedia's modules on WP essentials, e.g., WP principles, technical editing skills, and social collaboration.
Students will create accounts, practice on Talk pages, and start a sandbox. See: this Exercise on account basics
Working pairs or teams, student will do collaborative editing through these incremental steps:Click here or heading for instructions page
Having successfully engaged with WP editors and made acceptable edits, student teams will edit short article units, such as paragraphs or subsections. The instructor will give students a specific editing methodology and write their paragraphs in new or existing articles (or stubs). Assigned topics will include the Mosaic covenant, compared to ANE data, based on research by George Mendenhall and Moshe Weinfeld. See the instructions: User:ProfGray/Exercise_Write_Paragraphs
With their improved understanding of Biblical scholarship, and WP editing, student teams will paraphrase a scholarly debate over the historical-critical understanding of the Hebrew Bible. The topic will include purity (" Tumah and taharah") on moral or genealogical grounds, especially in Ezra-Nehemiah, per Profs. Jonathan Klawans and Christine Hayes. Students might create articles on Moral impurity (Bible) and Genealogical impurity (if notable), and possibly on Foreign wives in Ezra (see vv.10:10,17,18,44). See these assignment instructions: Paraphrase academic source.
Alternatively, students can select their own topic if they have made adequate progress in previous exercises, explored a WP article that needs substantial improvement, and found suitable reliable sources on a scholarly dispute.
The final essay is a partly a WP assignment because the student will utilize their understanding of Wikipedia in comparison to the Hebrew Bible.
However, final essays should be a well-reasoned argument. Academic arguments are known on Wikipedia as original research and excluded from the encyclopedia. Hence, the essay will be submitted off-line to the instructor, as stapled printouts and in electronic form (checked by TurnItIn). See the instructions: User:ProfGray/REL312/Benchmark and Final essay. Low stakes, interim exercises will be added as needed to ensure continuous progress toward the deadline of May 4th.
Peer-review by students will be built into Stages Two, Three, and Four. Review may also include:
Tests will focus on the required textbook, selected academic sources, and Biblical readings (30% of grade). If needed, knowledge of Wikipedia may be tested.
Here are some rules and disclaimers about this course. (As with the entire syllabus, these are subject to modification by the instructor.)
Our Mission: Miami University "is deeply committed to student success, builds great student and alumni loyalty, and empowers its students, faculty, and staff to become engaged citizens who use their knowledge and skills with integrity and compassion to improve the future of our global society." [1] This course will enable students to build publicly-accessible knowledge through WP, "The Free Encyclopedia." Nonetheless...
Public access disclaimer: Students should be aware that their writing on Wikipedia will be fully accessible to the public. Student edits and writing may be deleted from public view, with or without their consent, yet persist in the wiki "history." Student writing is protected by special copyright rules, not exclusively owned by the individual author, and so it can be fairly said that no student or Wikipedia author actually owns their voluntary contributions to Wikipedia.
Caution: Prohibited conduct: Students may lose their access to Wikipedia if they (allegedly) vandalize Wikipedia, violate copyright laws, or engage in plagiarism. Since allegations are time-consuming, and the instructor is not expected to defend students, it is best to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Furthermore, whether on Wikipedia or not, academic dishonesty and other improper student conduct may be disciplined at the discretion of the instructor, in line with university regulations (MUPIM).
Note: Be sure that you have the correct edition of Coogan and this specific JSB Bible.
Coogan, Michael D. The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Oxford University Press, USA, 2011. 019557840-5
Berlin, Adele, Marc Zvi Brettler, and Michael Fishbane, eds. The Jewish Study Bible: Featuring The Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. Oxford University Press, USA, 2003. 0195297547
Selected articles and readings will be posted on Niihka > Resources.
Wikipedia provides training materials and help pages, etc.
Student progress will be assessed through WP-related assignments, two tests, and a final essay. , There are grading rubrics for each assignment. These take into account knowledge and understanding of religions of the Hebrew Bible (e.g., through tests) and the learning outcomes (described above).
Students will be evaluated for their contributions to WP, whether in sandboxes, subpages, or article space. Nonetheless, grades for assignments will be based on paper printouts or a student portfolio of WP work. The grading of WP assignments will NOT be based on their status within Wikipedia nor by WP "Grading" standards. Why?
Instead, the WP assignments will be graded for completion and quality, by the instructor. Significant deductions can be for WP:POV and WP:Reference problems. See chart, t/b/d.
Academic dishonesty, incivility, or other serious misconduct, whether in the classroom or online, may have consequences beyond grading.
See the syllabus supplement for the current plan for graded assignments, which may be modified at the instructor's discretion. (Thus, if specific tasks or assignments are dropped, the points will be reallocated.)
See: User:ProfGray/312/Lesson plan week 1
See: User:ProfGray/312/Lesson plan week 2
Go to these instructions for the six steps! User:ProfGray/ExerciseAccountBasics
Academic views of the Mosaic covenant
Readings for next week
Start paragraph-level exercises on Covenant structures
Readings
Paragraph-level writing (Covenant)
Part of a series on the |
Bible |
---|
![]() |
Outline of Bible-related topics![]() |
List of students: see bottom of this page!
Team pages:
Religions of the Hebrew Bible (REL 312) is an introductory survey class, requiring no prior knowledge of the Bible. In this class, students will examine selected texts from the Hebrew Bible, using tools of critical biblical scholarship, such as biblical archaeology, literary analysis, source criticism, feminist theory, socio-historical criticism. Students will be exposed to Mesopotamian myths and archaeological data that form the background to the composition of the Bible. With collaborative assignments on Wikipedia, students will cultivate key skills in unbiased writing about controversial religious scriptures (i.e., primary sources) as well as scholarly debates (i.e., secondary sources).
This Miami Plan course fulfills requirement for thematic sequences in Comparative Religion and Jewish Studies, by introducing students to a critical reading of the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament), a primary source for shaping the destiny of the Jewish people, Christianity, and Western culture
This course introduces students to the historical-critical study of the Hebrew Bible.
During this course, students will gain in-depth knowledge of the religions of the Hebrew Bible. Their understanding will span the themes, key concepts, sociopolitical chronology, and genres of Hebrew Bible literature. Much of the coursework will center on Coogan's textbook and selected Biblical passages for gaining knowledge of Biblical religions and texts. Besides the WP assignments, students will write a brief argumentative paper (aka Wikipedia:Original research), with reasons and evidence to advance their own scholarly claim. Accordingly, 40% or more of the course time and assessment may have limited (passive) or no intersection with Wikipedia.
Besides this discipline-specific knowledge, the course will enable students to make progress on 4 key competencies of a liberal arts education. (For background, see AACU rubrics for learning outcomes. Here are course objectives for each learning outcome:
Relation of assignments to learning outcomes. Assignments in Wikipedia will support each of the 4 major learning outcomes, above. With its emphasis on a neutral point-of-view, Wikipedia can inform and reinforce students growth in their academic and professional approach. Since so many of us have religious or anti-religious biases about the Bible, one of the key learning outcomes is for students to consistently read, analyze, and discuss Biblical texts from an academic, neutral point of view ( NPOV). It is hoped that student engagement with Wikipedia will improve their development of a neutral eye when reading and, when writing or discussing Biblical material, a neutral voice. Whether students "merely" add needed citations, improve stubs with a few sentences, or write substantive article sections, it will be instructive for us to discuss Wikipedia principles and critique their implementation in Bible-related articles and editorial debates.
Building upon pedagogy developed at the Wikipedia:Education program, REL 314 students will work gradually through assignments that methodically develop and challenge their reading, critical thinking, writing, and interactional competencies. These assignments include:
This baseline exercise assumes no prior knowledge about the study of the Hebrew Bible. The student's essay will be compared to the final essay, which has the same prompt. See the specific instructions here. The benchmark and final essays share the same prompt:
Write a brief argumentative essay about two of the
best known document collections in Western society:
the Hebrew Bible and Wikipedia.
Students will be trained through Wikipedia's modules on WP essentials, e.g., WP principles, technical editing skills, and social collaboration.
Students will create accounts, practice on Talk pages, and start a sandbox. See: this Exercise on account basics
Working pairs or teams, student will do collaborative editing through these incremental steps:Click here or heading for instructions page
Having successfully engaged with WP editors and made acceptable edits, student teams will edit short article units, such as paragraphs or subsections. The instructor will give students a specific editing methodology and write their paragraphs in new or existing articles (or stubs). Assigned topics will include the Mosaic covenant, compared to ANE data, based on research by George Mendenhall and Moshe Weinfeld. See the instructions: User:ProfGray/Exercise_Write_Paragraphs
With their improved understanding of Biblical scholarship, and WP editing, student teams will paraphrase a scholarly debate over the historical-critical understanding of the Hebrew Bible. The topic will include purity (" Tumah and taharah") on moral or genealogical grounds, especially in Ezra-Nehemiah, per Profs. Jonathan Klawans and Christine Hayes. Students might create articles on Moral impurity (Bible) and Genealogical impurity (if notable), and possibly on Foreign wives in Ezra (see vv.10:10,17,18,44). See these assignment instructions: Paraphrase academic source.
Alternatively, students can select their own topic if they have made adequate progress in previous exercises, explored a WP article that needs substantial improvement, and found suitable reliable sources on a scholarly dispute.
The final essay is a partly a WP assignment because the student will utilize their understanding of Wikipedia in comparison to the Hebrew Bible.
However, final essays should be a well-reasoned argument. Academic arguments are known on Wikipedia as original research and excluded from the encyclopedia. Hence, the essay will be submitted off-line to the instructor, as stapled printouts and in electronic form (checked by TurnItIn). See the instructions: User:ProfGray/REL312/Benchmark and Final essay. Low stakes, interim exercises will be added as needed to ensure continuous progress toward the deadline of May 4th.
Peer-review by students will be built into Stages Two, Three, and Four. Review may also include:
Tests will focus on the required textbook, selected academic sources, and Biblical readings (30% of grade). If needed, knowledge of Wikipedia may be tested.
Here are some rules and disclaimers about this course. (As with the entire syllabus, these are subject to modification by the instructor.)
Our Mission: Miami University "is deeply committed to student success, builds great student and alumni loyalty, and empowers its students, faculty, and staff to become engaged citizens who use their knowledge and skills with integrity and compassion to improve the future of our global society." [1] This course will enable students to build publicly-accessible knowledge through WP, "The Free Encyclopedia." Nonetheless...
Public access disclaimer: Students should be aware that their writing on Wikipedia will be fully accessible to the public. Student edits and writing may be deleted from public view, with or without their consent, yet persist in the wiki "history." Student writing is protected by special copyright rules, not exclusively owned by the individual author, and so it can be fairly said that no student or Wikipedia author actually owns their voluntary contributions to Wikipedia.
Caution: Prohibited conduct: Students may lose their access to Wikipedia if they (allegedly) vandalize Wikipedia, violate copyright laws, or engage in plagiarism. Since allegations are time-consuming, and the instructor is not expected to defend students, it is best to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Furthermore, whether on Wikipedia or not, academic dishonesty and other improper student conduct may be disciplined at the discretion of the instructor, in line with university regulations (MUPIM).
Note: Be sure that you have the correct edition of Coogan and this specific JSB Bible.
Coogan, Michael D. The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Oxford University Press, USA, 2011. 019557840-5
Berlin, Adele, Marc Zvi Brettler, and Michael Fishbane, eds. The Jewish Study Bible: Featuring The Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. Oxford University Press, USA, 2003. 0195297547
Selected articles and readings will be posted on Niihka > Resources.
Wikipedia provides training materials and help pages, etc.
Student progress will be assessed through WP-related assignments, two tests, and a final essay. , There are grading rubrics for each assignment. These take into account knowledge and understanding of religions of the Hebrew Bible (e.g., through tests) and the learning outcomes (described above).
Students will be evaluated for their contributions to WP, whether in sandboxes, subpages, or article space. Nonetheless, grades for assignments will be based on paper printouts or a student portfolio of WP work. The grading of WP assignments will NOT be based on their status within Wikipedia nor by WP "Grading" standards. Why?
Instead, the WP assignments will be graded for completion and quality, by the instructor. Significant deductions can be for WP:POV and WP:Reference problems. See chart, t/b/d.
Academic dishonesty, incivility, or other serious misconduct, whether in the classroom or online, may have consequences beyond grading.
See the syllabus supplement for the current plan for graded assignments, which may be modified at the instructor's discretion. (Thus, if specific tasks or assignments are dropped, the points will be reallocated.)
See: User:ProfGray/312/Lesson plan week 1
See: User:ProfGray/312/Lesson plan week 2
Go to these instructions for the six steps! User:ProfGray/ExerciseAccountBasics
Academic views of the Mosaic covenant
Readings for next week
Start paragraph-level exercises on Covenant structures
Readings
Paragraph-level writing (Covenant)