Course Catalog

HIS325E History of Israel (3 credits) 9358

COURSE DESCRIPTION
A chronological and thematic study of the history of Israel from the call of Abraham through the restoration of the nation after the exile.

LEARNING RESULTS
The learner will be able to:
• Trace the flow of Israel's history from its beginning with the call of Abraham to the Return from exile in Babylon.
• Summarize the current state of Old Testament historiography, discussing the various skeptical views of Israel's history and articulating coherent responses to skeptical criticisms.
• Discern how professional archaeologists have used their discipline and the results of excavation both for and against the Biblical record.
• Defend the historicity of the Old Testament as that relates to specific controversies that revolve around the use (or misuse) of archaeological data.

REQUIRED TEXTS AND MATERIALS
The student is required to read the following materials in their entirety. These materials include the required textbooks (see immediately below) as well as articles that are listed under specific assignments. They can be obtained at a college or public library through either their own holdings or on loan (ask the librarian. Some (my own) can be obtained via my website. You will find my website listed in the Course Links under the External Links section of this course. If you do not have access to ANY library at all, please notify me as soon as possible. I will mail you a set of the articles at no cost.

Walter Kaiser, A History of Israel: From the Bronze Age to the Jewish Wars (Broadman & Holman).
Alfred Hoerth, Archaeology and the Old Testament (Baker).

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INTEGRATION OF FAITH AND LEARNING
The integration of faith and learning is evidenced in this course through the required readings and the interaction of the student with those readings. Each reading informs the student about either a specific historical question or historical period relevant to the biblical record. Assignment questions focus on areas of the biblical account where historical inquiry, archaeological scholarship, or even the biblical texts itself have engendered disagreement over the historicity of the biblical account. The student is exposed to the variety of opinions in the latter cases and asked to evaluate the way archaeologists and contemporary historical "schools" use the data and if they their presuppositions are evident. Questions also focus on areas of theological significance, where accuracy and interpretation of the biblical record directly affect one's theological positions.

LEARNING DOCUMENTATION
To determine if the course learning results have been attained, students document their learning by submitting the following items:
• Assignment #1 paper
• Assignment #2 paper
• Assignment #3 paper
• Assignment #4 paper
• Assignment #5 paper
• Assignment #6 paper
• Assignment #7 paper
• Assignment #8 paper
• Assignment #9 paper
There are 9 lessons and 0 examinations for this course.

LEARNING EVALUATION
Evaluation is on a point system:
Assignment #1 100 points
Assignment #2 100 points
Assignment #3 100 points
Assignment #4 100 points
Assignment #5 100 points
Assignment #6 100 points
Assignment #7 100 points
Assignment #8 100 points
Assignment #9 100 points
Total 900 points