Fall 2007

MES 381 • BOOK OF JOB: TEXT AND LANGUAGE

Course Description

This course will concentrate on the Book of Job. From the linguistic and philological points of view, the Book of "Job" (Iyyov in Hebrew) is a most interesting challenge for students of Biblical Hebrew and comparative Semitics, on any academic level. From a literary perspective, Job is one of the greatest books of the "Wisdom Literature." In terms of structure, its story is contained within a framework of prologue-epilogue and a long series of heated dialogue between Job and his friends. The story culminates with the dramatic appearane of Gov in a storm--and a divine resolution in Job's favor. The various debates contained within the story center around the age-old problems of human suffering, justification for punishment, the question of divine justice, and the like. The Book of Job will be read in class in the original Hebrew along with linguistic, philological, and literary analyses (to include selections from traditional Hebrew commentaries in English).

Grading Policy

Class participation in the teaching of the Hebrew text of Job, class discussion, oral reports on articles/books of a list to be distributed in class and others by students' choice, and a term paper

Texts

Complete Hebrew Bible, any edition JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh Davidson - The Analytical Hebrew Chaldee Lexicon or Gesenius Lexicon

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