Exploring the Bible From a Secular Perspective

In this class we'll be exploring the Bible from a secular perspective. We'll assume it was written by humans over a vast period of time and read it together to appreciate the poetry, humour, beauty and fascinating history. 

Some weeks will focus on a specific Bible passage. Others will focus on a Biblical theme. Sometimes I will try to pair the Biblical passage with passages from other ancient texts, so in some sessions students will learn bits of ancient Sumerian, Canaanite, or Hittite mythology.

The following is my tentative schedule for upcoming classes. I adjust the the schedule depending on the interests of the students and always welcome suggestions of what topics students would like covered.

Classes will resume in September. We will start with:

- Judges - uniting separate tribes against common enemies
- Failed attempts at kingship.
- Samson - failed attempts at leadership? Challenges of the strong-man?
- Eli and Samuel - how one story is sandwiched in another story to create an image of how authority can leave one family and be taken up by someone else.
- Saul - exploration in kingship, looking at the interaction of king and prophet.
- David's rise to kingship - David basically acts like a warlord declaring himself king, but the Biblical writers try to stress very hard that he isn't rebelling against an anointed king. Let's talk about how they do that.
- Attempts at overthrowing David's kingship. David's son acts very much like how David did before David becomes king, but this time it is bad. We'll look at how kingship is portrayed here.
- Women in David's life. Michal, Bathsheba, Abigail... what role do the women play?
- Solomon the Wise. We will look at the Biblical traditions as well as other Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions about King Solomon.
- Jeroboam and Rehoboam. We will talk about how the kingdom of Israel was split into Israel and Judah.
- Ahab, Elijah, and the Baal Cycle. We will look at the story of Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah with reference to the Ugaritic myths of Baal.
- Elisha and Elijah.