UM The New Oxford Annotated Bible & Historical Information Background Discussion

Assignment focus: The Writings is a collection full of post-exilic perspectives about living in relationship with the God of Israel while in diaspora. It is a collection with diverse voices, some dissident and skeptical. Prayer, wisdom, satire, humor, hyperbole, tragedy, love, philosophy and poetry can all be found within.

OPTION 1: You have been asked to create an advertisement to market the Writings. Your charge is to make the Writings appeal to a wide audience while still capturing the essence of what that collection of material means for the Hebrew Bible. In either a 1 page PDF full color ad, or at least a 1 minute video, or at least a 1 minute soundbite, make your pitch for the meaningfulness of the collection known as the Writings (Ketuvim). The best advertisements will capture the ANE context while also providing meaningful interaction with course material. You can choose to focus on one book in the Writings as the example you want to highlight, or you can pull in as much as you choose from all the Writings. Your assignment should contain at least two citations from the biblical text itself and at least one citation from scholarly notes at the bottom of NOAB (book), however that might look or sound in the medium you choose.

OPTION 2: Write a paper on the Writings, highlighting three distinct categories of literature (poetry, wisdom, novella, allegory, etc…). This paper will have five long paragraphs. It will have an opening paragraph, then three body paragraphs that each discuss a type of literature in the Writings, and a concluding paragraph. This option must include a quote from Coogan’s Very Short Introduction textbook and at least one citation from scholarly notes at the bottom of NOAB (book).