FF:RLMgB020 Religion of Israel - Course Information

RLMgB020 Religion of Ancient Israel in the Light of Archaeology

The course is not taught in Spring 2025

Extent and Intensity

1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).

Teacher(s)

PhDr. Dalibor Papoušek, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

PhDr. Dalibor Papoušek, Ph.D.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Matouš Vencálek
Supplier department: Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts

Prerequisites (in Czech)

! RLB20 Religion of Israel

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Study of Religions (programme FF, N-RL_) (3)

Course objectives

The course covers the oldest periods of the Israelite religion until the Hellenization of Syria-Palestine. It confronts the traditional picture of religious life, reconstructed mostly from Biblical traditions, with the results of archaeological excavations and thus offers a more complex approach for discussions.

Learning outcomes

After the successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

demonstrate the basic factual knowledge of the Israelite religion in the pre-Hellenistic period;

analyze relevant Biblical sources on the basis of textual criticism;

use archaeological evidence for the reconstruction of Israelite religious life in the pre-Hellenistic period;

revise the retrospective idealization of the history of Israel in the Deuteronomistic historiography;

propose a more complex picture of the ancient Israelite religion grounded in written as well as archaeological sources.

Syllabus

• Introduction to the course.
• Ethnogenesis of Hebrew tribes and the origins of Israel.
• The Conquest of Canaan in the light of archaeology.
• The Kingdom of David and Solomon in the confrontation of Biblical and archaeological sources.
• High places and their archaeological evidence.
• Typology of Canaanite temples.
• Solomon's temple and its archaeological analogies.
• Hezekiah and Sennacherib in the light of Biblical and Assyrian sources.
• Archaeological background of Josiah's Deuteronomistic reform.
• The question of child sacrifices.
• Yehud in the post-exilic period.
• Epigraphic evidence of the Yahwist cult.
• Iconic and aniconic symbolizations in Israel.

Literature

• FINKELSTEIN, Israel and Neil Asher SILBERMAN. Objevování Bible : svatá Písma Izraele ve světle moderní archeologie. Vyd. 1. Praha: Vyšehrad, 2007, 329 s. ISBN 9788070218693. info
• JEPSEN, Alfred. Královská tažení ve starém Orientu : od Sinuheta k Nabukadnezarovi. Praha: Vyšehrad, 1997, 239 s. ISBN 8070212136. info
• ZEVIT, Ziony. The religions of ancient Israel : a synthesis of parallactic approaches. 1st pub. London: Continuum, 2001, xx, 821. ISBN 0826463398. info
• Sacred time, sacred placearchaeology and the religion of Israel. Edited by Barry M. Gittlen. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2002, xii, 228 p. ISBN 9781575065274. info
• GRABBE, Lester L. Ancient Israel : what do we know and how do we know it? London: T. & T. Clark, 2007, xx, 306. ISBN 9780567032546. info

Teaching methods

Lectures, class discussions based on home readings and individual written commentaries, presentation and defense of colloquial projects.

Assessment methods

Requirements for the colloquium:

at least three presentations in class discussions;

six semestral written commentaries on assigned texts;

colloquial project including its defense.
The final assessment includes: semestral commentaries and presentations in class discussions (100 points in a ratio 60:40 = 50%, limit 60 points); colloquial project (100 points = 50%, limit 60 points).

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: every week.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Zápis mimo religionistiku je podmíněn souhlasem vyučujícího.

• Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  
• Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/RLMgB020