RELIGION 1317 / HDS 1563 – Beyond the Canon: Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Other Outside Books

RELIGION 1317 / HDS 1563 – Beyond the Canon: Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Other Outside Books

Semester: Spring
Offered: 2024
Instructors: Annette Reed
Meeting Time: T 12:00pm-3:00pm

This seminar revisits the making of “the Bible” with a focus on ancient writings about the biblical past outside of the Tanakh and Protestant Old Testament. First, we will consider the biblical past in precanonical perspective, reading selections from Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Dead Sea Scrolls. Then, we will explore their later Jewish and Christian reception, asking how a focus on such materials might shed new light on the formation of Jewish and Christian biblical canons.

Recommended Prep: Some background in ancient Judaism and/or early Christianity, but not required.

Offered jointly with: Harvard Divinity School as HDS 1563.

For more details please visit the Harvard Course Catalog.