THEO5217
Deuteronomistic History
3 Units
This course covers the major scholarship pertaining to the so-called Deuteronomistic History (DH), a perceived coherent literary unit that encompasses the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. It provides an overview of the major models on the literary production of the DH as put forth by the historical-critical scholars throughout the 19th to 21st century and examines the literary structure, central themes, and textual issues of these books by positing them within the literary culture of the ancient times. It traces the development of the current debates on the DH that both challenge various suppositions in the original formulation of the theory and yet continue to assert the validity of the overall thesis.