GRADES 

Atkinson College, Spring 2008

Instructor: Dr. Tony Chartrand-Burke
E-mail: tburke@yorku.ca
Phone: (416) 736-2100 ext. 22329
Time and Location: Monday and Wednesday 7-10 pm, Location WC118

1. Course Description

Most people take the existence of the modern English Bible for granted—they assume it sprang fully-formed from the hands of the ancient writers or even directly from God. But the Bible has been three millennia in the making. This course traces the development of the Bible beginning with discussions in the first to third centuries on canon formation, through the myriad translations made from antiquity to today, to modern scholars’ attempts to reconstruct the original form of the biblical texts. We will look also at the form various Bibles have taken—from the original scrolls and codices, to elaborately decorated manuscripts, to modern books—as well as the historical events that precipitated the creation of several key editions, and the impact these editions have made over time. Particular attention will be paid to the techniques of text criticism—i.e., the painstaking efforts to sift through the variety of readings in ancient manuscripts to recover the biblical writers’ original words.

2. Required Texts

De Hamel, Christopher. The Book: A History of the Bible. London: Phaidon, 2001.

Metzger, Bruce M. and Bart D. Ehrman. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. 4th ed. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Metzger, Bruce M. The Bible in Translation: Ancient and English Versions. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001.

Ehrman, Bart. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. San Francisco: Harper, 2005.

3. Assignments

NOTE: Submit all your graded work to Turnitin.com.

For an overview of this service and the University’s policies regarding Turnitin.com, please see:

It is very simple to use. Go to www.turnitin.com for instructions on how to create a user profile. You can use whatever email address you wish but it must be a working one since you will receive emails over the course of the year. It is recommended that you NOT use internet email accounts (e.g., Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.). You create your own password so make it easy to remember. You will also require the following information to sign in initially: Class ID: 2267914. Password: Bible.

A. Academic Integrity: York University is very concerned about the increase in student plagiarism. As heinous a crime as plagiarism is, sometimes it is perpetrated in ignorance. The university has set up an on-line tutorial to help students recognize acts of plagiarism. You are required to complete this tutorial (no papers will be accepted until you do so). Go to the web site and work your way through the tutorial. Print off the results of the quiz and hand them in on May 12. There is no grade value for this assignment, but no papers will be accepted until the test results are handed in to the instructor. Site address:  http://www.yorku.ca/tutorial/academic_integrity/

B. Essay: on May 14 you will submit a paper with the title “Reading and Writing the Bible in Antiquity.” The paper is essentially a summary of the first three classes and their readings. But focus on the following questions: what are the differences between today and antiquity when it comes to writing, disseminating, and reading? How does this impact how we study the Bible in its original setting? Be sure to follow and attach the essay style sheet available HERE. Length: five pages (double-spaced). Due date: May 14. Value: 30%.
C. Encyclopedia Article: scholars often are called upon to submit short, general treatments of a topic for inclusion in a dictionary or encyclopedia. You are to model this practice by selecting an English version of the Bible made prior to the King James Version and composing an essay similar in style and format as encyclopedia entries. Samples of such entries are available HERE. The essay should be 1500 words long (no longer), not including the bibliography, which should contain approximately six works. These works should deal with both general and specific issues related to your subject. All essays must conform to the NIDB style guide. Due date: May 28. Value: 30%.
D. Critique: Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus has stirred up much debate, particularly among conservative Bible scholars. Read Ehrman’s book and then read the critique by Darrell Bock and Dan Wallace (available from the book store). Present Bock and Wallace’s arguments and assess their value: do you agree with their criticisms? Do you think they are being fair to Ehrman? Be sure to follow and attach the essay style sheet available HERE. Length: five pages (double-spaced). Due date: June 16. Value: 30%.
E. Class Participation: to encourage an optimum of instructor/student interaction, a portion of your final grade is allocated to class participation. The grade is based on class attendance, and on asking/answering questions. Grade value: 10%.

Missing papers: In the event that papers go missing, it is your responsibility to keep a hard copy of all written work submitted for the course.

Late papers: the instructor, like you, is a very busy person. He likes to receive papers on time so that he can give them back to you within a reasonable time and then get on with other things he has to do (the instructor has other courses to teach and other papers to grade). Late papers complicate his life. So, he cannot accept late papers unless they are accompanied with documentation from Special Needs or Health Services. Contact the professor if you foresee problems handing in papers on time.

4. Important Dates

May 9: Last date to enroll without permission of instructor
May 16: Last date to enroll with permission of instructor
May 30: Last date to drop course without receiving a grade

5. Lecture Schedule

Please come to class having read the assigned primary and secondary readings. A lecture outline for each class will be posted on-line by Sunday evening and by Tuesday evening of each week. It is your responsibility to print your own copy of the outline and bring it to class.

May 5: Introduction to the course
PRESENTATION
Read after class: de Hamel, introduction.

May 7: Early Manuscript Production
LECTURE OUTLINE
Read for Today: Metzger-Ehrman 1.

May 12: Canon Formation
LECTURE OUTLINE
Read for Today: consult the following web pages for summaries of the issues regarding canon formation: Canon of the Old Testament, Canon of the New Testament.
** Academic Integrity Test due today **

May 14: Ancient Versions of the Old Testament and Early Translations of the New Testament
LECTURE OUTLINE
Read for Today: Metzger 1-2; Metzger-Ehrman 2.
On-Line Resources: for more on the Septuagint, visit http://www.kalvesmaki.com/LXX/.
** “Reading and Writing the Bible in Antiquity” essay due today **

May 19: Holiday 

May 21: The First Critical Editions (Jerome to Charlemagne)
LECTURE OUTLINE
Read for Today: de Hamel 1-2.
On-Line Resources: the Bible contains many anachronisms, contradictions and difficult statements. For a discussion of these phenomena from the liberal perspective visit www.skepticsannotatedbible.com, then head over to www.biblequery.org for the conservative response.

May 26: Bibles in the Middle Ages
LECTURE OUTLINE
Read for Today: de Hamel 3-6.
On-Line Resources: visit www.biblegateway.com and search up to 19 English translations of the Bible as well as a number of non-English Bibles (if you’ve ever wanted to read Leviticus in Haitian Creole, now’s your chance).

May 28: The First Printed Bibles
LECTURE OUTLINE
Read for Today: De Hamel 7-9; Metzger 3; Metzger-Ehrman 3.
On-Line Resources: for more on the Gutenberg Bible visit http://www.gutenbergdigital.de/gudi/start.htm\.
** Encyclopedia article due today **

June 2: No class

June 4: The King James Bible
PRESENTATION
Read for Today: Metzger 4.
On-Line Resources: some conservative Christians believe the King James Bible a divinely-inspired translation. For discussion of the arguments for and (mostly) against this viewpoint see http://www.kjv-only.com/.

June 9: Modern English Bibles
LECTURE OUTLINE
TRANSLATION CHART
Read for Today: de Hamel 10-11, Metzger 5-16.
On-Line Resources: for more discussion of Bible translations visit: http://www.geocities.com/bible_translation/

June 11: The Modern Search for Origins
LECTURE OUTLINE
Read for Today: de Hamel 12; Metzger-Ehrman 4-7.
On-line Resources: the readings for today from the textbook discuss the process of assembling the modern New Testament from ancient Greek manuscripts. For additional insights into this process check out the Interpreting Ancient Manuscripts site at http://www.earlham.edu/~seidti/iam/interp_mss.html. Here you will see a detailed description of how scholars work with manuscripts to establish a critical edition. Be sure to try the Exercise in Textual Criticism to get a sense of the difficulties faced by New Testament text critics.

June 16: Text Criticism
Read for Today: Metzger-Ehrman 8-9.
On-Line Resources: Bart Ehrman and Dan Wallace, the scholars you are to read for today, engaged in a debate in April 2008 at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. You can read a summary of the debate HERE. And here is another article.
** Ehrman Critique due today **