BIB 313.

01 Pentateuch Syllabus
Instructor: Dr. Sample Instructor Office Hours: M-W 10am 3:30pm; T-TH 8am 12pm Credit Hours: 3.0 Prerequisite(s): BIB 312 Catalog Description: BIB 313.01 is a 3.0 credit, 8 week long, graduate level course that examines in depth the first five Old Testament books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), with special attention to developing themes, historical and exegetical studies, and applications for the contemporary church. This course will focus on the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Pentateuch. Emphasis will be on knowing the narrative and legal material in the text itself. The course will also focus on questions of introduction and background, as well as a study of the Documentary Hypothesis as it relates to the Pentateuch. Course Objectives: Upon successful completion of this course, a student should be able to:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Trace a history of interpretation of the Pentateuch with appropriate attention to historical critical methods and interact with modern Pentateuchal critical theories. Describe the historical and cultural background of the Pentateuchal narratives and the actions and behaviors of the early Hebrew/Israelite people. Discuss the basic content of the Pentateuch. Discuss various themes found in the Pentateuch. Describe the use of the Pentateuch in the New Testament and later Christian interpreters.

Required Textbook(s):

Wolf, Herbert. An Introduction to the Old Testament Pentateuch. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991. Walton, John H. and Victor H. Matthews. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Genesis-Deuteronomy. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1997. Pitts, Chuck. Pentateuch Lecture Notes. Found at http://users.ev1.net/~cpitts.

Suggested Textbook(s)/Workbook:

The Bible (either New International Version or New Revised Standard Version)

Course Requirements:

You must obtain a copy of the required Textbook(s) on or before the first week of class. Access to a computer equipped with the following: Software: OpenOffice ( http://download.openoffice.org/) Software: Adobe Acrobat Reader (version 6 or newer) (www.Adobe.com) a Broadband Internet Connection a Monitor with resolution set to a minimum of 1024 x 768 pixels (1280 x 1024 is recommended) An up-to-date web browser (Recommend: Firefox 4+, Safari 5+, or Google Chrome 11+) 3. You must have a working e-mail account. Before the first day of class, you must send the instructor an email. Enter the course number in the subject line of the email. 4. You must check your e-mail account regularly throughout the semester. Official announcements will be made by e-mail, and on the course web site at https://nlts.populiweb.com/ . 5. You are responsible for saving all assignments correctly and uploading them in the Populi system. You should be comfortable using word processing software, and have reasonable keyboarding skills. All assignments will REQUIRE you to use word processing or text editing software. No assignments will be accepted in handwritten form.
1. 2.

Grading Policy: Academic honesty is expected. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. You are expected to do your own work, unless the assignment is specified as a group assignment. You will receive a grade of zero on any assignment for which you do not do your own work or when unauthorized resources are used. The matter will be referred to the Dean appropriate action. Your grade for the course will be determined by the percentage of possible points that you have earned for all assignments, and letter grades will be awarded according to these standards. 93-100% = A 85- 92% = B 77- 84% = C 70- 76% = D 0- 69% = F Attendance Policy: Although this is an online course, it is not self-paced. Reasonable deadlines have been set to insure that you have adequate time to complete all assignments within the current session. Active participation in this class is required. Anyone who misses two due dates in a row, or more than three due dates, without communicating with the instructor prior to the due date, will be receive a failing grade for the course.

Assignments: All assignments will be due by midnight, Eastern Time, on the announced due date. Late penalties will be applied as follows: -5% for each day past the due date and time Up to -25% maximum penalty No assignments will be accepted if submitted more than two weeks past the announced deadline, or after the last day of the current session. The grade for the course will consist of the following assignments: Date Assignment Description Due Students are to log onto the class discussion board and Discussion Board 1 entry post an introduction. Each instructor will list introduction Introduction Students are required to post an answer to the instructors Weekly Discussion 7 entries weekly discussion question. Students are also required to Board Entries respond to at least two classmates discussion posts. 3 Projects are assigned by the instructor. Projects projects 4 Students are required to attend and participate in 4 Seminar seminars webinars Participation 1 exam Final Exam

% 5% 20% 25% 25% 25% 100%

Due dates and detailed instructions for all assignments are online at the course Web site at https://nlts.populiweb.com/ . Projects: There are four projects in this course. Projects are task-oriented, practical activities with the purpose of allowing students the opportunity to apply the information they learned in the Unit. Project Rubrics: Instructors will provide the rubrics that will be used to evaluate your work. Please review them carefully prior to submitting your projects for grading. Before submitting your project, re-read the assignment instructions and rubric, and re-evaluate your project to be certain that you have met the requirements. Discussion Board Participation: Discussion Questions provide a forum for students to ask questions and answer important questions about the course material. The discussion questions also allow students to receive feedback from the instructor and other students in the class. The instructor will post a discussion question weekly. Students are required to post an answer to the instructors discussion question. Each student is also required to respond to at least two of their classmates posts.

Discussion Participation Rubric: Discussion Board grades will be evaluated using the following rubric: Grade Points Grading Criteria A 93100 points Responses are posted on topic, original, and contribute to the discussion Responses posted to all required discussion questions Responses address all parts of each discussion question Responses make frequent references to unit materials Responses are clearly written with minor grammatical and/or spelling errors none to three Responses meet the posted length requirement Responses to classmates add value by advancing the discussion Minimum of two responses to classmates in each discussion
B 8592 points

Responses are largely original and contribute to the quality of the discussion Responses address all parts of each discussion question Responses make some references to unit materials Responses are clearly written with a few minor spelling and/or grammatical errors three to six Responses meet the posted length requirement Responses to classmates add value by advancing the discussion

Minimum of one response to a classmate in each discussion

7784 points

Responses are on topic but lack originality or fail to make a significant contribution to the discussion Responses do not address all parts of each discussion question Responses make insufficient references to unit materials Responses are not written clearly and/or have several spelling and/or grammatical errors six to ten Responses do not meet the posted length requirement Responses to classmate add limited value to the discussion Minimum of one response to a classmate

7076 points

Responses are only partially on topic, lack originality, or fail to make a significant contribution to the discussion Responses do not address all parts of each discussion question

Responses make little or no references to unit materials Responses are not clearly written and have many grammatical or spelling errors ten or more Responses do not meet the posted length requirement No responses to classmates