SEMINAR PROFILE

H07 -
Genesis

The book of Genesis is one of the most important texts in three religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But it is also deservedly at the center of many literary traditions as well. In the course we will explore the reasons for this second, but not necessarily secondary, place of the book, in part by asking difficult questions of intent. Was the book intended as a religious handbook, a story of national origin, a tale about the human condition, or all of the above? By attending closely to the texture and structure of the book, we will attempt to extract the book from any pre-existent paradigm and look at what it is actually doing, what claims it is making for itself, and what it wants from us. We will, in essence, attempt to interpret it in order to rescue it from its interpreters.

Scholar:

Kevin Dunn

Location:

Harvard Hillel

Dates:

12/8/2016, 12/15/2016

H07 -	Genesis

	The book of Genesis is one of the most important texts in three religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But it is also deservedly at the center of many literary traditions as well. In the course we will explore the reasons for this second, but not necessarily secondary, place of the book, in part by asking difficult questions of intent. Was the book intended as a religious handbook, a story of national origin, a tale about the human condition, or all of the above? By attending closely to the texture and structure of the book, we will attempt to extract the book from any pre-existent paradigm and look at what it is actually doing, what claims it is making for itself, and what it wants from us. We will, in essence, attempt to interpret it in order to rescue it from its interpreters.

		Scholar:	Kevin Dunn
		Location:	Harvard Hillel
		Dates:	12/8/2016, 12/15/2016