The Bible and Beyond
Ph.D. Concentration at Rice
The Bible and Beyond
One area of concentration in the Ph.D. program at Rice is the program
in Biblical Studies. The major components of this program include the
traditional study of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament within the
historical context of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, while
also acknowledging the rich and diverse literature beyond both canons.
These include the Old Testament and New Testament Apocrypha, the
Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Nag Hammadi and Gnostic
literature, and patristic literature from the Ante-Nicene period.
In
recent years, biblical scholars increasingly have come to realize the
importance of this literature “beyond the Bible,” not only because it
helps shed light on the canonical writings, but also because this
material is valuable in its own right. Importantly this literature
reveals to us that the richness of Judaism and Christianity was far
greater than that expressed in the canonical literature.
While
the study of Jewish and Christian history and literature are
disciplines in and of themselves, they are seen and studied together at
Rice. A student may elect to emphasize either tradition, but the study
of both is required.
The goal of the program is to train
students to work independently on texts of their choice, to eventually
become professors and scholars in the history, literature and
interpretation of the Testaments and related literature. To do so,
students will (1) become familiar with the history of the discipline,
(2) learn the historical-critical method of interpretation supplemented
by other methods used in the field, (3) gain linguistic proficiency in
the relevant ancient languages, (4) study primary texts, and (5) become
conversant in the history and material culture of antiquity.
Minimal Requirements
1. RELI 576 Critical Approaches to the Bible
2. TWO Parabiblical Courses
a. RELI 553 The Dead Sea Scrolls OR RELI 509 Lost Judaisms: The
Apocryphal Writings
b. RELI 481 The Gnostic Gospels
Seminar OR RELI 504 Early Christian
Gospels
3. Must pass proficiency
language exam in TWO of following languages: Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, Coptic
Weblink to Rice
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| First page of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, Nag Hammadi collection, Coptic Museum, Cairo |
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