However, a number of books will be ordered as supplemental reading.  You may look at the suggested, annotated reading list, noting that an asterisk ( * ) indicates the works I personally prefer.  When dealing with the narratives, I prefer the Anchor Bible for my reading, but the Torah, King James, or Revised Standard texts are fine for your own uses.  Once we begin the course, I will find out from those enrolled which supplemental texts you would like available at the campus bookstore. 

Web Links

The following sites may be of interest to you.  As the course progresses, we'll add others, with comment, and make them generally available on this website.  I think you'll find some of these sites quite helpful as study guides, informational, or, perhaps, even controversial.

http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/

(Home site of the The New American Bible, complete with all biblical texts)

http://www.americanbible.org/

(Home site of the American Bible Association: useful for texts and other information)

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/

(A parallel site to the one above, but for the non-believer)

http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/

(Jefferson, despite the modern American tendency in many circles--most notably Fundamentalism--of attributing to all the Founding Fathers a faith similar to what most Christians profess today, had his own peculiarities with regard to Scripture: he accepted what he liked and removed what he didn't: hence, the Jeffersonian Bible)

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000D4FEC-7D5B-1D07-8E49809EC588EEDF&catID=2

(For a long time, most scientists refused to bother with the Creationism vs. Science explanations for life.  The Scientific American, for one, refused to acknowledge that Creationism even merited refutation, such were its poor arguments and denials of observable facts.  However, the journal finally could hold out no longer.  The article found at this site sets forth fifteen straightforward reasons why Creationism should be ignored, at best)

http://www.ancientpathway.com/godgoddess/Lilith/lilith.html                                                  (goddess Lilith)

(On the controversy about Adam's "first wife," Lilith; you'll find this site interesting, if for no other reason than that of learning about many of the Hebrew myths that went largely ignored once certain texts became "authorized": the photo at right comes from the site)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101021104-384797,00.html

(The Time Magazine article about the ossuary of James, who may have been the brother of Jesus and son of Joseph, recently authenticated by scholars as dating from the 1st century, C.E.--see too, Biblical Archaeology Review)

(For those with scarier tastes, take a look at Time Magazine's article on the Bible and the Apocalypse)

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,265345,00.html

(Is the Bible fact or fiction?  Take a look at this article in Time Magazine)

http://www.highwayvideo.com/Sermon_Outlines/atyourfeet.pdf

(Academe, Bulletin of the American Association of University and College Professors (AAUP), did an issue on religion and the academy, with such articles as "Orthodox Judaism and the Liberal Arts," the question of professors getting "sanction" to teach particular subjects, and problems that religious-affiliated schools may have with their faculty.)

http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/01jf/Jf01toc.htm

(This site's purpose is to respond to Christian attempts at conversion, or to organizations such as "Jews for Christ."  You'll find Orthodox Judaism's responses to Calvin, Mormonism, the Messiah, etc.)

http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/j4j-2000/index.html

I found an advertisement in the newspaper that asked that I cut and share it with others--You can take a look at it here (I apologize for the quality, but this has been scanned and cleaned up as best I could).

So, what do you think?

The opening to the Gospel of John, written in the Koine Greek:

Information on Genesis:

Information on the Book of Job:  

http://www.religioustolerance.org/ 

http://www.jcsm.org/ ("Jesus Christ Saves Ministries")

Richard Dawkins, professor at Oxford University, gives us an interesting essay arguing against atheists, and most especially agnostics, yielding ground on the science/religion divide.  His provocative essay answers those who see religion and science finding some sort of convergence in a new age of thought and feeling.

http://www.forbes.com/asap/1999/1004/235_print.html 

Informative sites about C.S. Lewis, Christian apologist and author of numerous children's books:

http://www.radiotheatre.org/product/narnia/nephew/

 http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/lewis.htm

 http://www.scriptorum.org/l/narnia.html

 http://www.scriptorum.org/l.html

Here's a well-done website that offers materials and study information on books of the Bible, including some beautiful rustic art work.

http://www.theseason.org/plough.htm 

This site says it has literature from the past, for children of all ages--which includes Bible stories.

http://www.ongoing-tales.com/SERIALS/oldtime/ 

Here's one for you: a link that claims that cannabis is used and mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures:

http://www.hempbc.com/magazine/mayjune96/kanehbosm.html 

And just for fun: a site of biblical Lego images

www.thebricktestament.com