About The Class

The Bible has had a significant impact on the world history and culture, and it continues to be a powerful force in America today (See Barna "State of the Bible 2017" Survey Results). As described in the first introductory lecture, this course will strive to provide both Biblical Literacy (a knowledge of the Bible's stories) as well as Biblical Scholarship (an understanding of what modern scholarship believes about the Bible's influences, origins, dates, and authorship).

The course is hosted by the Universality Church of Los Alamos, but will be presented from a non-fundamentalist, but also non-denominational perspective. My goal will not be to convince you to think about the Bible in a specific way, but to provide information about the Bible's stories and history that can help you to come to your own conclusion. Perspectives of both faith and skepticism are welcome.

Lectures will be available online, so you can follow the course, even if you can't attend in person. New lectures should be posted approximately every month. Readings, links to recordings of the lectures, and links to the slides for each lecture are available in the Online Course Syllabus, and a google Calendar is available which will provide information and notifications for when the next classes will be held.

Most lectures will consist of two parts, first, a brief 10 minute discussion of some concept of general significance, or the introduction of a tool for study. Examples might include discussion of useful commentaries or Bible dictionaries, a discussion of techniques of textual criticism, history, etc. The remainder of the class will consist of a discussion of a particular Bible story (the Creation, the Fall, David and Goliath, Ruth, Bathsheba, etc). We will cover both the contents of each story, as well as its origins, original influences, and modern cultural significance.