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Part 1 The setting: geography and ecology of the Land of Israel - the land, climate and vegetarian, population and agriculture in 1200 BCE, land and land use 1200-587 BCE, land and land use 587 to 63 BCE; the theological significance of the land; social organization - blood ties, conflicting logyalties, the function of genealogies, social groupings; Israel's neighbours - Canaanites, Transjordan, Amalekites and Midianites, Empires. Part 2 The history and religion of Israel: until the time of Solomon - the early Israelites, the Philistines, Saul, David and Solomon, Patriachal traditions, the Exodus; from the division of the kingdom to Babylonian exile - Jeroboam's rebellion, the divided kingdom, the house of OmrI, internal and external conflicts, Kings of Judah, Assyrian aggression, the invasion; Israel under the Persians and Ptolemies - exile, the situation in Judah, the "Return", Ezra and Nehemiah, Elephantine, Alexander and the Ptolemies; from the Maccabees to Herod the Great, the "Hellenistic crisis", the Hasmonean dynastry, Herod the Great. Part 3 Literature and life: creation and origin stories - Sumerian and Akkadian texts, the problems of sources, the meaning of "myth", Genesis; narratives - "factual" versus "fictional" narrative, simple and complex narratives, complex narratives, simple narration; legal texts - administration of justice, the book of the Covenant, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, the Decalogue (Ten Commandments); sacrificies and psalms - sacrifices; sacrifice in Ancient Israel, the world-view of Leviticus 1-16, the psalms; prophetic literature - what if "prophecy"?, prophecy as a social institution; prophets in the Ancient Near East, prophets in Ancient Israel, prophecy in the Old Testaement, individual prophets and prophetic books; wisdom literature - types of wisdom literature, who were the "wise"?; the Book of Proverbs; the Book of Job; the Book of Qoheleth; wisdom Psalms;, Ben Sira;, the Wisdom of Solomon; apocalyptic literature - the meaning of "apocalyptic", apocalyptic subject matter; divination; Jewish apocalypses; beyond the Old Testament - "Judaism", "Early Judaism"; outward characteristices of Early Judaism, times and seasons, the Holy Place - Temple and Priesthood; Scripture; Law and Scribes; the identity of "Israel" in Early Judaism. Part 4 The formation of the Old Testament: oral tradition and pre-exile collections - written forms of the Old Testament; post-exilic collections and the formation of the Canon; the Pentateuch.