| Unit name | Jewish Law |
|---|---|
| Unit code | LAWD30010 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Burnside |
| Open unit status | Open |
| Pre-requisites |
None. |
| Co-requisites |
None. |
| School/department | University of Bristol Law School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
This unit explores the nature of early Jewish law, legal method and legal institutions by reference to their literary, social and theological context. Biblical legal and narrative texts will be analysed to appreciate how the concerns of early Jewish law are expressed and developed. The unit will also identify substantive and presentational differences between early Jewish law and modern legal concepts and legal assumptions.
Outline of course seminars:
Students should normally acquire the following by the end of the course:
(1) Familiarity with some of the early legal institutions of Jewish law;
(2) Ability to interpret early Jewish law in its Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) context;
(3) Familiarity with claims made in biblical narratives about the nature of early Jewish law and legal method;
(4) Basic familiarity with the principal trends in modern scholarship on Jewish law;
(5) Enhanced ability to read biblical texts, both legal and narrative, and appreciate how their concerns are expressed; and
(6) Appreciate the substantive and presentational differences between early Jewish law and modern legal concepts and legal assumptions.
The unit will be taught through 10 one-hour lectures and 10 two-hour seminars.
1 formative assessment: 1 x 1,000 coursework. Formative assessments do not count towards final mark and can be optional.
2 x summative assessments: 2 x 2,000 word coursework. Summative assessments do count towards final mark.
The assessments will assess all of the intended learning outcomes for this unit.
Key literature:
(1) Burnside, J. P. 2011. God, Justice and Society: Aspects of Law and Legality in the Bible. New York: OUP NY;
(2) Crüsemann, F. 1996. The Torah: Theology and Social History of Old Testament Law. Edinburgh: T & T Clark;
(3) Jackson, Bernard S. 2006. Wisdom-Laws: A Study of the Mishpatim of Exodus 21:1-22:16. Oxford: OUP.
(4) The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law, ed. Brent A. Strawn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), vols. 1 and 2. Roth, M. T. 1997. Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Atlanta: Scholars Press.
