• Teaching for the compulsory core course is covered by a combination of lectures, seminars and tutorials covering the principal sources for exegesis of Hebrew Bible, and select topics will be given in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms. Topics covered may include ancient Bible translation, Qumran, New Testament, Rabbinic hermeneutics, Greek and Latin patristics, or early Syriac Commentary. They will be explored in the essays set. The assessment for this paper consists of a single three-hour examination on essay topics, taken at the end of the third term (Trinity).
  • If required, intensive elementary language teaching followed by textual study in a second Semitic language is available in the first term, comprising two to three hours per week. Set texts in the first Semitic language (and in Latin and Greek if desired) will be studied in classes in all three terms.
  • Most teaching will take place in small classes or tutorials, supplemented by recommended lectures and seminars. You will be expected to prepare the language exercises or texts in advance of each class. Since the language teaching will start with the basics of the grammar, classes may be shared with beginners in other appropriate courses (Classical Hebrew, Syriac and Aramaic, at undergraduate or graduate level). Assessment is by two three-hour examination papers on prescribed texts, taken at the end of Trinity term.