Syllabus: Biblical Hebrew I

“If I had been a priest I should have made thorough study of Hebrew and Greek so as to understand the thought of God as he has vouchsafed to express it in our human language." - Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Biblical Hebrew I
Semester II: 2011-2012
Teacher: Randolf C. Flores, SVD
Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City

Schedule: Wednesday, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Room: Arnoldus Hall Anteroom


Description of the Course: This is a one semester course designed for students of Theology at the Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City. The course is required for S.T.B. and M.A. in Theology (Scripture). It aims at providing students a fundamental knowledge of the following:
1. Biblical Hebrew vocabulary (at least 300 words).
2. Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Prepositions, and basic forms of the Verbs (esp. the Qal conjugation);
3. Reading and translation of simple Hebrew sentences taken from the Hebrew Bible;
4. Use of lexica, dictionaries, and electronic programs (esp. BibleWorks)

Duration: 3 hours a week every Wednesday afternoon from 1:30 – 4:30.

Requirements: Active participation is necessary to benefit from this course. It implies coming to class well prepared (for the quizzes, homework and exams):

• Quiz every meeting: 35%
• Midterm Exam: 25%
• Final Exam: 30%
• Class Participation: *10%

*Class participation entails the ability to read in Hebrew and give a correct answer in class when called to do so.
Textbook: Thomas O. Lambdin, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971). Each student is responsible to secure a copy (photocopy) of this book. A copy is placed on reserve in the Arnoldus Library.

Blogsite: http://biblicalhebrew1.blogspot.com - please bookmark this address. Schedules, announcements, and grades will be posted on this website.

Important Note for the First Meeting on Nov. 9. Our class will immediately begin on November 9 (Wednesday). For the first meeting, you are expected to know at least every letter of the Hebrew alphabet and its corresponding name for a matching type diagnostic exercise.
Example:

To learn the alphabet, go to our blog for the link or go to http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/7_home.html
To practice how to write the scripts, go to our blog [or click here].