The primary focus of this course will be selections from Hebrew Bible and selections from the New Testament, with short visits to other ancient mesopotamian literature and to a modern work that ponders the value of a Biblical view of the world. Its goal will to make students aware of the great emotional range of the Bible as it writers seek to give shape to the mysteries of human life: the mystery of being itself, of man's relationship to the gods, of the separation of human beings from nature, the mystery of sex, of the desire for children, the fact of death and the fear of death, the fact of evil and the fear of evil, the longing for immortality, and the search for wisdom. No previous knowledge of the Bible is necessary. Two midterms, one paper, final. Text: The King James Version of the Bible, published by Zondervan; Gilgamesh (trans. Anon. and N. K. Sandars; Penguin); Melville's Billy Budd in Billy Budd and Other Stories (Penguin, 1985).