November 2009
Welcome to the monthly electronic publication, Teaching the Bible — TB for short. Designed to support teachers of high school Bible electives, it features easy to read and reliable resources that you can use in your classroom. Send your comments to: Moira Bucciarelli.

Definitions
Psalms and Shepherd: Two definitions helpful to a reading of Psalm 23 (and other biblical passages) from the new Harper Collins Bible Dictionary (condensed).
Definitions

Audio
In this issue, we draw attention to a series of excellent podcasts produced by Professor Mark Goodacre, of Duke University. His “NT Pod” is available through iTunesU. These may be at a level more of interest to teachers than students. We welcome your feedback.
NT Pod

Web Resource
This interactive resource on the Assyrian king Sennacherib’s invasion of Hezekiah’s Judah in 701 by Craig C. Broyles is a useful classroom tool, as it shows parallel accounts of the event. This piece appeared in a recent issue of Bible Study Magazine . Public school teachers need to be aware of how they introduce resources that reflect values and views of a particular religious community. This November issue includes selections from the Jewish Publication Society, and Bible Study Magazine, both of which include religious understandings of the Bible. Because the academic content of these pieces are both sound and engaging, we include them here.

About the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL)
The SBL was founded in 1880 and is an international academic membership organization for people who teach, study, or are interested in academic study of the Bible and its related contexts and literatures. The Society’s mission is to foster biblical scholarship and does not hold any denominational or confessional stance, though many of our members are religious leaders.

Feature Essays

Storytelling in the Hebrew Bible
by Adriane Leveen

This excerpt is from the JPS Guide to the Jewish Bible (Jewish Publication Society, 2008). It contains helpful background information for teachers on the various ways that stories are used in the biblical texts.
Read more >>

Psalm 23 and the Fear of Stagnant Waters
by James H. Charlesworth

Professor James Charlesworth recounts the surprising questions his students brought to the study of Psalm 23, and how their questions led him to rethink how to teach the Psalms and translate them.
Read more >>

Book Review

Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums by Clyde E. Fant & Mitchell G. Reddish.
Reviewed by Michael Chan
A review of a book focused on material artifacts in museums around the world that relate to biblical literature, with ideas about its use in the high school classroom. Read more >>

Timeline
Empire and Exile in the Hebrew Bible
by B. Breed and S. Spitzner
From 1200 to 445 BCE, The house of Israel was divided into a Northern Kingdom, Israel, and a Southern Kingdom, Judah. This timeline pairs up the archaeological record and the biblical accounts of the emergence of the two small kingdoms in relation to larger neighboring empires.
Open timeline >>

Active Learning
Traditional Tales, by Ronald A. Simkins
This activity gets students working in groups to discover similarities in certain types of Bible stories (“fixed forms”) and differences between those similar stories. The author suggests that the subtle differences point to the unique meaning of each story.