Teaching Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible

Abstract This chapter presents some principles and ideas for teaching textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, aiming to pass on an interest and passion for the subject to students. It describes how institutional and classroom settings impact what can and should be taught. It then lays out some exemplary case studies that can be used in the classroom. Through case studies, students get a feel for the history of scholarship and are exposed to methodological issues, all while exercising their linguistic and text-critical muscles. The chapter concludes with a discussion of theoretical conversations in today’s scholarship that would make for exciting classroom material, in part by helping to dislodge the traditional focus of textual criticism on restoring an earliest or original text.