Reading the Bible is easy, but reading it well isn’t. Should we read its stories as history? All of it? Or perhaps only part of it? If so, which parts? And if some parts aren’t meant to be read as history, then what are they? Was Jonah really swallowed by a large fish? Did the sun and moon stand still for Joshua? Did Moses really part the Red Sea? Did Jesus really raise Lazarus from the dead? Are miracles necessarily fiction? In this seminar, we will read together many of the most colourful stories of the Bible, sometimes alongside similar stories from the cultural context of ancient Israel, and discuss what genre (history, myth, legend, folktale) they belong to and how this affects our reading of these texts. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.