Great Minds Lecture Series continues March 23: Dan Pioske, Ph.D., to speak

March 20, 2017

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences’ (CLASS) 2017 Great Minds Lecture Series will continue on Thursday, March 23 at 5:30 p.m. with Assistant Professor of religious studies Dan Pioske, Ph.D., presenting “Why is the Bible a Text: Memory, Orality, and the Birth of Prose Literature.”

Pioske’s lecture will examine the possible early audiences for the Hebrew Bible, the factors that led to its composition, and how prose writing emerged from an oral storytelling tradition in ancient Israel.

“One of the great mysteries of the Hebrew Bible is how its stories about the past came to be,” said Pioske. “This question is made more difficult at the outset by the fact that the ancient biblical writers who composed these texts took no credit for them, thus leaving these writings with no discernible author in view.”

The “Torah Scroll” and the “Cuneiform Tablet” will both be used throughout the lecture. These documents will be on display through May 5 at the Zach S. Henderson Library’s Remnant Trust Exhibit.

The lecture will take place in the Russell Union, room 2047. It is free and open to the public.

For more information on the 2017 Great Minds Lecture and to view a full schedule of the lectures please visit class.georgiasouthern.edu/greatminds.

The Remnant Trust was founded in 1997 and is a Non-Profit 501(c)(3) organization. The Trust makes available to the general public a world class collection of manuscripts, 1st and early edition works, for use in original form. The mission of The Remnant Trust is to elevate educational standards & the public’s understanding of individual liberty & human dignity through the precedent setting, hands on availability of the world’s great ideas in original form. For more information on the documents on display at Georgia Southern University please visit http://georgiasouthern.libguides.com/remnanttrust.

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) is the largest of the eight colleges that make up Georgia Southern University, and it plays a central role in every student’s core of knowledge. CLASS, also described as the University’s College of the Creative Mind, prepares students to achieve academic excellence, develop their analytical skills, enhance their creativity and embrace their responsibilities as citizens of their communities, their nations and the world. CLASS offers more than 20 undergraduate degrees and several interdisciplinary minors from its 11 departments and five academic centers. CLASS offers eight master’s degrees, two graduate certificates and one doctoral degree. For more information, visit class.georgiasouthern.edu.

Georgia Southern University, a public Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers more than 125 degree programs serving 20,673 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. Georgia Southern is recognized for its student-centered and hands-on approach to education. Visit GeorgiaSouthern.edu.