I took a class a few years ago - Women of the Old Testament. It was one of the most interesting classes I've EVER taken, and left me with a taste for more about the Bible as history (because, of course, the Bible was written by humans, and has been translated so there are gaps and...exaggerations)

If you don't mind me recommending it, you might friend poliphilo. He was a clergyman at one time and knows a GREAT deal about religious history.