Cultural-Religious Environment Early Christianity
This course examines specific aspects of the cultural and religious environment of the Mediterranean world between 200 B.C. and A.D. 300 relevant to early Christianity.
Outcomes A deep level of understanding and of critical thinking with respect to the subject matter of the course.
This course examines specific aspects of the cultural and religious environment of the Mediterranean world between 200 B.C. and A.D. 300 relevant to early Christianity.
Outcomes A deep level of understanding and of critical thinking with respect to the subject matter of the course.
Restricted to Graduate School students.
Jesus is the foundational figure of Christian history, teaching, and proclamation. Especially in the western world, interpretations of his life, ministry, death, and ongoing significance have shaped societies, influenced world cultures, and determined the various trajectories of religious devotion, politics, and popular culture. The New Testament introduces us to a Jewish man named Jesus but not in a singular form. Instead, we meet various iterations of the man from Nazareth and these versions of Jesus become fodder for his reception throughout history. The formal pursuit of the ¿historical Jesus¿ has occupied scholars for portions of the past three centuries and has largely attempted to sift ¿history¿ from ¿tradition¿ while also deliberating on ¿what actually happened.¿ This course will introduce the critical assumptions of historical Jesus research, trace the various shifts this scholarly pursuit has taken, and provide students with the tools to think critically and meaningfully about the important distinctions between the ¿Jesus of history¿ and the ¿Christ of faith.¿
The class will be devoted to exploring the following topics in detail:
1. A History of the Three ¿Quests¿ for the Historical Jesus
2. Our Sources for Studying the Historical Jesus
3. Jesus, Early Christian Gospels, and the ¿Multiformity¿ of Early Christianity
4. The Emergence of Social Memory Theory
5. Prospects for Future Research
6. What Can We Really Know?
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