2021-22 Academic Catalog

Who was Jesus? What’s in the Bible? How did Christianity begin? This course is an introduction to the oldest Christian documents we have (27 books in the New Testament) as well as several ancient texts that did not become part of the Bible. We will study this literature critically and historically by situating it within its ancient Jewish, Greco-Roman context, but we will also learn about the different ways modern readers have interpreted it. As we work our way through the texts, we will pay special attention to three topics of enduring debate and political significance in the history of biblical interpretation: (1) suffering, liberation, and empire; (2) antisemitism, and (3) gender, sexuality, and marriage.