REL 210(F) Reading Jesus, Writing Gospels: Christian Origins in Context
What were the religious and cultural landscapes within which Christianity
emerged? How did inhabitants of the ancient Mediterranean world speak about
the concept and significance of the concept of religion? How was Jesus
understood? In the first half of this course, we shall address these questions
by examining the formation of Christianity from its origins as a Jewish movement
until its legalization, using a comparative sociohistorical approach. In
the second half of the course, we shall examine the earliest literature produced
by the Jesus movement and consider it within the comparative framework developed
in the first half of the course. Readings will include: Jonathan Z. Smith,
Drudgery Divine; Greg Riley, One Jesus, Many Christs; John Crossan, Jesus:
A Revolutionary Biography; Morton Smith, Jesus the Magician; Michel Foucault,
The Care of the Self; as well as primary sources from Mediterranean antiquity.
Class format: lecture, discussions, workshops. Requirements: one class
presentation; 4 brief papers (2-3 pages); one historiographical essay (5
pages), and one historical research paper (15 pages).
Open to all classes without prerequisite.