24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
The Early Christians and Their Literature
In our strictly historical study of the New Testament, our overarching questions will include: Who were the actual authors? To whom did they write?
1.
The Early Christians and Their Literature
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13.
The Acts of the Apostles
Written by the evangelist Luke, Acts narrates the growth and spread of the church, starting from just after Jesus' ascension. In this lecture we will explore this narrative, examine the historical accuracy of some of its accounts, and discuss Luke's perspective.
13.
The Acts of the Apostles
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2.
The Greco-Roman Context
Why must anyone who hopes to interpret the New Testament understand its historical context? What was the religious environment of the Greco-Roman world like? How was ancient paganism different from what people today think of as religion?
2.
The Greco-Roman Context
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14.
Paul—The Man, the Mission, and the Modus Operandi
Apart from Jesus, the most important figure in early Christianity was the apostle Paul. For various reasons, a clear picture of his life and teachings is elusive. Yet a careful reading of his letters and the book of Acts reveals significant information about the life and work of this highly religious Pharisaic Jew who became a Christian missionary, intent on spreading the Gospel among the Gentiles.
14.
Paul—The Man, the Mission, and the Modus Operandi
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3.
Ancient Judaism
Judaism, into which Jesus was born, was like other religions of the Greco-Roman world in some respects, but very different in others. At the time of Jesus, it had several sects. Many Jews embraced apocalyptic ideas, maintaining that God would soon intervene in history, crushing evil and bringing about his kingdom on Earth.
3.
Ancient Judaism
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15.
Paul and the Crises of His Churches—First Corinthians
Why can we take Paul's first letter to the Christians at Corinth as representative of all his writings? What are the problems besetting this community of believers? What is the Apostle's impassioned response?
15.
Paul and the Crises of His Churches—First Corinthians
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4.
The Earliest Traditions About Jesus
Even though the earliest traditions about Jesus go back to eyewitnesses, the Gospels were not written down for several decades. Why do scholars think that during this period, some traditions about Jesus came to be modified or even created?
4.
The Earliest Traditions About Jesus
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16.
Pauline Ethics
Paul's writings are pervaded by a concern for upright, moral living. He believes that even the Gentiles should strive to follow the ethical laws of the Jewish Scriptures, especially the command of Leviticus 19:18 that one should love one's neighbor as oneself. Given Paul's teaching that salvation cannot be gained through observance of God's law, does his ethical concern represent a paradox? Finally, is there a link between Paul's apocalyptic convictions and his teachings on ethics?
16.
Pauline Ethics
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5.
Mark—Jesus the Suffering Son of God
Mark is the shortest and oldest of the four Gospels. Its unknown author had access to oral traditions about Jesus. Mark orders these traditions into a portrait of Jesus as the authoritative but almost universally misunderstood Messiah and Son of God, whose mission is to suffer and die for the sins of the world.
5.
Mark—Jesus the Suffering Son of God
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17.
Paul’s Letter to the Romans
What is unique about the letter to the Romans? What are the two different models of salvation through Christ that Paul propounds here? And what part does God's revealed law, given to the Jews and preserved by them in the Hebrew Bible, play in God's ultimate plan of redemption?
17.
Paul’s Letter to the Romans
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6.
Matthew—Jesus the Jewish Messiah
Because Matthew, Mark, and Luke share so many of the same stories, they are often called the "Synoptic" Gospels. Their similarities are usually taken to mean that one, Mark, served as a source for the other two. One of the ways to study Matthew and Luke is to compare them to Mark, looking for evidence of modifications. Matthew in particular stresses Jesus' Jewish identity and his relationship to currents within the Judaism of his age.
6.
Matthew—Jesus the Jewish Messiah
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18.
Paul, Jesus, and James
In previous lectures we have examined the teachings of the historical Jesus and the theological views of the apostle Paul. In this lecture we will compare what we have found, adding the views of the apostle James to gain a rounded sense of the diversity of early Christian beliefs.
18.
Paul, Jesus, and James
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7.
Luke—Jesus the Savior of the World
Luke emphasizes Jesus as a Jewish prophet. Jesus knows that it is God's plan for his salvation to go out to the whole world, and hence does not predict the imminent end of the age. The message of salvation must first go out to the Gentiles, which will take time. Since the church will be in the world for a long haul, Luke puts a special stress on Jesus' "social" message of compassion for the poor and downtrodden.
7.
Luke—Jesus the Savior of the World
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19.
The Deutero-Pauline Epistles
This lecture considers some of the Deutero-Pauline epistles, so called because scholars accord them a secondary place within the Pauline corpus. Writing in someone else's name was a well-known practice in the ancient world, and could be a good strategy for getting one's work read. In this lecture, most of our attention will focus on Ephesians, which speaks eloquently of the unity of Jew and Gentile in Christ, but which does not appear to have come from Paul's pen.
19.
The Deutero-Pauline Epistles
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8.
John—Jesus the Man from Heaven
In John's strikingly singular account, Jesus' own identity is the core issue. Rather than simply being a misunderstood representative of God's will, or a rejected prophet, or a Jewish messiah sent from the Jewish God in fulfillment of the Jewish scriptures, John's Jesus is himself divine, equal with God, an incarnation of God's own Word through which he created the universe.
8.
John—Jesus the Man from Heaven
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20.
The Pastoral Epistles
What makes the letters 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus pastoral epistles? Why are scholars convinced that Paul himself could not have written them?
20.
The Pastoral Epistles
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9.
Noncanonical Gospels
More than 20 Gospels survive that did not make it into the New Testament. Most are highly legendary and use earlier written accounts as sources. They can be categorized as either narrative or "sayings" Gospels. In this lecture, you will examine examples of each, including one that is among the most exciting archaeological finds of modern times: the "Gnostic" Gospel of Thomas unearthed at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1947.
9.
Noncanonical Gospels
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21.
The Book of Hebrews and the Rise of Christian Anti-Semitism
Did you know that the so-called epistle to the Hebrews is neither an epistle nor addressed to the Hebrews? To whom is it addressed, then, and for what purpose? Why does it teach what it does about the superiority of Christianity to Judaism, and why did the early Christians include it in the canon?
21.
The Book of Hebrews and the Rise of Christian Anti-Semitism
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10.
The Historical Jesus—Sources and Problems
In this lecture, you move beyond a discussion of the early Christian Gospels as literary texts, each with a distinctive portrayal of Jesus, to consider their value as historical sources. How can sources that appear to contain discrepancies and that have their own theological agendas be used to achieve a historical reconstruction of the life of the man who stands behind them all?
10.
The Historical Jesus—Sources and Problems
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22.
First Peter and the Persecution of the Early Christians
This lecture briefly discusses 1 Peter and its teachings on suffering for the faith. Then it explores more broadly the issue of persecution in early Christianity. What was the status of Christianity under the Roman empire? Why were there outbreaks of persecution against Christians, and how systematic were the abuses inflicted on followers of Christ?
22.
First Peter and the Persecution of the Early Christians
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11.
The Historical Jesus—Solutions and Methods
What criteria do scholars use to determine which surviving traditions about Jesus preserve historically reliable information? This lecture explores these criteria at greater length, explaining the logic behind each and exploring several examples of how they can be applied.
11.
The Historical Jesus—Solutions and Methods
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23.
The Book of Revelation
The Revelation of John is probably the most fascinating book in the New Testament, and almost certainly the most widely misunderstood. This lecture explores apocalyptic writing as a symbol-rich literary form, and argues that this particular Christian apocalypse is best read within its own historical context of religious persecution under the Roman Empire.
23.
The Book of Revelation
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12.
Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet
Why does careful research indicate that the historical Jesus is best understood as a 1st-century Jewish apocalpyticist? What are the beliefs that fit under the rubric "apocalypticist," and how do the words and deeds of Jesus reveal his relationship to them?
12.
Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet
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24.
Do We Have the Original New Testament?
No original manuscript of any book in the New Testament appears to have survived. There are thousands of handwritten copies in Greek, but most date from centuries after the originals, no two match completely, and all are filled with mistakes.
24.
Do We Have the Original New Testament?
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24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Introduction to the Apostolic Fathers
The lecture introduces a set of works from the decades after the writing of the books of the New Testament that give us important insights into how Christianity was developing in its earliest stages.
1.
Introduction to the Apostolic Fathers
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13.
Barnabas and the Opposition to the Jews
We examine this long and intriguing letter—which was allegedly written by Paul's traveling companion but dates, in fact, from the early 2nd century—and consider whether it is fair to describe it as an early instance of Christian anti-Semitism.
13.
Barnabas and the Opposition to the Jews
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2.
The Letter of 1 Clement
Though written anonymously, this letter, supposedly written by a bishop, is clearly written by someone in the Christian Church of Rome to the church in Corinth to solve a major problem in that community.
2.
The Letter of 1 Clement
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14.
The Rise of Christian Anti-Semitism
This lecture traces the roots of anti-Jewish attitudes among some of Jesus' early followers in considering the reasons why Christianity was so quickly transformed from a sect within Judaism to an anti-Jewish religion.
14.
The Rise of Christian Anti-Semitism
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3.
Church Structures in Early Christianity
The lecture discusses the obvious changes in church structure implied by 1 Clement when it is compared to earlier mentions of the community of Corinth in the letters of Paul.
3.
Church Structures in Early Christianity
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15.
2 Clement—An Early Sermon
Not a letter and not by Clement, this work is, instead, an anonymous sermon—the first surviving sermon outside of the New Testament to come down to us from early Christianity.
15.
2 Clement—An Early Sermon
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4.
The Letters of Ignatius
The letters of this early 2nd-century bishop of Antioch make interesting reading—they hold the final words of a Christian anticipating his death and imminent martyrdom.
4.
The Letters of Ignatius
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16.
The Use of Scripture in the Early Church
This lecture examines how Scripture functioned for the early Christian communities, which, rather than taking a literal approach to text, often read it in figurative ways.
16.
The Use of Scripture in the Early Church
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5.
Doctrinal Problems in the Early Church
This lecture examines "Judaizing" forms of Christianity in the early church—forms that came to be labeled heretical because they insisted that being fully Christian required becoming a Jew.
5.
Doctrinal Problems in the Early Church
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17.
Papias—An Early Christian Interpreter
Questions of interpretation discussed in the previous lecture make a natural segue into the fragmentary writings of another Apostolic Father, Papias, including a number of legendary details about Jesus and his followers.
17.
Papias—An Early Christian Interpreter
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6.
Still Other Doctrinal Disputes
We look at the problems raised by "docetic" views, which maintained that Jesus was so fully divine that he could not be a human with real flesh and blood, but only seemed human.
6.
Still Other Doctrinal Disputes
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18.
Oral Tradition in Early Christianity
This lecture considers the issue of oral tradition versus written text, including the problem of the oral circulation of traditions, as stories tend to be changed and embellished in the process of retelling.
18.
Oral Tradition in Early Christianity
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7.
The Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians
One of Ignatius's letters mentions a possible act of embezzlement by a church leader. Ignatius appeals extensively to the Scriptures and argues that the love of money leads to evil.
7.
The Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians
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19.
The Shepherd of Hermas—An Apocalypse
This lecture focuses on one of the most popular writings among the Apostolic Fathers, particularly its persistent theme of whether a Christian can have a "second" chance with God if he or she sins after being baptized.
19.
The Shepherd of Hermas—An Apocalypse
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8.
The Use of Authorities in the Early Church
Polycarp's letter to the Philippians is significant for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the extensive use it makes of earlier Christian writings as authorities.
8.
The Use of Authorities in the Early Church
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20.
Apocalypses in Early Christianity
The Shepherd of Hermas is thoroughly imbued in apocalyptic thought; this gives us an opportunity to consider the major tenets of apocalypticism in both Jewish and Christian sources and the importance of apocalypticism for the early Christian movement.
20.
Apocalypses in Early Christianity
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9.
The First Martyrology—Polycarp
Polycarp of Smyrna is arguably the best known of the Apostolic Fathers. This detailed account of his arrest, trial, and execution as a martyr, evidently written by an eyewitness, is our first surviving example of Christian "martyrology" (account of a Christian's execution).
9.
The First Martyrology—Polycarp
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21.
The Letter to Diognetus—An Apology
The final writing of the Apostolic Fathers to be considered represents one of the earliest surviving instances we have of a Christian "apology," or reasoned defense of Christianity, aimed at the faith's despisers.
21.
The Letter to Diognetus—An Apology
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10.
The Persecution of the Christians
The account of Polycarp's martyrdom introduces a broader consideration of the persecution and occasional martyrdom of early Christians, and discusses the accuracy of several commonly held beliefs, including whether Christians were, in fact, widely persecuted.
10.
The Persecution of the Christians
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22.
Apologetics in Early Christianity
This lecture considers some of the charges leveled against Christianity and explores how Christians not only defended themselves, but went even further, maintaining that only followers of Christ could inherit eternal life with God in heaven.
22.
Apologetics in Early Christianity
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11.
A Church Manual—The Didache of the Apostles
One of the most historically influential writings of the Apostolic Fathers, the Didache (teaching) of the apostles—a work written at about the time of the New Testament writings—gave Christians ethical instructions for how to live and practice their faith.
11.
A Church Manual—The Didache of the Apostles
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23.
The Apostolic Fathers as a Collection
We consider several of the key issues that have emerged, with particular focus on what the Apostolic Fathers can tell us about the three pillars of the emerging church: Christianity's canon, creed, and clerical hierarchy.
23.
The Apostolic Fathers as a Collection
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12.
Ritual in the Early Church
This lecture considers the early Christian rituals described in the Didache, examining how they developed in the preceding decades, starting with the life of Jesus himself, and how they came to be fixed features in the life of the early Christian community.
12.
Ritual in the Early Church
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24.
The Apostolic Fathers and Proto-orthodoxy
This final lecture considers the historical significance of the Apostolic Fathers, whose writings reflected views that would ultimately win out in the struggle over what the Christian religion would eventually become.
24.
The Apostolic Fathers and Proto-orthodoxy
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