Religious Studies Course

This course focuses on the history, literature, and religious communities in the period that defines the background and the emergence of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism (400BCE-400CE). We deal with a vast array of ancient primary sources ranging from late biblical literature, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament and early Christian texts, and the literature of Rabbinic Judaism. These texts allow us to discuss the formations and developments of communities such as the Jerusalem Priesthood, the Dead Sea Scrolls Community, the Pharisees, and the various communities of Early Christianity, Rabbinic Judaism, and Jewish-Christianity.