Approaches to the Study of Formative Christianity

Over the last decades biblical studies has accomplished a great deal of historical and cultural description of texts. More recently interdisciplinary efforts have been made to explain some aspects of religious ideas and practices as the products of human minds (and bodies). The course will introduce a number of recent approaches to the study of human aspects of social-religious organization, metaphoric language, and religious experience. We will explore the relevance and the limits of these approaches for early Christian texts (including contemporaneous extra-biblical writings) and communities. Seminar presentations, final paper.