All reading should be done before class, and students should bring all sources to class ready for discussion. The daily assignment should be posted to the appropriate Sakai discussion forum by 9am of class day.

To access online readings: if the underlined link is blue, you may click directly on the link to access the reading. If the underlined link is red, you must be logged into Sakai on your computer in order to access the reading. (Alternately, you may simply log into Sakai, click on "Resources," and download the files from there.)

 
Martin = Dale B. Martin, New Testament History and Literature (Yale University Press, 2012)

VisGuide = Jonathan Reed, The HarperCollins Visual Guide to the New Testament: What Archaeology Reveals about the First Christians (HarperOne, 2007)

Sept 3 (W): Introductions
No readings

Sept 8 (M): Why Study the New Testament? (What Is the New Testament?)
Readings: Martin ch. 1; VisGuide chs. 1

Sept 10 (W): The Greco-Roman World
Readings: Martin ch. 3; "The Empire's Religions"; "Religion in the Roman World" (online sources)

Week of September 15: PM Screening of The King of Kings (1927)

(links to online video via Sakai [note: longer version])

Sept 15 (M): Ancient Judaism
Readings: Martin ch. 4; VisGuide ch. 3; Genesis 15-17; Exodus 12, 20; Daniel 7; *Excerpts from the Dead Sea Scrolls (available through Sakai)

Sept 17 (W): The New Testament and History
Readings: Martin ch. 5; VisGuide ch. 2

Sept 22 (M): Gospel of Mark
Readings: Martin ch. 6; Gospel of Mark; VisGuide ch. 4

Sept 24 (W): Gospel of Matthew
Readings: Martin ch. 7; Gospel of Matthew; VisGuide ch. 5

Sept 29 (M): To Q or Not to Q?
Readings: *Mark Goodacre, "The Case Against Q" (available through Sakai); Q (PDF file; requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Oct 1 (W): Gospel of Thomas
Readings: Martin ch. 8; Gospel of Thomas

Oct 6 (M): Luke/Acts: Part I
Readings: Martin ch. 9; Gospel of Luke

Oct 8 (W): Luke/Acts: Part II
Readings: Martin ch. 10; Acts of the Apostles

Oct 13 (M): Gospel of John + "Johannine Christianity"
Readings: Martin ch. 11-12; Gospel of John; 1-2 John

Oct 15 (W): The "Historical" "Jesus"
Readings: Martin ch. 13

Oct 20: No class (Fall Break)

Oct 22 (W): In-class midterm

Oct 27 (M): Paul the Missionary (1 Thessalonians)
Readings: Martin ch. 14; VisGuide ch. 6; 1 Thessalonians

Oct 29 (W): Paul the Pastor (Philemon and 1-2 Corinthians)
Readings: Martin ch. 15; Philemon; 1 Corinthians

Nov 3 (M): Paul as Jewish Theologian (Romans and Galatians)
Readings: Martin ch. 16; Galatians; Romans

Nov 5 (W): Deutero-Paul (Colossians and Ephesians)
Readings: Martin ch. 17; Colossians; Ephesians

Nov 10 (M): Christian Conflicts (James)
Readings: Martin ch. 18; James; Jude

Nov 12 (W): Pro-Household "Paul" (1-2 Timothy, Titus)
Readings: Martin ch. 19; 1 Timothy; 2 Timothy

Nov 17 (M): Anti-Household "Paul" (Acts of Paul and Thecla)
Readings: Martin ch. 20; *Acts of Thecla (available through Sakai)

Nov 19 (W): Interpreting the Hebrew Bible (Hebrews)
Readings: Martin ch. 21; Hebrews

Nov 24 (M): No class (Professor at conference)

Nov 26 (W): No class (Thanksgiving Break)

Dec 1 (M): Apocalypse and Resistance (Revelation)
Readings: Martin ch. 23; Revelation to John

Dec 3 (W): Apocalypse and Accommodation (2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Peter)
Readings: Martin ch. 24; 2 Thessalonians; 1-2 Peter

Dec 8 (M): Building the Church (Didache, Ignatius, To the Romans and To the Ephesians)
Readings; Martin ch. 25; VisGuide ch. 8; Didache; Ignatius, To the Romans and To The Ephesians

Dec 10 (W): Conclusions
No readings