Introduction to the New Testament

This course introduces the modern scholarly study of the New Testament and the sociocultural milieu within the New Testament literature originated. Attention is given to significant Jewish and Greco-Roman traditions and institutions that were of importance in shaping the earliest Christian movements. The various writings in the New Testament are examined individually, with interest in such issues as: The relationship between the author and audience and the immediate historical context of the writing, if known; literary genre; intertextuality; key religious issues of concern in a given writing, and their relation to the diverse spectrum of developing early Christian thought, practice, and social formation.