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Introduction to the New TestamentTaught at Assumption CollegeAn introduction to early Christian literature and thought
in the context of the early church. The biblical texts will be investigated
as works of literature, historical witnesses to earliest Christianity,
and expressions of faith and theology. The idea is to understand
the texts as products of real people facing real situations in a world
that is both different from and similar to our own, and to examine critically
their texts as responses to their situations. Special attention will
be paid to the Jewish matrix of Christianity and the Hellenistic environment
in which it grew. Other special topics include: diversity and unity
in the New Testament, the role of women in the early church, the problem
of anti-Judaism in early Christianity and its documents, social issues
such as the relationship between rich and poor, issues of competing value
systems in the ancient world, and problems that arise from our historical
and cultural distance from the texts.
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