I am preparing for classes, now as we speak. In the Fall term, which begins (moan and groan) in next week, I’ll be teaching two classes, my “first-year seminar” called “Jesus in Scholarship and Film,” and my PhD seminar on “The Apostolic Fathers.” My Jesus course will be pretty much like last year’s, with a few tweaks (including a full showing of the Life of Brian!); if you’re interested in the basic layout, I posted my syllabus from last year on August 24, 2013. The Apostolic Fathers is a course I have not taught for about three years. The term “Apostolic Fathers” is a technical one, referring to specific corpus of ten proto-orthodox authors writing just after the New Testament period (actually, a couple of the books were probably written before the final books of the NT). If you’re wondering who these authors were, refer back to posts I made starting November 19, 17, etc. in 2012. I’ve been interested in the Apostolic Fathers for years; it’s been one of my regular PhD offerings since before I can remember, and is one that I always enjoy. In addition to learning about the textual, historical, and interpretive problems of these texts, we use them as a springboard into a variety of “hot” issues in the study of second century Christianity: the Christianization of the Roman Empire, the relationship of orthodoxy and heresy, the rise of anti-Judaism, the role of women in the church, the development of Christian ritual, the role of books in the religion, and so on. Students in the class, as you’ll see, translate Greek texts for each week’s three-hour seminar, read primary texts in depth, and read secondary literature written by scholars about those texts. Here is my syllabus for it this time around. *************************************************** Reli 808 The Apostolic Fathers University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Fall 2014 Instructor: Bart D. Ehrman The writings of the Apostolic Fathers are the focus of this seminar. We will give a good deal of attention to traditional issues of background (authorship, dating, integrity, occasion, etc.) and interpretation. At the same time, we will be using these texts as a springboard into major social and historical issues central to the study of the early Christian movement: the spread of the religion, persecution and martyrdom, orthodoxy and heresy, the development of ecclesiastical offices, the production, role, and function of Christian literature (e.g., canon formation), women in the church, early Christian ritual, and so on. Course Requirements: The success of the seminar will …. To see this and other posts in ehrmanblog.org/my-apostolic-fathers-seminarsyllabus/ and join the blog by clicking the Register button!
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 17:09:11 +0000
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