(10 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
Loading...Classes have now started at UNC, and I’m back in the classroom. Last year it was all remote teaching (NOT fun for anyone, though my classes were terrific); this year we are starting out live, and desperately hoping we will be able to continue that way.
For me, the most exciting part of the semester is that I”m teaching a course that I literally have not taught in 25 years. There’s lots of reasons for that — among other things, I ended up having to teach other things and other colleagues came into the department who could and wanted to teach it. But the course is more closely related to my research over these past 25 years than even my New Testament classes: this one deals with Christianity in the second and third centuries, and it is called “The Birth of Christianity.”
Here is the syllabus for it!
Reli 208
The Birth of Christianity
Fall 2021
Instructor: Bart Ehrman
Teaching Assistants: Benjamin Sheppard and Thomas Waldrupe
Course Description and Objectives
For most of the past 1600 years, the Christian church has been the most important institution of western civilization, not just religiously, but also socially, culturally, politically, and economically. It has radically affected nearly every realm of human life: art, music, literature, and philosophy; social norms, personal ethics, and governmental policy. This is true for all of us in the west, not only those of us who identify as Christian. From the time Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire at the end of the fourth century, through the Middle Ages, into the Renaissance, the Reformation, and on to Modernity, no other institution has rivaled its influence.
Where did this religion come from? It is obviously an incredibly important question, if we want to understand our world.
In this class we will focus on the rise and development of the Christian faith from immediately after the New Testament up to when it became the official religion of the Roman empire, at the end of the fourth century. Most people know almost nothing about this formative period in the history of Christianity, and a good bit of “common knowledge” about early Christianity is simply modern myth.
You, however, will soon advance beyond such widespread ignorance and misunderstanding! By the end of the course, you will be well-versed in the historical realities by having reading ancient Christian sources themselves and becoming bona fide, budding authorities. At least that’s our goal.
This class does not presuppose any previous knowledge about early Christianity and does not assume you have any particular religious commitments, or none at all. It will not be taught from the perspective of faith, but also not from a perspective of disbelief. Our goal is to provide a solid historical overview that will prove helpful to everyone interested in the subject.
More specifically the objectives of this course are to help you:
- Become familiar with some of the most important Christian writings of the second and third centuries, including significant church fathers and apocryphal Gospels.
- Understand how Christians grew from a tiny group of twenty or so illiterate lower class peasants from a remote part of the empire to becoming the religion of the West.
- See why Christians were considered a bit weird and possibly dangerous by some (many? most?) “pagans”, leading to persecutions and martyrdoms (but how many?).
- Form an opinion on why the followers of Jesus – who was himself Jewish – eventually came to oppose Jews and their religion.
- Explain the significant diversity of early Christianity – that is, the startling differences among the intriguing “heresies” that arose. Have you ever heard of Gnosticism? You will.
- Understand how “orthodox” Christian leaders formulated important doctrinal beliefs (including the Trinity), established the canon of the New Testament (why these books?), and promoted ritual practices (such as baptism).
- See and appreciate the roles women played in the early years of the Christian religion.
- Explain how the Christian “triumph” over the other religions actually happened and how it forever changed the history of western civilization.
Texts:
Bart D. Ehrman, After the New Testament: A Reader in Early Christianity 100-300 CE, 2nd edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015). This will be our primary text for the class. It is an anthology of ancient early Christian writings organized topically, with brief introductions to all the readings.
Bart D. Ehrman, The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018). This is a book written for a general audience that explains how and why the Christian church spread so far and wide and, against all odds, eventually took over the Roman world.
Additional Readings posted on Sakai.
Attendance
Yes, indeed, you must grace us with your presence at all class meetings. We will occasionally pass around an attendance sheet to see if you are alive and well among us. Roll will regularly be taken during recitations. If you have a legitimate excuse for missing a recitation, please contact your teaching assistant.
Position Papers
Recitation sections will meet each week (as indicated in the class schedule, below) in order to discuss various aspects of the writings, history, or religion of early Christianity. To facilitate these discussions, you will be expected to prepare a two-page (no more!) position paper on each assigned topic. Written instructions for each paper are included on Sakai (under Resources).
These papers are not meant to be a “finished and polished product” ready for publication in the Harvard Theological Review. But we do want them well thought out and written.
Their main objective is to help you to consider the issues and reflect on the problems raised by the topic before we discuss it in class. For this reason, they will not be marked with a letter grade, but simply marked “S” (= Satisfactory) if you have done the assignment adequately and “U” (= Unsatisfactory) if you have not. Papers are to be submitted prior to the recitation itself under the Assignment section on the Sakai site for the class. Please note: papers not turned in on time will automatically be marked U, no questions asked.
Quizzes and Exam
There will not be a midterm exam in this class. Instead, throughout the semester, there will be four short quizzes taken in recitation. The quizzes will be short-answer, and based on the lectures and/or the reading.
We may also have occasional pop quizzes, just to keep life interesting, since otherwise we know how dull it can be.
There will also be a final exam, consisting of short identifications and essay questions; the final exam will be cumulative, covering everything in the course from Day One. The Final is scheduled by the Registrar’s office; ours is set in stone for Thursday Dec. 9 at (swallow hard) 8:00 a.m.
Grading
Attendance, participation, position papers: 30%; quizzes: 40% (so 10% for each quiz); 30% final exam.
Office Hours
My office hours are easy. I can usually talk right after class; if that doesn’t work, just zap me a note ([email protected]) and we’ll figure out a time. Your teaching assistant (Ben or Thomas) will indicate his office hours during your first recitation.
As to which person is best to see concerning the class…. If you want to talk about the content of the lectures, the structure of the class, or the inequities of the universe, any of us will do. If you want advice on studying for quizzes or the final exam, or writing papers, or if you want to express concerns about a grade, you should first approach your teaching assistant (since he will be doing the grading). If for some reason you want to go to the top, however, the boss will be happy to see you.
Honor Code
All students must be familiar with and abide by the Honor Code, which covers issues such as plagiarism, falsification, unauthorized assistance or collaboration, cheating, and other grievous acts of academic dishonesty. Violations of the Honor Code will be taken with incredible seriousness.
Reasonable Accommodations Policy
If you have a disability that may prevent fully demonstrating your abilities, you should contact Accessibility Services as soon as possible to discuss accommodations. We will do everything we can to help out on our end.
Title IX Resources
Any student who is impacted by discrimination, harassment, interpersonal (relationship) violence, sexual violence, sexual exploitation, or stalking is encouraged to seek resources on campus or in the community. Please contact the Director of Title IX Compliance (Adrienne Allison – [email protected]), Report and Response Coordinators in the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office ([email protected]), Counseling and Psychological Services (confidential), or the Gender Violence Services Coordinators ([email protected]; confidential) to discuss your specific needs. Additional resources are available at safe.unc.edu.
Covid’s Ongoing Nasty Presence
I have been instructed by university powers-that-be to include the following statement in the syllabus. I fully agree with it and will do as it instructs (even if I would have worded it a bit differently)
“This semester, while we are in the midst of a global pandemic, all enrolled students are required to wear a mask covering your mouth and nose at all times in our classroom. This requirement is to protect our educational community — your classmates and me – as we learn together. If you choose not to wear a mask, or wear it improperly, I will ask you to leave immediately, and I will submit a report to the Office of Student Conduct. At that point you will be disenrolled from this course for the protection of our educational community. Students who have an authorized accommodation from Accessibility Resources and Service have an exception. For additional information, see Carolina Together.”
Class Schedule and Assignments
August 18 Introduction to the Class. And Pop Quiz!
20 Recitation One. Getting Started!
23 The Pagan World of Early Christianity
Assignment: Bart Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction, ch. 3 “The Greco-Roman World of Early Christian Traditions” (on Sakai)
25 The Jewish World of Early Christianity
Assignment: Bart Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction, ch. 4 “The Jewish World of Jesus and His Followers” (on Sakai)
27 Recitation Two. Jesus and the Other Divine Men.
30 The Birth of Christianity: A Bird’s Eye View
Assignment: ANT ( = After the New Testament), “General Introduction,” pp. 1-7.
Sept. 1 The Beginning: The Life and Teachings of Jesus
Assignment: Bart Ehrman, The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction, ch. 21, “The Historical Jesus” (on Sakai)
3 Recitation Three. A Pagan, a Jew, and a Christian Walk Into a Bar…
Quiz 1: Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity
6 NO CLASS (Labor Day. Don’t labor)
8 The Spread of Christianity: How Did It Succeed So Spectacularly?
Assignment: ToC (= Triumph of Christianity), ch. 4 “Reasons of the Christian Success”
10 Recitation Four. Incentives for Conversions. Miracle Stories in Christian Legend
13 The Early Persecutions: First and Second Century Opposition to Christians
Assignment: ANT, ch. 3 (pp. 26-55)
15 Later Persecutions: Third and Fourth Century Opposition to Christians
Assignment: ToC, ch. 71 (pp. 178-206)
17 Recitation Five. The Martyrdom of Polycarp
20 The Conversion of Constantine
Assignment: ToC, ch. 1 (pp. 13-39)
22 Christian Apologies.
Assignment: ANT, ch. 4 (pp. 56-87; 92-98); ToC ch. 7b (pp. 206-16)
24 Recitation Six. Perpetua and Felicitas
27 The Rise of Christian Anti-Judaism: The Testament
Assignment: ANT, ch. 5a (pp. 111-32)
29 Christian Anti-Judaism in Later Centuries
Assignment: ANT, ch. 5b (133-47)
Oct. 1 Recitation Seven. The Letter of Barnabas
Quiz 2! Christianity in the Roman Empire
4 Heresy and Orthodoxy: An Overview
Assignment: Bart Ehrman The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, pp. 3-16 (on Sakai)
6 Jewish Christianity
Assignment: ANT, pp. 148-61 (“Jewish Christian Gospels”)
8 Recitation Eight. The Apocalypse of Peter (Greek)
11 Marcionism
Assignment: Entries on Marcion in XXX TBD
13 Gnosticism
Assignment: ANT, pp. 162-74; 189-95. (“Secret Book of John,” “Gospel of Truth,” “Treatise on the Resurrection”)
15 Recitation Nine. The Apocalypse of Peter (Coptic)
18 Infancy Gospels
Assignment: ANT, pp. 267-82.
20 The Gospel of Thomas
Assignment: ANT, pp. 283-92
22 Recitation Ten. The Gospel of Mary
25 The Heresiologists
Assignment: ANT, pp. 224-59
27 How We Got the New Testament Canon
Assignment: ANT, pp. 365-72
29 Recitation Eleven. The Canon List of Eusebius
Quiz 3: Other Christianities and Gospels
Nov. 1 The Development of Church Offices
Assignment: ANT, pp. 429-54a
3 Women in Early Christianity
Assignment: ANT, pp. 475-504
5 Recitation Twelve. Thecla
8 Liturgical Practices
Assignment: ANT, pp. 457-74
10 Ethics and the Rise of Asceticism
Assignment: ANT, pp. 505-28
12 Recitation Thirteen. ASK THOMAS
15 Christological Controversies
Assignment: ANT, pp. 529-44
17 The Trinity
Assignment: ANT, pp. 548-555
19 Recitation Fourteen. Who Cares?
Quiz 4: Christian Practices and Theologies
22-26 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
29 The Christian Roman Empire
Assignment: ToC, ch. 9 and Afterword
Dec. 1 Summing it all up
Oh, to me young again and attend this course in person! Your students are in for a treat. Will you be sharing any of this on the platinum platform?
I don’t have any plans to do so, but it’s an interesting idea. I’m not sure about the legalities and university policies….
Change “reading” to “read in the fourth paragraph.
Bart ,
October 15th, Recitation nine:
Don’t neglect to point out the indictment of Paul, as shown in Apocalypse of Peter, 74. He is the “evil, cunning man with a manifold dogma, cleaving to the name of a dead man (‘Jesus’) ruling heretically [lawlessly].”
72.10 through 73.10 is a beautiful segment describing what it is like to meditate. Trust me, I do this every day (“As you SIT.”). “Great light, and a multitude of voices” is what it is like to see within and hear ‘the Word’ inside.
Please note the initial paragraph with the original three denials OF PETER, “in this night.” Three parallels, even two, is determinitive: three denials, Jesus and Peter, in this night. Jesus denies Peter vision in his meditation. This is the source of the three Gospel denials.
I’m a practicing mystic (‘gnostic’). But I doubt you care.
And as long as we’re proofreading, the comma on the next line, between “bona fide” and “budding” is unnecessary. Good syllabus, that terrible lapse notwithstanding. Nice stern yet friendly tone–I spent an entire academic career trying and failing to achieve that middleground.
Reading this makes me miss my own university days, and they weren’t too long ago, either!
I would love to take this class. I’ve seen your pop quizzes you post on here. Lol
Mr. Ehrman, you’ve been teaching since 1988, the very year I was born! It’s almost unbelievable (and commendable that you’re so cool and relevant!).
I wonder if you have observed any discernible change in students’ level of perception – since you’ve watched generations come and go in your classes.
It’s hard to say, since changes will hav been so gradual over time. I will say that really like this generation of studetns. They seem more open and interested in thinking through difficult and interesting issues, rather than being in college simply to get a high-paying job….
I believe some contemporary Christian philosophers and theologians (eg, Alvin Plantinga) suggest that the evil and suffering in the world (that’s not caused by human free will) could be caused by the devil. It’s a theodicy, a defense against disproving God’s existence because there is so much evil and suffering. That strikes me as awfully ad hoc and a form of back filling. But isn’t it at least consistent with early Christian apocalypticism and related Jewish thought?
After Christianity became less apocalyptic (because Jesus din’t return?) how were evil and suffering justified, eg, in the 2nd through 4th centuries. Did the “devil” defense survive? I think Augustine for example gave extensive attention to the problem of evil and suffering. But I don’t recall him using this defense.
Oh yes, the devil defense has always been with us.
Dr.Ehrman,
Have you ever had a student that has changed your way of thinking as it pertains to the New Testament? Or are most of your students “blank slates”?
Not an undergraduate, no. But very few are blank slates! It’s just very hard for a nineteen year old to come up with an idea or a solution that hasn’t appeared among seasoned scholars over the past two hundred years….
Would that I were a college student again! In North Carolina. As it is, I will follow the syllabus and cross my fingers that this 74 year old brain can retain something! Happy semester, Dr. Ehrman!
I’ am always been fascinated by American Universities’ honor codes.
They will take care of plagiarism, falsification with incredible seriousness.
I don’t think there is any original idea in the world. It’s all passed from person to person, like your parents, down to the hole.
There isn’t any original person who will stand for its ideas.
It’s all copied and passed from one hand to the other.
And standing for itself it’s just another way to the ego.
It would be more human to admit that we’re on the same boat and that the hurricane is coming. And not even the fragments will be left.
What a wonderfully interesting syllabus! Oh, to be a student again…
Bart:
Have you ever taught a MOOC? I wish I could take your courses as an online offering.
Best, Ray
Nope. when Moocs started manyof us were dubious about how they would go. They didn’t go well, and I never hear of anyone teaching them these days. I am planning though on teaching some courses privately in a remote context, possibly.
I (almost) feel like I’m back in school! Wish I could take the class.
Is there a way to audit one of your classes virtually? Or sit in on some classes if I ever make it that way?
Also, when you’re in Charlotte don’t forget to let me know, coffee or something on me. 👍🏻
Unfortunately, not really. Since I teach it live it’s not being broadcast — the old fashioned way!
WELL. I have all the books except for one so I’m reading along with the class. And now I see you posted the recitations as well … perhaps I will turn them into blog posts for my blog just for fun. #MajorNerd
I would love to take this class.
Nice! Having written syllabi for 44 years (!), I’m glad to be retired now , or “emeritus” as we say in higher ed. I’m reminded of a bad joke on Shakespeare, which I’ve modified thus: Two scholars were arguing about Shakespeare. One took the position that Shakespeare could come up with a word for anything. The other disagreed, and challenged him with “How would the Bard describe college professors?” The other thought a minute, and then responded “What manner of men are these who frame their thoughts in syllabuses?”
Ha!
Objective no 7 about the role of women in early Christianity looks fascinating and is a hot topic in the Roman Catholic church right now. Pressure for women priests is building (I’m involved in a group seeking to achieve that end, called root and branch) despite previous papal commands not to discuss the issue. The importance of women in the early church tends to be played down by those opposed to female ordination.
Cool stuff! I can see why you like teaching it. I would love to take a course like this specifically centering around the use of music in the Church. I know a bit of history simply because I am a classically-trained singer and Christianity was pretty much The Place for music for centuries; but I’d still love to take a deep dive into that.
I’ve been watching one of the Great Courses (“Food: A Cultural Culinary History”) and while the lecturer’s understanding of the NT is a bit- well- scattered, he does go into the changing food traditions and strictures over the many years of Christianity in Western Europe. Not a lot about Byzantium, sadly. I suspect there would be significant differences between the Western and Eastern Orthodox church– just as there are between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Judaism.
Hmmm … sounds like this would be a terrific Great Courses Plus course. Excuse me, Wondrium course.
Bart,
I recall many years ago (I’m an old man like you ha!) when I learned about Marcionism it had a big impact on me. I was still a believer at the time and I was frankly shocked that even from early Christianity some were noticing and feeling uncomfortable with linking Jesus to Yahweh.
In the mega church in metro ATL my son attends the pastor is sometimes accused of being a modern day Marcionite by his detractors…which is going too far of course but he does try to distance himself from the OT as much as possible.
So even roughly 1900 years later some still feel uncomfortable with linking Jesus and Yahweh.
Has this tension waxed and waned in the church? IE after Marcion was this pretty much a done deal or did it continue to fester. And it obviously is still alive and well here in 2021 in a much truncated form.
TY!
SC
My view is that most Christians today lean very much toward Marcion — the OT law has no applicability to Christians; the OT God is a God of wrath but the NT God is a God of love — without going all the way (there are literally two gods, and the god of Jesus saves people from the god of the OT).
I imagine at some point in your lectures our old friend Apollonius of Tyana would make an appearance?
Not in my lectures, but definitely in their reading.
Dear Bart,
Regarding position papers you give to your students: Could you give me an example of two? I’m just about the develop my own course on the Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, and I’m looking for the appropriate topics to give my students to write about… I was actually thinking of giving them an essay (3-4 pages at best!) about certain aspects of the 2nd and 3rd centuries of Christianity. So, any hint would be of great help. I’m planning to use your book “Triumph of Christianity” as one of the books for them to read…
If you are not inclined to share these kinds of information, no problem! I understand.
Wish u all the best.
Kind regards from Croatia,
Marko
Ah, that’s a great idea! I think I’ll post them on the entire blog.
Well, I do hope you’ll post it in the next 10-15 days 🙂