Biblical Studies and Early Christianity

The Biblical Studies programs seek to cultivate a complex and rigorous interdisciplinarity characterized by methodological multiplicity and theoretical eclecticism. Each program allows for a variety of critical approaches, both textual and contextual. The Hebrew Bible program focuses on historical-critical treatments of the Bible and its socio-historical contexts. The program in New Testament and Early Christianity investigates the social and cultural formation of early Christianity in the Mediterranean world, from the first to the fourth century. Both programs seek to engage with recent theoretical and methodological developments, such as literary theory and criticism; feminist studies and masculinity studies; studies in the history of sexuality; postcolonial studies; cultural history and cultural studies; and studies in race and ethnicity.

This methodological diversity is reflected in the Area’s course offerings, which include exegesis courses centered on specific biblical texts, along with courses employing the lens of gender (e.g., “Gender, Difference, and Election in Israel’s Primary Story”; “Feminist Interpretations of the Gospels”; “Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Christianity”); or embodiment (e.g., “The Bible and the Body”; “Martyrdom and Asceticism in the Early Church”); or empire and the resistance it elicits (e.g., “The Bible, Colonialism, and Postcolonialism”; “Empire, Race, and Place”; “The New Testament through Non-Western Eyes”). Other courses taking an interdisciplinary approach include “Methods of Biblical Interpretation” and “The Bible and Postmodernism.” Courses also confront problematic texts, examining violence and God’s apparent sanction of it, even participation in it, for example, in the book of Judges (“Judging Judges”) or the book of Revelation (“Unveiling Revelation”).