REL 141 - Christianity: The First Seven Centuries

The course serves as an introduction to the Christian religion in the ancient world until the rise of Islam. After an introduction to the earliest Christian writings, translated from the Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Syriac, the course traces the development of Christian institutional forms, the religion’s manifold interpretive strategies and theological debates, its ritual practices and associated material cultures, and its expansion from its origin in Roman Iudaea eastward to the greater Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and China; southward to Egypt and the Horn of Africa; and westward to Europe and North Africa. The course assumes no prior knowledge of the Christian religion and is open to first-year students.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.