Jesus, the Bible, and the Invention of Christianity

Courtney Friesen
Thursdays 10 AM - 12 PM
June 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2020
Watch the video to learn more about this course

Jesus, the Bible, and the Invention of Christianity

Summer 2020
In Session
Thursdays
10 AM - 12 PM
June 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2020

Tuition: 

$130

Please Note: Summer 2020 Course Registration Opens Online on Monday, May 11th at 8AM

The Christian religion is inextricably bound up with contemporary culture not only in America but also around the globe. Yet, even after centuries of scholarly inquiry, numerous questions regarding its historical origins remain contested and unanswered. This course probes several: How did Jesus of Nazareth, the son of an obscure carpenter, come to be worshiped as the eternal son of God? How did his death at the hands of the Romans, by any ordinary measure a calamitous misfortune, come to be interpreted as a means of salvation for the world? And how, in the wake of this death, did his marginalized band of followers evolve into the church that would eventually convert the Roman Empire? We will discover which aspects of these events can be reconstructed, and which ones remain obscure and speculative.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions:

  • All Summer 2020 courses will be ONLINE ONLY.
  • Courses will be delivered online via the Zoom video conferencing platform. All courses will be password protected and only available to enrolled students.
  • All class sessions will be recorded and made available to enrolled students for a limited time to assist those who may not be able to attend the live class times.
  • Enrolled students may withdraw from a course and receive a full tuition refund if the request is received before the second class session. (Our normal refund processing fee of 15% will be waived).
  • The Humanities Seminars Program reserves the right to cancel any seminar that fails to meet registration minimums. If a course is canceled all students enrolled in the canceled course will receive a full refund.
  • Summer registration will open on Monday, May 11 at 8 AM (AZ Time)

Required Reading: 

  • Bart Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. 6th ed. Oxford, 2016.
  • The Harper Collins Study Bible Student Edition. Revised and Updated. HarperCollins, 2006. Or, something similar.

Meet Your Professor

Associate Professor
Department of Religious Studies and Classics

COURTNEY FRIESEN is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and Classics, where he teaches Greek, the New Testament, and early Christianity. Prior to the University of Arizona, Dr. Friesen taught at Oxford. He researches intersections of Greek literature with Judaism and Christian. His book Reading Dionysus received the Lautenschläger Award from the University of Heidelberg; and a subsequent essay, “Gluttony and Drunkenness as Jewish and Christian Virtues,” earned the Achtemeier Award from Society of Biblical Literature. He is editing a volume on Philo of Alexandria and writing a book on religion and theater. 

Location

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