The New Testament is a canonical religious text for millions of people
today. Many have regarded it for centuries as prescribing
normative beliefs and behaviors for Christians past and present.
The precise nature of these normative beliefs and behaviors, however,
has been deeply contested. This course examines the role of the
New Testament in debates over marriage and sexuality. We will
begin by exploring marriage and sexuality in the Roman world in order to
understand the context in which the New Testament was written and
read. We then will study early Christian attitudes toward
sexuality and marriage and compare them with views held by other groups
in antiquity. How did these views deviate from or challenge
ancient Jewish, Greek, and Roman views? How did they
conform? Is the New Testament uniform in its positions on
marriage, sex, and the family? The second part of the course
addresses the ways in which later Christians read and used the New
Testament in their writings about marriage and sex. Some of the
topics will include the use of the New Testament in the Christian
monastic movement, the legend and cult of Mary Magdalene in the
medieval period, and the debates over marriage and celibacy during the
Reformation. Finally, we will turn to the role of the New
Testament in contemporary conflicts in traditionally white and
African-American protestant traditions over homosexuality, AIDS, and the
role of wives in Christian marriages, as well as the required celibacy
of Catholic priests.
- An introduction to views on marriage and sexuality in the
Greco-Roman world and early Judaism
- A thorough examination of key passages in the New Testament
and other early Christian literature on the family, marriage, divorce,
virginity, and sexuality, including
- the historical contexts in which the passages were written
- the historical authenticity of traditions about New Testament
figures (e.g., Jesus, Paul, Mary, etc.)
- the ways in which the earliest readers of the texts would have
intepreted them
- An understanding of the diversity of early Christian views on
marriage, sexuality, and the family
- An understanding of the diversity of interpretations of the New
Testament throughout history and in the contemporary era
- Advancement of critical and analytical writing skills
- Development of skills in research methodologies for the study of
the Bible from a historical perspective