Outline of the syllabus

Guided readings or emergent readings? !video

Emergent comparisons from context or guided comparisons from abstractions? !video

Brevity allows for re-playability, flexibility, and portability. !video

The problem: teaching students how to read for themselves by demonstrating, not telling. !video

what is the teacher's job in async learning environment?

Potato Jesus is a metaphor and cautionary tale for how to read the New Testament

Key lessons from the class part 2. "Pure origin" narratives of Early Christianity are ideological fictions. The New Testament is not monolithic either. !video

As we will see, these are not theological claims or faith arguments. They are historical arguments about the reception of these texts, how they have been received by later audiences and how they have been read by them.

For Christians, understanding these theses will help in the navigation of a Christian present that is just as complicated as the Christian past. The past becomes a more helpful resource in this respect.

For non-Christians, understanding these theses will help show how people in the present are engaged in producing narratives about the past. And these narratives of the past that they produce, in turn, shape the present.