NES 3621 - Heresy and Orthodoxy in Early Christianity

(crosslisted)
(also JWST 3621, RELST 3612)(GHB) (HA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits.

E. Scherbenske.

In this course we will explore the varieties of Christian thought and practice from the first through the fourth centuries. In its earliest centuries, Christianity consisted of a diverse range of movements, each of which was considered “heretical” by its opponents, one of which came to dominate all the others and so earned for itself the designation “orthodoxy”. “Heresies” that we will study will include Adoptionism, Marcionism, Gnosticism, Montanism, Arianism, and Donatism. Consideration will also be given to the ways in which charges of “heresy” intersected with competing views about women in the early Church, the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, the construction of authority, and the content, function, and sacredness of early Christian books.