Jewish and Christian Identity in the Ancient Period

Catalog description

The modern engagement with the many ways that we construct identity has been matched by a similar wave of studies about identity construction in the ancient world. In this course we will discuss the rise of “Judaism” and “Jewish identity” in the ancient period (looking at roughly 400 BCE-200 CE), and compare it with the movement of the followers of Jesus as a negotiation of a new identity within Judaism (roughly 30 CE-200 CE). We will conclude with the question of the “Parting of the Ways” of these two groups.