REL 229 Dying for God
What does it mean to die for God in ancient Christianity and Judaism? This course will examine this question by studying the various ways that suffering, pain, and death are portrayed in the literature of ancient Jews and Christians. We will focus on writings from the Hellenistic through the Roman Imperial period, and focus on Jewish (e.g., 2 Maccabees, Testament of Moses, Josephus) and Christian sources (e.g., New Testament, Martyrdom of Polycarp, Perpetua & Felicitas). Through our analysis we will consider how suffering and death, including martyrdom, contributed to the construction of ancient theological communities; we will investigate the dynamics of “imitating” suffering and death as they inform character, claims of authority, and the relation of the community to those outside it. Lastly, we will consider the various rhetorical uses of the depictions of suffering and death. In order to gain a fuller understanding of the texts, we will utilize a variety of interpretive approaches.