WEBVTT 00:01.490 --> 00:03.380 Prof: This is Introduction to New Testament 00:03.383 --> 00:04.353 History and Literature. 00:04.350 --> 00:05.710 My name is Dale Martin. 00:05.710 --> 00:09.040 I've been teaching here at Yale for ten years now. 00:09.040 --> 00:12.010 I also was a grad student here in the '80s, in the Religious 00:12.012 --> 00:13.072 Studies Department. 00:13.070 --> 00:15.470 I then left, taught one year at Rhodes 00:15.465 --> 00:18.485 College in Memphis, Tennessee, and then I taught 00:18.491 --> 00:22.211 eleven years at Duke and got in love with their basketball team. 00:22.210 --> 00:25.130 But then I came to Yale in 1999. 00:25.130 --> 00:28.290 This is a course that introduces you to the New 00:28.290 --> 00:31.450 Testament literature, but also the history of other 00:31.453 --> 00:34.583 material from the very first one hundred years or so of early 00:34.584 --> 00:35.424 Christianity. 00:35.420 --> 00:39.250 The first question you need to ask yourself is why do you want, 00:39.249 --> 00:42.399 or why are you thinking about taking this course? 00:42.400 --> 00:45.830 Why do you want to study the New Testament? 00:45.830 --> 00:48.710 What is the New Testament and why should you study it? 00:48.710 --> 00:52.220 The first obvious answer that a lot of people would give is, 00:52.220 --> 00:53.490 "Because I'm a Christian," 00:53.493 --> 00:55.533 or "I believe the New Testament's scripture and, 00:55.530 --> 00:58.400 therefore, I'm here to learn more about this document that is 00:58.395 --> 01:00.205 scripture for me in my church." 01:00.210 --> 01:03.760 The problem with that answer is before you say something is 01:03.762 --> 01:06.042 scripture, you have to say why is it 01:06.039 --> 01:08.169 scripture, for whom is it scripture, 01:08.170 --> 01:09.590 and what does that mean? 01:09.590 --> 01:12.050 And, in Christianity, when you call the Bible 01:12.046 --> 01:15.336 scripture, what that means is that you're going to listen to 01:15.341 --> 01:16.851 it for the Word of God. 01:16.849 --> 01:19.459 You're expecting somehow the Holy Spirit or God to 01:19.462 --> 01:22.552 communicate to you and to your church and to your community 01:22.552 --> 01:23.942 through this document. 01:23.938 --> 01:27.388 But the text of the Bible isn't scripture in itself, 01:27.385 --> 01:31.095 it's only scripture to a community of people who take it 01:31.101 --> 01:32.251 as scripture. 01:32.250 --> 01:35.300 The text itself, any text, is not itself holy 01:35.297 --> 01:35.987 writing. 01:35.989 --> 01:37.919 That's what scripture means to us. 01:37.920 --> 01:40.100 It actually just means "written stuff," 01:40.098 --> 01:40.868 from the Latin. 01:40.870 --> 01:43.380 But we take it to mean holy writing, sacred writing. 01:43.379 --> 01:45.379 But the writing itself is not holy. 01:45.379 --> 01:47.779 It's only holy to people who take it as holy. 01:47.780 --> 01:50.360 Now the problem is we're at Yale College. 01:50.360 --> 01:52.250 This is not a holy place. 01:52.250 --> 01:54.920 I know they might have told you that when you came, 01:54.921 --> 01:57.381 but you've learned differently, haven't you? 01:57.379 --> 01:59.499 This is also not a church. 01:59.500 --> 02:02.050 So what does it mean to read the New Testament as scripture 02:02.049 --> 02:04.819 is not something we're going to really pursue in this class, 02:04.819 --> 02:07.239 because this is not a religious community. 02:07.239 --> 02:09.589 So one of the things that--if you're here to learn about the 02:09.593 --> 02:11.193 New Testament because it's scripture, 02:11.188 --> 02:14.478 the class may disappoint you, from that point of view. 02:14.479 --> 02:17.439 Somebody else might say, "Oh I'm here because this 02:17.441 --> 02:20.791 is a foundational document for Western civilization and I want 02:20.786 --> 02:23.196 to know something about the Bible." 02:23.199 --> 02:25.589 There are probably some more seats over here or some of you, 02:25.592 --> 02:27.212 if you need to, can sit on the steps over 02:27.214 --> 02:27.624 there. 02:27.620 --> 02:31.900 If you need to make your way around--can they get behind you? 02:31.900 --> 02:35.260 But what does that mean also, if you say that the Bible is a 02:35.264 --> 02:38.064 foundational document for Western civilization? 02:38.060 --> 02:40.590 Does that mean you can't really get along in Western 02:40.591 --> 02:43.421 civilization unless you know something about the Bible? 02:43.419 --> 02:45.299 And think about that. 02:45.300 --> 02:49.050 Isn't a knowledge of lots of other things much more important 02:49.045 --> 02:52.845 for how you get along in Western civilization than knowing the 02:52.854 --> 02:53.984 New Testament? 02:53.979 --> 02:55.569 For example, it's much more important to 02:55.574 --> 02:56.314 know about cars. 02:56.310 --> 02:58.740 It'd be actually much more valuable for you to know how to 02:58.736 --> 03:01.246 fix your car than it is to know about the New Testament-- 03:01.250 --> 03:03.270 right?--if you're getting along in Western civilization; 03:03.270 --> 03:06.420 or how to use computers, or sexual technique, 03:06.423 --> 03:08.863 or how to speak other languages. 03:08.860 --> 03:11.920 There are all kinds of things that it might be very useful for 03:11.919 --> 03:14.679 you to know as an inhabitant of Western civilization; 03:14.680 --> 03:16.740 and the New Testament, you might find out, 03:16.736 --> 03:19.896 would rank kind of down on the list of those kinds of things. 03:19.900 --> 03:23.980 Besides that--okay, let's take a quiz first. 03:23.979 --> 03:24.679 Get out a piece of paper. 03:24.680 --> 03:25.550 This is your first exam. 03:25.550 --> 03:30.380 This'll determine your grade for the rest of the semester. 03:30.378 --> 03:33.738 Tell me if this is in the New Testament, is in the Bible, 03:33.740 --> 03:35.240 or is not in the Bible. 03:35.240 --> 03:35.720 All right? 03:35.720 --> 03:37.000 It's just a yes and no question. 03:37.000 --> 03:39.390 All you need is ten places to write yes or no. 03:39.389 --> 03:42.709 You can even abbreviate and put Y or N. 03:42.710 --> 03:45.170 First, which of these things are in the Bible? 03:45.169 --> 03:50.779 The Immaculate Conception? 03:50.780 --> 03:52.800 Now you may not know anything about the Bible. 03:52.800 --> 03:54.920 If you don't know, just kind of guess, 03:54.922 --> 03:56.072 just make a guess. 03:56.068 --> 03:58.058 I'm not actually going to grade these. 03:58.060 --> 04:01.410 Is the Immaculate Conception something that's in the Bible? 04:01.408 --> 04:04.918 (2) This quotation: "Love bears all things, 04:04.924 --> 04:07.694 believes all things, hopes all things, 04:07.691 --> 04:09.861 endures all things." 04:09.860 --> 04:12.070 Is that quotation in the Bible? 04:12.068 --> 04:14.808 "Love bears all things, believes all things, 04:14.814 --> 04:17.394 hopes all things, endures all things." 04:17.389 --> 04:23.359 (3) At Jesus' birth three wise men or three kings visited the 04:23.357 --> 04:24.647 Baby Jesus. 04:24.649 --> 04:27.759 Is that in the Bible? 04:27.759 --> 04:31.169 (4) This quotation: "From each according to 04:31.173 --> 04:34.883 his ability, to each according to his need." 04:34.879 --> 04:38.589 "From each according to his ability, to each according 04:38.589 --> 04:39.869 to his need." 04:39.870 --> 04:46.590 (5) The Doctrine of the Trinity; is it in the Bible? 04:46.589 --> 04:48.959 (6) This quotation: "You are Peter, 04:48.959 --> 04:51.999 and upon this rock I will build my church." 04:52.000 --> 04:56.680 (7) Peter founded the church in Rome. 04:56.680 --> 04:59.750 In the Bible, not in the Bible? 04:59.750 --> 05:00.760 Peter founded the church in Rome. 05:00.759 --> 05:01.559 Make a guess. 05:01.560 --> 05:05.660 (8) After his death, Jesus appeared to his disciples 05:05.663 --> 05:06.873 in Jerusalem. 05:06.870 --> 05:09.450 Is that in the Bible? 05:09.449 --> 05:13.109 After his death Jesus appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem. 05:13.110 --> 05:15.250 No talking with your neighbor. 05:15.250 --> 05:17.020 > 05:17.019 --> 05:21.749 (9) After his death, Jesus appeared to his disciples 05:21.752 --> 05:22.962 in Galilee. 05:22.959 --> 05:26.769 After his death, Jesus appeared to his disciples 05:26.774 --> 05:27.834 in Galilee. 05:27.829 --> 05:33.099 Tenth and Last: Peter was martyred by being 05:33.098 --> 05:36.108 crucified upside down. 05:36.110 --> 05:37.800 Oh hard one. 05:37.800 --> 05:39.700 Okay, let's go back. 05:39.699 --> 05:42.239 Number One: Is the Immaculate Conception in the Bible? 05:42.240 --> 05:45.580 How many people think so, yes? 05:45.579 --> 05:48.619 How many people say no, it's not in the Bible? 05:48.620 --> 05:51.390 Somebody tell me what the Immaculate Conception is. 05:51.389 --> 05:53.219 Anybody know? 05:53.220 --> 05:54.590 Yes? 05:54.589 --> 05:55.709 Student: Mary's conception. 05:55.709 --> 05:57.119 Prof: Mary's conception. 05:57.120 --> 06:00.070 It doesn't refer to the miraculous conception of Jesus. 06:00.069 --> 06:01.349 That's what often people think. 06:01.350 --> 06:02.950 See, one of the things about this course is you'll learn a 06:02.954 --> 06:04.254 lot about the Bible and early Christianity, 06:04.250 --> 06:06.610 but the most important thing is you learn cocktail party 06:06.610 --> 06:07.470 conversation tips. 06:07.470 --> 06:09.050 > 06:09.050 --> 06:11.490 So think about--you really want to impress that girl you're 06:11.485 --> 06:11.775 with. 06:11.778 --> 06:14.308 "Hey, did you know that a lot of people think that the 06:14.305 --> 06:16.825 Immaculate Conception refers to the conception of Jesus? 06:16.829 --> 06:18.889 It doesn't!" 06:18.889 --> 06:22.209 It refers to the conception of Mary as being without Original 06:22.208 --> 06:22.538 Sin. 06:22.540 --> 06:24.370 Immaculate means "without stain." 06:24.370 --> 06:28.110 So it refers to the conception of Mary, by her mother, 06:28.110 --> 06:32.200 Anna, without--according to tradition--without Original Sin 06:32.202 --> 06:35.222 being transferred to Mary; and that's because, 06:35.216 --> 06:37.666 according to Roman Catholic tradition, then she could 06:37.670 --> 06:40.360 transmit the birth of Jesus without Original Sin also. 06:40.360 --> 06:42.480 Now that's not actually in the Bible. 06:42.480 --> 06:44.380 It's part of Roman Catholic doctrine. 06:44.379 --> 06:45.809 It's something that Protestants don't accept. 06:45.810 --> 06:48.640 But a lot of people think it's one in the Bible, 06:48.639 --> 06:51.469 or a lot of people confuse it with the Miraculous Conception 06:51.473 --> 06:53.053 of Jesus, which is in the Bible, 06:53.053 --> 06:55.293 in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew. 06:55.290 --> 06:57.910 Second: "Love bears all things, believes all things, 06:57.911 --> 07:00.021 hopes all things, endures all things." 07:00.019 --> 07:01.479 How many people say it's in the Bible? 07:01.480 --> 07:03.010 Can anybody tell me where? 07:03.009 --> 07:05.229 Come on, there's got to be some fundies in here. 07:05.230 --> 07:06.460 Student: 1 Corinthians 13. 07:06.459 --> 07:07.739 Prof: 1 Corinthians 13. 07:07.740 --> 07:08.860 Good Sunday School education. 07:08.860 --> 07:13.570 (3) Three wise men or kings visited the Baby Jesus. 07:13.569 --> 07:14.939 In the Bible? 07:14.939 --> 07:16.989 Not in the Bible? 07:16.990 --> 07:18.250 How many people say it's not in the Bible? 07:18.250 --> 07:19.660 You say it's not in the Bible. 07:19.660 --> 07:20.430 Why? 07:20.430 --> 07:21.180 Student: I guessed. 07:21.182 --> 07:21.632 I have no idea. 07:21.629 --> 07:22.689 Prof: You have no idea. 07:22.689 --> 07:24.799 It's not in the Bible. 07:24.800 --> 07:28.230 It's true that wise men or kings did visit Jesus in the 07:28.233 --> 07:31.163 Gospel of Matthew, but it's only tradition that 07:31.160 --> 07:33.260 says that it's three of them. 07:33.259 --> 07:36.799 Why was the tradition developed that there were three kings that 07:36.795 --> 07:38.475 visited the manger of Jesus? 07:38.480 --> 07:39.760 Yes? 07:39.759 --> 07:40.639 Student: The gifts. 07:40.639 --> 07:42.549 Prof: The gifts; there are three gifts: 07:42.552 --> 07:43.872 gold, frankincense and myrrh. 07:43.870 --> 07:45.530 And so tradition just said, "Well if there are three 07:45.531 --> 07:46.751 gifts, there must be three kings." 07:46.750 --> 07:47.950 So that's why we have that. 07:47.949 --> 07:48.619 But it's not in the Bible. 07:48.620 --> 07:50.740 This quotation: "From each according to 07:50.742 --> 07:53.262 his ability, to each according to his need." 07:53.259 --> 07:54.609 In the Bible? Raise your hand. 07:54.610 --> 07:55.920 Not in the Bible? 07:55.918 --> 07:57.148 Raise you hand. 07:57.149 --> 07:58.309 Ah, couldn't trick you. 07:58.310 --> 07:59.320 Does anybody know where it is from? 07:59.319 --> 08:00.429 Yes? 08:00.430 --> 08:01.430 Student: The Communist Manifesto. 08:01.430 --> 08:02.420 Prof: Yes, Marx. 08:02.420 --> 08:03.680 > 08:03.680 --> 08:04.660 It's from Marx. 08:04.660 --> 08:06.480 But a lot of people hear that and they think that's from the 08:06.482 --> 08:06.732 Bible. 08:06.730 --> 08:09.080 The Doctrine of the Trinity. 08:09.079 --> 08:09.979 In the Bible? 08:09.980 --> 08:12.670 Not in the Bible? 08:12.670 --> 08:14.520 Okay, why are all you people saying the Doctrine of the 08:14.521 --> 08:15.551 Trinity is not in the Bible? 08:15.550 --> 08:17.440 That's usually a real good one. 08:17.439 --> 08:19.469 Somebody explain why the Doctrine of the Trinity is not 08:19.473 --> 08:20.043 in the Bible. 08:20.040 --> 08:21.100 You're right, it's not in the Bible. 08:21.100 --> 08:23.720 Student: I thought it was thought up by the church to 08:23.718 --> 08:25.848 explain the paradox of the Son and the Father. 08:25.850 --> 08:26.510 Prof: Exactly. 08:26.509 --> 08:29.389 The Doctrine of the Trinity is a doctrine that developed 08:29.391 --> 08:32.221 post-New Testament times to explain why Christians were 08:32.221 --> 08:35.211 worshipping Jesus and the Holy Spirit also as divine. 08:35.210 --> 08:37.400 So the Doctrine of the Trinity developed in the later 08:37.400 --> 08:38.960 centuries, after the New Testament. 08:38.960 --> 08:41.640 Now some people will say at least the Doctrine of the 08:41.638 --> 08:44.628 Trinity is hinted at in the Bible and that the later church 08:44.625 --> 08:47.505 was correct to read the New Testament to support it. 08:47.509 --> 08:49.159 And that may well be right theologically, 08:49.155 --> 08:51.045 but read historically it's not in the Bible. 08:51.048 --> 08:53.808 "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my 08:53.808 --> 08:54.588 church." 08:54.590 --> 08:56.220 How many people say it's in the Bible? 08:56.220 --> 08:58.620 How many people say it's not in the Bible? 08:58.620 --> 09:01.010 It's in the Bible. 09:01.009 --> 09:03.429 It's in Matthew 16. 09:03.428 --> 09:06.258 (7) Peter founded the church in Rome. 09:06.259 --> 09:07.109 Is it in the Bible? 09:07.110 --> 09:08.860 You all aren't sure. 09:08.860 --> 09:09.920 Is it not in the Bible? 09:09.918 --> 09:11.668 Ah, more people say it's not in the Bible. 09:11.668 --> 09:12.908 You're right, it's not in the Bible. 09:12.909 --> 09:14.319 It's part of tradition. 09:14.320 --> 09:17.070 It's a very strong part of Christian tradition but it's not 09:17.068 --> 09:17.778 in the Bible. 09:17.778 --> 09:19.948 After his death, Jesus appeared to his disciples 09:19.947 --> 09:20.637 in Jerusalem. 09:20.639 --> 09:21.549 In the Bible? 09:21.549 --> 09:22.739 Raise your hand. 09:22.740 --> 09:23.500 A few people. 09:23.500 --> 09:24.670 Not in the Bible? 09:24.668 --> 09:27.008 You're wrong, it is in the Bible. 09:27.009 --> 09:29.879 It's in the Gospel of Luke and Acts. 09:29.879 --> 09:31.979 After his death, Jesus appeared to his disciples 09:31.979 --> 09:32.559 in Galilee. 09:32.559 --> 09:33.219 Is that in the Bible? 09:33.220 --> 09:35.040 Yes, some of you say yes. 09:35.039 --> 09:35.839 Not in the Bible? 09:35.840 --> 09:37.310 Anybody who's brave enough to say it's not in the Bible? 09:37.309 --> 09:38.709 It is in the Bible. 09:38.710 --> 09:40.880 It's in the Gospel of Matthew. 09:40.879 --> 09:42.769 But now notice, the Gospel of Matthew, 09:42.769 --> 09:45.479 as we'll talk about later, has Jesus appear to his 09:45.476 --> 09:48.106 disciples only in Galilee, not in Judea, 09:48.107 --> 09:52.457 and the Gospel of Luke and Acts have Jesus appear to his 09:52.460 --> 09:56.100 disciples only in Judea but not in Galilee. 09:56.100 --> 09:59.320 Ah, that's an interesting problem we will have to get to 09:59.322 --> 10:00.262 at some point. 10:00.259 --> 10:02.899 Tenth and last: Peter was martyred by being 10:02.899 --> 10:04.409 crucified upside down. 10:04.408 --> 10:06.628 In the Bible or not in the Bible? 10:06.629 --> 10:07.319 In the Bible? 10:07.320 --> 10:08.960 Not in the Bible? 10:08.960 --> 10:11.470 The not-in-the-Bibles have it; it's not in the Bible, 10:11.471 --> 10:13.781 but it's a very important part of Christian tradition. 10:13.778 --> 10:16.778 Now I did the little quiz--these are all things that 10:16.777 --> 10:19.067 a lot of people out there would say, 10:19.070 --> 10:20.010 "Oh yeah, that's in the Bible, 10:20.009 --> 10:21.389 or it sounds like something that should be in the 10:21.388 --> 10:21.788 Bible." 10:21.789 --> 10:22.619 Right? 10:22.620 --> 10:24.760 Most of them aren't, or about half of them, 10:24.756 --> 10:27.806 I think, are not in the Bible, and yet they're very important 10:27.809 --> 10:30.049 for the history of Western Civilization. 10:30.048 --> 10:31.568 They're important for people's conceptions. 10:31.570 --> 10:33.420 They're important for the history of art. 10:33.418 --> 10:37.078 How many paintings are there of Peter crucified upside down, 10:37.077 --> 10:38.997 or depictions in Western Art? 10:39.000 --> 10:41.830 So it's very important for someone to know that there is an 10:41.827 --> 10:44.897 important tradition about Peter being crucified upside down, 10:44.899 --> 10:46.729 but it's not a part of the New Testament. 10:46.730 --> 10:51.460 It illustrates again this idea that how much of this ancient 10:51.461 --> 10:54.671 text is it important for you to know, 10:54.668 --> 10:56.978 on its own terms, in its historical context in 10:56.980 --> 10:59.610 the first century, or how is it important for you 10:59.610 --> 11:02.550 to know in the way it's been interpreted for the last 2000 11:02.553 --> 11:03.023 years? 11:03.019 --> 11:06.039 And what I am telling you is kind of contrary to the way I'm 11:06.043 --> 11:07.533 going to teach this course. 11:07.528 --> 11:09.588 I'm actually advertising against myself, 11:09.594 --> 11:11.874 and there'll be fewer of you here next time, 11:11.870 --> 11:12.400 right? 11:12.399 --> 11:13.999 Contrary to the way I'll teach this course, 11:14.000 --> 11:16.520 which is more on the history of the first century of these 11:16.520 --> 11:18.910 documents and what they meant in the first century, 11:18.908 --> 11:22.098 sometimes the most important thing about the Bible is its 11:22.100 --> 11:23.810 impact on the later history. 11:23.808 --> 11:26.388 And that's something that we'll talk about from time to time in 11:26.389 --> 11:28.059 the class, but it's something you'd get 11:28.062 --> 11:29.372 more out of, for example, 11:29.374 --> 11:31.734 if you studied an art history class, 11:31.730 --> 11:35.250 or if you studied a literature class that talked about some of 11:35.249 --> 11:37.499 these issues in later European times. 11:37.500 --> 11:39.490 I could illustrate with a lot more other things. 11:39.490 --> 11:41.430 For example, if I said, "What do most 11:41.432 --> 11:43.902 people believe about what happens to you after you're 11:43.898 --> 11:44.608 dead?" 11:44.610 --> 11:46.340 And you'd get lots of different answers. 11:46.340 --> 11:47.930 "You're dead like Rover, you're dead all over." 11:47.928 --> 11:49.638 Some people say, "You go to heaven." 11:49.639 --> 11:51.379 Some people--there's all kinds of different things. 11:51.379 --> 11:54.459 If I said, "What do you think most Christian religious 11:54.460 --> 11:57.220 people believe about what happens to you after you're 11:57.222 --> 11:58.022 dead?" 11:58.019 --> 11:59.899 In other words, "Where is Aunt Martha at 11:59.903 --> 12:00.763 the funeral?" 12:00.759 --> 12:02.939 "Well she's up with the arms of Jesus. 12:02.940 --> 12:04.370 She's safe in heaven. 12:04.370 --> 12:05.500 Her soul is there." 12:05.500 --> 12:08.480 Most people would say that Christians or religious people 12:08.481 --> 12:10.721 believe in the immortality of the soul, 12:10.720 --> 12:13.610 and that is part of a good bit of Christian doctrine. 12:13.610 --> 12:16.570 That again is not something that's in the Bible, 12:16.572 --> 12:20.042 really, so--and it's not even the best interpretation of 12:20.038 --> 12:22.118 official Christian orthodoxy. 12:22.120 --> 12:26.000 According to official Christian orthodoxy, the form of your 12:25.998 --> 12:29.608 afterlife existence is the resurrection of the body. 12:29.610 --> 12:31.920 That's what the New Testament talks about, either the 12:31.922 --> 12:34.592 resurrection of the flesh or the resurrection of the body. 12:34.590 --> 12:37.620 That's contrary to what most people kind of assume is what 12:37.624 --> 12:38.534 people believe. 12:38.529 --> 12:41.169 The point about this--and where do they get the idea of the 12:41.173 --> 12:42.363 immortality of the soul? 12:42.360 --> 12:43.640 Much more from Plato. 12:43.639 --> 12:46.629 So again it raises the issue, if you want to know most about 12:46.629 --> 12:49.519 the most influential aspects for Western civilization, 12:49.519 --> 12:53.499 would it be better for you to take an entire semester on Plato 12:53.496 --> 12:55.906 than it would on the New Testament? 12:55.909 --> 12:58.789 I'm saying it might, actually. 12:58.788 --> 13:01.248 The ironic fact is, because the New Testament is 13:01.249 --> 13:03.289 considered more important by people, 13:03.288 --> 13:05.788 there are a whole lot more people who take my New Testament 13:05.785 --> 13:08.235 classes than go over to the Classics Department and take a 13:08.239 --> 13:09.099 course in Plato. 13:09.100 --> 13:12.300 I'm not sure that's the way it should be, but that's the way it 13:12.301 --> 13:12.561 is. 13:12.558 --> 13:15.628 What this does is it brings up this issue of why are you here, 13:15.633 --> 13:17.903 what do you hope to get out of this course? 13:17.899 --> 13:21.269 And I want you to understand the method that we'll pursue in 13:21.267 --> 13:22.007 the course. 13:22.009 --> 13:26.739 My point is to get you to see that when we study this text in 13:26.736 --> 13:28.966 this class, we're not going to be studying 13:28.965 --> 13:31.985 it necessarily as scripture, as the Word of God. 13:31.990 --> 13:35.020 We're not going to be studying it necessarily for how important 13:35.019 --> 13:37.319 it was for Medieval and Early Modern Literature, 13:37.317 --> 13:38.097 for example. 13:38.100 --> 13:41.040 We're going to look at what it meant in the first century. 13:41.038 --> 13:44.088 In fact, what I'm going to try to do is get you to come at the 13:44.090 --> 13:45.740 New Testament from the outside. 13:45.740 --> 13:47.720 I've been teaching this stuff for twenty years, 13:47.720 --> 13:51.660 and I tend to find two basic kinds of students who shop my 13:51.662 --> 13:55.262 classes for the New Testament Introduction course. 13:55.259 --> 13:58.309 One of them are the kinds of students who grew up in a 13:58.312 --> 13:59.582 religious household. 13:59.580 --> 14:00.480 They went to church. 14:00.480 --> 14:02.350 They maybe even have taken a lot of Sunday School, 14:02.350 --> 14:05.030 and so they feel like they know these texts from at least a 14:05.034 --> 14:07.354 Sunday School or a church kind of point of view. 14:07.350 --> 14:09.370 In some ways they kind of feel like, 14:09.370 --> 14:10.760 "Okay, I know what the New Testament is, 14:10.759 --> 14:13.449 and I already know sort of what I think about it." 14:13.450 --> 14:16.800 There are other people who come to these classes who grew up in 14:16.802 --> 14:19.402 a non-religious context; they know nothing about this. 14:19.399 --> 14:21.319 They've never read the Bible, and they come in and they 14:21.320 --> 14:22.330 think, "Well I'm taking it 14:22.328 --> 14:23.648 because I don't know anything about it." 14:23.649 --> 14:26.329 But, oddly enough, because they've been raised in 14:26.333 --> 14:29.913 our society, they still actually come at this text with some kind 14:29.913 --> 14:31.763 of pre-knowledge of the text. 14:31.759 --> 14:34.349 They have a conception of what the Bible is. 14:34.350 --> 14:36.540 They have a conception of what-- who Jesus is, 14:36.538 --> 14:37.218 who Paul is. 14:37.220 --> 14:41.260 And so they're coming at the text already with some kind of 14:41.259 --> 14:44.599 familiarity with the topic, at least in a popular 14:44.604 --> 14:45.654 conception. 14:45.649 --> 14:49.669 Now the reason that is true is because we live in a 14:49.673 --> 14:53.863 post-Christian culture, and both aspects of that term 14:53.860 --> 14:55.310 are important. 14:55.308 --> 14:58.458 It's post-Christian in the sense that it's hard to live in 14:58.462 --> 15:01.952 America without having some kind of exposure to Christianity and 15:01.948 --> 15:04.658 without seeing its influence on our society, 15:04.658 --> 15:07.148 on our politics, on our culture and our art, 15:07.149 --> 15:07.919 and that sort of thing. 15:07.918 --> 15:10.148 But it's also post-Christian because you can no longer 15:10.149 --> 15:11.379 assume, in this culture, 15:11.379 --> 15:16.019 especially in a multivalent, poly-ethnic situation like 15:16.015 --> 15:22.245 Yale, that everybody here is going to be Christian. 15:22.250 --> 15:25.830 So we're in this kind of situation where we have the 15:25.828 --> 15:29.828 hangovers of Christianity still occupying the culture, 15:29.830 --> 15:33.150 without necessarily knowing a lot about it. 15:33.149 --> 15:36.159 So I'm going to ask you to come at the New Testament, 15:36.163 --> 15:37.733 though, from the outside. 15:37.730 --> 15:39.530 If you feel like you know something about it, 15:39.529 --> 15:42.539 put those aside for the moment, because when we do the class 15:42.535 --> 15:45.585 we'll be trying to get you to see this document as if for the 15:45.594 --> 15:47.574 first time, to see early Christianity 15:47.567 --> 15:49.277 completely as if for the first time. 15:49.279 --> 15:52.359 So let's do a little practice run through this. 15:52.360 --> 15:54.710 Come with me now, open up your New Testament as 15:54.711 --> 15:57.741 you're just going to look at it, and we're going to go through a 15:57.740 --> 15:59.430 rushed little survey, through the New Testament. 15:59.428 --> 16:02.648 How would it strike you if you knew nothing about it, 16:02.650 --> 16:06.000 if you had never heard of it before, if you open up the 16:05.995 --> 16:08.655 covers of this book for the first time? 16:08.658 --> 16:11.318 At the very beginning is the Gospel of Matthew, 16:11.320 --> 16:13.760 and it starts like this: "The book of the 16:13.756 --> 16:16.296 origin" (or the genesis is the Greek 16:16.302 --> 16:19.502 word) "of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham. 16:19.500 --> 16:21.850 Abraham had a son named Isaac. 16:21.850 --> 16:23.640 Isaac had a son named Jacob. 16:23.639 --> 16:25.729 Jacob had Judah and his brothers. 16:25.730 --> 16:28.710 Judah had Perez and Zerah from Tamar." 16:28.710 --> 16:29.890 And you know how this goes, right? 16:29.889 --> 16:31.759 This is the begats, the famous begats, 16:31.759 --> 16:33.529 that start the Gospel of Matthew. 16:33.529 --> 16:34.839 So-and-so begat, so-and-so begat, 16:34.844 --> 16:37.394 so-and so, and it goes on like this for sentences and sentences 16:37.389 --> 16:38.129 and sentences. 16:38.129 --> 16:40.299 And, as a modern person, you're going, 16:40.298 --> 16:41.528 "What is this? 16:41.529 --> 16:43.439 What's going on with this?" 16:43.440 --> 16:46.170 And then you get to the birth narratives in Matthew, 16:46.168 --> 16:47.878 the stories of the Baby Jesus. 16:47.879 --> 16:50.939 If you lived during the time of Matthew himself, 16:50.940 --> 16:53.750 all of this stuff would seem fairly familiar to you, 16:53.750 --> 16:57.110 the idea that kings would come from far off and see a star, 16:57.110 --> 16:59.550 and that meant that the birth of someone great had been born. 16:59.548 --> 17:01.588 This is actually part of propaganda culture of the 17:01.591 --> 17:02.261 Ancient World. 17:02.259 --> 17:04.439 If you were an ancient person and you picked up the Gospel of 17:04.440 --> 17:06.510 Matthew and you heard these stories about these kings from 17:06.510 --> 17:08.520 the East, following a star and arriving 17:08.519 --> 17:11.109 and finding this baby, that would sound--you know, 17:11.113 --> 17:13.223 okay, this is going to be somebody great. 17:13.220 --> 17:16.270 This is telling you that this is himself a king or somebody 17:16.269 --> 17:16.689 great. 17:16.690 --> 17:20.160 So it would sound familiar to you in the ancient world. 17:20.160 --> 17:22.660 Then you'd go on and read the rest of the Gospel of Matthew. 17:22.660 --> 17:25.150 It's a story of a man who travels around, 17:25.147 --> 17:28.007 giving speeches, sometimes talking to people or 17:28.010 --> 17:28.820 teaching. 17:28.818 --> 17:32.968 He's exorcising demons, performs a few miracles, 17:32.970 --> 17:34.560 he heals people. 17:34.558 --> 17:38.208 And, again, to us in the modern world, if you didn't already 17:38.211 --> 17:41.431 have some exposure to religious narratives like this, 17:41.432 --> 17:42.982 that would sound odd. 17:42.980 --> 17:45.260 In the ancient world, actually, it would've sounded 17:45.261 --> 17:47.661 familiar, because there are other stories 17:47.663 --> 17:51.433 of other kinds of teachers who'd healed and exorcised demons and 17:51.432 --> 17:52.752 performed miracles. 17:52.750 --> 17:55.360 That was not an uncommon way to talk about someone who was 17:55.356 --> 17:56.406 supposed to be great. 17:56.410 --> 17:59.490 But then you get to the next book in the New Testament, 17:59.490 --> 18:00.690 the Gospel of Mark. 18:00.690 --> 18:03.030 Well, it's kind of the same story. 18:03.028 --> 18:04.268 It's shorter, there's less, 18:04.265 --> 18:05.875 fewer teachings in it but it's-- 18:05.880 --> 18:09.050 so why do you have the second chapter of this book retell the 18:09.048 --> 18:11.848 same story that the first chapter of the book told? 18:11.849 --> 18:13.799 The Gospel of Luke, same thing. 18:13.798 --> 18:16.708 You get to the Gospel of John--John's kind of different, 18:16.708 --> 18:19.298 it sounds different, there's a different style. 18:19.298 --> 18:21.728 But again it's the same story of this same guy. 18:21.730 --> 18:24.390 Why do you have four different chapters of this book, 18:24.394 --> 18:25.884 all telling the same story? 18:25.880 --> 18:28.950 That's odd in itself, from our point of view; 18:28.950 --> 18:30.200 or it should look odd to us. 18:30.200 --> 18:32.470 Then you get to The Acts of the Apostles. 18:32.470 --> 18:35.020 Now we're back on more familiar ground. 18:35.019 --> 18:37.039 It starts off like the Gospel of Luke, 18:37.038 --> 18:39.738 because it's written by the same guy who wrote the Gospel of 18:39.742 --> 18:41.692 Luke, and in fact it starts off with 18:41.690 --> 18:44.220 a paragraph that kind of encapsulates the way-- 18:44.220 --> 18:45.800 how the Gospel of Luke ended. 18:45.798 --> 18:49.338 You know, like TV shows, "Last time on ER." 18:49.338 --> 18:52.638 And this is the way The Acts of Apostles begins. 18:52.640 --> 18:54.370 "Last time in Luke it ended this way. 18:54.368 --> 18:56.188 Now we're going to take up our heroes at their next 18:56.190 --> 18:56.700 point." 18:56.700 --> 19:01.060 Then it starts sounding like a Greco-Roman novel. 19:01.058 --> 19:03.158 And I have to tell you something about novels in the 19:03.160 --> 19:03.820 ancient world. 19:03.818 --> 19:05.578 There were Greek and Latin novels. 19:05.578 --> 19:08.488 Greek novels usually were about a man and a woman, 19:08.494 --> 19:10.824 young, rich, who see each other and fall 19:10.816 --> 19:13.906 madly in love and passionately want one another. 19:13.910 --> 19:16.230 And they might get married, or they might not get married, 19:16.233 --> 19:18.113 but they don't get to consummate their love. 19:18.108 --> 19:21.268 Instead, one of them gets kidnapped or has to go off to 19:21.271 --> 19:24.771 war or captured by pirates, and she's taken off by pirates 19:24.773 --> 19:27.063 and sold into slavery, and she goes all the way around 19:27.057 --> 19:28.827 the Mediterranean, and the young man follows her 19:28.827 --> 19:31.057 around the Mediterranean in chapter after chapter after 19:31.055 --> 19:31.505 chapter. 19:31.509 --> 19:34.929 They always almost connect and almost get to have sex, 19:34.930 --> 19:36.640 and then no, they're--she's bought by 19:36.642 --> 19:39.022 somebody else and taken into another slave job, 19:39.019 --> 19:40.689 or he's captured by pirates. 19:40.690 --> 19:43.510 So the whole novel is them chasing each other around the 19:43.508 --> 19:46.918 Mediterranean, with shipwrecks and battles and 19:46.923 --> 19:51.013 miracles and gods intervening, and all kinds of stuff. 19:51.009 --> 19:53.699 And that's what The Acts of the Apostles kind of looks like. 19:53.700 --> 19:57.680 It's looks like an ancient Greek novel, except it lacks the 19:57.680 --> 20:00.700 one thing every good Greek novel had, sex. 20:00.700 --> 20:03.970 The Acts of the Apostles doesn't have sex. 20:03.970 --> 20:06.570 You might be disappointed there, but you also have other 20:06.569 --> 20:08.319 things that the novels don't have, 20:08.318 --> 20:10.828 such as the Holy Spirit being the main actor for the whole 20:10.826 --> 20:11.176 thing. 20:11.180 --> 20:12.680 But, notice, that would look kind of 20:12.683 --> 20:14.363 familiar to you in the Ancient World. 20:14.358 --> 20:16.768 It definitely looks odd to you in the modern world, 20:16.770 --> 20:19.520 if you don't read it as the Bible, and if you just read it 20:19.520 --> 20:20.390 as literature. 20:20.390 --> 20:23.600 And we also realize that The Acts of the Apostles is 20:23.595 --> 20:24.345 mistitled. 20:24.348 --> 20:26.108 It's not the acts of all the apostles, 20:26.108 --> 20:29.108 it's the acts basically of Paul, and Paul's not considered 20:29.112 --> 20:32.222 an apostle by the guy who wrote the Acts of the Apostles. 20:32.220 --> 20:35.230 This is another little clue here we'll from learn this 20:35.226 --> 20:35.846 semester. 20:35.848 --> 20:39.098 The titles of most of the books in the New Testament were not 20:39.098 --> 20:42.188 put there by their authors; they were put there by later 20:42.189 --> 20:43.219 Christian scribes. 20:43.220 --> 20:44.580 This will be very important. 20:44.578 --> 20:47.398 Then you get to The Letters of Paul. 20:47.400 --> 20:51.090 And is it strange that most of the New Testament are actually 20:51.085 --> 20:51.695 letters? 20:51.700 --> 20:53.530 They're not like modern letters. 20:53.529 --> 20:56.389 They're quite a bit like ancient letters. 20:56.390 --> 20:58.760 They're usually addressed to groups of people, 20:58.758 --> 21:01.708 and they deal with sort of philosophical sounding issues, 21:01.705 --> 21:03.965 and they give advice on group problems. 21:03.970 --> 21:06.960 Then you get to The Epistle to the Hebrews, or, 21:06.963 --> 21:10.543 in what a better translation would be, The Letter to the 21:10.544 --> 21:11.134 Jews. 21:11.130 --> 21:14.040 What's odd about it is that as you read this Epistle to the 21:14.041 --> 21:15.751 Hebrews, you realize two things. 21:15.750 --> 21:19.680 Number one, it's not a letter, it's actually a sermon. 21:19.680 --> 21:21.440 In fact, it doesn't even claim to be a letter; 21:21.440 --> 21:23.120 it looks just like a sermon. 21:23.118 --> 21:26.918 And, you realize this is not really addressed to Jews, 21:26.920 --> 21:30.710 it seems to be addressed to Gentile Christians to convince 21:30.709 --> 21:34.629 them that Jesus provides for them a liturgy that is superior 21:34.632 --> 21:35.632 to Judaism. 21:35.630 --> 21:38.750 It's actually neither a letter, nor is it addressed to Jews. 21:38.750 --> 21:41.300 This leads to an insight, though, by this time, 21:41.303 --> 21:43.693 when you're surveying your New Testament. 21:43.690 --> 21:48.130 These letters seem to be meant to be read out loud. 21:48.130 --> 21:51.130 So what--we'll ask this over and over again in this 21:51.130 --> 21:53.470 semester-- what would it mean to read this 21:53.467 --> 21:56.837 letter out loud in a community, not alone in your dorm room, 21:56.842 --> 21:59.092 or just by yourself, in the library? 21:59.089 --> 22:01.189 Then you get to 1 Peter. 22:01.190 --> 22:04.090 It's written not to one place, but it's a circular letter, 22:04.090 --> 22:05.720 meant to be circulated around. 22:05.720 --> 22:09.240 Then you get to 2 and 3 John, two letters that are written to 22:09.241 --> 22:12.061 "the elected lady and her children." 22:12.059 --> 22:13.619 What does that mean? 22:13.618 --> 22:16.848 Then finally you get to the Revelation of John, 22:16.854 --> 22:18.054 The Apocalypse. 22:18.048 --> 22:20.368 The word "revelation" is just the Latinized, 22:20.367 --> 22:22.727 English version of the Greek word apocalypse. 22:22.730 --> 22:26.320 And apocalypse just means opening up, revelation. 22:26.319 --> 22:29.039 This document is really bizarre. 22:29.038 --> 22:31.998 It's not like anything you've confronted so far in the New 22:31.997 --> 22:32.617 Testament. 22:32.618 --> 22:35.978 It starts off with a narrative about a vision. 22:35.980 --> 22:39.610 This guy named John says, "I was on the Island of 22:39.613 --> 22:40.233 Patmos. 22:40.230 --> 22:41.960 I was in--the Lord's Day. 22:41.960 --> 22:43.650 I started having this vision and this angel appeared to me 22:43.650 --> 22:44.540 and this all happened." 22:44.538 --> 22:47.948 Then it has several letters, seven different letters, 22:47.949 --> 22:51.029 very short letters, addressed to seven different 22:51.030 --> 22:52.540 Christian churches. 22:52.538 --> 22:58.648 And then it goes into this wild videogame, MTV-style narrative 22:58.651 --> 23:02.761 of a heavenly journey of this guy John. 23:02.759 --> 23:03.689 He goes up into the heavens. 23:03.690 --> 23:05.440 He sees the throne room of God. 23:05.440 --> 23:07.820 He sees weird kinds of beasts and animals that had 23:07.817 --> 23:10.487 like--they're bodies of lambs, but they've got horns and 23:10.488 --> 23:12.428 they're bleeding all over the place. 23:12.430 --> 23:14.500 It's a story of catastrophes. 23:14.500 --> 23:17.630 It's a story of a cosmic battle between forces of good and 23:17.626 --> 23:18.556 forces of evil. 23:18.558 --> 23:21.188 It's like several installments of Star Wars. 23:21.190 --> 23:25.390 And finally it ends up with the establishment of a new world and 23:25.386 --> 23:26.716 a new City of God. 23:26.720 --> 23:29.490 Now that's a long way--that's the end of the New 23:29.488 --> 23:32.898 Testament--that's a long way from the little Baby Jesus and 23:32.904 --> 23:35.324 the Three Kings in Matthew, isn't it? 23:35.318 --> 23:38.888 But the New Testament includes all that kind of diverse 23:38.890 --> 23:41.630 literature; 27 different books, 23:41.631 --> 23:46.681 written anywhere from the year 50 to the year 150. 23:46.680 --> 23:50.050 So a hundred-year period of time that these books were 23:50.049 --> 23:51.449 probably written in. 23:51.450 --> 23:54.940 They have different points of view, different situations, 23:54.936 --> 23:57.486 different theologies, different genres. 23:57.490 --> 24:00.410 They use confusing in-house language. 24:00.410 --> 24:03.040 I'll point out that in-house language throughout the 24:03.040 --> 24:06.240 semester, and we'll talk about how it should be interpreted. 24:06.240 --> 24:10.300 And these texts almost defy interpretation by a modern 24:10.298 --> 24:15.198 person, unless you have guidance from a historian and expert like 24:15.201 --> 24:16.351 moi. 24:16.348 --> 24:19.598 Let's do this little trick again. 24:19.598 --> 24:21.058 Instead of looking at the documents from the outside, 24:21.058 --> 24:23.918 let's look at what would an early Christian church look like 24:23.920 --> 24:25.860 if you were just to stumble upon them? 24:25.859 --> 24:27.469 A little imagination. 24:27.470 --> 24:30.320 Let's pretend that you're a seamstress. 24:30.318 --> 24:34.418 You work in a clothing shop in the City of Corinth, 24:34.422 --> 24:36.722 in Greece, in the year 56. 24:36.720 --> 24:41.780 A guy next door to you, named Fred, works in a leather 24:41.779 --> 24:43.689 factory next door. 24:43.690 --> 24:47.460 He has just joined a new club and he's going to tell you all 24:47.457 --> 24:48.157 about it. 24:48.160 --> 24:51.400 First, they don't meet in the daytime; 24:51.400 --> 24:55.640 they meet either early before light, at dawn, 24:55.635 --> 24:58.135 or after dark, at night. 24:58.140 --> 25:02.210 There's only enough of them to fill a decent sized dining room, 25:02.211 --> 25:05.891 but they call themselves the "town meeting." 25:05.890 --> 25:08.660 You're not sure what they do at these meetings. 25:08.660 --> 25:11.610 They don't appear to worship any god or goddess that you can 25:11.608 --> 25:11.908 see. 25:11.910 --> 25:14.450 They use the term "god" 25:14.451 --> 25:19.141 sometimes, but this god doesn't have a name, and that's very 25:19.140 --> 25:20.650 bizarre to you. 25:20.650 --> 25:24.480 Remember, you're pretending you're a Greek person living in 25:24.479 --> 25:26.129 the year 56 in Corinth. 25:26.130 --> 25:28.590 In fact, these people don't look like they believe in gods 25:28.590 --> 25:30.060 at all, they look like atheists. 25:30.058 --> 25:33.888 They have a very high respect for a criminal Jew, 25:33.887 --> 25:38.597 who led some kind of guerilla war and was executed long ago, 25:38.595 --> 25:40.425 somewhere in Syria. 25:40.430 --> 25:45.340 Fred says, though, that this Jew is still alive 25:45.338 --> 25:46.618 somewhere. 25:46.618 --> 25:49.088 In fact, Fred says that the Jew "bought" 25:49.086 --> 25:52.206 him, though you didn't know that Fred was even ever a slave. 25:52.210 --> 25:54.000 In fact, you're pretty sure that Steve wasn't a slave. 25:54.000 --> 25:55.380 So what does it mean that this guy bought him? 25:55.380 --> 25:58.480 At these town meetings they eat meals-- 25:58.480 --> 26:01.090 which is not unusual since most clubs in your society eat 26:01.089 --> 26:02.949 meals-- but they call the meals 26:02.945 --> 26:06.565 "the boss's dinner," or sometimes "the thank 26:06.567 --> 26:07.377 you." 26:07.380 --> 26:11.220 Some people say they eat human flesh at these dinners, 26:11.215 --> 26:15.625 but you doubt that because for some reason they seem to be all 26:15.631 --> 26:16.791 vegetarians. 26:16.788 --> 26:19.408 You kind of doubt whether vegetarians would eat human 26:19.406 --> 26:19.806 flesh. 26:19.808 --> 26:24.228 Fred says that to initiate new members into their club, 26:24.230 --> 26:26.730 they "dip them," naked, 26:26.730 --> 26:28.780 and then they "get healthy." 26:28.778 --> 26:32.078 Once you're in the club they call you "comrade," 26:32.082 --> 26:34.692 and you have sex with anyone and everyone, 26:34.690 --> 26:36.630 because it doesn't matter anymore whether you're a man or 26:36.633 --> 26:38.573 a woman; in fact, they kind of figure 26:38.567 --> 26:39.927 you're neither or both. 26:39.930 --> 26:42.770 That's this new group. 26:42.769 --> 26:46.019 Now I constructed that little picture out of actual data from 26:46.015 --> 26:48.605 the New Testament, and what we have from writings 26:48.611 --> 26:50.181 about ancient Christians. 26:50.180 --> 26:53.410 This was the way at least a good many number of ancient 26:53.406 --> 26:55.556 people saw early Christian groups. 26:55.558 --> 26:58.348 Every one of the little details there I gave-- 26:58.348 --> 27:00.418 I won't unpack them all for you now because it would just be 27:00.417 --> 27:01.677 boring and we need to move along-- 27:01.680 --> 27:04.530 but every one of those details comes from some interpretation 27:04.527 --> 27:06.897 of a particular Greek term that Christians used. 27:06.900 --> 27:08.610 For example, I said this meal they have, 27:08.605 --> 27:10.525 it's called "the boss's dinner." 27:10.529 --> 27:12.529 We call it the Lord's Supper. 27:12.528 --> 27:14.418 But "the Lord" doesn't mean "God" 27:14.422 --> 27:15.662 necessarily, it means your boss. 27:15.660 --> 27:18.020 So the Lord's Supper, put back into normal Greek 27:18.021 --> 27:20.481 language, would be something like "the boss's 27:20.484 --> 27:21.344 dinner." 27:21.338 --> 27:22.178 Or, as I said, they call it, 27:22.183 --> 27:23.063 "the thank you." 27:23.058 --> 27:26.618 Episcopalians call the Communion, when they take it on 27:26.617 --> 27:28.207 Sunday, "the Eucharist," 27:28.213 --> 27:30.423 which is just from the Greek word meaning "thanks." 27:30.420 --> 27:32.700 So all of these different things-- the part about it, 27:32.700 --> 27:33.910 it doesn't matter whether you're a man and woman, 27:33.910 --> 27:35.920 Christians went around saying things like, 27:35.920 --> 27:38.110 "In Christ there is no male and female." 27:38.109 --> 27:41.479 What, no male and female? 27:41.480 --> 27:45.060 And some outsiders did interpret that as meaning that 27:45.064 --> 27:49.204 these Christians seem to kind of have sex with each other. 27:49.200 --> 27:50.200 They call each other "brother" 27:50.199 --> 27:51.529 and "sister" and yet they're always talking 27:51.531 --> 27:52.251 about love all the time. 27:52.250 --> 27:54.450 They have meetings at night, in the dark. 27:54.450 --> 27:58.280 Yeah, so there were all these rumors about early Christian 27:58.275 --> 27:59.545 groups like this. 27:59.548 --> 28:02.008 So a lot of these things--I said they call you 28:02.013 --> 28:03.223 "comrade." 28:03.220 --> 28:05.010 Well Christians called each other "brother" 28:05.009 --> 28:05.869 and "sister." 28:05.868 --> 28:08.638 But that wouldn't have been sort of a normal, 28:08.638 --> 28:12.478 everyday way to talk about a stranger in the ancient world. 28:12.480 --> 28:15.400 It would sound somewhat odd, like in our thinking it would 28:15.396 --> 28:17.386 be somewhat odd, or Communist or something, 28:17.393 --> 28:18.893 to call somebody "comrade." 28:18.890 --> 28:21.170 So the language that different early Christians used about each 28:21.169 --> 28:22.709 other, and for themselves, 28:22.710 --> 28:25.450 was sometimes very common Greek language, 28:25.450 --> 28:28.480 but sometimes it would've also sounded strange and kind of 28:28.482 --> 28:29.922 in-house to other people. 28:29.920 --> 28:33.390 In other words, the Bible presents us with a 28:33.385 --> 28:37.295 very strange world, if we approach it without our 28:37.298 --> 28:41.088 normal preconceptions, if we approach it fresh and 28:41.092 --> 28:42.442 from the outside. 28:42.440 --> 28:45.520 This is an ancient collection of documents. 28:45.519 --> 28:49.119 It wasn't all put together right when they were written. 28:49.118 --> 28:52.738 Next time I'm going to actually talk about how did these 27 28:52.742 --> 28:56.312 different diverse documents come to be included in the New 28:56.305 --> 28:57.175 Testament? 28:57.180 --> 29:00.060 That's the whole history of the canon, and I'll talk about that 29:00.063 --> 29:01.043 in my next lecture. 29:01.038 --> 29:05.778 In fact, a good bit of the history of early Christianity, 29:05.778 --> 29:09.608 and the New Testament itself, was to take what was a diverse 29:09.607 --> 29:13.407 group of different people, all somehow being loyal to this 29:13.406 --> 29:14.826 guy they called Jesus. 29:14.828 --> 29:17.518 But they weren't all the same, and they were in different 29:17.518 --> 29:20.108 geographical situations, they had different beliefs. 29:20.108 --> 29:23.988 And early Christianity was an attempt to pull all these things 29:23.992 --> 29:26.352 into one unified movement, in some way, 29:26.352 --> 29:28.702 to get some kind of uniformity of belief and practice. 29:28.700 --> 29:33.280 So this course is actually going to run counter to that 29:33.277 --> 29:37.767 historical tendency to make unity out of diversity. 29:37.769 --> 29:39.939 What we're going to do is we're going to take the New Testament, 29:39.940 --> 29:41.530 and we're going to take the different writings, 29:41.526 --> 29:42.866 and we're going to take them apart. 29:42.868 --> 29:47.078 And one of the major themes of the course will be the diversity 29:47.079 --> 29:50.129 of Early Christianity; in fact, the diversity of Early 29:50.131 --> 29:52.201 Christianities, is one of the ways I put it on 29:52.195 --> 29:52.925 the syllabus. 29:52.930 --> 29:55.740 We will look at all the different ways Jesus was thought 29:55.740 --> 29:58.910 of to be either divine or human or some combination of both. 29:58.910 --> 30:01.690 We'll look at different ways that early Christians dealt with 30:01.693 --> 30:04.483 the fact that this movement seemed to come out of Judaism. 30:04.480 --> 30:05.650 Well, does that mean we're Jews? 30:05.650 --> 30:07.580 If not, what does it mean we are? 30:07.578 --> 30:09.778 We'll look at all the different diversities. 30:09.778 --> 30:12.588 How they treated women, different ways that women could 30:12.586 --> 30:14.246 take a place in this movement. 30:14.250 --> 30:17.000 Or different ways that they treated slaves and other 30:16.999 --> 30:18.669 servants in their households. 30:18.670 --> 30:20.920 How did they react to the politics? 30:20.920 --> 30:23.220 How did they react to the powerful Roman Empire? 30:23.220 --> 30:25.320 We'll take all these different topics, 30:25.318 --> 30:27.818 at different points in the course, and we'll talk about the 30:27.821 --> 30:29.981 diverse ways that early Christians reacted to these 30:29.979 --> 30:32.279 social and cultural issues, and we'll read the New 30:32.278 --> 30:33.448 Testament in light of that. 30:33.450 --> 30:36.950 So what's going on is taking what is a unity, 30:36.954 --> 30:41.894 and pulling apart that unity to see the diversity of this early 30:41.894 --> 30:45.324 Christian movement and these documents. 30:45.318 --> 30:48.518 Now I'm going to pause for a minute and let you ask 30:48.515 --> 30:51.325 questions, or make comments, or throw things, 30:51.327 --> 30:52.347 or whatever. 30:52.349 --> 30:55.309 Don't be shy. 30:55.309 --> 30:56.829 Yes? 30:56.828 --> 30:59.348 Student: Are you going to talk at all about sort of how 30:59.352 --> 31:01.752 the decisions were made to what documents to include or what 31:01.751 --> 31:02.771 documents to exclude? 31:02.769 --> 31:03.979 Prof: Yes. 31:03.980 --> 31:06.360 He asked if I was going to talk about how decisions were made 31:06.355 --> 31:08.605 about what to include in the New Testament and what not to 31:08.613 --> 31:09.923 include in the New Testament. 31:09.920 --> 31:11.660 And I'll talk about that actually the next lecture, 31:11.655 --> 31:13.215 when I talk about the history of the canon. 31:13.220 --> 31:16.000 Why were some books--there were a lot more early Christian 31:16.003 --> 31:17.913 pieces of literature that we know of. 31:17.910 --> 31:19.590 Some we're discovering all the time. 31:19.589 --> 31:20.579 The Gospel of Judas. 31:20.578 --> 31:23.058 You may have read in the newspapers and magazines that a 31:23.059 --> 31:25.179 new Gospel of Judas has just been published, 31:25.180 --> 31:27.800 that some people at Yale actually knew twenty years ago 31:27.797 --> 31:30.267 existed because it was shown to some people here. 31:30.269 --> 31:31.819 But most people didn't know about it. 31:31.818 --> 31:33.998 And it's just been published in an English translation. 31:34.000 --> 31:36.960 Why did the Gospel of Judas not make it into the canon? 31:36.960 --> 31:39.240 We'll talk about those issues next time. 31:39.240 --> 31:40.160 Yes sir? 31:40.160 --> 31:42.580 Student: Are we going to go over the different 31:42.576 --> 31:43.256 translations? 31:43.259 --> 31:45.889 Prof: Are we going to go over the different translations, 31:45.887 --> 31:46.887 and which one is best? 31:46.890 --> 31:49.960 We will raise the issue of translation periodically. 31:49.960 --> 31:51.690 For example, when I talk about the syllabus 31:51.693 --> 31:53.593 in just a moment, I'm going to talk about what 31:53.594 --> 31:56.224 Bible you should bring to class, and I recommend--I did 31:56.217 --> 31:59.987 recommend one particular study bible to the bookstore to buy, 31:59.990 --> 32:03.110 but I'm sort of hoping that not everybody will bring that same 32:03.108 --> 32:04.948 translation of the New Testament, 32:04.950 --> 32:08.000 because sometimes I'll say, "Well this translation 32:08.002 --> 32:09.532 says this in the English. 32:09.528 --> 32:11.858 Does anyone have a different translation?" 32:11.858 --> 32:14.048 And at particular points, when there is something 32:14.049 --> 32:16.149 important about the different translations, 32:16.150 --> 32:19.030 I'll bring that up, and I'll explain every once in 32:19.029 --> 32:19.559 awhile. 32:19.558 --> 32:21.628 That won't be sort of a major lecture in its own right. 32:21.630 --> 32:23.360 It's something that will come up over and over again. 32:23.359 --> 32:25.199 How does translation happen? 32:25.200 --> 32:27.970 How do debates about translation get resolved? 32:27.970 --> 32:30.180 Yes? 32:30.180 --> 32:33.220 Student: Are you going to talk about the Old Testament 32:33.223 --> 32:35.973 at all, either sort of how >. 32:35.970 --> 32:37.640 Prof: Am I going to talk about the Old Testament at all? 32:37.640 --> 32:39.370 I will when it's relevant. 32:39.368 --> 32:41.708 So, for example, next time I will also talk a 32:41.710 --> 32:44.050 bit about the canon of the Old Testament, 32:44.048 --> 32:46.548 and how there are different decisions about that from the 32:46.554 --> 32:47.274 New Testament. 32:47.269 --> 32:50.159 I'll talk about why the Jewish Bible is different from the 32:50.156 --> 32:52.686 Roman Catholic Bible, even with regard to what they 32:52.689 --> 32:54.259 consider the Old Testament. 32:54.259 --> 32:57.909 When we talk about apocalypticism, 32:57.910 --> 32:59.910 and the Gospel of Mark and Judaism, 32:59.910 --> 33:03.740 I'm actually going to--you have to read at least the last half 33:03.740 --> 33:07.160 of the Book of Daniel, from the Old Testament. 33:07.160 --> 33:10.400 And the reason is because Daniel is an older apocalyptic, 33:10.395 --> 33:13.855 prophetic text that was heavily influenced on early Christian 33:13.863 --> 33:14.733 literature. 33:14.730 --> 33:18.660 And I will give a lecture in about two more times on the 33:18.657 --> 33:22.227 history of Judaism in this Second Temple Period; 33:22.230 --> 33:25.560 that is, what did Judaism look like at the time of Jesus and 33:25.564 --> 33:25.964 Paul? 33:25.960 --> 33:28.690 And that will necessitate referring to the Hebrew Bible 33:28.685 --> 33:29.035 some. 33:29.039 --> 33:30.289 So I will every once in awhile. 33:30.288 --> 33:32.828 But I'm not going to--I will, for example, 33:32.828 --> 33:36.288 talk about why did the Gospel of Matthew take this particular 33:36.286 --> 33:39.106 Hebrew Bible text to be a prophecy about Jesus? 33:39.108 --> 33:41.948 And we'll look back maybe and see how that difficult text 33:41.954 --> 33:44.094 would've looked in its original context. 33:44.088 --> 33:47.918 But-- so when it's relevant, I will refer back to the Hebrew 33:47.923 --> 33:49.813 Bible or the Old Testament. 33:49.808 --> 33:52.948 And for those of you who are not aware, what Christians call 33:52.950 --> 33:56.250 the Old Testament is simply what Jews call the Hebrew Bible. 33:56.250 --> 33:58.010 It basically refers to the same document. 33:58.009 --> 34:00.899 We just use different terms, because for the Jews, 34:00.904 --> 34:04.104 of course, Hebrew scripture is not old, in the sense of 34:05.099 --> 34:11.499 Any other questions? 34:11.500 --> 34:13.180 Yes. 34:13.179 --> 34:15.559 Student: Will we be talking somewhat about the 34:15.556 --> 34:18.246 legacy of the Bible on later literature or in the context? 34:18.250 --> 34:20.460 Prof: Will we be talking about the legacies of the Bible 34:20.456 --> 34:21.236 in later literature? 34:21.239 --> 34:22.529 Not as much as I should. 34:22.530 --> 34:24.520 And that's why at the very beginning of this lecture-- 34:24.518 --> 34:26.218 you may have come in a little bit late-- 34:26.219 --> 34:29.299 I said this course will concentrate on the meaning of 34:29.302 --> 34:32.152 these texts in their early historical context. 34:32.150 --> 34:34.570 Every once in a while we'll bring up an issue of well, 34:34.574 --> 34:36.914 how has this been interpreted over the centuries? 34:36.909 --> 34:39.939 The one time we will get this very strongly is the one time 34:39.938 --> 34:42.288 where you go with your discussion section-- 34:42.289 --> 34:43.669 I'll talk about the discussion sections in a moment. 34:43.670 --> 34:46.670 You're expected to all go to the Yale Art Gallery and go 34:46.668 --> 34:50.008 through the Art Gallery, with your discussion leader, 34:50.005 --> 34:53.605 and then you'll do a lot of looking at how are biblical 34:53.606 --> 34:56.536 themes and issues portrayed in later art. 34:56.539 --> 34:59.229 And that may bring up chances to talk about literature also. 34:59.230 --> 35:01.660 If you want to bring up those kinds of issues, 35:01.659 --> 35:02.469 feel free to. 35:02.469 --> 35:05.229 But I'm going to concentrate, in this course, 35:05.226 --> 35:08.856 on the meaning of these texts in their earliest context. 35:08.860 --> 35:10.720 Anybody else? 35:10.719 --> 35:12.139 Questions? 35:12.139 --> 35:14.029 Okay, look at your syllabus. 35:14.030 --> 35:17.380 If you don't have a syllabus--are there any extras 35:17.380 --> 35:18.270 back there? 35:18.268 --> 35:21.248 Okay, well you can find the syllabus--if you want to--there 35:21.251 --> 35:23.771 are some more right here, if anybody needs one. 35:23.768 --> 35:27.458 If you, or a friend of yours, wants to see this syllabus 35:27.460 --> 35:30.080 after the class, and you don't have one, 35:30.077 --> 35:32.357 it's on the Classes v2 server. 35:32.360 --> 35:34.450 So you can go online and get the syllabus, 35:34.454 --> 35:36.044 and download it and print it. 35:36.039 --> 35:39.429 One of the things I want to emphasize, that I've not 35:39.429 --> 35:42.349 emphasized already, is attendance here in the 35:42.353 --> 35:44.683 lectures is very much required. 35:44.679 --> 35:47.039 You will be expected to come to the lectures. 35:47.039 --> 35:48.989 Just because this is a large lecture course doesn't mean you 35:48.994 --> 35:49.794 can skip the lectures. 35:49.789 --> 35:51.899 Even if you're doing the readings from the textbook, 35:51.900 --> 35:54.010 you'll get stuff from my lectures that you won't get 35:54.010 --> 35:54.590 elsewhere. 35:54.590 --> 35:57.530 So you are required to come to the lectures. 35:57.530 --> 36:00.060 The section leaders, once they get to know you, 36:00.059 --> 36:02.679 they'll actually be looking to see whether the people in their 36:02.682 --> 36:04.492 section are missing a bunch of lectures; 36:04.489 --> 36:05.889 and I've asked them to take notes. 36:05.889 --> 36:08.639 If you're missing a lot of lectures, it could affect your 36:08.637 --> 36:09.027 grade. 36:09.030 --> 36:12.090 So please come to the lectures. 36:12.090 --> 36:14.630 There are only three assignments: two six-page 36:14.632 --> 36:16.782 papers, that I'll explain how to do. 36:16.780 --> 36:19.410 One is a exegesis paper, and we'll spend a whole section 36:19.413 --> 36:22.333 discussion talking about what we mean by exegesis and teaching 36:22.333 --> 36:23.343 you how to do it. 36:23.340 --> 36:26.230 Another paper will be a thematic paper on some aspect of 36:26.226 --> 36:29.376 conflict among early Christians, such as Judaism and the Law, 36:29.375 --> 36:30.735 or women, or politics. 36:30.739 --> 36:32.099 And then the final. 36:32.099 --> 36:34.799 There will never be a sit-down final in class. 36:34.800 --> 36:37.850 Your final exam will be basically one or two questions 36:37.846 --> 36:40.026 that I'll give to you ahead of time. 36:40.030 --> 36:42.550 You take it home and you write basically an 8-page, 36:42.550 --> 36:44.500 double-spaced paper on the question, 36:44.500 --> 36:47.080 not doing research--we don't want you to run outside and do 36:47.079 --> 36:47.569 research. 36:47.570 --> 36:49.410 Using the material you've learned in class, 36:49.409 --> 36:53.259 you'll be expected to answer some big questions for an 8-page 36:53.262 --> 36:57.052 final paper that you'll turn in at a date to be assigned. 36:57.050 --> 36:59.360 Procedures for evaluation are important. 36:59.360 --> 37:02.770 To make an A paper in my class, to make an A on a paper, 37:02.768 --> 37:06.028 not only does the paper have to have the right answers and 37:06.025 --> 37:09.565 fulfill the assignment, it has to be written elegantly 37:09.570 --> 37:10.740 and excellently. 37:10.739 --> 37:15.589 Every Yale student has access to free writing tutors. 37:15.590 --> 37:18.350 I don't know if you realize how rare that is, 37:18.349 --> 37:19.289 in a college. 37:19.289 --> 37:21.429 It certainly wasn't available to me or most people of my 37:21.425 --> 37:21.925 generation. 37:21.929 --> 37:24.329 But I know you have access to writing tutors. 37:24.329 --> 37:27.199 You can make an A in this class by writing your paper as far 37:27.202 --> 37:30.072 enough ahead of time that you can take it to a writing tutor 37:30.074 --> 37:33.194 and get the writing tutor to help you get the style better, 37:33.190 --> 37:34.780 and then turn that version in. 37:34.780 --> 37:37.670 That'll be much more likely to give you an A. 37:37.670 --> 37:40.440 If you write a paper that says all the right things, 37:40.443 --> 37:43.493 does all the right things, and yet it's not well written, 37:43.489 --> 37:44.359 it gets a B. 37:44.360 --> 37:47.040 If it's a C, that means it's even worse 37:47.039 --> 37:50.989 written, and Ds and Fs mean you didn't really fulfill the 37:50.990 --> 37:52.050 assignment. 37:52.050 --> 37:55.350 The texts that I've ordered from the bookstore-- 37:55.349 --> 37:58.609 unfortunately I ordered them late, but the Labyrinth 37:58.614 --> 38:01.884 Bookstore will have the textbook by Bart Ehrman, 38:01.880 --> 38:05.210 that you can also go online and just order it yourself. 38:05.210 --> 38:06.690 The information is here on the syllabus. 38:06.690 --> 38:09.410 I've ordered the Oxford Annotated Version of the New 38:09.407 --> 38:11.537 Revised Standard Version of the Bible. 38:11.539 --> 38:13.499 But, like I say, you're welcome to bring other 38:13.501 --> 38:15.161 translations, other versions. 38:15.159 --> 38:17.929 When we use the term version, of a Bible, that just means a 38:17.931 --> 38:20.321 different translation of the Bible into English. 38:20.320 --> 38:22.510 So if you want to use a Revised Standard Version, 38:22.514 --> 38:24.854 that is other than the New Revised Standard Version, 38:24.847 --> 38:25.577 that's fine. 38:25.579 --> 38:27.059 The New International Bible. 38:27.059 --> 38:30.239 There are several other Bible translations that are 38:30.242 --> 38:31.072 acceptable. 38:31.070 --> 38:34.460 I don't want you to use the old translations, 38:34.458 --> 38:39.388 such as the King James Version, or the Catholic Douay Version. 38:39.389 --> 38:41.709 Those have too many inaccuracies because they're 38:41.708 --> 38:42.448 just too old. 38:42.449 --> 38:45.579 I also would rather you not use the sort of paraphrases, 38:45.581 --> 38:46.951 like the Living Bible. 38:46.949 --> 38:49.359 But if you want to use other translations, 38:49.356 --> 38:50.176 that's fine. 38:50.179 --> 38:52.219 In fact, sometimes that'll help us because we'll compare 38:52.222 --> 38:52.782 translations. 38:52.780 --> 38:56.320 38:56.320 --> 39:00.440 Don't worry about discussion sections yet. 39:00.440 --> 39:03.120 I'm not sure whether we'll use the Classes server to have you 39:03.115 --> 39:04.985 sign up for discussion sections online, 39:04.989 --> 39:07.529 or whether we will do it the old-fashioned way and have you 39:07.528 --> 39:09.848 sign up on forms that we'll give you here in class. 39:09.849 --> 39:11.699 But we will organize you into discussion sections. 39:11.699 --> 39:14.099 There'll be a variety of times you can choose. 39:14.099 --> 39:15.999 So there'll be options about when your discussion section 39:16.001 --> 39:16.411 will meet. 39:16.409 --> 39:18.579 We'll try to make sure everybody's schedule is 39:18.577 --> 39:20.587 accommodated, and you'll either meet on 39:20.594 --> 39:23.034 Thursdays or Fridays, in discussion sections, 39:23.025 --> 39:25.985 and we'll organize those sections closer to the end of 39:25.987 --> 39:28.747 the shopping period, when we have a better idea who 39:28.753 --> 39:29.563 will be in here. 39:29.559 --> 39:32.149 As I said, the rest of the organization of the class I 39:32.150 --> 39:33.910 think is pretty well self-evident. 39:33.909 --> 39:37.069 The class is organized first to teach you the methods of the 39:37.070 --> 39:39.910 historical critical approach to the New Testament, 39:39.909 --> 39:41.989 and help you learn how to do those through exegesis and 39:41.987 --> 39:42.717 historical study. 39:42.719 --> 39:44.229 And then the second half of the class, 39:44.230 --> 39:47.430 we turn our attentions to more of these issues of disagreement 39:47.429 --> 39:49.529 and debate within early Christianity, 39:49.530 --> 39:52.620 around issues such as Judaism and the Law, 39:52.619 --> 39:55.179 women's positions, politics, and the 39:55.177 --> 39:57.367 interpretation of scripture. 39:57.369 --> 39:59.969 So that's basically the semester. 39:59.969 --> 40:01.619 Any other questions? 40:01.619 --> 40:02.939 Comments? 40:02.940 --> 40:04.500 Outbursts? 40:04.500 --> 40:06.080 Last chance. 40:06.079 --> 40:08.359 All right, if you decide to take the course, 40:08.358 --> 40:11.168 I will see you same place, same time, on Wednesday. 40:11.170 --> 40:17.000