Historical Geography & the Bible:
Paul, Christianity, and Culture
Religion 275
Interim 2009
Instructor Jim Hanson

The book of Acts maps the spread of the gospel message from “ Jerusalem to all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” That spread was not merely a matter of location, but also and profoundly a matter of culture. As Jesus' followers moved beyond the familiar territory of Palestine and Judaism they encountered Roman political powers and rival religious traditions. The apostle Paul was among those who wrestled with how best to articulate the gospel in these circumstances. His letters address the specific concerns of real people in congregations from Asia Minor to Rome . Two millennia later, Christians continue to struggle with similar challenges: how to respond to religious pluralism, how to be a citizen and a believer, how to live in a culture without being captive to it. Along with them we will take up these issues throughout the course.

 

Our knowledge is increased and our imagination stirred as we explore the ongoing interactions of religion and culture in this course. We visit ancient and modern places; we read ancient and modern books; and we talk with one another and those we meet. As we study Paul and the Christians of his generation we also trace their questions into later eras including our own. We read Paul's letters as we visit many of the most important sites associated with him, such as the locations of congregations he founded or knew well: Corinth, Thessalonica, and Athens (in Greece), Ephesus and Galatia (in Turkey). We experience first-hand the places, cultures, and ideas that shaped and were shaped by Paul, and come to understand his life, thought, and significance in new ways. We also consider how recent scholarship about Paul and his time helps us to understand the interactions of religion and culture in that time and in our own time.

 

In addition we visit other places where this interaction shaped the development Christianity, particularly in its early centuries. In Istanbul (once called Constantinople and former capital of both the Roman and Byzantine empires) we are in the midst of Christianity' shifting relationship to imperial power and its encounter with Islam. In Izmir we read the account of Polycarp's martyrdom in the second century and letters from Ignatius on his way to Rome . In Greece we experience contemporary eastern Christianity.