Committee on Historical Studies in Religion
The Committee on Historical Studies in Religion concentrates on the development of Western religious traditions, primarily Judaism and Christianity, from their origins to the present. Special areas of interest include the formation and interpretation of the Jewish and Christian scriptures, the history of Jewish thought, as well as the social, cultural, and intellectual history of Christianity in all periods.
The Committee on Historical Studies in Religion supplements the written Ph.D. examinations offered in its areas with one Committee-wide examination: History of Comparative Exegesis: Jewish and Christian (pdf). Subject to the requirements of his or her area of concentration, a Ph.D. student in the Divinity School may stipulate the Committee-wide examination as one of his or her four written examinations.
Faculty: C. Brekus, S. Chavel, C. Evans, M. Fishbane, W. C. Gilpin, H-J. Klauck, D. Martinez, P. Mendes-Flohr, M. Mitchell, W. Otten, L. Pick, J. Robinson, S. Schreiner, J. Stackert, M. Sells.
Biblical Studies
The Biblical Studies area seeks to understand and interpret the Jewish and Christian scriptures and related texts in their historical and cultural settings as well as in their subsequent roles as canonical texts for Judaism and Christianity. Contributing to these goals are four distinct areas of research: the historical contexts of these scriptures from ancient Israel to the Roman empire, the history and transmission of biblical and post-biblical literature, the history and methods of exegesis, and biblical and post-biblical theology.
Written Examinations
The area offers two Ph.D. exams in Hebrew Bible and two in New Testament. Ph.D. students concentrating in Biblical Studies must take the two exams offered in one of these, and select their third exam from the two offered in the other.
1. History and Religion of Israel
2. Hebrew Scripture
3. Christian Origins
4. New Testament and Related Texts view exam information (pdf)
Selected Courses
BIBL 30601 Introduction to Judaic Civilization. Robinson
BIBL 32400 Introduction to Hebrew Bible. Staff
BIBL 32500 Introduction to New Testament: Texts and Contexts. Staff
BIBL 33900 Elementary Hebrew. Staff
BIBL 34000 Intermediate Hebrew I. Staff
BIBL 34100 Intermediate Hebrew II. Staff
BIBL 35100 Elementary Koine Greek. Staff
BIBL 35300 Intermediate Koine Greek. Staff
BIBL 35400 Advanced Koine Greek. Staff
BIBL 36300 Plutarch: Isis and Osiris. Martinez
BIBL 39900 Song of Songs. Fishbane
BIBL 43400 Science and Scripture: Jewish Philosophical Exegesis in the Middle Ages. Robinson
BIBL 45200 Studies in Midrash: Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer. Fishbane
BIBL 45700 Studies in Midrash: Leviticus Rabba. Fishbane
BIBL 45500 The Bible and Its Ancient Interpreters. Fishbane
BIBL 45700 Studies in Midrash: Lenticus Rabba. Fishbane
BIBL 46900 Wrath of God in the Hebrew Bible. Fishbane
BIBL 40300 The Gospel of Luke. Klauck
BIBL 41800 The Old Testament in the Gospel of John. Klauck
BIBL 41801 Justin Martyr. Martinez
BIBL 42000 The Gospel According to Mark. Mitchell
BIBL 42100 The Thessalonian Letters. Mitchell
BIBL 42200 The Farewell Discourses of the Gospel of John. Klauck
BIBL 42500 Revelation: The New Testament Apocalypse. Klauck
BIBL 43400 Science and Scripture: Jewish Philosophical Exegesis in the Middle Ages. Robinson
BIBL 43600 The Pastoral Epistles. Mitchell
BIBL 43900 I Corinthians. Mitchell
BIBL 44400 Lucian of Samosata. Martinez
BIBL 44500 Philo of Alexandria. Martinez
BIBL 47200 Reconsidering Patristic Biblical Interpretation. Mitchell
BIBL 50400 Early Christian Rhetoric. Mitchell
BIBL 51000 Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds. Martinez
BIBL 51200 Paul and Ritual. Betz
BIBL 51700 Dio Chrysostum and the New Testament. Klauck
BIBL 51900 The Acts of Thomas. Klauck
BIBL 52400 The Historical Jesus in Recent Research. Mitchell
BIBL 52800 Early Christian Epistolography. Mitchell
BIBL 53000 Flavius Josephus and Early Christian Literature. Mitchell
BIBL 53200 Hero Cults and Early Christianity. Martinez/Mitchell
History of Christianity
The History of Christianity area focuses on one major western religious tradition, in itself and in its interactions with other religions and cultures across time. The area fosters knowledge of the range of communities claiming an identity as "Christian" from the first through the twenty-first centuries, as well as allowing for individual specialization in a particular movement or historical moment, including ancient Christianity (to Constantine), late antique and medieval Christianity, the Reformation and early modernity, the Puritan movement, and American Christianity and American religion in general. Coursework and guided research emphasize the acquisition of essential skills of documentary and artifactual interpretation, critical appraisal of a range of methodological approaches to the material, and a sophisticated appreciation of the tasks, goals and audiences of historiographical writing. The construction of this area is based on the assumption that there are major issues that apply and extend to all periods (such as forms of biblical interpretation, means of adjudicating "orthodoxy" and "heresy," the relationship between Christian communities and the social order, forms of institutional and personal piety), as well as particular expressions of those dynamics in different chronological and geographical settings. It also assumes the need for integration of intellectual, social, institutional and cultural histories for interpreting the body of existing evidence and adequately addressing most important questions about this particular religious tradition in its various manifestations. Students in the HC area are encouraged to formulate an interdisciplinary approach to their research, through coursework throughout the areas of the Divinity School and the University (including the Department of History).
Written Examinations
A student in the area is expected to take three of the four examinations, and must complete at least one major course in the area of the examination they are not taking. The History of Christianity area offers four written examinations:
1. Ancient (to 600 CE) view bibliography (pdf)
2. Medieval (600-1300) view bibliography (pdf)
3. Early Modern (1300-1600) view bibliography (pdf)
4. Modern (1600-present) view bibliography (pdf)
Selected Courses
HCHR 30100 History of Christian Thought I. Staff
HCHR 30200 History of Christian Thought II. Staff
HCHR 30300 History of Christian Thought III. Schreiner
HCHR 30400 History of Christian Thought IV. Tanner
HCHR 30700 History of Christianity, 1600–1900. Gilpin
HCHR 30900 History of Christian Thought V. Tanner
HCHR 31000 History of Christian Thought VI. Hopkins
HCHR 31200 Transatlantic Perspective on Modern Christianity. Gilpin
HCHR 31500 Liturgy and Devotion in the Middle Ages. Pick
HCHR 31800 Before and After Augustine: Echoes of a Church Father. Otten
HCHR 39000 The Bazaar of American Religion: Historical Explorations. Gilpin/Marty
HCHR 40000 Religion and Slavery in America. Brekus
HCHR 40500 Religion in Colonial America. Brekus
HCHR 40600 Religion in Early National and Antebellum America. Brekus
HCHR 40700 Women and Religion in America: From the Puritans to the Civil War. Brekus
HCHR 41200 Religion in Modern America, 1865–1930. Gilpin
HCHR 41300 Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval Spain. Pick
HCHR 41600 American Sermons. Gilpin
HCHR 41700 Calvin’s Institutes. Schreiner
HCHR 42100 The Enlightenment in America. Brekus
HCHR 42300 Readings in Luther. Schreiner
HCHR 42400 English Puritanism. Gilpin
HCHR 42901 Christianity and Slavery in America, 1619-1865 Evans
HCHR 43100 The Catholic Reformation. Schreiner
HCHR 43200 Colloquium: Ancient Period. Mitchell
HCHR 43301 Religion in Modern America, 1865-1920 Evans
HCHR 43400 Jonathan Edwards. Gilpin
HCHR 43600 Religion in Twentieth-Century America. Gilpin
HCHR 43800 Knowledge, Salvation, and Certainty: The Sixteenth Century and Its Legacy. Schreiner
HCHR 43900 Luther and the Old Testament. Schreiner
HCHR 44100 Reading and Writing as Medieval Spiritual Practice. Pick
HCHR 44901 Race and Religion in 20th Century American Culture. Evans
HCHR 45000 Theology and American Pragmatism. Gilpin
HCHR 46801 Incarnation and the Body in the Latin West: From Tertullian to Thomas Aquinas. Otten
HCHR 48600 The Book of Nature: Diachronic Perspectives. Otten
HCHR 48700 Late Medieval Women: Authorship and Authority. Otten
HCHR 49000 The Letters from Prison in Early Modern America. Gilpin
HCHR 50300 Medieval Latin. Pick
HCHR 52000 Eriugena’s Anthropology: Paradise at the Crossroads Between East and West. Otten
History of Judaism
The History of Judaism area seeks to provide an introduction to Jewish thought and interpretation from biblical antiquity through its classical, medieval, and modern expressions. In addition to the courses listed below, students are encouraged to consult course offerings in the Departments of History, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and Philosophy; the Committee on Social Thought; and the Law School, where deemed relevant.
Written Examinations
Ph.D. students concentrating in History of Judaism take two of the three exams and select their remaining exam from a different area.
1. Ancient Judaism
2. Medieval Judaism
3. Modern Judaism
Program overview and exam bibliographies (pdf)
Selected Courses
HIJD 30200 History of Christian and Jewish Thought. Mendes-Flohr/Tanner
HIJD 30400 Readings in Midrash. Fishbane
HIJD 30601 Jewish Heretics and Apostates in the Middle Ages. Robinson
HIJD 30700 Introduction to Jewish Mystical Literature: The Book of Zohar. Fishbane
HIJD 31200 Dialogical Thought of Franz Rosenzweig. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 34000 Franz Rosenzweig’s Concept of Revelation. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 34300 Models of Jewish Spiritual Perfection and Piety: Sixteenth-Century Safed. Fishbane
HIJD 35000 Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages. Robinson
HIJD 35100 The Jewish Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages. Robinson
HIJD 36600 East and West European Conceptions of Judaism in Modern Times. Mendes-Flohr/Brinker
HIJD 40000 Readings in Midrash: Lamentations Rabba. Fishbane
HIJD 40400 Biblical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking. Fishbane
HIJD 40500 Modern Jewish Religious Thought. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 41100 Animal Spirituality in the Middle Ages. Robinson
HIJD 41200 Mystical Texts: Readings in the Book of Zohar. Fishbane
HIJD 42600 Spinoza and Mendelssohn. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 42900 The Jews in Medieval Spain. Robinson
HIJD 44900 Buber’s I and Thou. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 45000 Studies in Legal Midrash. Fishbane
HIJD 45100 Zachor: History and Memory in Modern Jewish Thought. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 45400 Readings in Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. Robinson
HIJD 45500 Medieval Commentaries on Ecclesiastes. Robinson
HIJD 45800 Franz Rosenzweig: The New Thinking. Mendes-Flohr
HIJD 46900 Wrath of God in the Hebrew Bible. Fishbane
HIJD 46901 Modern Jewish Theology. Fishbane
HIJD 49600 Exile in Jewish Thought and Literature. Mendes-Flohr/Brinker
HIJD 50600 Soul, Intellect and Immortality in Medieval Jewish Thought. Robinson
HIJD 50900 Hermann Cohen’s Religion and Reason. Mendes-Flohr
